Introduction to Marketing

• Making improvements to the built  and natural environment

We can see TFL adverts everywhere around us when we go out – posters, leaflets, radio and TV, signs in the tube station. w

Being in the Public Sector their do not aim to make profit but to provide excellent service to the population; to make it to break-even ; to increase funds from government; to make contribution to the community.

Marketing Mix – 4 P’s

Once the marketing objectives have been agreed it is necessary to develop marketing plans to achieve the goals. The marketing mix provides an excellent framework from developing marketing plans. The marketing mix made up of a number of parts- product, price, promotion, place and packaging.

Product

Product means the combination of good and services that is offered to the target consumer.

Price

Price is the amount of money consumers has to pay to acquire the product. This can vary considerably from the advertised price.

Place

Place describes where and how the consumer can obtain the product

Promotion

Promotion describes undertaken to ensure the consumers knows about the product and its capabilities. It is usually make up of a combination of advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling.

Task 2

Many companies are using marketing mix because makes the planning better and it is organized so it will apply to they products or services.  Here I will talk about Prêt-a-Manger and McDonald’s marketing mix and all this applies to them.

Prêt-a-Manger

• Product - The company sells fresh made and healthy sandwiches and drinks. Also they are selling coffees, cakes and salads.
• Price – the price of their products is not that cheap as the other companies from the competition, it is a little bit more expensive because of the fact that their products are fresh made, organic and healthy. Their products are target for the people from middle class who care about their health and prefer to buy something that it a little bit more expensive but it worth it, so their prices are between £1.50 and £2.00 for a sandwich and might go higher.
• Place – The Company has restaurants/café in the busy parts of the cities. The cafés are with good environment; you can sit there and enjoy your food, the places are with models interior and their main color – brown with beige accessories and these colors makes the customers to feel more comfortable and relaxed
• Promotion – they promote themselves by hanging out well designed leaflets, also they have a website that they have out a lot of information about the company such as history, aims, their strategy and their products. One really good things that they do is to interview their customers to get their feedback so they would know what is good to improve and that is another way to find out what the customer want.

McDonald’s

• Product – Different than Prêt – a – Manger, McDonald’s offers to their customer hot and tasty food but its not healthy like the other company. McDonald’s provide wide range of hamburgers and burgers, drinks, salads and deserts to their customers.
• Price - The prices are affordable and really cheap, you can see low class and mostly children in the restaurant. The prices start from £0.99 for a burger and might  go  up to £3.60 for a meal
• Place – As a worldwide company McDonald’s have stores in over 120 countries, and it is a fact that in every sixty seconds there is another store opening their doors for the customers. You can see McDonald’s in every town, high street and even on the freeways, also in every shopping centre and most of the time is full. The places are with nice bright colors and make you feel good and relaxed. It is always clean so you can feel comfortable eating in their restaurants.
• Promotion –As a big company McDonald’s promote themselves in many ways. They do TV adverts, posters and leaflets are the most using advertising way. Also they have people who are giving away leaflets promoting their new services or leaflets with offers, such as buy a sandwich and you get a free one.

Marketing is really important for every business, with a good marketing plan the company can achieve more and better results in future. First before to start to advertise your products or services you have to make sure that you do not break any of the laws and issues, or if you have without knowing it they can take down your adverts and stop you advertising your products and services. There are some rules and bullet points that the company needs to go through first before to start advertise, such as:

• The advertise should not break the law
• The ad should not have any fear or distress in to it.
• The ad should not contain any matter of violence, anti-social behavior.
• The advertise should not contain any matter that is likely to cause offence
• The ad should not seek to take improper advantages of any characteristics or circumstances which may take consumer vulnerable
• The ad should not contain anything that is possible to result or harm the children or to exploit they credulity, lack or experience, sense of loyalty.
• The ad should not seek to discredit any of the products or services of the competition
• Should not be copy of other ads or close to it because it might leads to misunderstanding.

If we compare both companies Prêt-a-manger and McDonald’s , we can say that both are offering food and drinks to the consumer, but their target market are people from different class level, anyhow now both companies wants to advertise their products on the TV.

Both companies could do it, but the problem is that McDonald’s are not allowed to advertise during the children programs because of the fact that their products are not healthy, so the only chance for them is to advertise when is not the children programs on. While Prêt-a-Manger can advertise during the programs because their food is healthy, but here the problem is McDonald’s is targeting low class people and mostly children, while Prêt-a-Manger is targeting middle class people, people that are more grown up and want to have a healthy food. So while McDonald’s wants but does not have the right to advertise during the children programs, Prêt-a-Manger are looking to advertise when the children programs are off.

