UNIT: 2 – Marketing Essentials

UNIT CODE: R/508/0486

Executive summary:

This report consists of the analysis of the role and responsibilities of marketing in a business
firm. The relation of marketing with the other major functional area of a business firm is also
included in this study. it also includes the 7P's of marketing mix such as seven elements of
marketing mix such as- product which has the impact on the marketing plan and objectives of a
business firm. In this formal report, the relationship of marketing with the wider organization is
also incorporated.

The full study is divided into three main sections. And Barclays is selected as a chosen company
from the UK to implement the example. The primary branch of the report includes the details
about the roles and responsibilities of the marketing division of Barclays. The relation with the
marketing unit and other practical divisions of Barclays is discussed in this division. The
following portion of the study consists scenario about the implementation of the marketing mix
according to the organization perspective. Finally, the very last segment of the script includes a
marketing plan for Barclays which the company can execute in order to accomplish better
competence, superior brand image and increase profitability.

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Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................5

Task 1...............................................................................................................................................5

P1: Explain the key roles and responsibility of the marketing functions for Barclays................5

P2: Relationship of the roles and responsibilities of marketing with the wider organizational
context of Barclays.......................................................................................................................8

Task 2.............................................................................................................................................10

P3: Barclay was of applying the marketing mix to the marketing planning process to achieve
business objectives.....................................................................................................................10

Task 3.............................................................................................................................................16

P4: Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for Barclays.................................................16

Background of the marketing plan for Barclays:.......................................................................16

Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................20

References......................................................................................................................................21

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Table of Figures:
Figure 1: Relationship of Marketing with other Organizational Function......................................8
Figure 2: 7P's of Marketing Mix....................................................................................................10
Figure 3: The Element of Marketing Mix......................................................................................11
Figure 4: Market research and marketing mix...............................................................................12
Figure 5: Market Development Strategy.......................................................................................18
Figure 6: Marketing Mix of Barclays............................................................................................19

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Introduction:
The marketing department is labial for the overall growth for a company. The function of
marketing can be described or defined in a point of view of the roles of the business
Organization which helps to select the potentially profitable sectors for the business and also
helps to create competitive advantages among other companies. Marketing can be used for
sustaining the growth rate of the company. Marketing section of any company executes diverse
promotional actions that generate a fixed brand status for the organization. The clients of the
organization can simply appreciate the value propositions of the organization. The productivity
and profitability of the organization mostly depend on the triumphant implementation of the
marketing plan.

Task 1

P1: Explain the key roles and responsibility of the marketing functions
for Barclays
To illustrate the roles and responsibility of the marketing first of all the functions of marketing
must have to be discussed. A combination of marketing research, customer service, the
development process of the product, promotion, advertisement as well as sales is called
marketing in a short description (Gardner, 2010). Barclays is a leading financial institution in the
UK. The company is serving its customer base with profitable financial services and generates
benefits.

The role of marketing function for Barclays:

The first role of marketing in Barclays can be said promoting the brand image. The department
of marketing of Barclays helps the company to promote brand image of their company. On the
other hand, the front desk staffs are employed to manage the brand image by offering quality
services. The department of marketing of the Barclays is also to create promotional apparatus
as well as to maintain the promotional tools. For this issue company used television
advertisement and the social media which is very effective in recent years. For example,

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Barclays is to reveal its innovative brand positioning, starting with a major TV ad campaign in
March of this year.

Manager of the marketing department of Barclays is also performing the task of creating
adequate content for search engine optimization facility for the customer of getting
availability of their financial services in online. To accomplish this level the manager use
internet which means the customer will get the website of the bank in first when searching for
the company. The company also can monitor and maintain the social media actions by the
help of marketing division. It will help the company to get the feedback of customer and gets
new concept regarding serving the customers.

