Marketing Essentials Report: Roles, Mix, and Strategic Plans

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing essentials, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within an organization, specifically using Marks & Spencer as a case study. It delves into the relationship between marketing and other departments, such as production, finance, and human resources, highlighting their interdependencies. The report then explores the 7 Ps of the marketing mix, comparing Marks & Spencer with H&M to illustrate practical applications of product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence. Finally, it presents a strategic marketing plan for Marks & Spencer, including its mission, vision, objectives, and STP strategy (segmentation, targeting, and positioning), offering insights into how the company aims to achieve its marketing goals and maintain a competitive advantage. The report is designed to help students to understand marketing concepts, develop marketing strategies and analyze the marketing plan of a company.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function..............................................................4
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context....................................................................................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3. 7 Ps of marketing mix:.....................................................................................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
P4 Strategic marketing plan of the company..........................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the functions performed by an organisation to promote buying and
selling of products and services to customers. In this report, Marks & Spencer is chosen as a base
company. It is a British multinational retailer, headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The
company was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in 1884. They are specialised in
selling of cloths, home products and food products. This report includes the role of marketing
and interrelationships of functional units, comparison of different organisation using elements of
marketing mix and development and evaluation of marketing plan.
MAIN BODY
LO1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing function is a functions initiate by the need of customers to end with the
satisfying of customer. The different roles and responsibilities of marketing function is given
below in relation to Marks and Spencer:
 Defining and managing brand: It includes defining what the organisation is all about
and what are its offerings to the customers. In context to M&S, they are retailing stores,
serving worldwide since 1884 (Ahmad, 2018).
 Marketing strategies: It is define as the marketing planning and strategies developed by
manager for the implementation to the organisation. It includes the needs of the
customers and how they will satisfy them.
 Conducting marketing research: It includes research about the products information,
price and demand by the customers in the market. In terms of Marks and Spencers, they
produce a variety of goods and services according to the taste and preferences of the
customers, so that organisation can easily attract the customers to buy from them.
 Brand equity: Consumers tend to attract by the brand that offers value to their product
and services. Marks and Spencers produce variety of products and services almost in their
own labelling which attracts customers as they represents the value to them.
Marketing Process: It is a marketing framework where value is created for the customers and
capture value from the customers. The concepts involve in marketing are-

 Production: This concept says that consumers will attract by that products which can
easily affordable and available to the customers. In reference to company, people
shopping in their stores due to the availability and affordability of the products. The
product manufactured costs very less to the company that tends to more number of
customers.
 Product: Consumer choose those products which have value for price that they pay,
quality and uniqueness of the product. Marks and Spencers provide customers with
variety of products, due to the quality and innovative products, customer tends to
purchase because of its features (Bertoli and Valdani, 2018).
 Selling: The customers tends to buys products which are promoted aggressively in the
market. In context to Marks and Spencers, they aggressively promote clothing line in the
market which make the organization famous for clothing.
 Marketing: The organization main focus is on customer needs. They tries to offer better
value to the customers from the other competitors. In terms to Marks and Spencers, they
tries to cater customers by providing better services than other stores such as Zara, H&M
etc.
 Societal: This strategy focus on the delivering value to the customers as well as society
as a whole. In terms of company, they offer various products that customers happily buys
and which also packed in an environment friend packets. It increases the number of
customers and also maintaining environment sustainability.
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
Marketing plays an very important role in an organisation, it is process of buying and
selling of goods and services with aim of earning profits. Marketing is process of creating
product awareness among buyers, cultivate brand credibility, building trust among the target
buyers, and providing buyers with necessary information (Caliskan, 2019). It is also analysed
that all the other departments of organisation are also linked with marketing departments like
production department, finance department, research and development, HRM department. The
main goal is to achieve objectives effectively and efficiently.
Relation between marketing and other department in context to Marks and Spencer is explained
below:

