MKG701 Marketing Plan Editing Services

Executive Summary

The following report is a marketing plan for a new term deposit that is being launched in the market of Malta by HSBC Bank, Malta. The report aims to determine all the strategical perspectives involved in such a marketing plan. The project starts with the identification of the challenges that are involved in the business and progresses accordingly with different types of situational analysis. Different situational analysis determines the goals, objectives, internal and external analysis of the company and the product accordingly. The marketing mix and the financial strategy of the organization has been provided at the last part of the project to make the plan more compact in nature. The project ends with a solid conclusion that summarizes the total chapter in a short description.

Challenge

HSBC Bank in Malta aims to promote its new term deposit of 2 year on which the management of the business organization will be providing an interest rate of 8.5% for normal citizens and 9% for the senior citizens in Malta. The fixed deposit will need a minimum investment of at least 1170 Euros to open the account. The bank aims to promote the following product to its customer to gain a competitive market share. The product will be promoted through a wide variety of marketing and promotional tools to attract interest from a wide range of customers. The targeted customers will include the age group from 28 to 45 years and then again from 46- 59 years. Apart from this there will also be a bracket for the age group of 60 to 75 years who mostly belong to the retired category.

Situation Analysis- 1

Company Analysis

HSBC Bank in Malta is the largest international banking and financial services group in Malta and a major subsidiary of the HSBC group. Being the second oldest bank of the country it provides a large number of banking and financial services to the people of the region. The public limited company has its headquarters in 116 Archbishop Street in Valletta (www.hsbc.com). The company has a huge number of small, medium and large scale branches and regional and service offices that provides the large range of products and services to the clients. As mentioned earlier the company is a subsidiary of HSBC. As the country falls in the European region the company also automatically falls under the HSBC bank of the European region and directly reports to HSBC Bank plc. HSBC Bank in Malta was registered under the name of the Mid-Med Bank Limited. The official shares of the bank were listed on the official list of the Malta Stock Exchange in the year 1993. After 4 years of operations the management of the bank changed the status of the company to a public limited company. The year 1999 saw the major change when the bank went for the name of HSBC Bank Malta plc. Retail Banking, Loans, Wealth Management, Locker Facilities, Commercial Banking are some of the major types of services that are provided to the customers by the management of HSBC. The current chairman of the board of directors of the company is Sonny Portelli (www.hsbc.com). On the other hand Andrew Beane and Emma Nuttall is the CEO and the Chief Financial officer respectively. The company has achieved a number of different milestones since its inception and start of commercial operations in Malta.

Goals

The goals of the company are listed by the management in a separate policy and guideline set up. The main goals of the company in Malta is to provide outstanding customer service, effective and efficient intervention of the organization, presence of a strong liquidity and prudent lending policy along with ensuring a strict expense discipline.

Focus

The management of the company focuses on the commitment of the employees and helps to create a long term relationship with the customers of the organization. The website of the company states that the objectives are attained through integrity, ethics and managerial oversight.

Culture

Similar to the belief of the HSBC Limited plc, the HSBC Bank in Malta have the same belief that in order to achieve success and sustainability the company must grow responsible and meet all the different expectations, needs and wants of the customers and the employees of the company (www.hsbc.com). This particular belief is reflected in the values of the bank that are the part of the culture and guide the company in their day to day operations. The bank supports diversity and also believes in the presence of an inclusive culture so that each and every people can learn from each other and respect each other. The presence of a diverse workforce in Malta has helped the company to establish itself as one of the most attractive and preferred companies in Malta.

Strengths

The largest strength of the HSBC Bank in Malta is its vast experience in providing banking services in the country and its tag of being the second largest financial institution of the country. The bank also provides a number of unique services to ensure its pole position in the country.

Weaknesses

The brand name of the company came in the recent past when all the banks operated under the same name. The use of traditional banking services along with the financial scrutiny currently in process in different branches of the country has made the company weak.

Market Share

The company being the second largest banking and financial institution of Malta has a market share of 21.06% in the country (www.hsbc.com).

Situation Analysis- 2

Customer Analysis

The Customer Analysis in the bank is generally done by the customer analysts who are recruited by the company to verify and analyze the customers and perform a KYC of each and every client and customers of the bank. The analysis is done by pro-actively managing the requests to have an idea of the customers and get proper and timely reviews and add value by maintain the required contact (Kotabe and Helsen 2014). The customer analysts must have strong communication skills, a proper knowledge of English as well as Maltese language and must have the ability to work in a professional and coordinated environment.

Number

There are a large number of people who are the customers of the bank. The large market share of the company itself suggests the presence of a large number of customers in the organization. These customers are then analyzed by the customer analysis experts recruited by the company. The customer analysis experts are appointed in a separate department within the company and their task is to scrutinize the details of the customers who are buying and receiving the products and services of the organization (Lipton Shrier and Pentland 2016).

