Topic 18 - An Organisation's Marketing Strategy & its Effectiveness

That looks like a very good approach. In relation to answering Q3 & 4 you would also be referring to the Bank's strengths and opportunities (though a full SWOT is probably not possible with the word count limitations) as part of drawing on and maintaining competitive advantage.

Thank you.. I know I am just starting part 1 and 2, I am curious about part 3, I have chosen a bank(local bank) and I am curious about the source of information, data. Where do I get the information from? I know I will not just type random search on Google!.

trephena wrote:That looks like a very good approach.

Thank you.. I know I am just starting part 1 and 2, I am curious about part 3, I have chosen a bank(local bank) and I am curious about the source of information, data. Where do I get the information from? I know I will not just type random search on Google!.

This is what your research is about uncovering and will come from a variety of sources. Some of this may be primary data e.g. observation so with the 7 Ps - People is there a uniform worn by counter staff and if so how does this compare with rivals' uniforms ? Place - what are the buildings like inside and out? and the facilities for customers - is there any seating, adequate air conditioning? Process - are there long queues? Again how do these compare with rival banks? Much of the data however will be secondary: articles from the business press and trade journals, advertisements and the company's own annual reports (CEO and Chairman's reports outlining new products, services etc.) . So Place would be supported by factual information about the number of branches, locations and Process by supplemented by details about the bank's online facilities, app, customer service, and People by info on training and staff development. Strengths and weaknesses info would be derived from the articles though you could also conduct a survey from customers asking about their experiences and expectations

trephena wrote:This is what your research is about uncovering and will come from a variety of sources.

Thank you once again.. I have been reading this book- Principle of marketing by Philip Kotler. He highlighted some things regarding marketing mix (4). For product - variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging and service Price - list price, discounts, allowances, payment period Promotion - advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct and digital Place - channels, coverage, locations, inventory, transportation and logistics. I guess I can focus on data search on the listed above points? I know that all won't be relevant to bank. I can also use the examples you have given above on 'people' and 'Process'

Philip Kotler is known as THE marketing guru. Use his book as a guide and adapt it accordingly. Normally you would be expected to make some comparisons with rivals to put your chosen bank into an appropriate context. Do not however overlook the second part of the topic title - an evaluation of the effectiveness of the marketing strategies. For this you need to have some facts and figures about market share if possible and trends in profits and possibly make some comparisons again with rivals. The thing most students forget is that an evaluation of the effectiveness of the strategies does not necessarily mean that they have been super successful. If your company has not shown improvements then provided you supply the evidence - static profits or even declining profits and can justify why this is the case, you will be dealing with the topic brief.

Hi. I am doing a fashion retail co for this topic using 7Ps and Porter 5 forces. May I ask for advice for 1) should comparator place within the same section as 7Ps or after analysis of 7Ps at part 3? 2) and I would like to confirm regarding assessing its effectiveness part, does compare to anything else related 7Ps such as sales, price or campaign over competitor will do? or any advice to assess its effectiveness? thank you.

1) It is usually useful to do the comparisons side by side as you go along rather than have a separate section after the main company, as this allows the reader to see how differently or similar any competitor is performing on their Ps 2) In assessing effectiveness of the marketing strategies you would be expected to show trends in revenue and market share - these mostly would be just the main company, though it may be relevant to include the comparator in the market share analysis. International expansion in some circumstances may also be indicative of successful marketing strategies. (Ideally if possible you would show the marketing spend as a percentage of revenue over the last few years - however this data is rarely available from the annual reports, and therefore few people outside the company can produce this ratio as they lack the expense breakdown in this level of detail). One thing students overlook is that the title asks you to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies - the evaluation in some cases might indicate that the strategies have not been effective. This is not an issue provided you supply the evidence and sufficient evaluation in your report to justify making this conclusion

Thank a lot, trephena.

Product of the 7 ps - can I just repeat what was list in the company's annual report and compare with what a competitor listed on their annual report?

IMO that would be inadequate analysis. 'Product' is not just a list of items a company sells it also relates to how the companies physically present their products to the consumer. For example with drinks this might be whether they come in bottles, cans, different sizes and multi-packs; for a car manufacturer it would be the differences within the same category of model - the basic and the deluxe model. It also would relate to product size and packaging [including artwork], how the company ensures its products look appealing and stand out from rival products and give the customer satisfaction Therefore a more detailed analysis and evaluation is required to show that you have considered how each company anticipates and caters to its customers' requirements and goes about making its products look attractive and appropriate to the customer's wants and needs for the whole of the buying experience. Remember marketing strategies are about fulfilling the customer's desires and appealing to as many customers as possible and therefore your assessment of the 4 or 7Ps of marketing should be looking at how the company and some of its rivals compete with each other on 4 /7 elements - what they do the same or similarly and what they do differently.