The responsibility of the marketing actions of Barclays:

The responsibility of the marketing of a company is the combination of many things. Firsts of all
come to the marketing strategy of the company which is normally taken by the senior
management of the company with the help of the junior managers (Hill and O'Sullivan, 2010).
Junior managers, as well as the front desk staffs, are directly involved with the customer, so they
are able to describe the market condition of the bank. In order to complete the market strategy,
Barclays performed some strategies like market penetration and new distribution methods etc.
for example The strategy of Barclays is to construct on their power as a transatlantic corporate,
commercial and investment bank in UK and US market, with global reach. The company is
simplifying their main business, accelerating the badly maintained Non-Core task of the bank
and ensuring their remaining legacy with the improvement of their control surroundings.

Marketing research also helps the company about the taste and behavior of the customer, new
opportunity of the company and the competitive position of the company including emerging
competitors of the company. Marketing research of Barclays is done through two major sections
like primary research and secondary research (Keegan, Moriarty and Duncan, 2014). Barclays do
the marketing research with the help of interviews customer base, observe the market, public
data, industry report, monitoring social media activities etc. for example recently Barclays
improve their student accounts through market research in the UK. The marketing department of
Barclays has also focused on the development of the new product as well as to improve the
existing product. For this reason, the marketing research also helps the firm. The market

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research team can illustrate the changing demand for any services of Barclays by making
interaction with the customer. On the later part, the team has to inform the distinctive features to
the product development department about to launch new products.

Another major responsibility of the marketing department of Barclays is to communicate the

message of the firm with the customer base. Communication with the customer helps in
promoting the services of Barclays and getting feedback from the customers. It helps the
customer about the existing product and also about the upcoming production of the company
(Comfort and Brieger, 2011). Advertisement campaigns, making digital marketing content and
promotional content development can be done by the marketing manager in order to establish a
strong website for the company. Paper release, products catalog, newspaper, the advertisement
can be used in order to maintain a strong communication with the customers. For example inside
the UK, Barclay's interactions are planned to help customers by the content like 'Take One Small
Step to managing their money better every day'.

The front desk employees act like the salesperson of the bank. Those persons are very important
for any financial service provider like Barclays. The branch location and number of branches
helps the company to increase the organization service area. The harmony of marketing
department with the sales department helps the company to boost the sales volume of
products and generate maximum profit (Marketing Dawn, 2017). The marketing team develops
presentation content for the sales team in order to promote the product to the customers.
Different events like seminars, conference, campaign, free customer consultant and services,
exhibition, banking fair etc can be held under the marketing team of Barclays. In those events,
Barclays can distribute the promotional contents like leaflets, banners, presentation, catalog, and
handout. Recently the sponsorship concept becomes the wider method for the portion. Barclays
get the promotional activity for its banking services by sponsoring in any big external event. For
example, Barclay sponsors the previous National Indoor Arena.

P2: Relationship of the roles and responsibilities of marketing with the

wider organizational context of Barclays
Quality of banking services increase the standard of life of customers and those services are
improved by the marketing department of Barclays. Maintaining of the competitive environment

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in favor by lowering the price level and serving with quality services the Barclays generates
profit. The marketing department of Barclays maintains the demand for the services by
supporting the product supply services.

Barclays PLC is a multinational universal bank and financial services company. It is offering
products and services crossways personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and
wealth management over 40 countries, the core businesses of Barclays are Retail banking,
Commercial banking, Investment banking, Wealth Management. Marketing functions are
interrelated with other major function of Barclays. Function unit like finance, research, and
development, human resource department, operational department, and sales department.

Figure 1: Relationship of Marketing with other Organizational Function

Source: (Ries and Trout, 2006)

Finance: as Barclays is a financial services provider, finance is fully related with its entire
performance area. In a marketing plan, the financial information about the existing product cycle
as well as about the new product is described. The strategic decision about the marketing plan is
depended on the financial potentiality of the firm (Rosenwald, 2014). With the help of marketing
department finance department is able to make a decision whether a service would be profitable
or not, they can make sale anticipate and net margin in expectations. for example: in 2010

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Barclays earned exactly GBP 6.1 billion on profits of GBP 31.4 billion with the new marketing
campaign.

