Student Details ( Student should fill the content)

Name Kanapaddala Gamage Chiran Nimanka

Batch Number 24
ICBT ID :
Student ID Cardiff Met ID : 20243948
CL/CARDIFFMB/24/208
Scheduled unit details
Unit code MBA 7003
Unit title Marketing Assignment WRIT 2
Assignment Details
Nature of the Assessment Assignment 2
Topic of the Case Study GIVEN
Learning Outcomes covered YES
Word count 2000 words
Due date / Time 20 September 2022
Declaration
I certify that the attached material is my original work. No other person’s work or ideas
have been used without acknowledgement. Except where I have clearly stated that I have
used some of this material elsewhere, I have not presented it for examination /
assessment in any other course or unit at this or any other institution
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Assignment Type & Title:
For student use: Critical feedback on the individual progression towards achieving
the assignment outcomes

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Strengths

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3|Page
Contents
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Task 1.........................................................................................................................................................6
1.1Define the problem...........................................................................................................................7
1.2Introduction to marketing research................................................................................................7
1.3The importance of marketing research in understanding consumer unmet needs......................7
2. Proposed Plan for Marketing Research...............................................................................................7
2.1 Problem Definition..........................................................................................................................8
2.2 Research plan...................................................................................................................................8
2.3 Design Sample and Collect Information........................................................................................8
2.4 Analysis of Information...................................................................................................................8
2.5 Present Findings..............................................................................................................................8
2.5.1 Lack of naturalness believe of Seri products..........................................................................8
2.5.2 Price Gap of two brands...........................................................................................................8
6. Make the decision..............................................................................................................................8
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................................8
1 Situation Analysis...............................................................................................................................9
2. Objective............................................................................................................................................9
3. Strategies............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Digital flat forms for advertising and promotions.....................................................................9
3.2 Increase Social Media reach.......................................................................................................9
3.3 Increase the frequency of SMS campaigns................................................................................9
3.4........................................................................................................................................................9
4. Tactics.................................................................................................................................................9
5. Actions Implementation..................................................................................................................11
6. Control..............................................................................................................................................12
Task 3.......................................................................................................................................................13
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................13
1.2 Internal Micro Environment........................................................................................................13
1.3 External Macro Environment.......................................................................................................13
1.4 Current Strategy (Internal)..........................................................................................................13
1.5 Positioning Map.............................................................................................................................15
1.6 SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................................16
1.7 PESTEL Analysis..........................................................................................................................17
1.8 Importance of marketing Audit....................................................................................................18

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Task 4.......................................................................................................................................................19
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................19
1.1 Attraction.................................................................................................................................20
1.2 Interest......................................................................................................................................20
1.3 Desire..............................................................................................................................................20
1.3 Action........................................................................................................................................21
1.4 Importance of advertising in building brands.......................................................................21
Task 5.......................................................................................................................................................23
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................23
1.2 Segmentation..................................................................................................................................23
1.3 Targeting........................................................................................................................................24
1.4 Positioning Map.............................................................................................................................25
6. Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................27

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Task 1

1.1Define the problem

Seri natural is in the market for over decade and found that they have a slow growth in market
share and the profitability over the years. Even though they showed a small growth other
competitors is growing rapidly in the sector in terms of market share and the profitability.

1.2Introduction to marketing research

Marketing research is a systematic process of collecting, recording analyzing data towards a
particular pre identified problem and it gives a clear understanding of the problem and aid in
making decision and open the eyes for realistic solutions. “Marketing research represent the eyes
and ears of a competitive business firm’’ (Zikmund et al., 2011)

1.3The importance of marketing research in understanding consumer unmet needs

Business organization runs for maximizing shareholders wealth basically to make profit out of
the operations but there are plenty of companies which provide same product and services so that
a particular organization need to develop a unique value of their product or the service over the
competitors of the industry. Developing the unique value can be done after only identifying the
unmet need of the target customers.
In the considering situation we need to identify the consumer un met needs in consuming
cosmetics and need to develop a unique value proposition for our products to persuade customers
to buy Seri Naturals products. To identify the needs it need a marketing research.

