Marketing Processes and Planning Assignment Sample 

Introduction

The assignment focuses on one of the biggest retail giants Unilever and its marketing aspects. The study includes the role of the marketing team in the 21st century and its effectiveness on organizational growth. The report identifies and compares the extended marketing mix for two selected ‘luxury’ non-food products. Apart from that, the influence of organizational mission vision and objectives in the marketing strategy has been evaluated in the current study. It reflects the collaborative behavior’s of the marketing team and its impacts on the productivity and sales growth of the company.

Assignment 1: The marketing concept

Potential role of marketing and its interrelation with other business organization units

The marketing team of Unilever has been playing a crucial role in the growth of the organization because it serves as the face of the company. The marketing department has been taking responsibility to coordinate with the marketing for selling their products, which means the department has been contributing to the sales growth of the company. Sales growth has an interrelation with the revenue rate and organizational growth, as the marketing department has been contributing to sales growth it influences the revenue. Even the marketing department has an interrelation with other units of the company and their collaboration of work has been increasing the income rate. For instance, the marketing department of the organization has been collaborating and helping the sales department to make strategies to attract customers (Abosede and Dada, 2021). Along with helping the sales department, the marketing department also takes responsibility to check if the products meet all the requirements of the customers or not. This kind of collaboration and interaction has been helping the company to deliver products that meet customers’ needs, which influences sales growth.

Role of marketing in 21st century

The increasing use of the internet and smartphones have increased the use of internet-based brand promotion. Unilever is one of the biggest retail brands in the world that has been marketing by using digital platforms. In order to be sustainable in this competitive marketplace of the retail industry, the organization has been focusing on three pillars of marketing, that have been helping them to make effective strategies according to the needs of this century (Murphy and Murphy, 2018). The combination of the three pillars includes people,  indispensable brands, and magical experiences. Unilever also offers people high-quality continental style products, and uses a  “pass-the-savings’-onto-the-customer”.

The marketing department of this company has been managing and defining its brands, which is a crucial part to be sustainable in the industry. Even the department is responsible for campaign magnet, so marketing managers use to take initiatives to make strategies to make campaigns. More importantly, the department takes initiatives to be focused to overall sales cycle and outward communication (Zou, 2021). The department use to be focused on the update of web content on the website of the company by using search engine optimisation.

Roles and responsibilities in marketing, and the competencies required to succeed

In order to fulfil the marketing needs and organizational growth, marketing department of Unilever has developed required competencies. Looking at the journey of this business organization, it can be said that the marketing team is creative and as they are able to think big. The sales rate has been increasing throughout the years since its establishment (Łaszkiewicz, 2018). This kind of competency helps marketing managers to be creative while operating on a business project. On the other hand, marketing managers of the company have great communication skills, which helps them to make good relationships while finalising any project. One of the biggest plus points of the marketing team of the organisation is its tech-savvy members, they are able to use updated technologies that make impacts on their work in a positive manner. Moreover, the negotiation skills of marketing managers of Uniliever have been helping it to make the best deals. This kind of skill has been helping marketing managers to understand when they can negotiate. Uniliever  has taken a strategy to inspire marketing managers to be able to lead a team, this is increasing the leadership skills of marketing managers. On the other hand, leaders of the marketing team of the organisation always focus on motivating their employees to get their best effort in work (Alsubiei et al. 2021).

Role of marketing function works with other departments supporting wider organisational context in terms of vision, mission, and purpose

The mission statement of Unilever reflects its focus on “to make sustainable living commonplace”. The mission statement shows that the company uses a strategic approach to the market that focuses on the needs of its potential customers (Comparably, 2022). On the other hand, the vision statement reflects the direction for development to make long term sustainability. With this kind of mission and vision, the retail giant has been able to be sustainable in the global marketplace. It is evident that the marketing team of the company has been contributing to making strategies to meet organisational objectives by following organisational mission and vision. Looking at the mission and vision statement of the company, it can be said that it is focusing on customer satisfaction as it is willing to increase its customer base. The marketing department undoubtedly has been contributing to that as it is one of the most important parts of the organisation. For instance, the marketing team has been working with collaborative behaviour with production, sales, and other departments.

Reflection on the internal and external factors that influence your role

The internal and external factors of the company have been influencing its strategy-making process. The marketing department of the company focuses on these two environmental factors while making strategies. For instance, the department has been focusing on the aspects of managing marketing team members as it is one of the important internal factors (Nahar and Zayed, 2019). On the other hand, the team is more focused to look at the external factors while making marketing strategies because external factors play a significant role  in business growth. For instance, the marketing department of the company use to analyse product demand, customers choice, needs, and cost-effectiveness while making strategies.

References

Abosede, I.A. and Dada, O.A., 2021. Manufacturing Firms’ Profitability and Management of Credit: A Study of Unilever Nigeria, PLC and Nigeria Breweries PLC. International Journal of Advanced Studies in Business Strategies and Management, 9(1), pp.50-61.

Alsubiei, S., Reynolds, K. and Mohammad, A., 2021. THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION ON ORGANISATIONAL OUTPUT–A CASE STUDY ON UNILEVER ARABIA. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 18(14), pp.731-741.

Comparably. (2022) “Unilever Mission, Vision & Values”. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.comparably.com/companies/unilever/mission> [Accessed 20th February 2022]

Łaszkiewicz, A., 2018. The use of creativity and intellectual capital of consumers in modern enterprises. Journal of Management and Financial Sciences, (31), pp.27-35.

Murphy, P.E. and Murphy, C.E., 2018. Sustainable living: Unilever. In Progressive Business Models (pp. 263-286). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Nahar, S. and Zayed, N.M., 2019. An analysis on the impact of remuneration on employee motivation: A case study on Unilever, Bangladesh. International Journal of Family Business & Management, 3(2), pp.1-5.

Zou, S., 2021, August. Analysis on the Recovery of MNEs from the Financial Crisis: A Case Study of Unilever. In 1st International Symposium on Innovative Management and Economics (ISIME 2021) (pp. 121-128). Atlantis Press.