ASSIGNMENT 2 FRONT SHEET

Qualification BTEC Level 4 HND Diploma in Business

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Unit 2. Marketing Essentials
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Assignment Brief (RQF)

Higher National Certificate/Diploma in Business

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Nguyễn Thành Đạt/GBS200151
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Unit Number and Title: Unit 2 - Marketing Essentials

Academic Year: 2020-2021

Unit Assessor: Dang Son Tung

Assignment 2 - Marketing Plan with the application of

Assignment Title:
Marketing Mix

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Submission Format:
This is a group project. Each group has no more than 5 members.

This should be written in a course, formal business style using Arial, 1.5 lines
spacing and font size 12 with Justify Text to enhance the legibility for markers.
You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as
appropriate, and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the
Harvard referencing system.

Please also provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. The
recommended word limit is 7,000 words, although you will not be penalized for
exceeding the total work limit.

You are also required to deliver a 30-minute group presentation. Each member will be
assessed individually during this presentation.

Unit Learning Outcomes:

LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps)
to achieve overall business objectives

LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan

Assignment Brief and Guidance:

Your team is the marketing team of organisation X, which is operating in F&B (Food
and Beverage) industry in Vietnam (Choose a specific organisation to task with). Your
team is assigned to develop a detailed, tactical marketing plan for one product/service
of the firm. You will conduct research in order to review your new product/service in a
rivalry with many competitors in various ways. Based on the study, provide a tactical
Marketing mix strategy for your new product/service.

You are allowed to choose any product/service of any organisation that you wish to
carry out the task with. You might choose to develop a Marketing Plan for an existing
product/service or even create a new product/service. Creativity is highly appreciated.

The content of your marketing plan should include:

1/ Executive Summary:

Introduce your chosen organisation and product/service. An overview of the

marketing plan.

2/ Situation Analysis:

2.1. Marketing Environment and the impact on Business Activities

 2.2. Marketplace Information (Industry research and Market trend)

2.3. Competition Analysis with the comparison in which way different

organisations apply Marketing Mix in their strategy. (Core competitor’s
Marketing Mix)

2.4. Customer Analysis (Customer Segmentation and Consumer trend)

2.5. Company’s internal capabilities (SWOT analysis and Competitive

advantages)

3/ Marketing Campaign Objectives and Issues

3.1. Objectives: The objectives should follow SMART objectives criteria.

3.2. Issues: It could be key issues that might prevent the organisation in
achieving its marketing objectives or the current issues of the company or from
the market that your Marketing plan needs to overcome.

4/ Marketing Strategy

4.1. Segmentation, targeting, positioning (including a positioning map) and

differentiation strategies of your company.

4.2. Suggest new Marketing Mix using 7Ps with an evaluation of different
 strategies applied by your organisation.

5/ Action Program (Tasks, timeline and person in charge)

6/ Budget (Your anticipated operational costs)

7/ Control (KPI of each milestone)

However, these parts could be changed due to your team preferences as long as the
content is clear, detailing, logical, and coherent.

Relevant theory/concepts should be explained as the foundation for any suggestions

you make in the marketing plan.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria:

Learning Outcome Pass Merit Distinction
LO2 Compare ways P3 Compare the M3 Evaluate LO2 & 3
in which ways in which different tactics D2 Design a
organisations use different applied by strategic marketing
elements of the organisations apply organisations to plan that tactically
marketing mix (7Ps) the marketing mix to demonstrate how applies the use of
to achieve overall the marketing business objectives the 7Ps to achieve
business objectives planning process to can be achieved. overall marketing
achieve business objectives.
objectives.

LO3 Develop and P4 Produce and M4 Produce a

evaluate a basic evaluate detailed, coherent
marketing plan a basic marketing evidence-based
plan for marketing plan for
an organisation. an organisation.
 Table of Contents
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................6

2. Relevant theory/concepts about the extended marketing mix (7Ps) ................................................................................. 6

2.1. The notions of marketing mix (7Ps) ...............................................................................................................................6

2.1.1. Definition ................................................................................................................................................................. 6

2.1.2. Roles and responsibilities within an organization ..............................................................................................6

2.2. Marketing mix (7Ps) elements ............................................................................................................................................ 7

2.2.1. Product ....................................................................................................................................................................7

2.2.2. Price .......................................................................................................................................................................11

2.2.3. Place ......................................................................................................................................................................18

2.2.4. Promotion .............................................................................................................................................................22

2.2.5. People ....................................................................................................................................................................25

2.2.6. Process .................................................................................................................................................................26

2.2.7. Physical evidence .................................................................................................................................................26

3. Examples and practices about how different organizations utilize each elements of the marketing mix .................... 26

4. Analyse and evaluate marketing mix tactics applied by organizations through practical cases.
................................................................................................................................................................................................27

5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................29
1. Introduction

Marketing department roles are supplying the product of an organization to the market place which fit the consumer’s demand
and creating a strong relationship with potential customers, who will benefit that organization long-term. To achive this mission,
marketing departments or marketers usually use the 7Ps of marketing, which is the tool to control the everything around the
business we are doing, or we can say 7Ps of marketing’s purpose is to create a marketing strategy. This assignment will go
through every step of using the 7Ps.