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2. Proposed Plan for Marketing Research

2.1 Problem Definition

Low growth of market share and sales compared to the other cosmetic brands

2.2 Research plan

Quantitative research will be conducted as the problem is well defined and primary data will be
use to dep dive the problem. Focus group discussion will be use to collect information from the
end users of cosmetics focus group will the females age between 17 – 45. A discussion will carry
out as an ordinary discussion to get the maximum out of it.

2.3 Design Sample and Collect Information

Sample will be the females using cosmetics between the ages of 17-45. 50 amount of discussion
will be taken from nine provinces of Sri Lanka.
2.4 Analysis of Information
All discussion will be recorded and the important points will be documented to identify unmet
needs over the competitor cosmetics.
2.5 Present Findings

2.5.1 Lack of naturalness believe of Seri products

Compared to the competitor brand Natures secret target group of customers believes that Seri is a
less natural products as when Natures Secret always emphasis their herbs garden state of art
factory and the own laboratory to produce 100% natural products but Seri only says Seri Natural
and it doesn’t give any proven evidence to show the naturalness of Seri Products. Also people
believe that NS’s raw materials is from their own herbs gardens since Seri doesn’t have a one
they think Seri as a less natural product.

2.5.2 Price Gap of two brands

Price of 50ml face wash of NS is 185/- and the Seri offer it at 230/- so people believe this in
away that NS can give at this price because it is local natural product and Seri is as a mix
products from foreign raw materials.

6. Make the decision

Manufacture the product by adding more natural ingredients and advertise it in a way that
customer persuade over competitor brands.Match the price gap by adding more 20ml to the 50ml
bottle and offer

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Task 2

1 Situation Analysis
Even though with the Covid effect in 2020, MBSL started off the year 2021 with a positive note
and was able to record positive results in the 1 st quarter 2021. However, according to the World
Health Organization, the pandemic situation will continue throughout the next couple of years,
affecting standard ways of business conduct. With the effects of Covid rapidly restricting the
traditional methods of marketing, MBSL will be moved to focus more towards digital platforms
in search of customer engagements just as the competition have started already. Since the
pandemic has increase the demand and natural growth for pawning industry and MBSL will give
a more focus on the same through digital marketing activities.

2. Objective
In line with the corporate objectives the Marketing Objectives are constructed to support the
overall growth of the business.
1. Increase the MBSL brand awareness within existing & potential target markets and create
competitive advantages.
2. Increase the lending inquires and direct to the sales tem in order to develop the sales.
3. Link online and physical marketing as an integrated process for new customer acquisition and
retain existing.
4. To increase the repeat business from 39% to 60% by offering attractive deals via online flat
forms.

3. Strategies

3.1 Digital flat forms for advertising and promotions

Since the direct and traditional marketing activities can’t perform due to the pandemic these
activities go digital
3.2 Increase Social Media reach
Through more channels and increased number of campaigns for all products as well as awareness
campaigns. Each promotion activities should be bring on online flat form as the technology
enable to promote the product in a more efficient way to the target customers.
3.3 Increase the frequency of SMS campaigns
3.4 Customized financial solution should be given to focusing each sectors as an example three
wheel industry focus marketing department allocate to cater their needs and marketing part of the
same should be done via online.

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4. Tactics

Website
Develop a modern web site which reflect MBSL as a viable place start a relationship will directly
impact on lead generation.
SEO
Increase the search visibility of the MBSL website by optimizing in search engine which make a
website traffic to MBSL. That will increase search ranking and updated content will be maintain.
Apart from that a live chat box will be in place to prospect and to generate leads.

Social Media reach: through more channels and increased number of campaigns for all
products

Currently Facebook is the only flat form use to generate leads but it is suggested to use other
social media such as linked in, WhatsApp, Instagram in this context to generate leads also it is
recommended to use YouTube and google ads for brand awareness.
Invest more on Face Book Lead generation forms and apply it to other products, increased
frequency & reach; through increasing the current online budget.

SMS Campaigns

Increase the frequency of the campaigns focusing different products time to time both for the
internal customer’s mobile numbers and pre identified mobile number bases.

