Vodafone Marketing Strategies: A Comprehensive Analysis

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[MARKETING ESSENTIALS]
2019

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Role of marketing as a function of the business..............................................................................2
Marketing department Structure of Vodafone.................................................................................3
Two different marketing roles.........................................................................................................4
Marketing process............................................................................................................................4
Importance of the marketing environment to the marketing functions...........................................5
Relationship between marketing and different departments of Vodafone......................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunication organization and its headquarters placed
in London, Newbury, and Berkshire. Vodafone operates its services in different regions
including Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania with mobile operator groups globally. Vodafone got
ranked 4th in the number of mobile customers as of 2018 (Vodafone History, 2019).
Vodafone owns and operates its network in 30 countries and has more than 50 partner network
worldwide. Vodafone is providing its services in mobile communication industry since 23 years.
In 1987 it is recognized as largest mobile communication company in the world. Vodafone
global enterprise division of Vodafone provides telecommunication and IT services to their
clients among 150 countries.
Role of marketing as a function of the business
Marketing plays a significant role in selling and advertising of a product and it is an important
function of any business organization (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010).
 Research – this is one of the major function of marketing in any business to collect
information regarding your target audience and to know about their needs and
preferences. Many researchers are appointed in Vodafone Company to perform this task
(Hollensen, 2010).
 Transportation- another important function of marketing is the distribution of product
and services to their customer (Terpstra, et al.2012).Vodafone established its organization
in different nations to reach its customers at a global level.
 Risk assessment and quality checking- risk assessment means looking and identifying
those variables which can affect the sales of product and quality checking deals with
maintaining the quality of the product (Hollensen, 2010).
 Promotion- promotion refers to providing information about the product to the
customers. This information includes features, pricing, and uses of the product. Vodafone
is using different advertising techniques to promoting its products like digital advertising,
electronic media advertising at an international level (Pike, 2015).
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 Branding- it is the process which helps in to identify products of a company and make
your product different from your competitor’s product. The brand includes logo, symbol,
image, name, slogan and that should be created in an attractive way so that can be
remembered by the customers. Here Vodafone has used the slogan ‘the future is exciting
ready? For branding their products
 Exchange of goods and services- the exchange of goods and services includes buying
and selling of goods and services. Vodafone is selling its services and product at a global
level and reaches its customer’s globally.
Marketing department Structure of Vodafone
 Chief marketing officer – this is the person who is in charge of the marketing
department and is at top of the pyramid of marketing department structure. He is
responsible for the result of marketing strategies (Gummesson, 2011).
 Marketing director- this is the person who is responsible for all marketing strategies
which are created and implemented for product promotion.
 Vice president marketing- he has to report to the marketing manager. He works with
him in to defining the strategies, media, messaging which is used in advertising of
business
 Marketing manager- marketing manager works under the vice president and responsible
for all the media and strategies planning decision.
 Market analyst or researchers- market researchers collect the information regarding the
target audience and competitors in determining marketing strategies of their business.
 Public relation- public relationship officer helps in to maintain the goodwill of an
organization and provide assistant to their client through proper communication and
media management.
 Social media expert- social media experts concentrate on the marketing of the product
by using social media platforms and promote the product all over the internet. They use
creative aids, booklets, web pages, mail for the marketing of the product.
 Marketing coordinator- he is responsible for coordinating all the section of the
marketing department and also maintains the sales data. He prepares annual reports and
helps in the planning of promotional events.
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 Marketing assistant- he is responsible for administrative work and assists the market
manager in day to day activity of the marketing department.
Two different marketing roles
Marketing manager- marketing manager is the person who manages all the marketing
activities (Cahoon, et al., 2010).
 Marketing manager conducts market research to identify the target audience and their
competitor’s strategies.
 Marketing manager coordinates with the top management.
 A marketing manager is responsible for the management of employees working with the
marketing department.
 Marketing manager creates and implements marketing strategies.
Marketing manager of Vodafone group is the person who oversees all the marketing function of
Vodafone company and responsible for results of marketing strategies adopted by Vodafone
company.
Global marketing and brand director- the brand director is responsible for adapting a brand
strategy to reach market customers. The functions are performed by him are as follows:-
 Planning and execution of media strategies.
 Assists in new product development and helps in finding out new opportunities for
business.
 The brand director is responsible for maintaining product branding.
The global marketing and brand director of Vodafone group are skilled in marketing and brand
management. He also carries out business planning, sales, and retail operations.
Marketing process
The marketing process involves situation analysis of the current market, choosing the specific
market, development of marketing mix strategies, and managing and controlling marketing
efforts (Pike, 2015).
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 Situation analysis of environment- situation analysis includes analysis of the external
environment as well as internal analysis of the firm itself. Situation analysis reveals gaps
between what we are offering and what consumer wants. Good forecasting helps in
launching a new product and modifying the existing one. A situation analysis should
yield a summary of problems and opportunities. So that a company can fulfill their
customer's requirement and can take a competitive advantage.