2. Relevant theory/concepts about the extended marketing mix (7Ps)

2.1. The notions of marketing mix (7Ps)
2.1.1. Definition

Marketing mix (7Ps) contains seven Ps, which are 7 aspects of controlling a business activities to manage it in the best
state. The 7Ps are product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence.

Before, the marketing mix has only 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion), but in time, as the business keeps evolving,
marketing departments found out that 4Ps does not bring efficiency for their marketing plan anymore. So an extendend
version of marketing mix was born, added 3 more Ps to make 7Ps to this day.

While the first 4Ps focus mainly on product (the product is the center of the circle), the other 3Ps will focus on the
service (the customer is the center of the circle), which will create balance for a marketing plan.

2.1.2. Roles and responsibilities within an organization

The marketing mix roles and responsibilities are splited into 7 different states, but it is connected through the whole plan.
 It is crucial that marketing mix is responsible for finding potential customer and create strong relationship with
them, which will be resulted in sale numbers, the KPI it brought back to the firm. At first, the product state responsible
for the product itself (the feature and manufacturing). Then, the price state is to evalute the product and core value. Next
is the place state, which we will consider places to sell our product. Fourth is the promotion state, where we focus on
attracting customers using strategies. Fifth is the people state, we need to work on the staffs and the employees, who
will represent the company when dealing with customers. Sixth, the process state is to form an process of everything
inside a plan. Finally, the physical evidence is the facility of the company. All of the state must be in harmony to be able
to work.

With this, the marketing mix role is to create plan which controlling the production of items which ensure the firm can do
business with it, and it is responsible for finding potetial customers, evaluate the product, and customer experience when
buying a product. Next part of this assignment will be more detail about each state.

2.2. Marketing mix (7Ps) elements

The 7 elements of marketing mix are built to create a strong marketing strategy, which allow the firm to compete on the
market.

Each of the elements combine will create a efficient plan, and we cannot leave one element outside.

2.2.1. Product

The product is always the first thing a marketers should look into. In marketing mix, the product element is about
everything related to the product. According to Brassington. F and Pettitt. S (2004), the whole process of product is
contained in this element, From the idea on sketch to a ready-to-sell product. Marketing departments should be caution
because if the product’s look does not suitable, it could lead to a total failure in the first place.

To build a competitive product, marketers need to focus on its core value. The product might be tangible or intangible, but
the matter is how will it serve the customer’s demand. There are four types of product based on the demand of market
place, which are convenience, shopping, specialty and unsought. Then, we will have the industrial product, which is the
raw materials/parts. And the capital items, which are the machines to produce the product. Finally is the supplies and
services.

The convenience product is daily items like toilet papers, pen, food, etc. These item has a very competitive status
because the price is cheap, and there is not much differences between them. Then we have the shopping product, which
is the combine of the want and the need of customers. For example, the computer, laptop, smartphone, etc. The
specialty product is more about the brand that customers prefer to choose over the others, for instance Coca-Cola and
Pepsi. And the last one is the unsought product, which is needed for customer, but they will never think of it in the first
place (insurance or coffin).

After identified the core value, then marketers need to make it into actual product. This state will have 5 things to look
into, which are the brand name, product attributes, labeling, support services and packaging. It does not matter which
types of product the firm is doing business, the product need be have those five things to become ready for the market
place.

The product attributes contain quality, feature and design. A product needs to have suitable attributes to the
customer’s need, so the customer will be persuaded into buying decision. For example, a towel for cleaning body
in the bathroom. No one would buy a towel with low quality, easily be torned down, or the materials make it hard to
clean water after the shower, creating scratches to your body. But a good towel will have comfortable surface to
clean water on your body with making you itches, and it will be more endurable than the first one. No one would
buy the first one even though the price is 80% cheaper. These attributes are the core value that we build on for the
product, which is also help us target the right customers for the firm.

Next is the brand name of the product. Branding is an important part of competition in the market place. Its
basic feature is to let the customer recognize your product, which is useful for organizations to compete and
improve their products throgh times. For example, there are two companies have been competing with each other
with every product they have are the Coca-Cola and the PepsiCo. Their main product for the competition are coke
(coca-cola) and pepsi, a soft drink field. The differences between these two are not so much but enough for people
to choose their side. The branding help them to realize those differences, and it makes the market more vicious.
Creating the brand for your product has other effects, one of them is to help the customer to find the product when
they are curious about it. It is also about gaining the trust of customer. No one will buy a nameless product
although it might come from a well-known organization because we cannot trace it back and use our customer
right if something unsual happen. According to Kotler. P and Armstrong. G (2013), branding is also a way to
show the quality of the product. Usually, people would prefer a well-known brand like Nike or Adidas rather than
other small brands.

But not all branding method is suitable for every organization. With different type of companies (from startups to
corporation) will need different method.

Labelling is also an inevitable of the marketing plan because it can be use to trigger the buying decision
of customer. The label must be clear and short but enough information of a product, so customers can evalute
same product but different brands. Usually, the label will contain the ingredients, the expiration date, the feature
and the names of product and company that produce it. This is also can be part of prices or promotion ( more
detail in 2.2.2 and 2.2.4). It has one more function is to draw customers attention to the product. With one small
thing in the design of label, the product would be more in customer’s sight, and it can trigger their interest in the
product. This could lead to buying option.