Thank you... In my case, I will be writing on a bank. product size, packaging may not necessarily apply. Off example, the bank accounts - individual current account, would the features and benefits suffice? Since the rival banks may offer similar or different features and benefits on this product.

Agreed - if a bank the product is the intangible services offered and therefore there is no visible product. Process and people involved in delivering the service to customers will be important (along with physical evidence -together forming the remaining Ps in the 7Ps). Maybe feedback on social media will provide you with some way of comparing staff in the main bank and rivals. Also appearance -is there a corporate uniform to enforce corporate identity and promote the company image. Facilities -online services, customer service, helplines (times available and waiting times for example) are other aspects that may be compared in respect of process.

Hi Trephena, so I started reading from page 1 and I saw you mentioned about a document on t18 that you marker friend wrote. Can I get the document? Please!

Please email me and I can do this. However the document is now a bit dated as it goes back a few years and the pass criteria are now higher so it is only a rough guide and should be used in conjunction with the latest assessment criteria

Thanks Trephena, I have sent a mail to that address.

Hi Trephena, On 7ps, I seem to be writing to much on the description of the marketing mix. I know I need to focus more on the analysis and evaluation. How do properly analyse and evaluation these marketing mix?

By comparing your bank with competitors on the various aspects of the 7Ps. For example I have outlined above how to do this with People. With Place look at spread of locations, accessibility, facilities offered (ATMs foreign currency etc), and facilities within -space, environment (air conditioning, seating, overcrowding). Process requires examination and comparisons of intangibles - average queuing times, customer service and automation (including apps and the like)

Thanks. These are the things I have considered before on place mix, the bank has over 400 branches in 7 countries, with over 4000 ATMs, thousands of POS machines, uses agency banking, e-banking. Will checking for ac, seating or overcrowding still be relevant here? The only difference between this bank and other rival banks will only be the number of bank branches, ATM, POS

I am choosing Starbucks for this topic. Can I know if 7p model Porter Analysis is enough for PART2? I read this thread and mentions of Boston Matrix, does it apply? Is Starbucks a good choice for this topic? I can't find their marketing costs in annual report, how do I go about the ratio analysis in this case?

How to proof that the comparator company is a competitor?

You really need to apply the 4 / 7 Ps which is makes a good structural framework for the Analysis Evaluation and another model - it depends upon the actual company chosen what this additional model should be but Porter's five forces is often appropriate but also the Boston Matrix or Ansoff may be appropriate depending upon the company. The important thing is that it is appropriate and therefore what may be right for one company may not be the best model for another company

@trephena thank you. my mentor mentioned to focus on one product instead of a brand from a org, is that the easier or usual way to do this research topic?

Remember part of the topic brief is to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing strategies - this normally means doing some market share analysis and possibly getting financial info to be able to assess how effective the marketing spend and other strategies have been - are you going to be able to do this for a single product, unless the company you choose only produces this one product? Normally a smaller but established company [as opposed to a global company such as McDonalds, Starbucks and the like] can be a good choice as you can appraise its range of product offerings and possibly how it may differentiate products to suit specific market segments e.g. the luxury range for those with higher incomes and the basic product range for those on a budget, and how these are reflected in price differentials and how they are promoted.

I think that is what I am struggling with. My mentor asked me to pick one product. I chose Loreal organisation, adn their brand cerave's moisturiser. But do you think it's better if I did the Cerave brand as a whole instead? CeraVa owned by loreal, loreal org but focus on cerave?

I think you are going to have the same issues - how do you separate out the financial and market share info for a particular brand within LOreal ? My own Topic 18 students chose smaller but well known innovative companies - so there is lots to write about their products range, promotion of both products and brand name [as well as the other Marketing Ps] and have not encountered these issues as they are looking at the company's total market share and its increased revenues and profits.

i think tend to fail T18 because they trot out generalisations and don’t put enough focus on the actual strategies relevant to their organisation and fail to consider things like market penetration, product differentiation, market segmentation.

As for the effectiveness, i am making an assumption that the performance of loreal as a whole is affected by the cerave marketing strategy but it may not be accurate since loreal carries so many brands. and the ratio analysis, explanations i am specifc to the brand and product what do you think?

The RAP is an academic piece of work and should be written in a semi-formal style. You are right - this means writing in the 3rd person and also using what is grammatically called 'the passive voice'. In practice this means you do not write 'I found' but ' it was found' or if you wish, 'the author found' (alternatively 'the researcher found' / 'the writer found'). Use of 'we' (we can see / we can conclude etc.) should be avoided and 'it can be seen / it can be concluded' should be used instead (though possibly you might be able to state 'the author concluded' depending upon the context) PS I usually tell students not to worry about using 'I' in the early part of the RAP when discussing why you choose the topic but switch to the above more formal style when writing about the process and above all in the Analysis. Evaluation and Conclusions