Type

The understanding of customers is the foundation to the sustainable competitive advantage in banking. Therefore financial marketers can no longer wait to embrace the power of the advanced analytics to gain a proper and effective knowledge to improve cross selling and enhance the profit share of the organization (Kotabe and Helsen 2014). The HSBC management in Malta practices the customer Experience Management as part of the enhanced management skills of the organization.

Value Drivers

According to, Laudon and Laudon (2015) there are a number of service specific characteristics like intangibility, involvement of the customers and secrecy that are inherent to the products and services offered by the HSBC Bank in Malta to the customers. These elements play an important role in the business as compared to the other elements like risk, trust and uncertainty. The providence of product and service specific value is important for the success of the business in the market. The products and services of the consumers are of the highest value which helps them to attract the customers easily.

Decision Process

There are generally five different steps in the decision making process of the consumers. It starts with the recognition of the needs or to identify whether or not the product or service is needed by them. Secondly it refers to the need for the information that is needed for the buying of the products and services of the bank. The customers now have the tendency to evaluate the products and services that are provided to them by the other banks of the country especially the other large banks (Laudon and Laudon 2015). The purchase decision is then fixed after thorough evaluation and a strict monitoring policy. The customer does not generally stop here and even after they buy the products they carry on their monitoring to have a check on the quality of the products bought by them.

Concentration of Customer Base for particular products

The company has a high level of customer concentration as the revenue generated and the percentage of the sharing of the revenue is shared among the clients and customers of the company in a proper basis. The sharing is compiled in such a way that a single person never receives more than 10% share or more than 5 persons does not have power to more than 25% shares of the company.

Situation Analysis- 3

Collaborators

The main collaborators of the following project are the subsidiaries of the bank in Malta. The total project is being sponsored by the HSBC Bank, Europe plc.

Subsidiaries

The shareholders along with the chairman of the bank in Malta are the main subsidiaries of the following product.

Joint Ventures

The joint venture refers to the signing of a common pact between two companies to involve in a project that will benefit both the parties (Kumar and Reinartz 2018). However, HSBC Bank, Malta does not involve in a joint venture for this particular project.

Distributors

The agents and the marketing personnel of the organization are the distributors of the project in the organization.

Situation Analysis- 4

Climate- PEST Analysis

The PEST Analysis is one of the major determinants of the external factors that have a clear impact on the proper functioning of the business in Malta. The PEST analysis of the organization is analyzed by using a number of different marketing tools. The analysis is as follows;

Political

There are different kind of policies and regulations that are formulated to serve the purpose of protecting the organization from any kind of serious political threats. The Government of Malta has similar such rules and regulations which are easy to follow and are designed for the betterment and ease of the business organizations operating in Malta (Lipton Shrier and Pentland 2016). The management of HSBC has been successful to adhere to the policies of the Government of the country very effectively and efficiently which has helped the organization to carry out their business easily and gain a large market share in the recent times (Levy and Hino 2016). Moreover the stable political situation of the country is also the key to the success of the company in the Maltese market.

Economical

Malta is the smallest member of European Union and has one of the fastest growing finance sectors of the world. The country enjoys the lowest tax rate in Europe. Apart from this the country enjoys excellent regulation and has a highly skilled and affordable workforce. The study by Levy and Hino (2016) has shown that thepresence of a highly stable economy is the key to the success of the bank in the country. In addition to this HSBC is the second largest lender in the country. Even though the bank faces danger from new competitors in Malta, the management ensures that they are able to overcome such problems and enjoy a sound and stable economy.

Social and Cultural

The two most widely spoken languages in the country are English and Italian. The management of the company ensures the presence of employees with skills and proficiency in both the above mentioned languages to interact with the customers in a proper and efficient manner and attract them more towards the bank. The situation in the society of Malta also has an effect in the HSBC organization where they are operated (McDonald and Wilson 2016). The adherence to the rules and regulations of the society also provides a competitive edge to the organization and ensures the full utilization of the resources of the company.

On the cultural front of the company the company generally follows the system of diversified culture as the management of the company recruits people from all levels of society. The following of the diversified culture makes the most of the organization (Lin Wu and Tran 2015). The presence of an inclusive culture helps the organization to promote an inclusive culture that helps the employees to learn from each other. Such knowledge will help the organization to promote a proper culture in the Company.

Technological

Technology nowadays forms an important part of the business organization. The company has been making use of the advanced technology since a long time. The banking services and goods provided by the management of the organization are all dependent on specific technological tools. The information Technology has been used to full extent by HSBC to spread their operations and diversify their products and services. The application of such latest technologies has been helpful to the management to be aware of the latest things in the market. Apart from it the Bank has also been helped by the implementation of technology to improve the quality and means of operations and the productions (Kumar and Reinartz 2018).