Next is the support services. Many organizations are doing this right now. When you buy a product, it is likely
you will suffer buyer’s remorse, which is not healthy for business because you will not buy it again or not coming
back to the store again. The support services will lead the customers to believe the organization care about them
and their experience of their product. Nowadays, when you buy a technology like smartphone or laptop, you will
receive the supplier’s support service, which could be the product insurance or free guiding and fixing product for
life. This system is about the experience when using the product.

Last is the packaging. Packaging is the last step before you sell the product to customers. It is similar to
labelling, but it has more puposes in protecting the product. Packaging helps protecting the product in shipping
through shipment or delivery, and it is also help in present the product in the store. The design of the packaging is
different for each product. The perfume company will packaging their product in a fancy bottle to contain the
perfume, and outside of the bottle will have a small and fit box to carry it. But a technology will not packaging their
product like that. A whole product will be put in a design box with the branding on the surface of it. No one will
need a fancy box that contain their laptop because they don’t use the box, but for the perfume is different. In order
to use the perfume, consumers must use the fancy bottle, so they care about the bottle and the perfume at the
same time, and the priority of bottle and perfume might be the same when it comes to make the decision. Different
 product will need different packaging method, so the marketer needs to know purpose of the product to execute
the right plan from core value to actual product.

Before the product is going to be sold, the organization must develops other things around the product. This is called
augmented product. Augmented product will not the product itself, but it will have enough impact that consumers want
to purchase the product. The firm must think of the customer service for customer after they bought it, the delivery and
credit, the produt support and warranty. The after-sale service is usually taking feedback/complaint of customer, and this
team will have the responsibility to report it back to the organization and give out a temperary solution in the mean time.
The delivery is a good way to promote your product because everyone want free shipping. With free shipping, many
companies has increased their sale from 30% to 80%. This make customers want to buy more, and we can have a good
image when they remember us. Next is the product support, which is necessary. Many people buy things which they
have no idea to use it, or even ingredients they do not know how to cook. Having a product support means we care for
that, and we want everyone enjoy using our product without difficulty. Imagin if someone is considering between a
macbook and a laptop, but this one is already using a laptop. He has no idea how to use macbook efficiency. This could
give him a hard time to understand the communication of his new macbook. On the other hand, the laptop is much easier
to use. If Apple does not have a product support online and offline, they are 100% losing this customer. So customer’s
experience is important and the product support is there to make sure we do not lose those customers. Finally thing is
the warrenty. This is an assurance to customer if something wrong happens to the product whether it is technique
mistake of the factory or the incident like drop your phone to the water. The warranty is depended on specific product and
the company. This is part of the customer’s right when they buy our product, and this is the most impact thing that will
attract the customers.
In conclusion, the product element is about creating the core product then make it an actual product to put in store then
make it an augmented product to attract more customer. With 3 levels of product, your product is ready-to-sell.

2.2.2. Price

Price is an amount of money, which the customer is willing to pay for using or buying a product. In marketing mix, pricing
is the only element which its value contribute to the revenue of the organization. With all the investments in other
elements, price element is there to help us harvest. It is important to have reasonable price for product. If it is too low,
there will be no profit, and if it is too high, there will be no demand for it.

Kotler.P and Armstrong. G (2013) pointed out that we have 3 pricing strategies for setting a price of product. The first one
is customer value-based pricing, and the second is cost-based pricing, and the third is competition-based pricing.

Customer value-based pricing is about the received value of customer when purchasing products or services. When
someone buy a product, they will think of how much can they receive from the product. For example, when you purchase
a spa service, you will expect to have relaxing time, good technique, refresh after it. So what happen if this is the first
time you purchase a spa ticket, you will get nervous about the quality of the service, and you wonder is it worth the
money that you has already paid. This is exactly what will happen when you are going to buy a product/service on the
market. The price in this strategy is to think like a customer, know what they expect to have (the quality or quantity). This
strategy has 4 steps, which are assess needs and value wanted of customer, then set target price, determine cost and
design a product. But good value does not mean cheap. In this strategy, marketers usually find it hard to equal the price
and the value of product for customers. In this strategy, we will learn two method of pricing, which are the good-value
pricing and value-added pricing.
 Good-value pricing: in this method, the key is to focus on everyday low pricing (EDLP). EDLP is about having
promotion everyday for different products or early-bird sale off or specific discount (for credit card, membership, …).
This is like those campagins which offer discount on weekdays or Cyber Monday of each month. To go with this
method, we will also need to redesign the product. Customers choose organizations because of the brand, so we
can use this to adjust our product, from the core value to the augmented level. Creating more value with the same
price, or same value with the smaller price. This will need to be tackle from the beginning of manufacturing. Because
you need to find a cheaper source for raw materials to redesign the produt in this way. For example, a Tarot deck of
card use for fortuneteller. Currently, there are many expensive deck with perfect colors, water-proofed materials and
other stuffs. But not any tarot reader can afford this. So the publishment companies have sent out the smaller
version or adjusted version for those deck. For the same deck of cards, the price will be variable from 700,000VND
to 2,000,000VND, but it will have changes like smaller in size, colorless guideline or normal materials instead of
water-proofed. This could satisfy customers who want to buy it with a tight budget, and they will come back again for
the next promotion or adjusted product like the previous. This will be a great strategy for attracting new customers
and maintaining old customers as well.

