UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH WALES Masters of Business Administration Strategic Marketing (MK4S34-V2) Tutor: Dr. Christine Lindsay SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT 2 A Critical Self Reflective Journal of Completing Assessment 1 on Strategic Marketing Using Amazon as a Case Study Augustina Mary Akintolu Student ID: R1701D2243191 15th July 2021 2 A necessary tool for the continuity of every business organization in this present day is marketing. Gronroos (2006) described marketing as an action that helps to evolve products/goods and services to consumers, and these products or services satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers. Thus, strategic marketing is a determining factor for the continued survival of every business globally, irrespective of the nature or size of the organization. The impact of strategic marketing cannot be over-emphasized in every business organization as it promotes the expansion of sales, improves customer satisfaction, and create innovative ways of product or service development. Strategic marketing is design to help learners grasp and systematically appraise the concept of marketing, how it collaborates with the overall business plans, and how to differentiate between good or poor marketing practices (Unicaf, 2020). According to Gibbs (1988), reflecting on a learning experience enables you to improve on your performance in real-time in addition to perfecting it in subsequent time. This is my reflective journal on what I anticipated to learn, what I assimilated during the lecture using the Amazon case study, what I intend to do differently in the future, my actions, and next steps. Some of the challenges I encountered during the period of the module will be discussed and their impact on my professional life. I am looking forward to utilizing all the knowledge gained from the module towards my career progression. Initially, strategic marketing was just the advertisement of products and services on-air or on a billboard however, in the course of this module, I was able to understand the concept better. Strategic marketing goes beyond advertisement instead; it is about understanding the customers’ needs and being able to meet their wants. As a customer service person in my organization, I rarely discuss strategic marketing plans with my marketing team thinking all they do was just advertising but, now I know better thanks to this module. The business world is changing, so I wanted to understand customers need and want in other to be able to meet those wants. In the course of the study, I wanted to have an in-depth understanding of the concept of marketing and its strategies from the planning stage to the implementation stage. I also craved to gain insight into data collection and analysis as it is a core marketing strategy. Some of the areas I appreciated R1701D2243191 3 in the lecture are the branding, promotion, and public relations aspects of strategic marketing which, I intend to use for my career advancement. The Amazon case study has helped me learned that strategic marketing is not just placing ads rather, the customers' needs and wants are the most important when strategizing in marketing. I was able to appreciate that a better strategy for marketing is not always top-down but outside-in. It also made me understand that the digital world is expanding where feedbacks on experience can circulate online within a space of seconds. An irate consumer can spread his or her bad experiences on the internet to about 6,000 connections in seconds (Newman, 2015). Marketing does not only apply to just the marketing team, it is a collaboration between other team members in the various department who are considered as the internal customers of the organization. In strategic marketing, the internal marketing to customers within an organization has a role to play in ensuring the success of the external marketing. The objectives behind strategic marketing must be understood from within. Amazon is able to adopt the inside-out approach from the quarterly meetings with their CEO, toolbox meetings, and internal weekly journals. I also learned that an important strategy for marketing is through promotions. In the case of Amazon, they were able to entice both existing and new prospective customers through promotions of their goods and services. Amazon also rendered complimentary delivery of products to their customers internationally. Proctor (2014), mentioned that despite the increase in the cost of advertising spend as a result of the promotional campaign, there was growth in sales and new prospect also increased in numbers. Realizing that promotions help an organization to remain competitive in a similar business environment. In addition to the above tool adopted by Amazon, I learned that segmentation, targeting of a particular group of customers, and positioning drives the placement of an efficient ad. The segmentation made me understand the separation of a market that is more diversified to a market R1701D2243191 4 that is similar or closely related where the wants and needs of every customer are meet through targeting. Identifying these tools makes me understand customers better using Amazon's constant innovation to continue satisfying the needs and wants of its customers through targeting and positioning the brand. In the course of the module, I was overwhelmed with the workload at my place of work because my colleague went on her annual leave. At this time, I thought I was not going to be able to meet up with the due date for the submission of the first assessment, but I had to plan and create time after working hours to stay behind to read and put my summative assessment together. I also engage some fellows who were conversant with the topic, and they were able to share some insight, which was of great help. Going into the future, I intend to be part of the strategic marketing plans that will be initiated in my current workplace or even when I change employment. Previously, when marketing of product or service is to be carried out, there usually is no plan put in place instead we are interested in rolling out the advert in media or the marketplace. The Amazon case study has made me understand that strategic marketing must be customer-centric instead of just providing a service or selling of product. The knowledge gained from this module is of immense benefit in the sense that I have always plan to start a business of my own towards the time of my retirement. Thus, I now know that for a business to survive and remain competitive, it has to be customer focus. In addition, to be customer-centric, there must be a system in place where feedback from customers are review and their opinion considered. Online and social media has proving to be successful in present-day marketing. My next action is to introduce social media as a tool for marketing to the marketing team in my present workplace building on the case study of Amazon. Marketing on social media is growing and it has the potential of attaining a wider reach in both the present day and the nearest future. Through social media, Amazon was able to connect with its customers, understanding their needs and wants then can better satisfy those ever-growing needs. R1701D2243191 5 Concluding this reflective journal, it is obvious that change is constant so also business activities. Amazon is able to grow its business in the digital world; online purchase is just at the click of a finger either at the coziness of your home or in the office. Through technology, an organization can remain competitive when the upper-level management welcomes the use of technology to manage the needs and wants of their customers. In other words, agree with Amazon “The best marketing strategies aren’t top-down; they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants.” R1701D2243191 6 References Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods, Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic. Gronroos, C. (2006) On defining marketing: finding new a new roadmap for marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 3(2352-60). Newman, D. (2015) Customer experience is the future of marketing. Forbes [Online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/10/13/customer-experience-is-the-future- of-marketing/ (Accessed: 9 July 2021). Proctor, T. (2014) Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge Unicaf, (2020) Strategic Marketing (26010) [Online]. usw.unicaf.org/course/view.php?id=7928 (Accessed: 7 July 2021). R1701D2243191 Available at: https://vle-