Use E Market Platforms (ex: Ikman.lk, Riyasewana, Lankaproperty.lk etc)

The E flat forms like Ikman.lk Riyasewan, Lanka property .lk can be used to promote the
products portfolios of MBSL as most people search for these website already has a need for
financing.

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 Digital Strategy

Revamped web
Social Media E Flyers
E Platforms
 Lead generations
Face Book  Via mail
 Chat box  Ikman.lk
LinkedIn  Whatsapp groups
SMS  SEO Instagram  Viber groups  Riyasewana
 Improved look & You tube  Lanka property
 FB groups
feel
web

*Create flyers for each MO

for personal campaigns
*Increase monthly *Increase lead gen
campaign (4 to 8) campaigns *Area wise Whatsapp/
*Links to social *Memberships in sites
media pages *Promote other Viber campaigns
*More service and promote vehicles of
lending products
providers *E mail blasts: 50 per day car sales, existing base,
*SEO campaigns *Promote car sales &
for in house data bases (ex: employees, yard etc)
*Daily campaigns to integrate campaigns
Bar Association, Doctors *Real estate projects
existing base via in
Association, Existing FD
house
base etc)

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5. Actions Implementation

6. Control

KPI of the Strategy

1. Number of complete transaction by the leads generated via online marketing tactics
2. Number of positive inquires generated via digital marketing activities
3. Number of times web site been visited
4. Number of the repeat business came via SMS campaigns

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Task 3

1. Introduction
‘‘The marketing audit is a way of evaluation and control mechanism of marketing performance’’
(Taghian and N Shaw, 1998).
The current world is dynamic and ever changing marketing mangers plan their marketing
campaigns based on the current information form to the marketing objective to the KPI they
depend on the same but peoples interest changes over the time and what plan in the beginning of
the year can change in the mid of the year. So in order to keep eye on this changes in a
systemetic manner and adjust accordingly is essential in achieving marketing objectives.
1.2 Internal Micro Environment
Apart from that marketing management take other interdepartmental within the organization in to
account when preparing marketing plans finance, R&D as they are interrelated in the internal
environment and utmost important in achieving marketing objectives. As an example if we take
Nature’s Secret the finance department of it should ensure the adequate funds for the operation
unless the hit the marketing objective may deviate also the purchasing department must get raw
material on time for the production process without uninterrupted supply marketing department
cant achieve target on time which means that the marketing department could not be able to
deliver the goods to the customers and the relationship damages which has a direct impact on
the profit of the organization(Armstrong and Kotler, 2005).

1.3 External Macro Environment

Further organizations cannot operate isolate in the current competitive context as there may be
hundreds of companies offering the same products and the services so when in the marketing
planning process it need to understand the external environment of the organization to get the
competitive advantage also for the long time survival of the organization.
Apart from the competition the cultural the company operates and the economic factors
technological advancement political and demographical factors (Armstrong and Kotler, 2005)
need to consider in marketing planning process.
As an example Natures Secret was operating smoothly and there were no issues at all but there
was a discussion going that paraben is not good for health and there can be health issues due to
the use of paraben in cosmetic products the influence came from the external environment so NS
has to remove the paraben from their products.

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1.4 Current Strategy (Internal)

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 1.5 Positioning Map

Low Price
Other Products

Nature’s Secret

High Low
Quality Quality/Artificial
/Natural
Badge Products

Forever

Ponds

Clean &Clear

High Price

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1.6 SWOT Analysis

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1.7 PESTEL Analysis

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1.8 Importance of marketing Audit

