Unit 708 Strategic Marketing Assignment Sample

Introduction of Strategic Marketing Assignment

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Strategic marketing is the application of marketing skills to the achievement of corporate objectives through the creation and maintenance of a sustainable competitive edge. This report revolves around the dynamic core of strategic marketing (Schiavonand Simoni, 2019). Being a manager of senior marketing department of British telecommunications business Vodafone Limited, which is part of Vodafone Group Plc, the world ‘s second-largest mobile phone operator, it is very much comprehendible. To delve into details, this report in its subsequent segment will meticulously discuss how marketing techniques and tools support the tactics of an organization and ho this influence on the marketing plan, marketing strategies and approaches and the risk connected with the marketing strategy under task 1.

In task 2 an analysis of the aspects of a marketing plan critically and assigns value to each component's contribution to the attainment of strategic objectives, mitigation techniques for the plan's high-risk components, creation of a marketing strategy that can help a firm accomplish its strategic objectives will be vividly evaluated. Along with that in task 3 a detailed discussion regarding the analysis of show the plan contributes to the achievement of strategic objectives, a strategy for securing agreement on a marketing plan that would alter the organization's actions and processes to accomplish strategic objectives and evaluation of the agreed-upon strategy will be conducted.

Task 1

1.1 Evaluation of Marketing Tools and Approaches to Support an Organization's Strategy and the Impact on Marketing Plan

Marketing tools and techniques:

Marketing tools such as social media marketing refer to the methods, processes, strategies, resources, technology, and materials that businesses and marketing professionals use to design and execute marketing campaigns that effectively advertise their products and services.A marketing technique is a method that enables a business to focus its finite resources on the most promising chances for revenue growth and sustained competitive advantage.

Businesses utilize marketing techniques to promote and endorse their products and services. The term ‘tools ‘ refers to approaches, strategies, and materials in this context.

Relationship between organizational strategy and marketing tools and techniques

Marketing tools and techniques entail the details regarding product, price, position, and place of a product or service which helps an organization to prepare for its potential customers. Social media enables consumers to spread the word about products and services. For example, establishing a Facebook business page for marketing purposes boost the revenue of the company by customer pulling.

On the other hand, organizational strategy is the collection of actions that a business wants to execute to accomplish long-term goals. The assistance achieved from the marketing tools and techniques nurture the organizational strategy by directing it with the necessary steps to be taken for the business to accomplish its long-term goals; its success.

Impact on marketing plan

A marketing plan is an operating plan that specifies an organization's advertising strategy for generating leads and reaching its target market. The organizational strategy with the aid of marketing tools and techniques outlines the outreach and public relations activities as well as the organization to measure the effectiveness of the initiatives.

Vodafone uses several marketing tools and techniques such as SEO, it is the practice of enhancing search engine ranking by making the website appealing to Google. Social media marketing is another effective digital marketing strategy used by Vodafone, it allows it to reach the right people and build relationships with its customers more naturally. Vodafone also uses E-marketing as it paves the path for Vodafone to properly communicate with the customers and build connections is through social media.

1.2 Marketing Approaches and Methodologies Inside Companies

Marketing approaches enable enterprising marketers to leverage their creativity to accelerate a company's success (Schiavoneand Simoni, 2019). To accomplish meaningful work, businesses must know where they are headed and how they are going to get there. In other words, businesses require effective marketing strategies and a marketing plan. The marketing approach is a tactic for gaining a sustainable competitive edge — the marketing plan includes the operations that would get the firms there. The approach encapsulates the why of the job, whereas the plan encapsulates the when and what of the effort. A marketing approach's mission is to outline and picture for the team how and when the firm will achieve those goals. Plans define the chronology and issues of the work —initiatives and programs — and enable a firm to priorities the actions contained inside each by the approach. This demonstrates how each activity relates to both the marketing and general business objectives.

A marketing approach's purpose is to condense the marketing objectives — what must occur for a service or product to acquire the correct customers and perform successfully in the market. By educating everyone on who will derive the most value from the products, the value proposition, and how firms would approach the ideal customer, approach helps the team stay united around those shared goals.