Situation Analysis-Round Up

SWOT Analysis

Internal- Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths- The Company is the second largest financial institution of Malta and enjoys a market share of 21.06% in the country. This implies the strength that the company possesses in terms of attracting customers and selling the products and services of the company to the customers and clients and also attracting the potential clients to the business. The company is also one of the most successful financial businesses of the world (Lin Wu and Tran 2015). The management of the company in Malta provides unique and unparallel services to the customers in Malta that is not only hard to emulate but also hard to implement. The unique nature of the services makes the organization more attractive to the people in Malta.

Weaknesses- The first and foremost weakness of the HSBC Bank in Indonesia is the consolidation of the banking business under one particular brand name which was far behind the brand name of the others in the race ort the competitors of the business. The lack of branding all the previously registered companies of the organization and the too much time taken for the company to change its own brand name to that of HSBC, Malta have had a serious impact on the competitiveness of the company in the market. Apart from this the financial position of the bank in Malta is also under scrutiny after a series of incidents. This has made the organization a bit problematic in nature.

External- Opportunities and Threats

Opportunities- The economic aspects of the state provide ample opportunities for the business to succeed and make itself profitable in nature. The economic advantage of the state is well utilized by HSBC and thus it helps the organization to gain proper insights about the market which in turn helps the organization to earn excessive profit. The grant provided by the European Union to develop the financial sector of the country can also be utilized properly to develop the business into the topmost financial unit of Malta. The huge scope for new investment in the banking sector is also a large opportunity for the expansion of HSBC’s business more within Malta.

Threats- The conflict arises between the management of HSBC, Malta and the employees of the same company on view of the proper share of the revenue between them and the shareholders of the organization. Such kind of issues can really disable the functioning of the organization and will lead to the compromise of service quality and customer satisfaction.

Market Segmentation

Segment Analysis

Market Segmentation is one of the most crucial elements in the marketing of the business as well as the product offered by the business. The segmentation of the market can be done on the basis of a number of different elements like the age, gender, likings of the customers and on the other hand the segmentation can also be done by the analysis of the market. In this particular case HSBC Bank offers a very attractive fixed deposit plan for the people (McDonald and Wilson 2016). Therefore the segmentation has been completed on the basis of the age group of the potential customers who may be buying the product or shows interest to buy the product. The segmentation has been done based on the age difference. The potential customers have been selected to belong to the age group of 28-59 years and the senior persons who may show interest in the new product from the age group of 60- 75 years.

Relevant Information

The market segmentation helps to diversify the product and makes it easier for the management to identify the best persons who will opt for the particular product. The segmentation has been carried out by the marketing professionals by means of advanced marketing strategy.

Description

The marketing segmentation generally refers to the group of consumers who have a different set of needs and demands. Market segments include profitability, measurability, accessibility and many more as such. This all are included in the business process to create a separate and unique segment (McDonald and Wilson 2016).

Percent of Sales

The company aims to achieve at least 75% sales of the product that they are currently offering to the customers of banking services in Malta. The management will have to apply the strategies in a proper, efficient and disciplined manner to gain the largest profit and ensure the success of the product in Malta. The success itself will usher in the start of a competitive edge in the market.

Benefits Sought

There will be a large number of benefits for the particular product. The interest rates that will be quite high as 8.5% will be allowed for that of the normal customers and a even more higher rate of 9% for the senior citizens. The other benefits include a waiver of penalty for early deposit before 1 month from the date of the maturity and also a chance to open a savings account with the minimum of deposit. The bank will also provide an overdraft facility depending on the amount of deposit over the savings account.

Products use

The product will serve as an ideal mode of saving and will act as the best mode of savings for the senior citizens.

Support Requirements

The company needs efficient management system, marketing and promotional teams along with an efficient and capable sales team to efficiently support the implementation of the product in the market of Malta.

How to reach them

The product will be available in every head offices along with the large branches and medium branches of HSBC Bank, Malta. It will be easily available by fulfilling a number of small requirements.

Price Sensitivity

The price of the term deposit has been fixed at 1170 Euros which is quite high for the medium range earners but once the benefits of the deposit are considered it can be ascertained that the product of HSBC Bank, Malta will surely be a hit among the customers of both the bank and other banks.

Stickiness to Brand

The absence of viable alternatives will force the people to opt for the new product offered by HSBC Bank. The management of the bank has promised to come up with more such innovative offers for attracting new and potential customers.