There are four Acts that each company marketing manager should look before start advertising, to make sure that they will not break the law and will not have problems in future:

• Sales of Goods Act 1979
• Consumer Credit Act 2006
• Data Protection Act 1998
• Trade Description Act 1968

Task 3

 

However the marketing mix is to help the business to plan for future. Here I will compare how both companies use the marketing mix to achieve their aims and objectives:

• Products - Both companies try to introduce new products. As a big company McDonald’s have to take care of their customers like for example what the customers want in the different customers. A good example is India where they fry their fries with vegetable oil and service burgers with vegetables and chicken instead of their famous beef. So McDonald’s need to be extra careful when they open doors in other countries to make sure that they will adapt with the religion and culture.

Prêt-a-Manger does not have such a problem because they do not have so many stores and it is a fact that most of them are in the Europe. They do have different ranges of sandwiches and wraps that are suitable even for the vegetarian people.

McDonald’s offers a big range of products for their customer to make sure that they will leave happy. One of the well knows products are Cheeseburger and Big Mac. Their products are not healthy but they are tasty, good quality and people like them also they are sold at affordable price. And because they are well know company and a lot of people prefer them they need to have different food for the different people, good example is the Indian people that do not eat beef, that’s why McDonald’s adapts so well, they give to the customer what they want, even in the UK they still offer vegetarian burgers and meals for the special customers.

Prêt-a-Manger also though about that type of customers and they are selling fresh made organic food such as Indian chicken curry sandwiches. Even with not that many restaurants as a McDonald’s, Prêt- a – Manger does not have problem with the adapting to the customers need either. The difference between the two companies is that one of it is for lower class people while the other one is for more grown up people and also the food that they provide to the customers – one of it the fresh organic and healthy while the other one is tasty with good quality but unhealthy.

• Price – McDonald’s is a well know worldwide successful company and Prêt-a-Manger is a leading café with fresh and healthy food. While McDonald’s is a big company providing tasty, affordable but unhealthy food their competitor is offering fresh made and healthy food with a little difference in their prices. Both companies have different prices in their different restaurants which are because of the different pricing strategy. However the companies have to follow some simple rules before to put out new products for their customers:

•   First of all they need to decide what product they will offer to the consumer
• How much will cost them to make that product
• If the competition has such or similar product how much they sell it
• The pricing method
• At the end – the actual price that they will sell the product to the customers.

The companies set their prices by the quality and the ingredients that they used. You can see that usually young people, students and big families with their children are going to McDonald’s, because the company provides their customers with high quality food that is also tasty at really affordable prices  and satisfies the customer needs. While Prêt-a-Manger decides what price they will sell their products at by the fact that they are selling fresh organic healthy food, because of that fact their prices are bit more expensive of these at McDonald’s

• Place - After both companies are well know and both are worldwide, but the difference is that McDonald’s has a restaurant in every high street in every city, malls and even you can see it in the freeway with the name McDrive. McDonald’s have more than 25000 restaurants worldwide. Prêt-a-Manger is also a worldwide company but is not that big, they have around 160 stores in the world but they are choosing where to open doors for the customers. Usually they are choosing places that are easy to get to and to be in area where people prefer to buy fresh and healthy food. Both companies are having websites where they explain how they work, information about their products and history.

Usually McDonald’s open their doors at busy areas, to make sure that the customer will be happy to walk in the restaurant they change their interior. Before used to me yellow walls with colorful chairs and white tables, now is with light colors and the interior is more modern, so the customer will feel more relaxed. At some restaurants they have playgrounds where the children can go and have fun while their parents enjoy the food.

Different than McDonalds, Prêt-a-Manger uses dark colors for their interior but they are also located in some of the malls and busy areas.

• Promotions – Both companies are using marketing in a way to promote themselves and both need to be really careful when they make a new ads just incase the ad will not be banned by breaking the law. That’s why there are few simple rules they have to keep to make sure that nothing bad will happen to them. There are three simple ways that the company can use in the marketing to make sure that the customer will see them – advertising, sponsorship and personal selling.

While McDonald’s advertise on the TV and on posters, Prêt-a-Manger advertises their products posters and ads that are on the buses or minicabs.

McDonald’s promote their products in different way, to attract more children they have Ronald McDonald’s that is a character who look like a clown and make fun for the children, also they have a special menu called “Happy meal” with which the children is getting a toy present.

Prêt-a-Manger is using leaflets and poster to promote the brand to the people. Their target market is people who are over 18 and can afford to eat healthy. So while McDonald’s can use children for their ads Prêt -a- Manger cannot because it will look unprofessional.

How the integrated marketing mix is used to support branding?