On the other hand, A methodology is a framework for setting goals and distributing resources and tools within an organization to accomplish those goals. In marketing, sales, and other areas of business growth, methodologies assist enormously in defining organizational growth objectives and the processes necessary to attain them. They aid in the integration of everything from departments to specific employee responsibilities or tasks to the usage of tools and services to accomplish those aims. Marketing plans employ methodologies to convey a clear picture of the tools and techniques and how they may be utilized to achieve greater success (Warokkaet al., 2020.).

In case of Vodafone, it segments its offerings into mobile network services, enterprise services, and broadband services using a combination of segmentation methodologies. Vodafone's many offers are aimed at various segments of society. As a result, it employs a targeted approach that is selective and differentiated (Kalam, 2020). Vodafone employs techniques based on perceived worth. It is thus evident that Vodafone's marketing methodologies and approaches contribute efficiently to its effective marketing plan.

1.3 Risk Linked with Marketing Plan

Risks associated with a marketing plan entails the possibility of marketing losses and failures. Risks associated with pricing, product innovation, marketing, distribution, branding, customer experience, and sales are included in this category. Vodafone must cognize these for gaining better revenue.

The following are some of the most prevalent factors of marketing risk.

Target customer

A miscalculation of the target market or inadequate market research poses threat. Minimal consumer surveys may result in insufficient data (Westwood, 2019). A comprehensive consumer survey should reveal the true market difficulties that the product or service must address. So, a firm must generate proper marketing concepts for better results.

Branding

Branding is a vast domain that requires proper ideas, processes for execution and proper implementation (Chang, Wangand Arnett, 2018). It takes time for people to identify and trust the brand. If in a marketing plan this aspectgets to be underestimated, marketing and promotional activities, development of trust and loyalty with prospects thus the overall revenue of the company will suffer.

Lack of Tracking

Marketing plan must contain ways for measuring marketing success. The tracking system must determine why sales rise or fall and which techniques and promotions perform best. A firm must also monitor economic conditions that may affect it (Njeru, 2018.). Whether it sells locally or globally, keeping up with economic trends helps to plan marketing and promotional efforts.

Task 2

2.1 A Critical Examination of the Components of a Marketing Plan, As Well As the Relative Relevance of Each Component to the Achievement of Strategic Goals

Strategic objectives are a company's overarching goals: they outline how the company will attempt to accomplish its mission. Typically, strategic objectives are related to performance—for example, launching a new product, increasing profitability, or increasing market share for a company's product.

The marketing plan components such as branding, target market etc., are very much significant to any firm ‘s (such as Vodafone) achievement of its strategic objectives. These components influence consequences.

Marketing Plan Components

Company Positioning

Designating the firm ‘s present financial status is a must. The goals guide resource allocation in manufacturing, distribution, and marketing, while the strategies help achieve targets.

The relative position of a business within its industry affects its performance. The strategic positioning of a business reflects the choices it makes about the type of value it will offer and how it will create it differently from competitors.

Market opportunities

This allows to focus on the most promising opportunities. Marketing opportunities assist in identifying areas impacted by organizational growth and hence in developing an organizational strategy to meet customer wants (Mukhtorovna, 2021).

It assists in setting the appropriate pricing for an organization's services and goods based on market research data. And thus help an organization to achieve its strategic objectives.

Target audience

Defining this is a must for all the products and services. This helps to learn more about their wants, needs, and even preferences.

Selecting and targeting the audience is critical because it lets the business focus its efforts on clients who have a significant potential for revenue growth, demand for a product, and brand loyalty (Sahinand Singh, 2017).

Reimbursements of “Strategic Marketing Planning”

Making a plan helps all stakeholders in a company understand each other. The plan guides management decisions, employee conduct toward institutional goals, and client response. The plan is also subject to alteration to meet shifting demands. A good marketing strategy increases market share, which increases revenue and profits. As a company grows, it gains economies of scale and lowers operational costs. Overall, strategic marketing planning links production and consumption.

Strategic marketing planning enables to focus on the most critical aspects of the business to market and also enables to operate with a sense of structure, rather than randomly, and to produce things that will assist in reaching towards the goals.

Marketing budget

This element of a marketing plan entails the creation of a marketing budget, which enables to fix budget for marketing expenditures in advance.

It helps to expand the business by efficiently contacting with target audience, promoting prospective and current products/services, and increasing client base through effective marketing (Westwood, 2019).