Value-added pricing: on the other hand, lowering price is not the option, so we can go with this method. Value-
added pricing means we do not need to lower the price or adjust the product, but we will add more value, which
customer will be received, like special feature or services. For example, the streming battle between HBO Max and
Netflix. For almost same price (HBO Max is 14.99$ and Netflix premium is 15.99$), there are many differences.
According to Kelly Woo (2020), with HBO Max, you can stream it online on 3 screens at the same time. While Netflix
can let you do it with 4 screens. The free trials are also distinguised, HBO Max will let you have one week free trial,
but Netlfix will give you one month regardless which plan you choose with them (basic, standard or premium). The
 4K content is what you get with Netflix, but not with HBO Max, and this is the age of technology, so you have the
best device to watch your favourite movies but if it does not have the best quality then it can ruin your experiences.
So, with the same price, even higher, Netflix does not need to lower the value or lower price, the company is adding
more feature to make customer enjoy using their product. This is a total win for Netflix.

So with these 2 methods, the customer value-based pricing will be a good way to compete with your opponents or
rivalries. This strategy is easier to use in many fields.

The second strategy is cost-based pricing. Before going in detail, we need to know there are 3 types of costs. First is
the fixed cost and the second is the variable cost, and the last one is the total cost. The fixed cost is cost that stay the
same each period like the rent, the salary, the fuel. This cost is always there, no matter how your business is doing. The
variable means cost that depend on the quantity when producing product or services. The total cost is the combine of 2
previous cost. Those cost will affect directly to the company’s strategies and profit. Because if we cost more to produce
the same product than the opponent, the price will need go up, or the profit will be down.

Costs at different levels of production: According to Kotler.P and Armstrong. G (2013), with enough demand, the
production of a large number of unit would be less cost. But this also need the factory which is capable of producing
the product. If the factory is only efficient at 1,000 products per day, but we ask 2000 product per day, then it would
lead to other problem inside the factory, the employee and the company itself.

Cost as function of production experience: This is bigger risk for the management. The employee or workers
has experiences, so they can work more effiency. But if this information is leaked out, it will put bad image on the
company. The means of this is showing the weakness of company and also lack of research and development in
supplier and product. This can lead to be outrun by the competitors, so it is best to not over-exploitation it.
 The next way to make profit in this strategy is the cost-plus pricing: cost-plus pricing means that the company
take the variable price per unit and add the percentage of profit that they want from a unit. For example, in F&B
industry, the cost of making a drink is usually very low. A quality peach tea would cost around 10,000VND. The
owner want to have the profit of 20,000VND per cup, so the price would be 10,000VND plus 30,000VND, so the
total price is 40,000VND. The profit after taxes and salary and costs left would be around 20,000 more of less for the
owner. This is simple method, which you only need to control the suppliers or the production rate, and usually will
give you the right profit you want. There is one problem to this, the total price to this method can sometimes be too
high, over the demand of the market, which will make it difficult to sell.

Break-even method: This way we will focus on setting a fixed price for a product, which we will need to sell until the
cost and the revenue is balance, no loss and no profit yet. For example, the total cost of regular drink is about
10,00VND. So we will sell it with the price of 12,000VND to 15,000VND. The price will cover most of everything, but
in return we will not have any profit. In order to have profit, we need to charge higher or sell more. If we charge
higher, it will affect the elasticity, and the risk is very high here because if we do not sell enough, we will lost the
investment. So it will depend on the sale team if you want to go with this method. To eliminate the risk, create a
break-even point, and focus on sale team more than raising the price up. The elasticity will change easily when the
seller change the price.

The third strategy is competition-based pricing: This strategy is to give out the price based on your opponent and the
market offering of the company. Depend on the market place, the price will be given different based the competition.
Today market type is usually monopolistic competition, so knowing your opponents strategies will give you a better
choice of pricing. For example, according to Kotler and Armstrong (2013), when the market has many low-prices
companies, the firm must use value-added pricing, to give the customer quality time or more value with the higher price,
and if the market has too many high price companies then the firm must give the price lower to drive these companies
out of the market. This method is also need to analyze the branding and product line. For example, a new sneaker brand
comes in town, and it decide to go with higher price than Nike with the company claims their technology in sneaker is
better, or the firm lower the price to much. This would lead to one of two situation, either the company cannot compete
because of lacking customer’s trust or people mistake it with some low brand which is not worth to buy. So before going
with this strategy, the firm must research the competitors and the market offering carefully, preventing wrong purposes.

Beside these method, there are other points that we need to considerate. They are the marketing strategies and
organizational factors. If the price were given out does not fit with strategy, it will means nothing. Organizational factors
is situation which department in the company will set price for the product. This is important because each field has
different department, which is efficient for the company. For example, in start-up companies, the leader or CEO will
handle this problem, on the other hand, the large companies will have pricing department or salespeople to handle this
problem. Commonly is that the company will set out the pricing objective and policies, which will be evaluated by the
whole sales team or other related departments.