The three step of the marketing audit is going through the all over the marketing function of the
organization whether it is internal or external the ultimate objective of the marketing audit is to
assess the organization’s objectives an get necessary step to correct deviation to grab the
opportunities in the dynamic environment by evaluating organization strength to absorb the
opportunities in a profitable way
Consumer is not stick in to the same preferences over the years it changes also the technology is
developing faster than ever so that one step marketing plan is not a the solution new stimuli from
the industry need to understand and inside the organization need to adjust that is why a
marketing audit is essential (Taghian and N Shaw, 1998).
As previously mention manufacturing paraben free product is the best example as NS has done
the audit and NS understand that audience preference is to have heathy natural products and they
adjust accordingly
Also in the COVID pandemic they NS were very proactive as they see the high demand for
sanitizers and came up with a brand called MYDOC to cater the hygiene need of the target
audience.
Further they sense that there is increasing demand for the men’s grooming products and they
came up with a range to grab the opportunity.
Marketing audit is vital as it asses all the marketing functions of the organization and
simultaneously the external and environment as well as the organization strength and weakness
to adjust with the context in a profitable way so that it is very important to conduct a marketing
audit once a year to adjust with market situation.
In NS scenario they have done it properly and had identified the market opportunities and
successfully synchronize organization capabilities and has made the maximum out of it.

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Task 4

1. Introduction
Advertising is the communication with the users or the potential users of a product or a service
further these are paid form presentations, ideas, goods or services by a sponsor (What is
advertising? Definition of Advertising, Advertising Meaning - The Economic Times, 2022).
Then what is brand? Brand is a ‘‘A name symbol term design or a mix of all, intended to identify
the goods or services by a one particular seller or group of sellers which differentiate form the
competition’’ (Kumar Maurya and Mishra, 2012) basically a brand represent a product or service
and the whatever the logo or the design represent and help to recognize it among the same
products or service.
Let’s elaborate the statement via a practical example through the model AIDA. The brand Prime
Land the famous real estate company in Sri Lanka and how they have advertise to build their
brand

Sources (Trick and Marketing, 2022)

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1.1 Attraction

This is about how to get the attraction towards the products in PL they use huge hording which is
more attractive and highlighted luxury of they are offering with eye catching views. They use
display their hoardings in the places which can easily see by people when driving as an example
at their top of head office at Senanyake Junction. Also PL start at least a month before they start
a project (Fortenberry and McGoldrick, 2019)
Simultaneously SMS campaign and a face book ad will run in the same time further they will
display pop up ads in the sites like ikman.lk to get the attraction of the people.

1.2 Interest

Now the attraction is taken there should be a valid reason still to the prospect to attach with. To
handle the customer in this step you should have a certain knowledge in the stage what the PL do
is they directing the prospect to a more informative format that could be the web site or the sales
person or may be a YouTube video even. As some times customer even don’t know what they
are looking for so the organizations should wise enough to create the imagination on prospects
mind about the products by providing more information.

1.3 Desire
People always eager to have what they don’t have currently. What PL is selling a plot of a land
or an apartment but they are not directly say that look at the below

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A better place on earth they are selling. Also can talk about the state of technology and the
architectural design use in the apartments in the stage goal is to persuade the customer. Need to
make the emotional connection with the product and let prospect to live in the apartment for
while by his mind and experience the fun of having the product.

1.3 Action

Now you can directly guide him to price offering via the website or the brochure etc one strategy
that PL following is that they give information about the financial facilities available through
strategic partnership with banks which is more comprehensive to persuade the prospect to
purchase.

1.4 Importance of advertising in building brands

Information about the brand communicated to customer by advertising in the above scenario
even the brand goes to people via advertising. Brand are been recognized by people if only
guided by advertising. Primary objective of the advertising is to persuade customer to buy a
brand’s products (The Undeniable Role of Advertising in Brand Management - Talentedge,
2022)
Advertising act as the reminder for the brand in the so that brand is alive in customers memory
over the competition. Each time they see an advertising of PL it gives a stimuli to customer this
brand is there for real estate.
It is no argument that advertising support for brand awareness and loyalty (The Undeniable Role
of Advertising in Brand Management - Talentedge, 2022). At PL they sponsored for events and
create the good image and the advertising is essential to get the maximum out of it.

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Sources (Prime Lands Group powers 36th National Conference of Chartered Accountants with
gold sponsorship, 2022)

As in theses ways advertising plays a major role in building the brands in a summary advertising
make sales possible and the value of the products keep in the minds of the customers as the
brand.