2.2 Mitigation Strategies for High-Risk Components of the Plan

From the discussion conducted in the preceding section, it is very much evident that each of the components of marketing plan is highly valuable and significant. Butlooking from a business-microscopic perspective the components of budget of marketingand target audience weave the basis of a marketing plan since these aspects are the ones that are of high risk and crucial for reaching success.

Budget for marketing:

To mitigate the issues regarding over expenditure of the budget of marketing, the greatest method to minimize marketing expenditures is to plan. Identifying and removing weak links, classifying best-performing ads and focusing on efforts and resources on them.

Marketing automation could allow automating daily marketing tasks, thus saving time and boosting marketing approach. Marketing automation also makes big data management cheaper by storing data in the cloud. Around 70% of organizations including Vodafone estimate that retaining clients is cheaper than acquiring new ones. Marketing automation allows to launch focused campaigns that generate more leads while saving time and money (Mousaet al, 2021).

Target Audience

Identifying and retaining customers are the big challenges that a firm must address for gaining better revenue, positive results and the limelight. To exemplify, Vodafone targets small and medium-sized businesses, major corporations, global corporations, and public sector enterprises for the better running of its business. It tactically chose these segments since it could acquire much revenue from these.

Retaining needs innovative ideas, customer satisfaction, instant help and excellent service. For example, AI-powered analytics have fundamentally altered the game of client retention of Vodafone. They have a wealth of data on customers ‘ interactions with online channels, sponsored advertisements, owned media, and a variety of other channels of communication, they can compile all of that data and have a far more complete understanding of consumer behavior.Vodafone invests much in customer support, connection, and retention (Kalam, 2020).

2.3 Developing a Marketing Plan That Will Achieve Strategic Objectives for a Complex Organization

SMART GOALS

In this section, the smart goals will help to achieve the identified goals of the company for the remedies of their loopholes in their operational plan(Al Sulaiti, 2021). There are some issues faced by the company that has recently disrupted their marketing expansion. In that case, there are some specific factors that will enable the company to enhance its operational process.

Objectives	Specific	Measurable	Attainable	Reasonable	Timely
Enhance the market share level	The company wants to improve the financial structure of its business plan. As a consequence, the company will consult with the financial consultants. This improvement will mitigate the financial market share at a prominent level.	In the entire process, the management of the company will track the financial profitability in between the 3 months and analysis the return profit from the market.	It is the only way to cater the better policies regarding the issues and in that case, effective financial planning has to require as a skill.	Regarding mitigating the gap in the financial performance this is an important aspect. Through this way, the market share of the company will be effectively high.	This particular initiation will take time for 6 to 9 months and within this period it will defiantly attainable.
Improve the better policies in the subscription	The company has faced many issues in their broadband subscription policies where the appropriateness of the policies has to be needed. It is important to achieve because through this the company will improvise their policies of the telecommunication sector that may decrease the rate of competition.	The company will constantly check the response of the users and track their feedback on their official site. This will help the company to trace their improvement on their policies.	In that case, the company will construct better policies with the board of consumer services and recruit some advisors who will suggest some effective advice on such an operational plan.	This is important to achieve because it will enhance their quality performance that which will famous them in the highly competitive market of Vodafone.	This process is a time taking process. This entire process will achieve within 5 to 8 months.
Offer the new customers policies in Mobile data	Due to the corruption in customer services, the improvisation of the customer's services with better plans on the mobile data is very important. In that case, Vodafone will assist some marketing consultants that will help them to advise some effective notions for better planning for the mobile data.	After implementation of this new marketing policy for mobile data planning the company will check the viability of the process and how much it will famous among the customers.	If the company will follow the trends of the telecommunication industry across the globe then maybe it will more easily for the company to employ the better investment of knowledge in this particular area.	This particular goal is important to grasp the mind of the customers in the international business market. The better approaches from the company related to their mobile planning will generate better concern and effectiveness on them that enrich the company profile.	This does not take a longer time within 1 month the plans will be changed and meet the customer needs regarding data planning for internet usage.