Product- The brand could be a sign or a symbol for a product, design in a way that is easy for the consumer to remember it. There are different ways to make the brand image better so the customer will know it is to make sure that the quality is better to offer them something new and interesting, another way is to give then different offers such as buy one get one free ( or ½ price) or to put the prices down but to keep same quality level. Also with the method of dropping down the prices have to be extra careful, the products should not be too cheap because then the customers will not buy it, even worst they might suspect that something wrong is going on in the company. One of the most important things about the product is the packing.  The packing shows how well the company is trying to present their products and people are more likely to buy something with a nice packing rather than something with bad design.

Price – The price is a really important factor in the company. Every company needs to make sure that the price of their products is reasonable. The price of the product o service should not be really expensive because then the consumer will not buy it , but also should not be too cheap because the consumer might suspect something and not buy it either.

Place – Big, well known brands that are felling food usually open stores in high street, malls, and busy areas. The location to open a new store is really important, first of all the company needs to make sure that they do not have other store there, also they have to be sure that there are potential customers. After they have found the new location of the new store they have to make sure that the environment, the look and the interior are safety, but also and attractive so the customers will be happy to go there

Promotion – A good promotion might get you a lot of customer attention therefore a good reputation. Every company has their way of advertising; some are doing it on the TV, others on the radio or with leaflets/posters, websites, promotions and many other ways.

Task 4 – Marketing information

As a big company McDonald's always put their customer in the centre of their market research, they want to find out more of what their customers think and what they want so the company will give it to them in the appropriate way. One of the best ways to do that type of research is to do a Primary Research, where you can talk straight to the customers or hang out questionnaires. Another good marketing research is to use the internet, but once they have found what their customers want they need to get to marketing board and to decide whether they will sell that product and how , at what price or not and if need to be improved how they will do it.

Being a worldwide company you will always want to be on the top of the competition, that’s what McDonald’s also want. The marketing department carries a special research about the competitors by just log in on the internet and going to their competitors’ website. When they have found all the information they can decide what prices to put for their products or what type of advertisement to do so they can be better than their competitors.

McDonald’s is a big company and is hard to know what is going on in every restaurant that’s why the area or city managers once in a while hire professional actors to go to their restaurants and to test their employees. It is a good research to do because at the end you would know who is doing a good job and who needs more training. The guests’ shoppers are going to the stores and play a role where they get really angry and rude with the employees to see how they will react and what they will say. The result is good because you know where you have to improve your skills so the next time you will be the best one acted in such a difficult situation.

Task 5 – Segmenting, targeting, branding and relationship marketing.

Segmentation helps the organization to choose a product that will satisfy their target market. There are four different ways of segmentations that any company can use in order to help themselves with finding and offering new products to their target market:

• Geographic Segmentation - This include climate, continent, population, size of area. Climate is the most important because in some countries might not have the same ingredients that they need to use to prepare their products, which means that they have to find an alternative product or not to make it.
• Demographic Segmentation – Gender, age, education, income. Really important factors to find out about how will be your customers.
• Psychographics Segmentation – Activities, sports, socialism.
• Lifestyle Segmentation –Brands, loyalty, different types of buyers.

 It is really important to have a planning process because help you to improve the company image. Because of the marketing planning and their strategy Prêt-a-Manger is also using the planning process, not in the full eight points but it is related in five of them, which are:

• Prêt-a- Manger wants to stay ahead of their competitors that’s why they want to increase their profits with 5%, once they achieved what they need to with the money from the profit they can think of investing it in another store.

• To make sure that their new products will satisfy their customer they can promote them in the store, like for example if they are having new sandwich coming up they can give a sample to the customers that walk in the store and ask them for their opinion.
• Targeting, branding and relationship segments can be used by Prêt-a-Manger to show the customers their new or even old but improved products, ask the customers for their opinion ( relationship segmentation) so they can have even bigger chances for the customer to return to their store.
• When the company sets strategy and marketing plan they know what they want to get in result. That’s why the marketing plan helps to introduce the product to the customer in attractive for them way so they will buy it and the strategy plan is to make it to be safe and quick.
• Marketing plan is used in order to know what activities to get, a good marketing plan will cover all the P’s and will be able to show the product to the customer in the best appropriate way to make sure that they will like it and they will buy it.

Prêt-a-Manger is also international company bit it is not that big as McDonald’s. As a company they also have their customers that they want to satisfy. The difference is Prêt-a-Manger customers are grown up people who care what they eat and for them does not matter how much they will pay. That is what the company gives them, the customers from middle class, fresh organic healthy food; it is not that cheap as McDonald’s but it is worth it for the quality, ingredients and the taste.