We also have new product pricing strategies, which are price skimming and price penetration.

In price skimming, the company will set out a very high price for their product, aim to the customer who are ready
to pay at a high price. Then after they stop having customer ant thi price range, the company will lower the price to
let new customer approach them. And the circle will keep going until they reach the enough low-price to sell a
product. This strategy will need to be caution, focus on product quality and branding. Not only quality and branding
but also the cost of production for small amout of unit at the first because you have to make sure it not too high to
 lose the business or lost profit. The benefit of this strategy is having full profitability from any segmentation of the
market.

In price penetration, in oppose to skimming method, market-penetration pricing will set a low price to enter the
competition quickly. This will attract customers, and the company can also lower th other cost to make more profit.
Penetration method have another advatage is winning a large customer base of the market. However, this method
is only effective if the market is having a lot of high pricing product, so the low pricing product can be attractive.
The sales need to be good to lower the other costs, and the company must remain low-price product to keep its
advantage.

On the other hand, we also have product mix pricing strategies. These strategies are to tackle the change of price in
product line as each product facing different situations. According to Kotler.P and Armstrong. G (2013), We have the
product line pricing, optional product pricing, captive product pricing, by-product pricing and product bundle pricing.

On the product line pricing, the firm must set price for the whole line of product. The important thing in this
strategy is to focus on the cost of each product and the gap between them. For example, Netflix has 3 subcription
plans for customers, which are the basic for $8.99, the standard for $12.99 and the premium for $15.99. Adding
more service for each product, the firm can raise the price up to gain more profit.

On the optional product pricing, the firm will sell optional product or accessories to go with the main product.
This have an advantage when customers are in tight budget as they do not have to buy the item, or the firm can
make more money in return. For example, when you buy a laptop, you will often by a mousepad, mouse, keypad,
etc with the laptop, so these added products are the optional products.
 On the captive product pricing, this method is similar with the optional product pricing, but the different is the
add-in product is not optional but necessary in this strategy. For example, you buy a printer with cheap price, but
when it comes to ink to use, the price is very high, and it can even cost more than the main product.

On the by-product pricing, this method is for two purposes, get rid of unwanted by-product and make money
from them. When producing a product, you will oftern create some by-product, and the cost to get rid of it is too
high, so selling it to the market would actually a good way. For exmaple, when produce food for the consumers,
there are some by-product which can be make into dog/cat food, and it can help us target other
market/segmentation.

On the product bundle pricing, this method is sell a combination of product, make it a bundle, sell at once. In
F&B, this is usually a combo which the price will be less than buying each of the product inside. This can increase
the revenue if the bundle’s price is low enough to attract customers.

2.2.3. Place

Place in marketing mix is transfering your product from the factory to store or individual salespeople. All of it is
called the distribution channel. In distribution channel, we have supply chain, we have upstream partner and
downstream partner. Upstream partner is the suppliers of raw materials or services for the company to create a product.
Downstream partner is the wholesalers and retailers (intermediaries), who will sell the company’s products. So the
distribution channel is a process that help bring the product to market for customers.

The channel is important for business. Without the distribution channels, the firm will have a hard time to bring
the right product to the right customers. But with the channels, it will be more easier. The roles of channel are
gather and distribute information, engage in promotion, contact potential buyers, match product and demand, negotiate
transaction, delivery, financial transaction, risks.

The channel level has 2 types, direct and indirect channels. The direct channel is the goods come from the the
producer to the customers, without any intermediary. The indirect has 1 or more intermediaries. Although it is good to
have the distribution channel, the more level it has, the more complex it is. The firm cannot control the flow of product
anymore if their channel have too many level. There are other forces that affec the channel, which are the physical flow
of product, the flow of ownership, the payment flow, the information flow and the promotion flow. With these flows, the
channel will get more complicated, so it is best to have enough level of your channel only.

There are two types of channel strategies. Conventional and Vertical Marketing System (VMS). The convetional
method is a simple way, which from the producer go to wholesaler then go to retailer then go to customer. Each level
have separated roles to complete, and no one will have total control over the process. The VMS is all of the levels work
together, except the customer, through a contract. This will give the control to some of channel inside. For example, the
companies produce electronics goods sell at supermarket, stores (TGDD, FPT,…). Those companies are the producer,
and the supermarket, stores are the intermediary. There will be contracts to ensure the all of the flows affect the channel
will be handle through agreed policies, so it can prevent the channel conflict.

The VMS has 3 types, the Corporate VMS, the Contractual VMS and the Administered VMS.

According to Business Jargons, the Corporate VMS operate its channel under one ownnership. For example,
the Manulife Financial Corporation. The company produce and develop it, then give to the other branches for
selling. The whole is under Manulife brand name only, without any other distribution.
 The Contractual VMS is the system that everyone work independently and contribute their efford the producer to
make more profits. A clearer way to explain this is the Franchising. In Franchising, for example, Trung Nguyen
Coffee, with an amout of budget, the new coffee shop can sell its coffee under the name Trung Nguyen Coffee,
and this will contribute to the main company’s profit.

The Administered VMS is the type which everyone inside the channel does not have any control over the other,
but there will be one channel domintate other channel, and it does not have to be the producer. This will happen at
some large retailers as Walmart in the America, which they can claim their power when small companies want sell
their items at Walmart.