Task 3

3.1 Discussion on How the Plan Supports Strategic Objectives

The plan is to Increase market share, improve subscription policies, and offer new clients mobile data plans. To achieve this the company aims to increase its financial plan. Since increased market share is channelized by a financial plan and further enables a business to function on a larger scale and boost profitability, it will be supporting the objective. Additionally, it assists the business in establishing a cost edge over competitors. This process will take 9 to 6 months to process and is very doable.The corporation has had various concerns with its internet subscription policies and the policies ‘ suitability. It is vital to attain since the corporation will improve their telecommunication practices, lowering the rate of contest. The company would constantly monitor customer responses and feedback on its official website. The benefits of improved subscription policies would aid in customer pulling thus helping in mitigating issues linked with their previous ones.

This is significant since it will improve their quality performance in the highly competitive Vodafone market. This is a lengthy process. This entire process would take 5–8 months. Due to the poor customer service, improving customer service with improved mobile data plans is critical. In that instance, Vodafone will work with marketing advisors to help them better prepare for mobile data. After implementing this new marketing strategy for mobile data planning, the organization will assess its viability and popularity among clients. Improved mobile planning by the organization would generate better attention and effectiveness on them, enhancing the corporate profile. Within a month, the plan would be adjusted to fit the customer's data planning demands. To grasp the attention of the customers, new data plans are very much effective since Internet is the core aspect interconnected to each one's life for diverse reasons, this will of course be beneficial.

3.2 Develop an Approach to Gain Agreement for the Marketing Plan That Will Change Organization Actions And Methods to Achieve Strategic Objectives

When designing a comprehensive strategy, it is vital to find a way to ensure that the plan is accepted by the entire group. The entire team must get started on the strategy and identify the major challenges that the strategy should solve. The effectiveness of the steps taken in the above section was discussed with the employees. In that case, the marketing mix 7Ps approach enables us to prove the effectiveness of this marketing plan. Each stage of this particular marketing plan will generate a better understanding of the employees about the future improvement of the company in their marketing expansion of the business in an appropriate way.

Marketing Mix 7Ps

Product or service

In that case, Vodafone will begin better data service planning. In that case, a new product launch will not be needed, but plans have to be changed(Paurovaand Nadanyiova, 2020). On the other hand, because of the better market share in the telecommunication industry, Vodafone will generate a better financial structure that will enhance the platform of the market share. In that case, better policies and services for the customers will enhance the business's profile.

Price

Vodafone will enhance its financial capacity with the low price of its services. In that case, the company will promote the low price of the mobile plans. The low rate of data plans for the customers will enhance the profitability of the company in the competitive market. A pricing strategy is an effective approach that will provide low-cost, high-quality services that will easily capture the minds of customers all over the world and in the UK.

Promotion

The promotional strategy is an important factor that will enable a business to implement better proficiency in the market (Paurovaand Nadanyiova, 2020). In that case, the promotional activities will enable the company better promotional approaches in the competitive market. So, in that case, the company will generate effective marketing policies via the marketing plan which are tactfully promoted the planning of the telecommunication services. The better policies based on the demand of the customers will cater appropriateness of their planning for services.

Place

In that case, there is nothing specific about the locations for better promotional activities. As a result, telecommunication services are based on the global level. Therefore, in that case, there is no particular place for the future marketing planning implementation project.

People

In a marketing plan, people or customers are the main aspects. In that case, customers play an important role. In that case, these particular services are for all ages of people. Better financial planning and better data service planning are not dependent on age.

Process

In order to enhance the better implementation of the services will be provided through the improvised planning for the better customers services and improve the better policies in the subscription and cater the better financial structure (Paurovaand Nadanyiova, 2020). Better financial planning is the appropriate enhancement of the capacity for better market share. On the other hand, this particular mission and vision of this novel planning will generate better mobile data policies that will build a better platform for the customer services of Vodafone.

Physical evidence

Physical evidence is something that can grasp the attraction of the customers. In this particular case, there is no such physical evidence for the customers, but the fact is that in that case, the advertisement of the new telecommunication strategies is the most captivating physical evidence.

3.3 Critically Evaluate and Provides Review Measures For the Agreed Plan

The assessment and review criteria for the established plan are critical. The justification for quantifiable marketing targets is that they enable monitoring of progress toward achievement. One effective method of analyzing and reviewing is to hold a monthly meeting. At these sessions, accountable people might report on their accomplishments during the preceding quarter(Haunet al., 2019). Take my business, for instance; we hold monthly meetings to examine the strategy and determine if it will be successfully implemented.

In that case, some indicators help evaluate the effectiveness of the business in the future. It will help to measure how it will develop the market and will generate better ramifications from the business.

