Accountability in Marketing Function - Your Destination

To: Senior Marketing Manager

From: Senior Business Executive

Company: “Your Destination”

Date: 1th June 2018

Subject: Duties and Responsibilities of Senior Marketing Officer, proposed operations and structure of marketing departments.

Marketing is one of the important procedure of a company in which managers used to promote brands in a vast area. They formulate various strategies in order to increase sales performance of an organisation with main purpose is to gain competition advancement. In addition to this, marketers use several tools and techniques in order to analyze situation of marketplace, demands of customers, purchasing power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and distributors etc. All these processes help employers in optimizing procedure through which they can attract large number of customers towards its products or services in an efficient manner. Along with this, they can take important decisions in making improvisation in business and marketing strategies. In order to meet desired goals, marketing department perform several duties and responsibilities in a efficient manner. Under this some of key components of marketing department are being discussed beneath:

Market Analysis

Market investigation can be considered as an important program that aid an organisation in looking into different aspects which may aid business firms in grabbing good position in short period of time. With the help of market analysis Your Destination may directly grab competitive advantages through collecting data through using various tools. Decision making power may become strong of both managers and leaders of Your Destination. Some of tools under this can be used by this organisation and these are discussed beneath:

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

• Cultural diversity is being considered as the main purpose of this organisation and believes in delivering products and services to consumers according to their needs and requirements. With the help of this, business expansion and branches can get open at Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Aberdeen and many other cities of United Kingdom. Through this, competition can be given to National Express which is market leader in present time.
• Your Destination have already made good existence around London and Essex from past three years and citizens of these cities have shown an appropriate response to them. This can be considered as a strength for this organisation which will help out in business expansion in other cities of UK.

Weaknesses:

• Highly seasonal use of facilities and labour. This lead Your Destination to giving less advantages in gain competitive power and will make less effective in front of National Express.
• Huge turnover for staff which is a barrier for this firm in doing business in an easy manner. This can be said as a weakness for this organisation because if employees are leaving their job then retention level of staff members will may get less. This may bring less effectiveness among productivity and this may delay the process of business expansion around Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen and in other cities of UK.

Opportunities:

• Income can be enhanced through doing business nationwide. It has been analysed that Manchester, Glasgow and Aberdeen are some major tourist destinations and if Your Destination expands their business in these cities then it is may be possible firm may start giving good rivalry to national express which is market leader of transportation in UK at current moment.
• Enhancement in actual demand for advanced services. If Your Destination will use updated technology in order to deliver the services to its customers. Like developing mobile application where consumers can compare the prices. Then this can be taken as an opportunity for this organisation.

Threats:

• Firm is rapidly focusing on doing promotional activities rather than developing products and services. This can be taken as a major threat just because National Express who is market leader is keeping their main focus on delivering appropriate packages to customers as per current trends.
• Depleted accession of finance and funds. Just because firm is doing business at domestic level and its outlets are in two cities only. They are having limited funds and expansion of business requires high funding.

On the other hand, Your destination should also understand the concept of short and long term planning that comes under strategic preparation and these are discussed beneath:

Strategic Planning: This sort of planning is being considered as the best approach for Your Destination. Because they are doing business nationwide and working in the sector of travel and tourism which is famous for its diverse implications and other things. Under this, two sort of plans comes under which are long and short term that have been discussed beneath:

• Short term: It has been analysed that there are ample number of phases comes in front of managers and leaders of Your Destination where they have to make effective decisions right on time so that firm do not go through any problem or any phase as well. These short term planning can help business organisation in maintaining long term planning. Business expansion in some of cities like Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen requires both short and long term planning. Here, short term planning can be done through offering different services travellers of these cities with limited time frame in order to analyse the perception of them according to services that are being offered by them.
• Long term planning: In order to meet all the future goals it is required for Your Destination to develop plans. These sort of planning requires proper resources and study as well. Mostly these plans are being considered as the best approach that aid business firms in grabbing good position at marketplace of United Kingdom. Keep running business in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen for more than 5 years in order to give good rivalry to National express can be considered as long term planning in present context.

Along with this, it is very much required for Your destination to understand some key concepts that are related to all the market trends:

Market Trends: This concept is majorly focused by the companies that are willing to deliver updated products and services to their consumers. Trends can help both traders as well as investors to gain profit from different regions through adopting best and updated tools and techniques and through implementing them at workplace. Some of factors under these are given beneath:

• Government: It has been analysed that government deals in different areas and try to develop strategies through economical conditions of United Kingdom can get improved. Therefore, it is much required for Your destination to keep on looking into different updates which has been made by governmental bodies so that to grab good position right on time.
• · International Transactions: As Your Destination is operating in different areas that means in countries where amount of monitory gets changes. Here, concept is if more money is leaving the nation possibilities are there that economical conditions can get weakened.
• · Speculation and Expectation: Devour, capitalist and politicians plays an important role when it comes to thinking about future because all current decisions are being considered as which may aid in grabbing good position in near and upcoming future.
• Supply and Demand: Supply and demand of all the products, services, currencies and other investments are being considered that carries high tendency of rapid changing nature.

