Assignment 2 - Strategic Marketing - Abdulhakeem Mustafa
Assignment 2 - Strategic Marketing - Abdulhakeem Mustafa
(MK4S34-V2- 21401)
Summative Assignment 2:
“The best marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting
with the customers’ needs and wants.”
The idea behind this task is to give a reflection and my thought process during the execution of
Assignment 1 where we critically Analyzed Amazon’s Marketing Strategy with Regards to the
Statement: “The best marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting with the
customers’ needs and wants.”
Secondly to evaluate if the summative assignment 1 was personal to me, if it prepares me for a
future role and how this module in general has impacted my knowledge, skills and attributes.
Finally discuss any further gaps or learning I did not cover and how I can rectify this while also
discussing how my current practice might change as a result. During the course of writing this
reflective essay I will make reference to relevant academic literature.
Introduction
(Krol, 1996; I. Lee, 2008; Sileo, Prater, Luckner, Rhine, & Rude, 1998) all hinted that reflective
journals is known to be one of the most effective tools used to promote reflective thinking.
Schön (1983) also described the art of reflection as a process where people pause to evaluate
an action that was performed, its effect and repercussions. This is exactly what we are trying to
ascertain with this essay.
From Assignment 1, I was able to explain that marketing has grown beyond convincing
customers to buy goods and services but to center around the preferences of the customer as
the main drive in processing the goods and services. Amazon has successfully tapped into this
idea and has remained a leading force in ecommerce services, diversifying as the customer
leads, this I also depicted graphically in assignment 1.
The MK4S34 module is designed to critically evaluate key concepts related to Strategic
Marketing. The module creates a link between strategic marketing and general business as well
as explaining the difference between good strategic marketing practice and a bad
marketing strategy.
At the end of the module, the mechanism that facilitates successful strategic marketing and the
marketing path used to transfer information to stakeholders are expected to be well understood;
this was achieved.
My previous knowledge of marketing strategy was totally different from what was thought in this
module. I had to unlearn everything I initially knew and thought was right and take in the correct
marketing strategies.
The materials on marketing strategy were new to me and I had a lot of catching up to do with a
timeline of four (4) weeks, in order to be in position to take on the task of Assignment 1
Overcoming Challenges
To overcome these challenges, I had to pay a lot of attention to the materials provided by the
module lecturer, digest all the resources at my disposal as well as watch a number of YouTube
I accessed Marketing strategy module via VLE on the University of South Wales-Unicaf Website,
Resource made available to us where in form of pdf, Power point, books, YouTube links and
journals, which helped to facilitate deep and comprehensive understanding of Marketing
strategies. Assignment 1 was indeed a way for me to show all I had learnt in four weeks of
understanding the module with respect to the business world.
Amazon Company Incorporation was a befitting case study for this assignment, as it has
successfully carried out most of the marketing strategy thought in this module.
Looking into Amazon I realized it is basically about customer satisfaction. While attempting
this assignment, I finally understood that marketing goes beyond the marketing department; it
is a team effort of both the organization and the customers.
In-house marketing plays a huge role in the strategic marketing as employees will easily carry
out their duties if they all understand the plan and assume ownership of their respective roles.
Greene etal (1994) emphasized the need for top management to not just talk but also lead by
example for internal marketing to succeed.
I now understand why there is need for an open line of communication between the Top
management down, for instance company sends weekly newsletters, Memos, hold tool box
meetings, quarterly meetings with the CEOs and many more. From assignment 1, I came to
understand that Amazon uses this strategy for their internal marketing, the inside-out tactics in
the words of Berry (1991) a happy employee leads to happy customer, and from experience I
believe this is very true.
The vision and mission of the company are achieved through taking necessary steps
and strategic planning while incorporating organizational values (Stephens, 2019). Another
vital lesson learnt in my course of understanding this module is that it is always better to retain
an existing customer than getting a new one (Wertz, 2018) said this and also believes it costs
about five (5) times or more if you always strive for a new customer rather than retaining an old
one, this very information is not one I was privy to if not for this strategic marketing module. I had
always thought on the contrary. Mukerjee (2013) also said that knowing what a customer really
wants can be gained from a good customer relationship and service between the employees and
the customers.
While executing Assignment 1 I also learnt that with the current digitalization, customers easily
Spread their displeasure over the internet. One angry customer can tell over a thousand friends
on the internet in an instance Newman (2015). Moving forward, I plan to actively get involved in
the strategic marketing incentives at the company where I work as I currently function as a
Project Manager, I will easily come up with good marketing strategy since I now understand the
process better.
The module came at the right time as it would help with my career advancement, I now look at
company values and other communication mixes differently, and I feel I am now better equipped
Conclusion
Berry, L.L. (1991), ‘The employee as customer’, Journal of Retail Banking, 3(1), pp.
271-8.
Greene, W.E., Walls, G.D. and Schrest, L.J. (1994) Internal Marketing: The Key to
External Marketing Success. Available at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/08876049410070682/full/html
(Accessed:
19th November 2020)
Lee, I. (2008). Fostering preservice reflection through response journals. Teacher
Education Quarterly, 117–139
Krol, C. A. (1996, February). Preservice teacher education students’ dialogue journals:
What characterizes students’ reflective writing and a teachers’ comments. Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators, St. Louis,
MO
Mukerjee, K. (2013), ‘Customer-Oriented Organizations: a Framework for Innovation’,
Journal of Business Strategy, 34(3), pp. 49- 56
Newman, D. (2015) Customer Experience Is the Future of Marketing Available
at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/10/13/customer-experience-is-
the-future-of marketing/#1c0b54e9193d (Accessed: 19 November 2020)
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How profession-also think in action. New
York, NY: Basic Books.
Sileo, T., Prater, M., Luckner, J., Rhine, B., & Rude, H. (1998). Strategies to facilitate
preservice teacher’s active involvement in learning. Journal of Teacher Education,
21(3), 187–204
Wertz, J. (2018) Don't Spend 5 Times More Attracting New Customers, Nurture the
Existing Ones. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2018/09/12/dont-
spend-5-times-more-attracting-new-customers-nurture-the-existing-
ones/#7f73910b5a8e (11th November2020)