Online Marketing ROI

Profits and losses generated by digital marketing activities are measured by the return on investment (ROI) of the project. It depends on the amount of funding that has been put into the project. For want of a better expression, this metric determines whether or not the firm is receiving its investment back from its marketing activities(Krizanovaet al., 2019).

It is simple to determine if a promotional strategy has been successful or unsuccessful. In contrast to traditional approaches, which require to wait weeks or months before evaluating the validity of a campaign, a digital marketing strategy allows to know very instantly how well an advertisement is functioning, saving the time and money (Krizanovaet al., 2019). The majority of digital marketing channels provide sharing capabilities, which allow campaigns and publications to be shared with a large number of people at the same time. This leads to the establishment of economic growth and has the potential to significantly increase sales outcomes. Because of this specific assessment, the Vodafone Company will be able to better grasp the adaptable character of its clients when it comes to their new policy implementation.

Profit margin

Profitability, often known as profit margin, profitability ratio, or net profit ratio, is a metric used to determine productivity(Nariswariand Nugraha, 2020). It is determined by dividing net income by revenues. This company ‘s average gross profit margin is approximately 21%, an increase from the previous per cent. The average net profit margin varies according to the industry wherein the business operates and the level of auxiliary expenditures incurred.

Conclusion

Finally, during the planning phase, the marketing strategy and organisational strategy are in constant communication with one another. Strategic objectives are reached by particular actions that are guided by an organization's strategic goals. Advertising is the precise action that will be taken to achieve the strategic objectives. Broadly speaking, it is critical in the marketing strategy to minimise the possibility of failure. In the meantime, obtaining consensus across the entire team is really vital as well. To put it another way, strategic management is Strategy formulation is a level of management activity that occurs between the stages of defining goals and implementing methods.

Therefore, as per the analysis from this report, it has been seen that Vodafone has faced many issues in its marketing planning policies and complexity in its implementation of the project. In task 2, this report has conducted a thoughtful evaluation of the facets of a marketing plan and assigned a monetary value to each product's contribution to the success of strategic objectives. Also, this report has examined risk mitigation methods for the plan's elevated elements, as well as the development of a marketing plan that can assist a company in achieving its strategic goals. Additionally, job 3 included a detailed description of how the plan helps to fulfil strategic goals, a strategy for achieving consensus on a business plan that would transform the firm's processes and activities in order to achieve specific purposes and an assessment of the qualitative systematic. Therefore, from the evaluation of the report, it has been seen that, due to the various shortcomings, the company tried to improvise its aspects with efficiency. As a consequence, the appropriate strategies or policies will help to enhance the appropriateness of the Vodafone Company.

Reflection

In addition, throughout this period of planning, the business model and the strategic objectives are in regular dialogue with others. Conclusion In order to achieve the strategic goals, specific activities must be undertaken that are directed by the strategic goals of the organization. From this analysis, I have learned that Marketing tools are the techniques, procedures, tactics, tools, technologies, and documents that companies and marketing specialists use to create and implement marketing campaigns that adequately sell their products. Alongside, I have also learned that a method is a structure for establishing objectives and allocating skills and equipment inside an organisation to achieve those objectives. Vodafone classifies its services using a variety of segmentation approaches into mobile network solutions, enterprise solutions, and wireless broadband. It is divided into geographic, economic, and psychographic segments.

I have also understood and learned that the factors contained within a marketing strategy include the chance of advertising failure and damage. This category includes risks linked to price, innovative products, advertising, transportation, brand, consumer experience, and sales. Strategic objectives are the fundamental aims of a business; they define the means through which the business will seek to fulfil its purpose. Usually, strategic goals are performance-related, such as launching a product, boosting revenue, or expanding sales volume.

From this evaluation, I have also learned that marketing tools are the techniques, processes, tactics, resources, technologies, and materials that companies and marketing specialists use to create and implement marketing strategies that successfully sell goods and services. When developing a coherent plan, it is critical to consider how the plan will be accepted by the group members. The entire group must begin work on the plan and identify the primary obstacles that the approach must overcome. The effectiveness of the actions outlined in the preceding section was discussed with employees. In such a situation, the marketing strategy 7Ps method enables the efficacy of this marketing strategy to be demonstrated.

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