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Task 5

1. Introduction

Organization have limited resources to satisfy their customers they can’t full fill the needs and
wants of each customers so they need to find the right customer to satisfy and in turn make
profits and the competitive advantage over other competitors to keep the customers with the
organization also all the people do not have the same needs and want a single product from a
company cannot satisfy all of them. People who have common needs need to identify via a
suitable process.
This is the point that STP coming to act as it divide the whole market in to different segments
based on the several factors (Camilleri, M.A., 2018)

Sources (Venckus, 2022)

1.2 Segmentation

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Forever has segmented the people with common interest in to several group depending on the
desires, income and the age where they can easily capitalize their resources to wards

1.3 Targeting

Forever has select following segments to target form the above segmentation

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 1.4 Positioning Map

Forever is position as a high quality brand compared to Natures Secret and a high priced brand
catering to upper income levels

Low Price

Nature’s Secret

High Low
Quality Quality/Artificial
/Natural

Forever

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 High Price

So that STP helps organization to effectively allocate organization resources in a profitable way
rather that producing in mass scale. The benefit of target marketing is that Forever can have a
better understanding about the targeted segments.
As an example the men’s range of forever can be more focus on males needs from a cosmetic
and allocate the organization resources to develop the product after research about men’s
grooming products.
Hence the STP is considered as the heart of modern day marketing as it is the first and the crucial
point where the management decide to allocate resources if the STP process success which
means that you have allocate the resources to the correct segment and now you need the
implementation and work closely with the targeted customers. If you have done something
wrong in STP you will be not meet expected profits market share etc. So have to start from the
beginning wasting the resources.
Depending on the above factors the STP is considered as a the heart of marketing, if heart fails
all gone wrong so keeping a healthy heart can keep a healthy organization.

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6. Bibliography

Armstrong, G. and Kotler, P., 2005. Marketing An Introduction. 7th ed. New Delhi: Doling
Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.,Licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia, pp.94,95,96.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel marketing,
tourism economics and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Casrilanka.com. 2022. Prime Lands Group powers 36th National Conference of Chartered
Accountants with gold sponsorship. [online] Available at:
<https://www.casrilanka.com/casl/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=1895%3Aprime-lands-group-powers-36th-national-
conference-of-chartered-accountants-with-gold-sponsorship&catid=> [Accessed 18 September
2022].
Fortenberry, J. and McGoldrick, P., 2019. Do Billboard Advertisements Drive Customer
Retention?. Journal of Advertising Research, [online] 60(2), pp.135-147. Available at:
<https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/60/2/135.full.pdf+html> [Accessed 17
September 2022].
Kumar Maurya, U. and Mishra, P., 2012. What is a brand? A Perspective on Brand
Meaning. European Journal of Business and Management, [online] 4(3), p.123. Available at:
<https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234624169.pdf> [Accessed 17 September 2022].
Taghian, M. and N Shaw, R., 1998. THE MARKETING AUDIT AND BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA. In Proceedings of the Australian
and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, [online] p.2559.
Available at: <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.199.2454&rep=rep1&type=pdf> [Accessed 16 September 2022].

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Taghian, M. and N Shaw, R., 1998. THE MARKETING AUDIT AND BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA. In Proceedings of the Australian
and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, [online] p.2559.
Available at: <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.199.2454&rep=rep1&type=pdf> [Accessed 16 September 2022].
Talentedge. 2022. The Undeniable Role of Advertising in Brand Management - Talentedge.
[online] Available at: <https://talentedge.com/articles/undeniable-role-advertising-brand-
management/#:~:text=Advertising%20Creates%20Brand%20Awareness,in%20the%20mind
%20of%20consumers> [Accessed 18 September 2022].
The Economic Times. 2022. What is Advertising? Definition of Advertising, Advertising
Meaning - The Economic Times. [online] Available at:
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/advertising> [Accessed 17 September 2022].
Venckus, S., 2022. STP Marketing: Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning Model | Sender.
[online] Sender. Available at: <https://www.sender.net/stp-marketing/> [Accessed 18 September
2022].
Zikmund, W., Ward, S., Lowe, B., Winzar, H. and Babin, B., 2011. Marketing research. 2nd ed.
South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning, pp.5,6.

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