Along with this, purpose of structure of marketing plays vital role when it comes to deal under different sections or when Your destination is looking forward to enhance its sales. In present context, it is being analysed that operation of business in two different aspects are necessary and these are being given beneath:

Business to business (B2B): This is defined as concept which comprises transfer of items and services from one firm to another. Every organisational require to have adequate material for executing appropriate business activities to accomplish goals and objectives. This helps to conduct things effectively and establish good position and share in market.

Business to consumer (B2C): This tactic specifies that enterprise organise activities to direct members, material and funds so that adequate products are manufactured. It is essential that goods are produced in according to needs and wants of people. This help management to attract customers and make them purchase things in respect to their demands and requirements.

In Your Destination, some major functions and roles of marketing managers can be defined as:-

• Product: The main function of managers of a firm is to determine needs of people and give collect a proper data. They provide this data to other divisions of enterprise through which further process or production and operation can be done. It helps in manufacturing products as per requirement of consumers. In context with Your Destination, it offers various services to travelers in order to make their journey more enjoyable and memorable. This firm is work in transportation business, so it deals with many customers who belongs to various countries. So, its managers are needed to offer different-different services as per taste of travelers. It would help in providing high satisfaction to them and gain their retention with longer period of time.
• Price: Price is an outcome of expenditures used in manufacturing of products and other preparation. So, it is necessary for companies to determine price rates of products or services in a proper way. It defines value of brand of a company through which they earn necessary amount. Generally, people look out to get product or service on reasonable rates as well as of high quality. Therefore, it is essential for managers of Your destination to offer its services on affordable price. It provide its services on different price rates as per purchasing power of travelers so that it helps in earning more profitability.
• Selling: The selling of the products are linked with offering products for sell to customers in order to fulfill their needs and requirements and the goods are exchanged in terms of both the monetary and non monetary values. In order to sell the products and services the marketing department organizes campaign and various marketing plans and procedures in order to enhance their overall sales and profitability ratios (Clow and James, 2013). This is an important factor in order to create awareness about the products. The travel organizations like Your Destinations provide travel services to customers so they can visit to new places. The firms are mainly dealing in professional and personal transactions. Marketing managers of this company use various tools and techniques for increasing sales of a company.
• Promotion: This is the most vital process which is linked with influencing the customers in order to execute purchase decisions of the offered goods and services of business with the help of various marketing and promotional tools. There are different activities organized in order to maximize the sales of business so that firms will attract customers who will buy their offered products and services. The different tools which are used for the promotional campaigns are advertising, publicity, personal selling etc.
• Management and Information System: There are marketing techniques used such as marketing surveys in order to gather information about the clients so that products can be manufactured according to their needs and wants. The collected information are valuable in order to carry out right decision if there had to be any alteration made in the products so that customers can be satisfied with the services of Your Destination.
• Distribution: The activities which are related with distribution of products and services of Your Destination consist of different equipment and instruments for delivery of goods. This is the most vital factor for all business organizations in order to deliver cost effective goods to all their potential customers. The most beneficial tool for the dispersion of goods are to be identified in order to develop unique products which can be sold to customers. The distribution channel should be effective and eco friendly in order to ensure effective system and policies.
• Financing: The marketing manager is having the responsibility in order to assign funds for executing marketing activities so that promotional campaigns can be effectively organized. Funding is the most important factor in order to expand the business operations all around the nation thus sustaining strong positions in the economy.

Hence the marketing manager of Your Destination are having the most important responsibility in order to develop aims and objectives by which their goals can be achieved. This results in enhancing the efficiency of business organizations. In order to identify the success of marketing activities there should be soundness in all business operations. Effective marketing strategies are valuable in order to earn higher profitability shares by managing marketing functions and business functions. This is the most beneficial factor as firms can achieve loyal customers and maximize their level of profitability and sales revenue. On the other hand, if Your Destination wants to expand its business in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen then it is required for marketing manager of this company to analyse the strategies and plans that has been made and adopted by National Express which is market leader in travel and tourism sector of UK.

P2.The Contribution of major responsibilities and roles of marketing function in wider organizational areas

Marketing is the most important and wider concept which is linked with the activities of selling, promotion and the delivery of goods in most effective and planned manner. If the activities of business are analysed then it results in enhancing the overall sales and profitability ratios of firms and they will earn higher profitability from their business operations. This concept also have major influence on the operations of Your Destinations and there impact is briefly stated below as:

Operation and marketing function: If firms have to achieve success in their business then they had to ensure that marketing function is interlinked with the operational areas. This helps in ensuring coordination among all business activities. There should be plans developed in order to make changes in the products according to requirements of customers. The main benefit of coordination is linked with smoothly running all business operations. If there had to be major operations in the products then they had to focus on the quality factors. Interlink in between these two department is must because productivity of products and services will automatically can get enhanced if marketing manager or management is carrying good information about goods that has been manufactured by them. Through this, best approach of promoting a product can get done by Your destination. Operations department of Your Destinations cannot develop proper routes of their buses and cars as they do not have information that what exactly travellers are looking for. Along with this, events also gets organised by this organisation on a regular basis for travellers. Here, it is responsibility of marketing department to deliver appropriate data to operational subsection of Your Destination so that proper design of events along with prices of routes can get set. This interconnection in between Operation and marketing department lead Your Destination business organisation to gain many competitive advantages at marketplace of United Kingdom.

