A Comparison of Two Business' Approaches to MarketingPromotional Strategies for a Similar Service, Illustrating the Differing Techniques Used
Unit 7: Marketing and Promotional Strategy
E1 & C1
A Comparison of Two Business’ Approaches to Marketing
Promotional Strategies for a Similar Service, Illustrating the Differing Techniques Used
Before I can start comparing marketing and promotional strategies of each business, I need to understand the background of each organisation. The two competitor organisations that, I will be investigating are Barclays Bank and the HSBC Bank.
Barclays Bank
Barclays is currently the fourth largest retail and business bank in the United Kingdom. It is also one of the top ten largest financial banks in the world. Barclays is one of the oldest banks around because; it has been involved in banking for more than three hundred years ago.
In 1896, Barclays became a new leader of a new joint-stock bank, which is named as, ‘Quaker Bank’. In those days, Barclays had made a large sum of money and they used it to expand its branch network by, taking over other banks. Between 1905 and 2003, Barclays took over numerous of banks, as well as a former building society (‘The Woolwich’) and a retail stock broking company (Charles Schwab Europe).
In 1925, Barclays merged with the Colonial Bank, the Anglo Egyptian Bank and the National Bank of South Africa, to create Barclays’ international operations. Most of Barclays’ operations are based in Africa, the Middle East, and the West Indies.
Barclays provides a wide range of financial products and services to both personal and business customers. Examples of financial products and services that Barclays Bank provides to its personal customers include the following: Telephone Banking, Online Banking, Branch Banking, Current Accounts, Barclayloan, Insurances (e.g. home insurance), Mortgages, and Travel Services. Examples of financial products and services that Barclays Bank provides to its business customers include the following: Small Business Services, Insurances (e.g. business insurance), Business Banking, International Banking, Savings Accounts, Barclays Capital- Investment Banking, and International Retail and Commercial Banking.
HSBC Bank
The HSBC Bank is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. The name ‘HSBC’ is the acronym for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. The financial organisation was once named as ‘Midlands Bank’ before; it was taken over by the Chinese who renamed it to ‘HSBC Bank’. This take-over attracted a lot of new customers, especially foreign customers. The reason for taking over the bank was to finance the growing trade between Europe, India and China.
The HSBC Bank provides a comprehensive range of financial products and services to both personal and business customers. Examples of financial products and services that HSBC Bank provides to its personal customers include the following: Textphone Banking, Internet Banking, Branch Banking, Telephone Banking, Mortgages, Insurances (e.g. home insurance), Saving Accounts, Personal Loans, Investments, and Travel Services. Examples of financial products and services that HSBC Bank provides to its business customers include the following: Insurances (e.g. business insurance), Investments, Mortgages, Loans, Saving Accounts, International Banking and Foreign Currency/Travel Services.
The Marketing and Promotional Strategy of Barclays
According to the Bank Manager of West Bromwich branch, the marketing promotional strategy of Barclays is, ‘To reach all potential markets’. The bank can achieve its marketing promotional strategy only by differentiating themselves from other rival banks.
There are numbers of ways in which Barclays can differentiate themselves from other rival banks. The bank can provide special offers to their customers such as, 10% online discounts on travel insurance. The bank can hand out free gifts to customers for applying for one of their services. For example, if a student opens a Student Account and pays in more than £500, he/she will receive a £20 Waterstone’s/HMV voucher. The bank can also offer high-quality services at an incredible low price to customers. For example, if a customer wants cheap travel insurance, he/she should choose Barclays. Joining with Barclays, the customer could save up to £26 on travel insurance. The following table shows the standard prices that each travel insurance providers charge for a Single-trip cover:
