INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as an integral component of organisational success. It aims at developing a plan as per the needs of organisation and behaviour of consumers and marketing trends so that profit margins can be maximized and brand value of organisation can be enhanced. The inefficient marketing plan can put the growth of organisation at risk. Particularly in hospitality industries where each and every operational activities is judged by the customers (Abratt and Bendixen, 2018).
The report will describe the significance of marketing and its interrelation with other functional units of organisation. It will consider the case study of Burger King which is an American multinational company and is one of the popular fast food restaurant famous for its hamburgers. Currently it has 15000 stores all over the world. The report will compare the Burger King and McDonald on the basis of marketing mix elements. Further the document will also provide a marketing plan for hospitality organisation of given case study.
LO 1
Roles and responsibility of marketing within Burger King
The organisation chosen Burger King
Operational activities The organisation was founded in 1953 and its head quarter is located in United states. At present organisation receives worldwide revenue of around 1.22 billion dollars (Burger King - Statistics & Facts, 2018). The food chain is growing continuously through its effective marketing strategies. Its marketing team accomplishes following responsibilities.
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Roles & amp; responsibilities |
Implementation in Burger King |
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Promotion |
The marketing team of Burger King develops strategies for promoting the organisation so that its brand value is maintained. The marketing department ensures that every targeted customers is aware with name of organisation and recall only Burger King when they think about hamburgers or fast food. This department conducts market research so that effective promotional methods can be used. |
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Service management |
Marketing team also prepare guidelines for methods of providing services with high quality standards and innovations. It helps Burger King to make itself unique and superior from other competitive organisations. |
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Customer management |
The aim of marketing is to develop strategies to retain customers for long term as well as to attract new customers. Marketing department of Burger King monitors that customers do not face any difficulty in services. For this purpose company also strictly review its performance and feedbacks (Kaufmann, 2014). |
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Selling |
To increase the profits by raising sales marketing department formulates attractive policies which encourages customers to buy more products. The Burger King marketing strategies focus on price, distribution and product related factors to enhance its sales records. |
Marketing relation to wider organisational context
The product manager in the marketing team has to establish coordination with other departments. In order to finalise any product specification its price, execution, operational cost and possible risks must be analysed. This is possible only when marketing team has regular interaction and coordination with other functional units. Marketing research team also plays important role in success of the company (Baker and Saren, 2016). This team conducts various researches and analyses the performance of Burger King as well as its competitors. It gives innovative strategies to company so that it can sustain its position in competitive market environment as well. For example with marketing research the organisation can analyse the facts which influences the customers and reasons due to which customers are disappointed with company. The analysis of these facts will help organisation to improve its performance.
Marketing roles in marketing environment context
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Role |
Responsibilities |
Interrelation with marketing environment |
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Advertising |
Marketing functional unit of Burger King has effective strategy to promote their product and services so that organisation can achieve its sales target. The marketing personnels also monitors the latest marketing trends of promotion so that it can approach wider range of audience. |
The advertising trends and strategies of Burger King are greatly influence by marketing environment. The technological, economical and social factors can decide the mode of advertising in particular market segment. On the other hand advertising is also affected by micro environment factors like nature of customers and competitors (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes and Mariussen, 2016). For instance most of the competitors of Burger King are currently using social media and digital marketing for promotion thus to achieve goals organisation must also adopt these modes of advertisements. |
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Brand value management |
Brand value plays a key role in determining and sustaining the success and popularity of organisation. Marketing department of Burger King aims at regularly improving the quality of services so that the organisation can become a global brand name. This management helps organisation to manage its business activities all over the world instead of any specific region only (Kaufmann, 2014). When Burger King has higher brand value then company can open its outlets in any corner of the world and can get huge response from the customer. |
Brand value management is interrelated with the marketing functions. The market researchers have ability to analyse the preferences of different customers and advancements which can help organisation to meet their objectives. The customers and relations with suppliers can play a crucial role in making the brand popular. The macro environment factors such as social, political and legal factors can greatly affect the brand value management. For instance if company will fact any legal issues then it will surely have adverse impact on its performance and brand. |
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Customer retention |
Customers are the key to success for any business. For achieving business goals it is necessary that satisfactory services are provided to consumers. Marketing plan of Burger King focus on requirements of its customers. The organisation is very strict towards reviews of its consumers and consider these feedbacks for its improvement. For example to facilitate the service experience organisation provides online booking, cashless payment and home delivery services. |
The marketing environment plays an essential role in affecting the purchasing characteristics of consumers. Marketing team must understand this behaviour. The social and environmental factors will affect choice of customers. Similarly, if Burger King will have fast and efficient supplier and distribution chain then customer will experience good quality services and will be retained for long term despite of strong competition form other organisations. |
Importance of interrelationships between other functional departments and marketing
Marketing and resource allocation department:
During the promotional events and customer retention activities of marketing department interior and architecture of Burger King greatly affects the marketing goals. For instance; the architecture and service equipments like crockery and sitting arrangements must be comfortable and pleasant. If these will not be pleasant then customers will not visit again restaurant and it will cause loss to organisation. Marketing team uses the attractive images of its organisation for promotion so that people can be attracted (Solomon and et.al., 2014). This interrelation is essential for improving the quality of services and to increase sales. Marketing research team makes plans that how they can make their company more attractive for consumers as well as for staff members so that its brand management goals can be accomplished.
Marketing and operational department:
The operational activities of Burger King also have interrelation with the marketing events. Many customers prefer organisation because of its brand value and method of executing its operational activities. For example earlier company was using only cash mode for payment. But when marketing team analyses that sales can be increased by offering home delivery and online order management and payment system, they changed their operational mode. It brings significant increase in the performance of Burger King and also provide it huge opportunity to explore the global market. This interrelation helped organisation to expand its market segment and targeted audience (Scarborough, 2016).
Critical analysis of key elements of marketing and interdependency between marketing and other departments of Burger King
Key elements: The key elements of marketing covers all the aspects of marketing functions. These elements consider the various aspects of products and services provided by organisation. It includes elements like price, product innovations and specifications, as well as the promotional strategies which can be used by organisation for promotion. It also includes the description of target audience and concepts like market segmentation which can improve the performance of Burger King. The processes used by the organisation for executing its services also serves as an important criterion of success.
Marketing and human resource (HR) department: The organisation functions can be executed with high efficiency it is importation for Burger King to recruit skilled human resources. If HR and marketing department will not coordinate with each other than company may not get required talent pool. It will affect the consumer satisfaction also because behaviour of employees is one of the key factors in performance evaluation (Hunt, 2018). The interaction between human resources and marketing will also enable organisation to represent itself as highly skilled team. For instance if HR department is not known that marketing team need some technical experts then the new recruited employee may not meet the expectations of marketing team. It will lead to unnecessary wastage of organisational resources and time.
Risk management and analysis department: Product and price analysis are basic evaluation parameter for marketing department. However, before implementing any policy marketing department must discuss the strategy with risk management so that in case of failure organisation may not bear non-recoverable losses. The lack of interrelation between both of these departments will reduce the problem solving skills of company and Burger King will not be able to sustain its success for long duration.
Marketing and customer relation functional unit: Marketing team makes every possible effort to establish a coordination between customer satisfaction and profit margins of Burger King. Though marketing team analyses sales records and its performance for evaluation of customer's behaviour but it will not be able to get actual analysis without interacting with customer relation management team (CRM) (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). The customers provide their complains and suggestions to CRM thus if both of these units will not work together then Burger King may fail to create high brand value.
Technical and marketing functional units: According to present scenario due to technical advancements this interrelation is getting important day by day. For example, if consumer of Burger King face difficulty in online payment or order booking then marketing team must communicate this issue with technical team. Similarly, data security concerns are also vital for company to address (Kasemsap, 2018). The lack of this interrelation can completely abolish the present working system of Burger King which greatly relies on technology and networking.
LO 2
Comparison between Burger King and McDonald on the basis of 7 elements of the marketing mix
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Marketing mix elements (7P's) |
Burger King |
McDonald |
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Product |
Burger King follows concept of “Have it your way”. Thus, customers can have variety of options in each order. To diversify its product it also sales beverages like coffee and drinks. To target health conscious people it also provides good options in its menu. |
McDonald have large portfolio for its product range. It follows the theme of “Think global and act local”. The company follows standardised products at its all outlets but in order to address the cultural differences it also served local or adapted products. For example Big Mac is standardised products but it also serves products like MacArabia or McLobster which are limited to only specific regions. |
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Price |
It follows psychological pricing strategy like its prices has last digits .99. In response to the economical challenges the company has more focus on budget friendly schemes. It follows market oriented and bundle pricing methods. According to these approches its prices are based on factors like supply and demand, competitors as well as attractive offerings on bundle or combo purchasing. |
For price strategy McDonald use local approach instead of global. The McDonald prices are according to economic status of the country and society in which it is operating. Thus, for attracting developing or low income value countries its prices are kept low so that more customers can be attracted. Another attracting strategy used by the company is that its prices are decided by its franchises and various combo packs which encourages more purchasing (Scarborough, 2016). |
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Place |
Burger King is also globally operating organisation. For distribution purpose along with physical stores it uses websites and mobile applications as well. Home delivery options and online booking distribution has provided organisation great boost in its performance. |
The company operates globally and aims at expanding its business in developing countries in which still there are huge growth opportunities. In its restaurants it provides services such as Wi-Fi, playgrounds, automatic order machine to provide more facilities. |
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Promotion |
For creating awareness among customers the company does not use any customized approach like McDonald. Rather, it uses mode such as sales promotion, public relations and advertisements. The company also participate in charity events such as scholarship assistance to create and increase its social brand value (Jussila and et.al., 2015). |
The promotion strategies of McDonald are also diversified so that they can create significant impact on every customer. For example in England it uses English Soccer players in its advertisement but in France to create more impact instead of using same advertisement it used French Soccer player. |
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People |
The company recruits skilled employees and focus on delivering products which are in greater demand by its customers. |
McDonald values the feedbacks and suggestions of its customers. It also ensures that its employees are highly trained and efficient in their job roles. To provide quality services to its consumers organisation has options on its website so that customers can provide ratings and suggestions. To enhance the service experience the company is also planning to provide on desk service or automatic machines. |
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Physical evidence |
The company effectively use social media to increase its presence among customers. Its brand name and symbols can easily be observed on banners, glasses and other promotional mediums. |
The company makes effective attempts to create its physical evidence all over the world. For example in its every store the organisation uses same interior like red and yellow colour and the statue of McDonald which gives standardised format of the company. Apart from these aspects the company maintain pleasant surroundings and its logo, tag-lines and name can easily be identified by people at different places. |
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Process |
Burger King aims at increasing its sales so that it can generate more revenue. To ensure that quality services are provided to consumers company regulate the continuous flow of resources. |
At present the organisation follow standard format of providing services. The operational team ensures that waiting time is minimum and company's procedures are cleared (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes and Mariussen, 2016). For example at present company is not serving on desk but provides home delivery option so that consumers can get services anytime. |
Tactics used by Burger King to achieve business objectives
The two major tactics used by the organisation for achieving its goals are as follows:
Tactic 1: Analysis of purchasing behaviour of customer
Burger King establishes relation with its consumers by personalized emails and social media. By analysing the purchasing and choice preference behaviour of customers the company can develop effective strategies. These strategies help company to achieve its objectives by minimizing the risk of failures.
Tactic 2: Intelligence gathering about competitors and customers
To improve performance Burger King interacts with its target audience that which qualities of company are good and which needs improvement (Abratt and Bendixen, 2018). The reviews from employees can also be helpful for the company to regulate its operational activities efficiently. The ethical consideration must be followed during analysis. To develop the pricing strategy and other performance criteria company also conducts regular market research on its competitors.
LO 3
MARKETING PLAN FOR MEETING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF TRAVELODGE
The marketing plan for Travelodge is described below:-
Introduction: Marketing plan provides strategic direction for achieving the business goals. The marketing plan will analyse the elements of marketing mix so that Travelodge can ensure the success of its new range of services. It will also evaluate the impact of segmentation, targeting and positioning of its services.
Executive summary: The marketing plan will help Travelodge to achieve its sales target for its premium launching rooms. The marketing plan will describe the marketing strategies which can be used by the organisation to achieve its objectives.
Organisational overview: Travelodge is one of the leading hotel chain industry based in UK. At present the company owns around 500 hotels in United Kingdom. The organisation also operates in different countries and holds the capacity to become a giant in hospitality.
Objectives and goals: To make new premium economy rooms of the company a great success and to enhance their numbers by 1000 with maximum number of facilities for the customers.
Mission and vision of company: The vision of the company is to provide hospitality services at minimum cost to its consumers without compromising the quality and number of services.
Segmentation and targeting: Travelodge can achieve maximum benefits if its market is segmented. The company can explore its services by segmenting marketing regions and targeting selected audience.
Segmentation: Currently the company has segmented its market on the basis of preference of consumers instead of their geographical locations.
Targeting: The company has targets its products on the basis of customers. For instance the recent economic rooms aims at consumers who give priority to price. On the other hand the luxury rooms aims at high profile consumers.
Positioning: To position the new budget rooms the company is using its concept of budget and economic rooms. The promotion with the concept of budget friendly Travelodge is positioning its services among people who earlier used to keep a distance from the company.
Budget: The company must ensure that availability of resources before accomplishing marketing strategies. The social media and radio promotion must have specific budget sanctioned so that operational cost does not exceed the planned limits. The company has planned to provide budget rooms in cost of £25-49 so that cost limitations does not prevent buyers from using services.
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Marketing mix elements
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Business objectives |
Marketing mix element |
Tactics |
Monitoring and evaluation |
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To maintain the quality and innovations in product |
Product |
Insight from the consumer behaviour |
Products quality can be monitored by feedbacks and response from customers. |
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To achieve sales target |
Price |
Leaders must be on board |
Sales analysis and performance evaluation can monitor the price element. |
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To address each possible target audience and to convince them to use services of Travelodge. |
Promotion |
Social media and radio marketing |
The popularity in digital marketing or social media tools like pay per click or search engine optimization can provide its evaluation. |
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To enhance the brand value of Travelodge. |
People |
Customer interaction strategy |
It can be monitored by employee and customer satisfaction or by feedbacks. |
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To provide qualitative services. |
Place |
Establishing basic goals and plans |
Feedbacks from consumers |
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To sustain growth and development. |
Physical evidence |
Learnings from social media outcomes |
Brand awareness can be used as tool to measure and monitor this factor. |
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To improve the functionality with high level of accuracy and efficiency. |
Process |
Understanding benefits |
Competitive analysis and suggestion from stakeholders. |
CONCLUSION
From the report, it can be concluded that it is impossible for the organisations to achieve success without marketing strategies. The report has explained the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions. It has also described the dependencies and importance of marketing and other functional departments of organisation. The document has discussed the marketing mix elements by comparing organisations like Burger King and McDonald. It has also developed marketing plan to emphasise its importance in business activities. Thus, it is recommended for organisations to put sufficient effort in marketing strategies and their execution.
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