Marketing helps the research and development department by executing marketing research
and collecting information from the customer about their changing behavior toward the company
and products of Barclays. Information about the features customer desire form a product is
informed by the marketing department of the company to this division. Human resource
department is also affected by the marketing department. How many staffs are needed in a
marketing department for market research, promotion activities, and distribution channel is
determined by the marketing department. For example, new marketing plan of Barclays targeted
to increase current student market share by 1.5% (960,000 student's accounts). For this issue, the
staffing of Barclays is very important.

The Operational department gets the actual service area by the help of the marketing
department. The number of products, types of products and service area, promotional activities
etc is determined by the marketing (Heidingsfield and Blankenship, 1974). It also helps the
company to get the customers demand of the services. Sales department directly communicate
with the customers. The value of the customer about the services sales department gets by the
help of promotional activities of the marketing department. In this regard, their marketing of
Barclays is playing the very vital role. for example: according to the market segmentation
Barclay offers different services including Worldwide banking, Barclays card, Barclays Capital,
Barclays Wealth, Retail and commercial banking Global customers.

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Task 2

P3: Barclay was of applying the marketing mix to the marketing

planning process to achieve business objectives.
The function of marketing is the combination of many things. To serve the target market
perfectly after the market research the company must have to get through a marketing mix.
Traditional 4P's have been extended to 7ps. those are shortly described and the application of
those 7P's is described below:

Figure 2: 7P's of Marketing Mix

Source: (WonSeokWoo, 2015)

With the economic boom over the time, the extended 7P's are becoming popular rather than
traditional 4P'for both the product and service providers. This 7P's are incorporate with some
basic criteria's. Those are:

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 Figure 3: The Element of Marketing Mix

Source: (Hobbs et al., 2017)

Though the buying behavior is depended on the product's features, there exist other issues like
purchasing capacity, availability etc. but generally the marketing research is executed in order to
satisfy the customer with their needs by the help of marketing mix. A flowchart about this term
can be:

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 Figure 4: Market research and marketing mix

Source: (Barclays turns to Nuance FreeSpeech, 2013)

Application of the 7Ps model in Barclays:

To apply 7P's model in real life by the Barclays, the company must have to face some specific
common question in each segment of the marketing mix.

Product:

The question would be like how the products will be developed in this portion. Barclays is
established with the reputation of providing the desired services to the customer. For example, it
offers Personal banking, Premier banking and Barclaycard etc for individuals. On the other hand,
corporate and investment banking services are for corporate entities. In this case, the market
research helps the firm to get the changing behavior of the customer over time. To cope with this
the company can use promotion strategy for the developed product through different tools.

Price:

Barclays pricing strategy is reliant on the presence of control of regulatory body and customer's
situation. Barclays consider 5 main issues like survival, profit maximization, personal objectives
and the maximization of market share, social consideration, in the pricing of the services. With a
variety of reimbursement elasticity options, with 25% cut rate on its mobile broadband scheme,
monthly fee waiver, interest-free overdrafts and low-priced rates for loans Barclays offer
services to its customers. In order to increase the revenues and release major portions of its

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capital, Barclays has also planned to cut down its yearly expenses to $ 24.5 billion which is
almost 25% of operating costs.

Promotion:

Communication about the company and services is converter under the promoting. The question
of this part is how the clients will be educated about the services of Barclays through different
channels. Barclays is a banking service provider and wants to attract the clients who are
financially well off. Advertisement through radio, television, newspaper, social media or internet
can be used to inform the customers about the services Barclays deals with. Barclays focuses on
360 degrees of promotional activities. Barclays uses Word-of-mouth Campaign, Magazines,
Press Releases, Newspapers, Posters and Brochures, websites, Television, Billboards, telephone
calls and Direct mail etc as their promotional activities. To increase sales volume Sales
Promotion is offered by Barclays. Barclays Sponsors a variety of programs including Barclays
Football Premiership League, English Premier League from 2001-2016, Barclays Cycle Hire and
the Dubai Tennis Championship in 2008 are done by the firm to create its brand image around
the world.

