Develop and Implement Marketing Strategies

Section 1 Collect and Analyse Information on the Internal Business Environment

Q.1. Questions which are required to confirm before starting planning marketing strategies?

The basic three questions which are required to confirm before start planning of strategies, are as below:

Answer:

I.What is the objective of firm of using marketing strategies?

Goal can be related to increase sales, branding etc.

II.What are the current marketing efforts of concern entity?

This question will help corporation to utilize existing resources effectively and it will assist in determining the weaker section which need to be eliminated (Green, Whitten and Inman, 2012).

III.Who is target audience of cited firm?

This question will aid in selection of appropriate distribution medium.

Q.2.Meaning of environmental scanning’?

Answer:

Environment scanning refers with the analyses of surrounding which include monitoring, forecasting and assessment of global market. It can also be explain as impact of several political, technological, legal, social and economic factors on business unit. Current trends, events, needs and wants of consumers, suppliers are needed to consider for scanning the environment. It helps in identifying strength and weakness of firm (Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne, 2013). Apart from his, it assists to identify potential consumers, market, technology which can give best results to enterprise.

Q.3. Market segmentation?

Answer:

Market is segmented into several categories, which are as following:

1. Demographic: Its variables are as age, income, occupation, religion, race etc. For example, Maruti has different products for differed income group persons such as it offers BMW, Audi cars to its premium customers and also have products for middle class consumers (Kumar, 2015).
2. Behavioural: this segment categories persons on the bases of their behaviour, usage and decision making pattern. For instance; Blackberry generally use by high class business people, whereas Apple used by premium consumers those who want to invest in unique products (Rex, 2014).
3. Psycho graphic: It is based on interest; life style and perception of individuals, buying behaviour of public take in consideration in the segment. Such as some people are much more interested in hygienic food whereas others or youngsters are attracting towards the fast food.
4. Geographic: It is segmented into area, market size, climate etc. For example in MacDonald's offer vegetarian food in Indian market but in UK it offers variety of non vegetarian food items (Suki, 2013).

Q.4. Sources which can access for information on the effectiveness of current and past marketing strategies?

Answer:

Sources to collect informations are as:

1. Managers: firm can take feedbacks from its managers.
2. Customers: Consumers can give better views about need and wants.
3. Online articles: it can give authentic data which can help to make campaign successful.
4. Blogs: It can help to views of audience.

Q.5. Importance of review performance information?

Answer:

1. It is very important to review the performance as it supports in identifying the weakness of existing procedures and company can formulate strategies to overcome these shortcomings.
2. It helps to enhance sales of the entity and to satisfy its consumer’s needs.
3. Reviewing aids in increasing accuracy in operations which will be beneficial to gain high profit (Foxall, 2014).

Q.6. SWOT analysis and its effectiveness for future?

Answer:

SWOT analyses is an essential tool which help to evaluate current situation and discovery phases to improve existing process. It helps organization to plan for the future by utilizing capabilities of the firm effectively and by improving lacking points. For example if entity has talented employees but less sales than it can train its workers impressively for enhancing revenues. It assets in using the opportunities of business unit significantly and find ways to face the threats (Evers, Andersson and Hannibal, 2012).

Q.7. Sorts of things needed to consider when assessing an establishment’s current capabilities?

Answer:

At the time of 'assessing an establishment of current capabilities then, firm need to consider internal resources and value based services of the enterprise. This will help to know about the satisfaction level of employees and customers. Value based services include product’s quality, service delivery which can help to enhance the trust of consumers and to gain their loyalty.

Q.8. Sorts of things needed to consider when assessing an establishment’s current resources?

Answer:

At the time of assessing an establishment’s current capabilities, company needs to look upon physical resources of organization, human resources and their skills, financial resources of the firm.

Q.9. If non of the staff is technical sound then what action can be taken by managers?

Answer:

Organization will train its existing staff so that they can improve their skills. Apart from this it will hire technical sound persons who can support in its marketing campaign. As these persons are highly talented so they will give optimistic results to firm, thus recruitment of extra staff will be correct strategy (Yang, Wan and Fu, 201).

Q.10. Who needs to know about the internal business environment?

Answer:

Suppliers, employees, creditors, lenders, director, investors need to know about the internal business environment. Workers require these details for knowing their carrier growth, suppliers need it for identifying credit worthiness of the firm. Investors need to know about operation of entity so that they can estimate their returns on invested amount. Director need to know about internal business environment for analysing the growth of the company (Foxall, 2014).

Section 2- Collect and Analyse Information on the External Business Environment

Q.1. Demand has dropped off and you're considering removing the service from your website altogether. Which phase of the market is the service currently in?