Marketing and Production department: Marketing department helps in proper
research and development so as to satisfy present and future needs, and also helps to get
information about customers taste and preferences. With references to company, marketing
department can be helpful for production department by providing required information about
customers needs and fulfilling their needs in an effective manner.
Marketing and finance department: The marketing department helps finance
department ensuring that there is enough budget to meet the needs for research, promotion and
distribution. In respect to marks and Spencer, marketing department of company concentrate on
sales volume and increasing market share while focusing on the cash flow and covering costs.
Marketing and Human resource department: HR departments main goal is filling
vacant jobs by hiring talented and effective employees who has capability to perform all jobs.
Marketing and HR department needs to work closely to ensure that people with right skills are at
right place. In context to the company, marketing department helps HR department in finding
capable candidates by use of marketing technique, also helps to motivate employees productivity
and performance (Chernev, 2019).
Marketing and research and development: The marketing department needs to work
closely with the research and development department to ensure that with the help of different
marketing tools new ideas and new goods and services are produced. Marketing department
analyses the customers requirement and accordingly provides information to the R&D
department. In context to the company, R&D team provides all the required information about
new product to marketing department so that proper information can be collected and can be
conveyed at marketplace. It also helps in building brand image and improving organisation
performance.
LO2
P3. 7 Ps of marketing mix:
Marketing mix is a tool which is used to by an organization and marketing managers that
helps determine the products and service offerings. Organization uses this model for setting of
objectives and also to analyse the strengths and weakness to compete with other competitors.
This model was given and published by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960 in his book. The 7 Ps are
presented below in reference to Marks and Spencers are following-

Marketing Mix H & M Marks & Spencers
Product Product refers to the items that
includes features and
advantages that are sold by the
company to satisfy the
customers needs. It is crucial
that product should always met
the customers demands and
need and also for the survival
in the competitive market.
H&M offers designer clothing
to everyday wear including
yoga wears. Also includes
shoes, accessories, beauty
products.
Marks and Spencers
specialised in offering items
for age groups, thus covering a
large market in retail industry.
The company also offers
variety of bags and
accessories, foot wears,
flowers, gifting items. They
also enter in furniture section
that includes furnitures, home
accessories. It also has section
of food and wine of all
international brands (Cornwell,
2020).
Price Price is represented as the
value to the product. The
amount paid by the customers
to gain the products and
services offered by the
organisation. H&M offers
products which are low in
price due to low cost of
manufacturing and
transportation.
Price depends upon the
products that they offer. M&S
offers both high and low price
products. It helps in cater all
the segments of the market.
They follow a pricing strategy
in which they lowered the
price of old stock as compared
to new stock at seasonal sale to
get more customers.
Promotion It refers to the activities
performed by an organization
to create awareness about the
product and services. There are
M&S uses several channels to
promote and create awareness
about the product in order to
cater maximum number of

several ways that a company
promotes such as advertising,
sales promotions, personal
selling and so on (Fill and
Turnbull, 2019). H&M creates
innovative advertisement that
attracts customers to purchase.
customers. They emphasizes to
provide messages on all
medium of communications.
The company uses its own
website to promote its brand. It
also run special loyalty
programs called 'spark' which
add points to the account of
customers on basis of their
purchase. These points can be
used in future purchasing.
Place Place is where the product is
manufactured, seen in
advertisement and sold. The
product should always
available to the target market
where customers can easily
purchase. In reference to
H&M, they manufactured
products in that countries
where cost of labour is cheap.
The company is collaborated
with sustainable suppliers
which helps in catering of
environment friendly products.
These products are made from
recyclable materials which
also uses recyclable materials
as packaging. This strategy
increases the number of
customers.
People People of an organisation
plays a crucial role in handling
of activities. So it is important
for an organisation to hire right
and excellent people to the
target market. In reference to
H&M, the work culture is very
modern and employee comes
from diverse background with
The company follows
competitive policy to retain
their employees by providing
rewards on the basis of their
performance, special discount
on purchasing of M&S items,
pension policy, life and health
insurance and also encourages
to bring more female friendly

strong skills. policies. They also run
programs for new employees
as well as for the existing
employees.
Process Process refers to actions that
are taken from delivering of
products and services to the
customers (Hanzaee,
Sadeghian and Jalalian, 2019).
It directly affects the costs of
services. One can evaluate and
present a tailored services to
minimize the costs. This
process consists of pay system,
distribution system, sales
system and so on. Staff in
H&M help customers in
solving queries and also
selecting item for them.
Process in M&S recycle their
cloths in order to conserve the
environment. Their store can
be found in any malls, sub
urban areas.
Physical Evidence It refers to the things that a
customer can sees from the
company. It includes an
environment where product
and services provided,
packaging, branding and many
more. In context to H&M, they
arrange apparel in such a way
that it attracts customers.
The store acts as the physical
evidence for the organisation.
They sell variety of latest
products and services.
Customers can also place their
orders on the M&S website
and get delivered at home.