Beside from VMS, there is horizontal system, which is the combine of two companies to earn more profit (exploit the
market). They will combine both the production, marketing, etc. They can cooperate for a short-time or a long-time, which
is depended on the purpose of this colaboration. For example, Saigon Heat basketball club usually colab with other
companies (related and un related) for sponsorship. Those companies in return will get to advertisement to the sport
market, which is hard to enter. This will only happen for a short time only.

The last way to develop your distribution channel is the multi-channel. Having one channel can help you target 1
segment, so multi-channel can help you target more segments. This will have a lot of advantages, but it will give you a
hard time to control, since it has too many channels and too many level, the risk will be higher.

After chosing the method, we come to the channel design and manament.
Place in marketing mix meet is to transfer the value to customer, so design and manage suitable channels will
be needed. There four steps, which are analyze consumer needs, set channel objectives, identified channel alternatives
and evaluation.

Analyze consumer needs: this step is about balancing the needs, the cost, the customer price expectation. Even
the place to put our store or pay in cash/credit cards or add-in products and delivery.

Set channel objectives: this step means set out a target of customers (segments) and the KPI. This could be
affect by internal and external factors, for example the budget and size of the company, the intermediaries or the
society, the rivalry, the economic conditions.

Identified channel alternatives: the company must find the suitable channel to sell their product, the number of
its, and the responsibility of those channels.

The type of channel: this has to be identified as who will you give the product to sell, and how many of
channel is enough.

The number of channel: separating the customer’s need into 3 catalog as the intensive distribution, the
selective distribution and the exclusive distribution. The first will focus on daily stuff that everyone will buy it
everyday. The second will focus on stuff that customer usually buy like TV, smartphone, laptop. The third
will be given a limited special product which only that channel can sell, which is usually famous brands.

The responsibilites of channel: both companies and intermediaries must agree on each other policies.
The duies of both parties must be met in order to keep the channel keep working.
 Evaluate: the company can evaluate the distribution by economic criteria (sales, costs, profits), control issues
(control promotion, campagin), adaptability criteria (can channel work long-term, can it adapt to the environment).

International distribution channel is the channel for oversea sales. Designing this channel will be facing many
problem, and the market is hard to penetrate. The marketers must target the local distintion feature if they want to
design an international channel.

After designing, we come to the management of the channel. There are 4 steps, which are select channel members,
manage channel members, motivate channel members, evaluate channel members.

Select channel members: Choosing a right re-seller would be a key point for the channel. Depend on the
company’s product, the company can attract a lot of re-seller or none of them. The company must look at the
quality of each member and choose carefully through evaluation of the re-seller’s history.

Manage channel members and motivate channel members: the key of managing the channel is to make the
intermediaries to believe in the product and the colaboration(take the channel as you are taking the customer).
And to motivate them by profit through product or rewards, titles (for example: Manulife).

Evaluate channel members: checking the performance of the channel in every field, not just sale. And reward if
they are doing well, or the company can assit if they are having problem.

2.2.4. Promotion

In marketing mix, Promotion has 5 types: advertising(ADS), direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and public
relation (PR)
 ADS: Paid to run the non-personal presentation, promotion the product and the name of producer/sponsorship.

Direct marketing: Direct to the targeted customers to receive respond and build customer relationship.

Sales promotion: Sales off or special deal when buying the product

Personal selling: Selling through the sell-force of its own company.

PR: Building good images, maintain the publicity, handle the complaint or rumors about the product or company.

After identified 5 types of promotion, we can look at the communication landscape, which is changing, so to tackle
the market in the best way, we need to build an IMC-Intergrated marketing communication. According to Kotler. P and
Armstrong.G (2013), the IMC will the combination of 5 types of promotion, and the main point is giving out the
consistent, clear compelling messages.

The communication process: The IMC in today can be build around the internet images of the company. As the
technology is rising, everyone look up information online, through SEO or personal blogs. So the website or page of the
company is the need of IMC. Running ads effeciency is important, but the customer will need a professional look at the
brand online. Also the channels need to act according ads that customers see. The IMC works as all the type support
each other, and remain in harmorny. The IMC should target a problem in the society like environment or moral problem,
then design a campaign around it to attract customer. After it, run the ads and maintain the communication with customer
through email, facebook (Posts/replies), official website, channels. All of it the communication process, and the last thing
is to receive feedback and handle it.
In detail, there 5 steps to develop an effective communication. The first is to identified target audience. This step
to check the customer’s segment, for example, the company cannot communicate with teenager nowadays using
newspaper, instead of that, use social media.

The second step is set communication objectives. There is a six of buyer-readiness stages, which is believed that
any customer can be at any stages. 6 stages are awareness (recognize the product or company) to knowledge (have
information of product/company) to liking (how they feel about it) to preference (the customer’s want) to conviction (the
trust in the brand) to purchase (financial transaction).

The third step is designing the message. Creating an message have to care of 3 things, which are content, structure
and format.