Marketing and finance function: The finance department is having the major responsibility in order to collect and arrange funds by which all the activities will execute with more effectiveness and efficiency. If there can had to be any promotional campaigns organized then finance department had to arrange funds in order to successfully promote their goods and services at market place (Fazlollahtabar, Aghasi and Forte, 2011), Your Destinations have arranged funds which they are giving to the marketing for organizing different in order to remove any type of difficulties. The finance department is also having the responsibility in order to ensure balanced coordination of monetary transactions so that activities are operated in planned manner. Importance of interconnection in between these two sections also plays vital role and if both managers of these two departments are not having a good relation then it may be possible that in doing promotion marketing department may not get enough funds from financial sector of Your Destination. Budget of funds that Your Destination carrying to run business is developed by financial department. Here, whatever plans are being made by marketing department in order to promote services like offering travellers to different adventurous rides, wild life century and many more. It is mandatory for finance subsection of Your Destination to set funds for every single activity of marketing services. With the help of developing budget, expenses can be reduced and through this, profitability can get stronger.

Research and development division and marketing functions: The firm should ensure that there is effective coordination among marketing activities and research and development department. If the needs of customers have to be analysed or there had to be made alterations in the products and this is possible with the help of research department. It has been analysed that uniqueness cannot be brought in products and services if there will be no interconnection will stay in between marketing and research and development section. Therefore, it is very much required for them to adopt best approach and maintain relation so that profit margins can be maximised. R & D subsection of Your Destination do not know about what exactly trends are going in the market along with perception which is carried by travellers in current time. Here, interconnection or interaction takes place in between marketing and R & D department where, marketing manager may deliver information to supervisor of research and development section of Your Destination.

Human resource department with marketing function: This is the most important function of any business organization as it helps in achieving set business goals and objectives in most effectual and planned manner. The employees of Your destination are offering different type of services to all their potential customers. The ability of the employer is mainly dependent on the revenues and the benefits which are availed by firms. The talented and skilled employees are always enhancing the position of firms at market areas and on the other hand the unsatisfied employees always decrease the productivity level of firms. Human resource department usually looks into recruiting and training & development programme if they will not develop policies then it is may be possible that firm may not grab good position in short period of time through doing promotional activities. On the other hand, HR department of Your Destination can only select candidates on the basis of their qualifications but they do not know technicality of job. Therefore, assistance can be taken from marketing section in order to select the best and talented candidate who is meeting all the requirements of vacant seats.

Sales department and marketing functions: The marketing department plays an important role in order to enhance overall sales and profitability ratios of firms. The transportation firms are using various marketing and promotional techniques in order to make decision about the offered products and influences customers so they can purchase those products. Promotion of products and services directly affects sales of products. Therefore, it is important for both department to maintain their relations so that benefits can be gained by Your destination right on time. Marketing department delivers information to sales subsection of Your destination like which service will directly raise sales of company in specific area. That means, delivering right service to correct customer (Traveller). For an example: Adventurous event which is being developed by Your Destination will directly attract travellers who likes to visit places which is filled with wildlife.

IT divisions with the marketing function: In this modern era every business is focused towards implementing advanced technologies in order to promote their products at market areas and enhance the sales ratios of firms. Your destination are mainly using online technology in order to sell their products and capture attention of customers. The head who is having the responsibility of IT department should ensure that all issues are handled effectively and the risk is also managed in order to ensure proper coordination among business activities. Cost can be reduced of promoting products if there will be good relation among IT and marketing department. They may promote products in a unique which was never been done before as this may lead business firms in grabbing good position. Your Destination's IT department has developed application for this company. But, it has been analysed that they have to make changes in their web pages and in app as well because customers perceptions get changes in rapid manner. Here, marketing department plays vital role because mostly they carries all the information related to customers needs, perception and other things and this may lead them to deliver information to IT department so that they can make alterations in applications.

The Informational Technology process is beneficial for firms in order to run all their business operations effectively. In this modern age of digital technology all the activities are interned with the IT department and this is the most important factor in order to keep record of all their potential customers and make all the business operations execute in most effectual and planned manner. This results in earning higher profitability from their overall business. Your destination should mainly focused towards implementing those activities which are valuable in order to ensure smooth running of all business activities. Thus all the department should ensure that they should work together in order to achieve the business aims and objectives and achieve high growth and shares from their business operations.