LO3
P4 Strategic marketing plan of the company
Marketing plan is a written document which covers overall marketing strategies and the
policies of an organisation , it help business entity to understand the actual status of business at
marketplace. Marketing plan is an overall description of vision, mission, and marketing
objectives of the company that helps in achieving overall objectives of the firm timely and
effectively (Hastings and Domegan, 2017).
Executive Summary: Marks and Spencer is a British multinational retail company,
founded in 1884 by Michael marks and Thomas Spencers with headquarters in London,
England. Company deals in selling clothing, domestic commodity and food products, with its
own brand name. Marketing plan in context to Marks and Spencer is mentioned below:
Mission: The mission statement of company is “Ensuring that their inspirational quality
reaches to each and everyone.”
Vision: The vision statement of company is “To set a standard against which their
competitor may be measured, their aim is to achieve a competitive advantage at the
marketplace.”
Objectives:
 To increase profitability 10% by bringing new offerings in coming 10 months.
 Expand their business in other areas
STP strategy: STP stands for segmentation, targeting and positioning, it is one of the
important marketing model which helps the firms to develop their marketing mix and product
positioning strategies according to the the segment selected. The STP strategy in context to
company is explained below:
Segmentation: Segmentation is basically categorising the market into different segments
as per the requirement. In context to company, segmentation is on the basis of demographics that
involves age, income, social class, and occupation.
Targeting: Targeting is a marketing strategy is process of selecting specific group of
person or market for specific content. In context to the company, target customer is between age
group of 35 to 55 years men and women.

Positioning: It is defined as creating a positive position of company in marketplace. In
respect to company, products of M&S are positioned as premium, modern, innovative and even
adventurous (Manion and Widder, 2017)
SWOT analysis:
Strength Weaknesses
 Company has strong offerings in line
with latest trends and position itself as a
high end value products which target
the premium segments.
 Another major strength of Marks and
Spencer is having strongest e-
commerce infrastructure
 Poor financial performance of company
plays an a weak point for the company
 Another weakness that company has is
poor scalability of supply chain, which
unable them to deliver to all locations
worldwide.
Opportunities Threats
 Company is planning to expand their
business in country like India, Russia,
Brazil, Poland, and Indonesia by
increasing more branches in these
countries.
 Company is planning to bring their
clothing and home commodities
online .
 One of the major threat of company is
its competitors like Amazon, Tesco,
John lewis, ASDA, Sainsbury, Sports
direct.
 Continuous changes in taste and
preferences of consumers in clothing
sector also becoming threat for the
company (Mogaji and Yoon, 2019).
MARKETING BUDGET
PARTICULARS Ist Year IInd Year IIIrd Year IVth Year Vth Year
Initial amount 3000 6300 12200 14160 19970
Investment 9300 10500 23830 31630 13550
TOTAL 11300 16800 36030 45790 33520

MARKETING OUTLAY
Promotion 4746 1459 4593 1875 1211
Sales publicity 1365 800 2452 1492 1050
Direct selling 2235 1900 4651 1000 4434
TOTAL 8146 4159 11896 4467 6405
Monitoring and Controlling: Marks and Spencer continuously monitors the
performance of employee effectively and efficiently so that the goals and objectives of the firm
can be achieved. Proper monitoring of activities by management helps in smooth functioning of
activities in the organisation. It is analysed that proper structuring of marketing plan helps
company in understanding marketing strategies and accordingly implementing the changes
(Steenkamp, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that marketing plays an important role in
every organisation, it is process of buying and selling of goods and services with aim of earning
profits as well as creating product awareness among buyers. The key roles and responsibilities of
the marketing functions is explained, also how roles and responsibilities of marketing department
interlinks with other departments like production, finance, human resource and research and
development is highlighted above. In addition to this, this report also includes how different
organisation apply the marketing mix to the marketing planning process to achieve business
objectives. Marketing plan of Marks and Spencer is evaluated in the above report which helps to
understand vision, mission, and objectives of the firm.

REFERENCES
Book and journals
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personality traits. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 18(3), pp.196-215.
Chernev, A., 2019. Strategic marketing management: Theory and practice. Cerebellum Press.
Cornwell, T.B., 2020. Sponsorship in marketing: Effective partnerships in sports, arts and
events. Routledge.
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Disruption. Pearson UK.
Hanzaee, K.H., Sadeghian, M. and Jalalian, S., 2019. Which can affect more? Cause marketing
or cause-related marketing. Journal of Islamic Marketing.
Hastings, G. and Domegan, C., 2017. Social marketing: Rebels with a cause. Routledge.
Manion, C.R. and Widder, R.M., 2017. Essentials of essential oils. American Journal of Health-
System Pharmacy, 74(9), pp.e153-e162.
Mogaji, E. and Yoon, H., 2019. Thematic analysis of marketing messages in UK universities’
prospectuses. International Journal of Educational Management.
Steenkamp, J.B., 2017. Global brand strategy: World-wise marketing in the age of branding.
Springer.
Yi, Z.G., 2017. Marketing services and resources in information organizations. Chandos
Publishing.