The content have 3 types: rational, emotional and moral. The rational apeal means the marketers tackle on
the sense or logic of customers. Making them believe in the logic to trust and to buy the product. The emotional
apeal means using all the emotion from happy, love to angry, humor,etc. The key is to trigger their emotion when
they see it, which will lead them into buying the product. The last is moral appeal, which is often raising up their
morale into things like environment, children, what is right.

The structure also has 3 issues: the first problem is should the marketers explain the meaning of the message
or not. The second issue is the to place the powerful argument. And the last issue is should we do it one-sided
features or two-sided features. Usually, the one-sided is better, but in some ocassion, it depends on the situation
(customer, market place).
 Finally, the format: The strong format would be preferable. As everything must be in the mix of size, font, color,
shape. Usually, eye-catching picture would be best way to capture attention.

The fourth step is choosing the media. The firm must choose channel of communication. There 2 types, which are
personal and nonpersonal. The first is the personal communication. The personal communication is often a conversation
of 2 or more individuals through facing, phone, email, blog, texting. By using the power of trust through acquaintance,
more customer will trust the product to buy. In other way, the company can use the KOL (Key opion leader), these people
have great influnces on people of their field (beauty, sport, fashion, food). This way can help the company control the
information go out and adjust everything in time. The second is the nonpersonal communication, which are the major
media (dispplay media, print media, boardcast media and online media), the atmosphere and event. The atmosphere is
about other facilities to help customer trust the business. And the event is part where the company express it message to
customer. Marketers can combine 2 types, and that will lead to carry out a successful event. By letting the KOLs to inform
the customer on their sites first, later on run big campaign of ads on most major media, last is to create the event.

The fifth step is to select the message source. The one who gives oput the message is important. Usually, beside the
KOLs, the company use celebs to promote their brand/images. But sometimes, if the celeb invole in the scandal (related
or unrelated to the product) might be back-fired to the company itself.

After 5 steps, we come to the budgeting and shaping the marketing mix. The budgeting is important as it is the
money to create the plan. First is affordable, consider every step back, which part is a must and which part is optional,
as today, we do not use printed media for promotion much like before, so the money on print media can be use or save
for something else later. Then, consider the percentage of sales off for the sales promotion. The price must still be
enough to create profit, or the company is undergoing to take risk by making no profit at all, anywat, it depends on the
funding. The next is the competitive-parity method, whether you spend similar cost with your compititors, but you
strike out to have better result then them. The last is based on the objectives or task that the company want to achieve.

Shaping the promotion mix. As each type of promotion is different, the marketers must remember each nature of them all
in order to combine them.

Ads: This type can reach a large customer base but with low-price, and the marketers can give the same
feedback as the reminder for customer again. It sometimes can trigger the sales as advertising a special deal.

Personal selling: This type has the strongest force of all. It involes all kind of people and relationship. This is the
main tool to persuade customer into buying. The sales team must be trained hard in customer service skill and
sale skills.

Sales promotion: Containing discount coupon, bundle, premium, which the purpose is to attract customer.

Public relation: creating something real for the customer and making them trust the product.

Direct marketing: immediate and customized for each customer.

The promotion mix strategies have 2 strategies, which are the push and the pull. The push is to push the product out
the market, reaching its final consumers while the pull means creating the demand through marketing activities then let
the customer pull out the product from the company. These 2 strategies can be best use when doing together.

2.2.5. People
 The staff, employees and workers are important asset of the company. These people are the first one to contact with
the customer, represent the company, build up revenue of the firm. There 3 step to manage the People element.
The first is hire the right people for the vacancy. The second is to train them, give them knowledge aout the
company, product, teamwork. The last is motivation, reward and support are two thing company should care when
recruiting people.

2.2.6. Process

Process is an series of action that lead something happens. There are 4 types of proceses, which are people,
possession, mental stimulus and information. The people processing means involce the tangible of action of human’s
movement. The possession is the tangible actions to product to customers. The mental stimulus process is action invole
targeting people minds. The information process invole intangible movement to the customer’s asset.

The key to manage process is to maintain the productivity and quality of product. Also take care of the capacity of the
company and the demand of customer. Last but not least, applying new technology to improve the performance.

2.2.7. Physical evidence

The facility which customer make contact with when buying the product. Designing interior is the important to have the
right theme, matching color, the logo placement inside the store.

Also the place to show the product, the service counter, etc. Everything in here will be the first impression for the
customer when they come to buy the product.

3. Examples and practices about how different organizations utilize each elements of the marketing mix
 Samsung Apple
Product Variable product line, Wide range of product,
less update, bundle update continuously. Main
products. product is Iphone
Price High, and low price. High price for middle and
Open for everyone. upper class
High profit High profit
Promotion Mostly advertising Slogan and less ads
Place Wholesaler, retailer, Wholesaler, retailer, direct
direct channels channels
People Focus on the Sales Focus on Customer service
teams
Process Diversity of processes. Various support channel
Open in many fields. Design team is kept separate
from other departments
Physical evidence Distinct color and design Modern look outside
User-friendly website Simple and minimalist in side.

4. Analyse and evaluate marketing mix tactics applied by organizations through practical cases.
This part is the comparison of 2 companies, Apple Inc and Samsung Inc. According to MARBOSSDIGITALMARKETING
(2018) and Sadnan Bin Sattar (no date), these are the differences of 2 companies.

Product: Apple’s product focus the design and the innovative. While Samsung focus on the product performance. Both has a
wide range of product, not just phone but other field. But Samsung produce more product line while Apple has a short product
line. In my opinion, Apple should focus more on it development for the performance instead of keep updating rapidly. The
update is good, but it should be kept at an more reasonable rate. For Samsung, instead of produce a very long product line,
they should have chosen an smaller amout of it, then the customer do not have to choose from a lot of options, making it easier
for customer to choose.

Price: Both companies use skimming strategy to maximine the profit. This is a great strategy for both big company as their
name on the market is well-known, and the customer is willingly to pay to have a special or limited version of their product.
Samsung is also using competitive strategy to compete. With the phone line, it compete with Iphone of Apple, and for the home
appliances product, its price is compare to LG and Panasonic. On the other hand, Apple uses special offer for students and
employee, in order to prove its mission and vision, to be emotional brand. Also, Apple now is using the optional product pricing,
they created add-in products (charge, headphone) to sell the main product (Iphone). Personally, I think the skimming is good,
but the problem is the other method of both companies. The competitive pricing of Samsung is hard to compete with its rival,
since the problem in its product line. The price of those product is variable, so when a customer remember Samsung, they
remember a cheap product or normal product while Apple is doing it very well. For Apple, the optional method is not really fit the
image of the company. Making the company look complicated, not simple, luxury anymore.

Promotion: Samsung believes that advertisement is the key to promote their product. They also create technology event, and
they also use push strategy. On the other hand, Apple use sale promotion (for students and staffs) mix with cultural events. By
using top management to host the event, Apple has succesfully draw the attention of its fan. For Samsung, one more time, the
product will make the marketing team headache because they have no idea which product would be best promote. So simply,
they just promote the newest, strongest and most competitive one, so with other low-priced product, people might not know it
exist, which could go back to the intention of having a product line as variety choices from design to price for customer. For
Apple, their strategy in promotion is great, but they will need to make more event that aim to other aspect of society rather than
just their own cultural events. It would show their emotional brand’s purpose even more.

Place: Apple aims to luxury people, so the design of the store is usually cover in white, grey with the modern look from the
outside, but simple inside the store. This help make the customer feels like they using the premium product, which is the
objective of Apple. Moreover, Apple also uses other channels of re-seller and third parties for the online store. Samsung use
different distribution channel network to maximize their sales, service and brand. To the Apple, they are doing a great work at
this. Their brand most of the re-seller want to participate with them, creating a effective channel. Today, just by surfing
Facebook, you can see someone selling Apple’s products. According to Gennaro Cuofano (2020), most of the sales of Apple
come from indirect channel. For Samsung, it is more easier for them to enter the market than Apple. Samsung has more
distribution network from related business, which can help them penetrate the market easier. But they should focus more on
selling their product to big re-seller, or Samsung should make some of them a premium re-seller. This can increase the revenue
of the company.

People: The staffs of Apple usually have magnetic personality. Apple also trains their employee with the method of hospitality
with the hope of providing better service for customer. For Samsung, they have separate departments of sales and customer
service. And at the store, it also prepares people to answer customer’s question about the company or the product. This is a war
between both companies. While Apple want the customers know they are always here, Samsung want the customers to know
that they always have what the customer want. Apple is winning this round because in this element, Samsung is pushing their
people hard, but with normal reward, which can create a very competitive environment for working.

Process: in this element, Apple is focusing on information process while Samsung focus possession process. Apple want
customer to experience not just the product, but the services as well. Samsung is following the best practice of the industry for
manufacturing process. Process is also about how a product is made. The Apple team will focus on the design team only, which
is kept from other when a new product is developoing. Samsung’s process does not relate much with design team, and they
focus more on the development team.

Physical Evidence: Samsung has strong color and design on its shelves at the retailer store, which is designed by Samsung
itself. This help the customer to recognize them easily. The online website is user-friendly, and it gives quality images. Samsung
should have developed their own store, instead of selling through distribution channel only. This could make their brand looks
stronger, and the people get to know more products. Next is Apple’s store, which create a elegent, simple look inside. Apple is
going the right way in this element, by creating a feeling of premiu, for customers.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, 7Ps of marketing mix is a powerful, effective tools for the firm to use. Each of the element is important and
together it can create a big impact on the organization’s business.

Reference:

BRASSINGTON, F. and PETTITT, S. (2012) Essentials of Marketing. 3 rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson.

KOTLER, P. and ARMSTRONG, G. (2013) Principles of Marketing. London: Prentice Hall.

Lovelock, C and Wirtz, J & Chew, P. 2009, Essentials of Services Marketing, Prentice Hall

Lovelock C. & Wright L., 1999, Principles of service marketing and management, Prentice Hall

Kelly Woo. (2020) HBO Max vs Netflix: Which streaming service is best for you?. Available at:
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Gennaro Cuofano. (2020) Apple Distribution: The Apple Store Is Not About Selling [Link] at:
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Sadnan Bin Sattar. (no date) Marketing Mix of Samsung. Available at: [Link]
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MARBOSSDIGITALMARKETING. (2018) Apple’s Marketing Mix. Available at:

[Link] (acessed date: 23/10/2020)