Answer:

Currently it is in declining stage in which company has to eliminate the services from market so that it does not suffer from heavy loss.

Q.2. List four ways a change in labour force or economic activity might affect your customers and the establishment you work in?

Answer:

1. Changes in economic activities affect the customers and business as well. If there is high rate of unemployment then purchasing power of individuals will get affected. Customers will not prefer to spend much amount which will impact on sales of the business unit so company will not be able to grow.
2. Changes in legislation which is related to trade unions, can impact on work.If government increases tax rates then production will be costly so service users will get affected, they will not be able to purchase such high rate products.
3. Modifications in employment developments laws can affect work, if they are not in their favour then it may harm the operations of firm. If there is high rate of wages then it will reduce demand of labour (Tsitsi Chikandiwa, Contogiannis and Jembere, 2013). Thus, production will be hampered and company will have to increase its cost so that it can sustain in market. This will affect consumers and business environment.

Q.3. What is meant by ‘best practice’ when analysing comparative market information?

Answer:

Best practices used by entities to maintain quality and standards in the workplace. Best practice is the marketing tool which assists to identify the existing techniques, procedures and activities of firm. It helps in comparing the business operations with competitors. It tests the process and checked that desire outcome is coming or not. This helps analyses the problems and overcome from those.

Q.4. How can you find out about emerging trends and developments?

Answer:

By conducting market research a firm can find about the emerging trends and development. It will help in knowing needs and wants of consumers in modern era so that it can modify its products to satisfy them. In addition, firm can take feedbacks from employees and consumers for finding emerging trends. Workers work in actual market so they know better about current requirements and consumers can discuss their feelings about organization’s products and competitor (Shank and Lyberger, 2014). Which will help entity to produce according to modern trends.

Q.5. How can you keep up to date with the legal requirements of your business? Provide three examples?

Answer:

1. Firm can visit government sites time to time, up-dates reflect on its website this will help individual to keep own self up to date with legal requirements.
2. News, articles, authentic information’s can help to keep up to dated with legal requirements. .
3. Internet surfing is another example to keep up to dated with legal requirements. This medium can provide detail information about recent laws, changes etc (Webster Jr, and Lusch, 2013). .

Q.6. What does the term ‘ethical constraints’ mean and how does it relate to marketing?

Answer:

At the time of conducting marketing, company has to follow ethical legislation which they can not breach. Such as data protection act explains that collected data of consumers can not be liked by company and if it happens then firm will have to face legal problems. Some time these ethical constrains create problems in marketing activities. It is necessary to revel all detail about product in promotion but some information demotivate the persons and create negative mage so it harm the sales of the company.

Q.7. How does environmental legislation impact on work practices?

Answer:

Environmental legislation is the collections of regulations which ensure that organization’s maintain standards and do not harm the surrounding. National environmental policy encourages relationship between employees and natural surroundings. But if firm is required to involve necessary chemicals to produce its final product and these ingredients are against the law then, company will not be able to manufacture and sell its items which will harm the brand image of enterprise. For instance in construction industry wastage material cannot be used again by firm and it harms the environmental animals so government will oppose these operations and it can negatively impact on the business unit (Bagautdinova and et.al, 2012).

Q.8. Who needs to know about external market information?

Answer:

Stakeholders, strategic planner of the firm need to know about external market information so that they can formulate appropriate strategies which can support in the growth of the firm.

Section 3- Develop Marketing Strategies

Q.1. What's the difference between marketing objectives, strategies and tactics?

Answer:

Marketing objectives are the actual goals of the firm which it wants to accomplish. Strategies provide detail blueprint through which a firm can achieve the marketing objectives. Tactics are similar to strategies but it is lowest form of planning which deals with the resources which are needed to get immediate results (Miles, 2013).

Q.2. How does analysing the internal and external environment help you identify marketing opportunities?

Answer:

By analysing internal environment firm can identify its strength and weakness and can utilize strong points effectively and also formulate strategies to minimize the negative points. It will help to identify the market opportunity as it will be able to use skills of workers impressive and can gain loyalty of consumers. By analysing the external environment company can know about activities of competitors, recent trends and needs and wants of consumers and can operate its business according to those, this will give firm optimistic results (Gupta and Malhotra, 2013).

Q.3. What are the 7Ps in the marketing mix?