Place:

The common question for this marketing mix is what will be the distribution place of the
services. Barclays is a bank and so the number of branches and location of branches are the
major topic in this issue (Covey, 2013). On the other hand with the updated technology the
online banking is also figured out in this portion to serve the wide range of customers. Barclays
has been intensifying its businesses internationally over the years with a total of 4750 branches
in over 50 countries. On the other way, Barclays stands as the 1st bank which offers online
banking to their customers for several financial services. Recently it has almost 4.5 million
registered online bankers in the UK. Barclays also offers Mobile Banking.

People:

In this segment, the answer will be for the question of who the employees of the Barclays are and
which skill they need. Banking sector of UK maintains a uniform stand regarding the staff f of
the banks. The staffs of the front desk are must be friendly and the managers are requiring with a

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proper skill to maintain the company along with its objectives. Investment on online employees
sometimes reduces the overall cost of the firm.

Process:

Process means the full procedure of the product development to distribution. Though out the
marketing research Barclays get the criteria to develop their services and marketing mix helps
the company to develop distribution concept. In the distribution process, Barclays get help from
the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. The overall process at Barclays is easy
to use. Barclays has taken a conversion from the physical to the virtual platform smoothly.
Carrying out the diversity of dealings, money transfer, payments and loans become very easy
through the online platform to assist customers.

Physical Evidence

The main discussion is on how the customers can be reassured. The solution for this question is
Barclays's well-trained employees and friendly environment. Customers can clear their doubt by
consulting with the employees about their confusion or get help from the established website. A
perfect website is completed with all the information about different types of services of a
company. On the other hand, mobile banking facility, the introduction of ‘Barclay’s Mobile’ App
for international customers, country-based specific apps for important services e.g. Barclay’s
Ghana; Barclay’s Namibia etc help the bank very much.

The method through Barclays can do better than the other organizations:

With a limited market, the competition is increasing day by day. Barclays is now facing
competition with the companies like HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland
Group, Standard Chartered. The market share of this industry is decreasing with the increasing
competition. In this case, Barclays must have to be concerned about the marketing mix for
remain competitive in the industry (Mathieson, 2008). For this reason, Barclays can classify the
customer base among several categories according to their taste. So product mix must have to be
customized along with the promotional strategy for different class people. For example,
individuals prefer personal commercial banking services and business entities prefer corporate
services. Recently Barclays has planned to cut down its yearly expenses to $ 24.5 billion (25% of

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operating costs) which helps the firm to be competitive in the market. Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) helps the bank to attract new customer and loyalty satisfied a customer.
With A total of 4750 branches in over 50 countries, Barclays serve its customers. For
promotional activity, it remains different from other competitors like Lloyds Banking Group,
The Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC Holdings. For example Barclays Football Premiership
League, English Premier League from 2001-2016, ‘Barclays Cycle Hire’ from 2010-15 and the
Dubai Tennis Championship in 2008.

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Task 3

P4: Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for Barclays.

Background of the marketing plan for Barclays:

Barclays is a British international bank and financial service provider. It offers products and
services related to personal, commercial and investment banking, credit cards and wealth
management throughout 40 countries within the world. Barclays already has a brand image as
the satisfactory service provider.

Now to formulate the marketing plan Barclays is focusing on the changing and existing situation
of the target market. As India is becoming the market leader in recent years so the marketing
plan for this country will be profitable. The economy of India is getting developed with the
international emerging of the economy. On the other hand, the age, taste, behavior, and trend of
the Indians will be suitable for Barclays if they plan to operate in this new area. India is a huge
market to grab a huge portion of world population belong to this country (Łopacińska, 2015).
Expansion and development opportunities in rising economies are an enormous chance
for Barclays bank in India. Trading through online banking is a massive unexploited area for
India where the bank can run a perfect business.

The objective of the marketing plan:

Recently the Barclays are going to introduce their banking services in a new region India. The
main objective of the marketing plan is to attract new customer base according to diversification.
But it also includes others supplementary marketing plans like create the new market, expand
service area, expand market share within Indian region. It also helps Barclays to get introduced
to a new culture.

 Grab a new market in India

 Develop the brand image of Barclays with best-offered services.
 Hold at least 5% of market share of target market industry within next 2 years.

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  Gain profit from the operation in India within next 1 year.