Just like every company Prêt-a-Manger want their customers to come back, so they can use different ways to keep their customer and even to get more customers:

• Different types of offers so they can meet their expectations – such as buy a sandwich and get a free drink, or buy one and get one ½ price
• Offering to the customers new products – introducing new products in attractive way to the customers
• Customers gifts or discounts – like for example when you are buying a coffee they can give you a mini cake or a chocolate as a present with it, or another way is also having of the little cards where you can get it stamp every time when you buy a hot drink and for example when you get ten stamps you can get your next hot drink for free.

Task 6 – Marketing techniques

McDonald’s has used every possible way to promote the brand. Their marketing department works really hard to make sure that they will have one of the best and unique ads:

• TV
• Leaflets
• Newspapers and magazines
• Segmentations
• Different types of promotion
• Famous people

McDonald’s does have ads on the TV even after they are too expensive, but also they have to make sure that they will not break the law by playing their ads during the children programmes. The most common way for advertising that McDonald’s uses that is hanging out leaflets and on the newspapers. They also have an ad with Justin Timberlake that is singing “I’m Loving it” that turn up to be their slogan.

They have put a lot of information on their website about their products and services. The website is made to be really attractive and interesting, also that helps to the customers to know about their new products and offers.

Task 7 – Planning for the future

Assignment 2

Analytical techniques

Situation analysis

Marketers have a variety of techniques available for considering their options. The techniques focus on identifying the changes an organisation needs to make to achieve its ambitions. All the techniques taken together are generally called a ‘situation analysis’ or ‘marketing audit’.

The most frequency analyses are the SWOT and PESTLE analysis.

SWOT analysis

A common approach is to use SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to draw together all he evidence from the various techniques used. It is a way of producing a summary, which then provides the basis for developing marketing objectives or aims, and ultimately strategies, or plans.

Strengths, weakneses, opportunities and threats analysis provides a framework within which marketers can identify significant developments in markets.

• Strengths refer to the internal features of an organisation that provide a competitive advantage.
• Weaknesses are aspects of the organisation that may not stand comparison with competition or are not performing effectively.
• Opportunities focus on events and developments external to an organisation. The growing use and acceptance of the Internet to sell products will present some companies with the chance to increase profits by selling directly to consumers.
• Threats are developments external to the organisation that could potentially damage overall performance. These threats can originate from new laws, changes in government policy, or social developments such as the trend towards healthier diets.

A SWOT analysis is summary of all the information collected during the situational analysis.

PESTLE analysis

Markets use PESTLE analysis (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental) to investigate the external environment an organisation is operating in

• Political factors affect the activity of business. Political developments are generally out of the control, but it needs to forecast and anticipate change and then react accordingly.
• Economic – influences look at how the performance of the economy impacts on organisation. All economies go through cycles of prosperity, recession and recovery. The business cycle is especially important because of its direct effect on consumer and business spending. During times of prosperity, both consumers and business customers buy more gods and services.
• The social environment describes the characteristics of society. The people who live in the society and their values and beliefs.
• Many technological developments affect organisation.
• The legal climate constantly changes as the government introduces new law through Parliament
• Environmental factors can also affect an organisation.

PESTLE Analysis

Both analysis are important but I think that the one that is really important is the SWOT analysis because it shows where the company wants to go, what to achieve, it shows what are their weaknesses so they could analyze them and improve them. But then the PESTLE analysis is also really important because you have to know where your business is in the big picture, also what regulations and laws to keep, so the company to be successful.

Task 2 – How to use  analytical techniques

Weaknesses:

I think that the Weaknesses part in the SWOT analysis is the most important because it shows you where you are not that good at and what you have to improve to make sure that your business will succeed.

• Strengths refer to the internal features of an organisation that provide a competitive advantage.
• Opportunities focus on events and developments external to an organisation. The growing use and acceptance of the Internet to sell products will present some companies with the chance to increase profits by selling directly to consumers.
• Threats are developments external to the organisation that could potentially damage overall performance. These threats can originate from new laws, changes in government policy, or social developments such as the trend towards healthier diets.

Economics:

I think that economics in PESTLE analysis is also really important but it also unpredictable. The managers and especially the owners of the companies have to be really careful, because today they might do really good profit but tomorrow if something goes wrong with the economics and especially the stock trade they might bankrupt.

• Political factors affect the activity of business. Political developments are generally out of the control, but it needs to forecast and anticipate change and then react accordingly.
• The social environment describes the characteristics of society. The people who live in the society and their values and beliefs.
• Many technological developments affect organisation.
• The legal climate constantly changes as the government introduces new law through Parliament
• Environmental factors can also affect an organisation