Answer:

7P’s of marketing mix are as below:

1. Product: Organization needs to focus on designing such products which can meet with the needs of target audience.
2. Price: Value of the goods determine its sales, if company is offering quality items at affordable rates then it will attract more consumers and will enhance sales of the firm.
3. Place: Location and place of physical outlets need to be established in appropriate visible place where it can catch the eyes of potential service users.
4. Promotions: According to the size and worth of company, it can choose several ways of promoting brand such as advertisements, social media, sales promotions etc.
5. People: Employees are the key persons in the firm, their skill and knowledge support entity in growing. It is an important element of marketing mix so organization must give them priorities (Foxall, 2014).
6. Process: Execution and delivery of services define the actual sales of the firm.
7. Physical evidence: As insurance company gives their clients physical material as physical material.

Q.4. List three benefits of Internet marketing?

Answer:

1. Internet marketing is beneficial to communicate with mass audience. As through Face book, Twitter etc. Company can coordinate with huge public in less time period.
2. It is the medium which is cheaper and helps to enhance brand name of the firm to great extent. Videos, images attract more consumers because in modern era people are used to of using these social sites so enterprise can make contact with then in less cost.
3. It is a two way communication medium so immediate response can get by the firm. Entity can resolve quarries of customers immediately with this medium which supports in increasing trust of service users and to make them loyal towards brand (Suki, 2013).

Q.5. What is meant by the term ‘price penetration’ when referring to marketing strategies?

Answer:

Pricing penetration explains as marketing strategy in which a firm offers products to consumers at lower cost in the initial stage. It helps to attract more service users towards the brand and keep away them from competitors. People will take interest in cheaper quality products and services thus will defiantly purchase it. It is an marketing strategies to increase sales of the firm (Rex, 2014).

Q.6. A business that values customer service excellence has planned to reduce costs by employing inexperienced staff. This creates additional funding to use on large marketing campaigns. How might this decision affect the organisation?

Answer:

In this condition marketing campaign will not work, it will be wastage of money and human resources because objective of firm can not be achieved by unskilled persons.

Q.7. What type of advertising is against the law?

Answer:

There are many type of advertising which are against the law.

1. False and misleading advertisements are against the law. It can be related with price, quality, purpose etc.
2. Advertisement which spread wrong message in the mind of population are against the legislation. For instance alcohol promotional messages are prohibited.

Q.8. What is meant by the use of 'ethical' marketing tactics?

Answer:

Ethical marketing tactics refers with the use of marketing decisions which need to be ethical which include sourcing of raw materials, staff employment, advertisement and pricing. These tactics support business unit to run operation smoothly.

Q.9. Why is it important to consult with staff during the early stages of planning?

Answer:

It is very important because staff members work in real market, they know better about current trends and situation so that they can suggest planner which will help in gaining desired output. Apart from that involving them in such planning stage will increase their trust and make them comfortable which will help in building relationship with them. They will stay in the workplace for longer period (Foxall, 2014).

Section 4- Prepare Marketing Plan

Q.1. List the typical inclusions of a marketing plan?

Answer:

Essential inclusions of marketing plan are as below:

• Situation analyses: It includes SWOT analyses, segmentation, customer information’s, and competitive analyses.
• Formulate marketing strategies: It works for accomplishing objective, mission of the firm.
• Sales forecasting: It includes estimated sales per year by distribution channels, by market segments etc.
• Budget analyses: It is important in marketing plan as to analyse overall expenses on this activity (Miles, 2013).
• Macro environment analyses: It is essential to have detail about competitors, government policies, technologies, political and economic factors.
• Implementation of plan and to have proper control over it.

Q.2. What would you typically include under the ‘marketing tactics’ component of your marketing plan?

Answer:

Keep the law price of the product will be the great marketing tactics. It will attract more consumers and will increase sales of the organization.

Q.3. What information would you typically include under the ‘marketing budget’ component of your marketing plan?

Answer:

It will include estimation of sales against invested amount, cost of printed materials, cost of internet marketing, will be include under this section.

Q.4. How many products would you need to sell to break even if the fixed cost to produce the product was $200 and the variable costs $5 per item?

Answer:

The product is currently sold for $15.

Fixed cost / selling price – variable cost
=200 /15 – 5
= 200 /10
= 20 units

Q.5. Why should you allow staff to contribute to the marketing plan?

Answer:

It will help organization to gain trust and loyalty of its employees, they can share their views which will generate innovative ides. Involvement of theses creative opinions can give huge success to organization. So to get their impressive views and to build good relationship with them, a firm should allow staff to contribute in marketing plan (Shani and Chalasani, 2013).

Q.6. Who is responsible for approving marketing plans?

Answer:

Marketing manger and finance manager and director are responsible for approving marketing plan.

Section 5- Implement and Monitor Marketing Activities

Q.1. What should you refer to when implementing and monitoring marketing activities?

Answer:

At the time of implementing and monitoring marketing activities company should refer existing operations of firm, objective of the company, current resources so that it can make marketing plan successful.

Q.2. Unforeseen events can occur and change the course of your path and the likelihood of you achieving your marketing objectives. Provide two examples of such events?

Answer:

1. As company set its prices on fixed rate and sudden government policy related to tax get changed then if objective of firm is to get higher sales hen it will not be achievable because immediate it will have increase its prices of products and people will not purchase it.
2. If estimated budget gets low than actual budget then due to shortage of funds, company will not be able to conduct further operations.

Q.3. You notice that things are simply not working out as you'd planned. What should you do?

Answer:

A firm will take immediate action to modify the marketing plan. Planner will identify the reason behind not working of plan and will develop counter plan for the objective to get desired results. Individual will rethink and conduct market research on lacking points.

Q.4. What's the purpose of producing marketing reports?

Answer:

Purpose of producing marketing report is to analyse the gap between estimated sales and actual sales. These reports help to know actual result of marketing activities. Comparison with previous growth can easily done by this method.

Q.5. List two types of software programs that can simplify the process of producing marketing reports?

Answer:

Two main software which are needed in producing market reports:

1. Microsoft world; it helps in storage of all relevant data and figures.
2. M. S Excel; it assists in calculating overall results at the end of marketing activity. Such as budget require in each department etc.

Q.6. What is the most effective way you can maintain the ongoing commitment and involvement of your staff?

Answer:

By giving rewards and recognition to staff members, company can gain loyalty of its employees and it will help firm to maintain commitment and involvement of workers in an enterprise. By involving them in decision making process, company can them comfortable in the workplace and they will like their job. It supports to decrease job turnover of staff members and they will be committed towards their work (Rex, 2014).

Section 6- Conduct Ongoing Evaluation

Q.1. Why must the evaluation of marketing activities be an ongoing process?

Answer:

Evaluation of marketing activities are very important because it will help in identify that plan is working or not and objective of marketing activities are going to accomplish or not within estimated time period.

Q.2. Through your ongoing evaluation, you determine that things are not heading in the right direction, so you make some minor adjustments to your original plan. What is your next step?

Answer:

Organization will revise the whole plan and will try to find out the lacking points which are not working and re planned the entire activity.

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that marketing strategies are essential to run business significantly. With the use to marketing mix company can formulate strategies which can give it huge success. Competitors, employees, government all need information about internal and external marketing environment so that they can perform their role according to situation.

References

• Bagautdinova, N. and et.al., 2012. The regional development strategy based on territorial marketing (the case of Russia). World Applied Sciences Journal. 18(18). pp.179-184.
• Christopher, M., Payne, A. and Ballantyne, D., 2013. Relationship marketing. Taylor & Francis.
• Evers, N., Andersson, S. and Hannibal, M., 2012. Stakeholders and marketing capabilities in international new ventures: evidence from Ireland, Sweden and Denmark. Journal of International Marketing. 20(4). pp.46-71.
• Foxall, G., 2014. Corporate Innovation (RLE Marketing): Marketing and Strategy. Routledge.
• Foxall, G., 2014. Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing) (Vol. 3). Routledge.
• Green, K. W., Whitten, D. and Inman, R. A., 2012. Aligning marketing strategies throughout the supply chain to enhance performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(6), pp.1008-1018.
• Gupta, S. and Malhotra, N., 2013. Marketing innovation: A resource-based view of international and local firms. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 31(2). pp.111-126.
• Kumar, V., 2015. Evolution of marketing as a discipline: What has happened and what to look out for. Journal of Marketing. 79(1). pp.1-9.
• Miles, J., 2013. Instagram power: Build your brand and reach more customers with the power of pictures. McGraw Hill Professional.
• Rex, J. H., 2014. ND4BB: addressing the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 12(4). pp.231-232.
• Shani, D. and Chalasani, S., 2013. Exploiting niches using relationship marketing. Journal of Services Marketing.
• Shank, M. D. and Lyberger, M. R., 2014. Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. Routledge.
• Suki, N. M., 2013. Green Awareness Effects on Consumers’ Purchasing Decision: Some Insights From Malaysia. Ijaps. 9(2). pp.49-63.
• Tsitsi Chikandiwa, S., Contogiannis, E. and Jembere, E., 2013. The adoption of social media marketing in South African banks. European Business Review. 25(4). pp.365-381.
• Webster Jr, F. E. and Lusch, R. F., 2013. Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live marketing!. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 41(4). pp.389-399.
• Yang, J. T., Wan, C. S. and Fu, Y. J., 2012. Qualitative examination of employee turnover and retention strategies in international tourist hotels in Taiwan. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 31(3). pp.837-848.

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