Primary business objectives:

The primary business objective is mostly depended on the marketing plan of Barclays. in this
case the effects are including hold the new targeted market and create revenue of 10% within the
next 2 years and at least increase of 5% return on equity within next 1 year. The brand image
establishment is also a focus for the company.

Strategic objectives for the primary objectives:

Like other companies, Barclays is also serving the customer with best quality services in order to
increase customer satisfaction. The main objective of Barclays is to increase market share in
existing market and expand the branched throughout the world. The wealth maximization
through the marketing department is also a vital point form Barclays's point of view.

Target market segment:

In previous performances, Barclays classified their target market according to demographic,

behavioral, and geographic segmentation. As a multinational company, Barclays also consider
national verity of culture and economic condition. The age, taste, the economic state is the basic
parameter to determining the target market segment (Barclay's banks on customer-service
training, 2012). As India is a vastly populated and developing country, its economy is getting
better off day by day. So as target market of Barclays India is appropriate. Young generations of
India who are involved in online marketing are mostly the actual target market segment for
Barclays. Job holders, corporate institution, companies in the stock market are the major clients
of the bank.

Marketing strategy and marketing mix

The marketing strategy that can be used to accomplish the marketing mix plan for Barclays is
market development strategy. It means the company is serving the existing and new product line
to the new geographical area with the new distributional process. Though a research the
profitability and the sustainability of the market is determined. Then the selection of area,
services packages, distributional channels, pricing concept are measured. First of all the

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company must update a perfect website for India with enough content so that the customers get

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available information. Best rate for deposits and loans are needed to attract new customers. India
with a huge geographical area can be covered by the huge number of branches. But before that
the Barclays should focus on urban or city areas.

Marketing mix:
Figure 5: Market Development Strategy

Source: (Marketing, 2013)

As a service provider, Barclays is considering 7P's of the marketing mix. To implement the
market plan of Barclay's following implementations are discussed.

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 Figure 6: Marketing Mix of Barclays

Source: (Barclays.co.uk, 2017)

Barclays is a bank and it offers services which are considered as its products. In this point, the
Barclays can offer all the four vital banking services that the bank offers in other countries. For
the job holders and middle-class people, Barclays can provide personal and commercial retail
banking services. And for the corporate clients, Barclays must have to offer investment banking
and corporate banking services. Usage of the electronic card for the transaction is preferable for
the young generation.

Price is a major factor for any company. Barclays must have to compete in price as well as
provide better service in the market of India to get the advantages of the market. The customer
base includes the different level of customers. For personal banking, the interest rate must be
high on deposit and low on the loan amount to attract new customers. People mean employees of
Barclays. To get into a new country the company must adopt the culture of that country and
customer prefers friendly staffs form them. So the employs of the Barclays branches in India
must have to be the Indian. On the other hand, the labor cost of India is low which will become
befits for Barclays.

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For the place, Nowadays India prefers online based market. For lower cost and reach maximum
customers Barclays can provide financial services throughout the online. Besides that, the
company must have to establish physical branches in India where customers directly meet with
the bank. The physical environment includes Branches in India of Barclays which must be
friendly and co-operative. It will generate maximum customer satisfaction, loyalty and increase
the base of customer. Branches in the city will generate maximum profit in an initial time of the
company.

For the promotional activity the television, radio or newspaper will be best and cost-effective
way for promotion (Sharma, 2008). Word of mouth will also be the effective tool of promotion.
With the technological advancement, the company will use the online platform to serve a vast
area of India.

Conclusion:
When the marketing plan is recognized, several duties are determined by the team members of
any organization. Marketing system helps the company to get the feedback from customers
to be a success in the long run in the market. Barclays has assurance about the control over
the marketing system, transparency of the marketing plan and cost-effectiveness of this plan. The
elements and the mix of the marketing mix are interrelated with the business performance and
objective. So careful integration among the elements is must to ensure by the company. The tools of
the marketing mix of the organization have to be integrated very carefully so that the
expectations of the customers can be reflected in the plans. As the marketing plan acts as a
reflection the objective of the business firms so the manager must need to monitor the entire
marketing plan regularly.

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