Techniques used in situational analysis
 5’c analysis: - company, customers, competitors, collaborators, climate.
 PEST analysis: -macro-environmental factors political, economic, societal and
technological.
 SWOT analysis- strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats.
 Marketing strategy- once the best opportunity is identified, a strategic plan can be
developed for pursuing the opportunity. Marketing researchers provide specific market
information so that a firm can select their target area and can provide their offering into
that particular segment. Marketing strategies involve market segmentation, selection of
target market, positioning of the product and value proposition to the target market
(Lovelock and Patterson, 2014).
 Marketing mix decision: - marketing mix includes for P’s of marketing and marketing
mix is a set of controllable variables that the firm blends to produce and satisfies the
needs of the target market. 1. Product development decision 2.Pricing decisions
3.Distribution contracts 4.Promotion (Luan and sudhir, 2010)
 Implementation and control – at this point in the process marketing strategies are
implemented and the results of the marketing efforts should be monitored closely so that
a firm can make any significant changes in the product as market changes (Huang and
Sarigöllü, 2014).
Importance of the marketing environment to the marketing functions
Marketing environment involves two factors. Micro factors that are internally related to the firm
and are in control of the organization like control over the management. And another one is
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macro factors like government policies and technological development which are not in control
of the organization and affects business at a large level (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).
 Essential for planning:- it is important for the management of a company to understand
the marketing environment because it helps in planning and developing new product or
services to be launched in the market and also helps in planning different promotional
and marketing strategies (Lusch and Vargo, 2014).
 Understanding consumer behavior –as factors like political influences, changes in
government policies and changes in competitor’s strategies are affecting consumer
behavior so analysis of marketing environment is necessary to know the taste and
preferences of the consumers (Dibb and Simkin, 2013).
 Keep a check on threats: - proper analysis of the marketing environment a company is
able to keep a thorough check on the fact that can have a negative impact on its business
operations.
 finding out the opportunities:- giving attention to the importance of marketing
environment analysis, a company is able to find out good opportunities such as
technological changes or any changes in government rules and regulations that work in
the benefit of the company provides impetus in attaining desired goals (Jobber and Ellis-
Chadwick, 2012).
 Understanding the competition: - A company should keep a detailed eye check on its
competitors to know their strengths, nature of the product, and level of services they are
providing into the market so that a company can plan its marketing strategy and can
achieve competitive advantages into the market (Lusch and Vargo, 2014).
 helps building strategies:- proper analysis of marketing environment, helps the company
to plan and execute new strategies such as deciding on the unique features of the
offerings, planning of the media channels, competitive pricing, selecting the appropriate
distribution network (Fisher, 2018).
Relationship between marketing and different departments of Vodafone
The finance department and marketing department
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Marketing includes the process of selling and advertising of the product and finance is
concerned with financial aspects like profit, cost, sales growth, financial performance at the end
of the year. We all know that without advertising and promoting company product sales will not
improve and without sales, there will be no profit so without marketing there will be no need for
finance. Similarly, for successful marketing, there will be a requirement of the huge amount of
finance for advertising and promoting the products.so finance and marketing influences each
other and are interdependent (Ward, 2012).
Human resource department and marketing department
They work together to create the image of the organization among the market which will help in
enhancing the goodwill of the organisation. While the marketing department promotes the
company among the public, the collaboration of HR and marketing promote the company among
the employee through using the different media technologies. Hence the human resource
department and marketing department are interrelated and influence each other to promote the
company (Fisher, 2013).
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References
Cahoon, S.C., Haugstetter, H. and Bhaskar, P.R., 2010. Overcoming seafarer shortages: Human
resource management and marketing strategies for a sustainable future
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013. Marketing essentials. Cengage Learning.
Fisher, J.G., 2013. Strategic Brand Engagement: Using HR and Marketing to Connect Your
Brand Customers, Channel Partners and Employees. Kogan Page Publishers.
Gummesson, E., 2011. Total relationship marketing. Routledge.
Hollensen, S., 2010. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer, New York, NY.
Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2012. Principles and practice of marketing (No. 7th).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2010. Principles of marketing. Pearson education.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Luan, Y.J. and Sudhir, K., 2010. Forecasting marketing-mix responsiveness for new products.
Journal of Marketing Research, 47(3), pp.444-457.
Lusch, R.F. and Vargo, S.L., 2014. Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. In The
Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing (pp. 21-46). Routledge.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination marketing: essentials. Routledge.
Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press.
Vodafone History, 2019. How it all began, online available at
https://n.vodafone.ie/aboutus/company/history.html last accessed on 10th April 2019.
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Ward, K., 2012. Marketing finance. Routledge.
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