Marketing Strategy Rationale

The study of Wu Chen and Olson (2014) has revealed thatthere are different approaches or marketing strategies to introduce, promote and sell the product to the consumers. Aggressive Marketing, Channel marketing and B2B marketing strategies are some of the strategies that can be considered by the company. However the management has decided to proceed with the channel marketing involving different sources like the agents, primary and secondary sources like advertising in TV, social media and campaigning for the product (Balkovskaya and Filneva 2016). The selection of the particular kind of marketing strategy is justified because the promotion of a term deposit must involve sources like the mentioned ones to be successful in the market.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing activities of HSBC in Malta comprises of a number of different elements which is based on the marketing mix strategies especially the 4P’s of marketing. The marketing activities of the business are aimed at developing awareness, communication and deliver proper value for the consumers.

Product

The management of the bank offers different product to the consumers with different types of needs and demands. The core benefit of the product that has been offered to the customers in a simplified and efficient way. The term deposit that is being offered to the customers includes the likes of 8.5% interest rate for the normal customers and 9% interest rates for the senior customers. The Bank is also providing a waiver for early withdraw but it have to be 1 month before from the date of maturity (Wu Chen and Olson 2014). The consumers are also provided an extra opportunity to open a savings bank account with minimum specifications and are also allowed an overdraft facility depending on the value of the amount deposited by the customer in the bank. The bank also provides other facilities like ATM card, credit card facilities for the deposit. This kind of facilities available with the new product will surely attract more and more people in the organization which in turn will lead to a growth in the revenue of the company in Malta.

Price

The product is priced quite high because of the large scale benefits it offers to the customers. The price of the product will however not be a barrier to the people to buy it and avail the premium services of the following product. The consumer will not hesitate to buy the product considering the large benefits and advantages of such a fixed deposit in a bank like HSBC. The management of the bank has also fixed the price to counter the other similar offers from banks like Standard Chartered, Bank of Valletta and MEDIRECT BANK (MALTA) PLC. Therefore the competitive price offered to the customers can be successful if the strategies of the company are implemented in a proper and efficient manner (Balkovskaya and Filneva 2016).

Place

The huge international presence of the HSBC Bank ascertains and speaks volumes about its competitive advantage. It endeavors the ease of access to banking services. The particular term deposit has been introduced in Malta and contains the country specific details of the organization (McDonald and Wilson 2016). The distribution channels set up by the management of the company will enormously help the organization to promote the particular term deposit in different areas of Malta. The collective efforts by the employees of the bank has concentrated the target prospect of the bank and enriched its presence in the local market. The availability of the product in most of the medium and large branches of the Company is essential to make it easy for the people to avail the product.

Promotion

HSBC, Malta focuses on the establishment of a sound communication system with the consumers and implement direct marketing strategies. The management of the bank in Malta advertises the Term Deposit in its branches as well as in its social media site. Apart from this there are also advertisements in Television, Newspapers and other secondary sources like magazines, hoardings, brochures, leaflets and many more as such. The product will be marketed in an extensive manner to ensure the popularity of the product so that it garners the attention of a large number of customers involved in banking activities with HSBC and also with other banks in the vicinity (Kotabe and Helsen 2014).

Projections- Short Term and Long Term

Sales Forecasts

The sales forecasts have been fixed at 75% and the company expects to attain the figures within 2 years of the launch of the product.

Break EvenAnalysis

Revenue Forecast

An annual revenue forecast of more than 65% of the total budget is expected from tha sales of the term deposits.

Conclusionof Marketing Plan

The following marketing plan has been prepared by considering all the different aspects related to the strategic perspectives undertaken by the management of HSBC Bank in Malta. The plan has detailed out the way to introduce and market a new fixed deposit in the market by offering unlimited benefits and exclusive range of discounts and interest rates to the people. The inclusion of the strategic planning including a thorough and detailed analysis of the internal as well as the external environment of the business has paved the way for the preparation of a well executed marketing plan. The sales forecasts and a financial analysis further adds up to the compactness of the plan.

References

1. Balkovskaya, D. and Filneva, L., 2016. The use of the balanced scorecard in bank strategic management. International Journal of Business Excellence, 9(1), pp.48-67.
2. HSBC.com. (2018). HSBC Group corporate website | HSBC Holdings plc. [online] Available at: https://www.hsbc.com/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
3. Kotabe, M. and Helsen, K., 2014. Global marketing management.
4. Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer.
5. Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2015. Management information systems (Vol. 8). Prentice Hall.
6. Levy, S. and Hino, H., 2016. Emotional brand attachment: a factor in customer-bank relationships. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 34(2), pp.136-150.
7. Lin, F.T., Wu, H.Y. and Tran, T.N.N., 2015. Internet banking adoption in a developing country: an empirical study in Vietnam. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 13(2), pp.267-287.
8. Lipton, A., Shrier, D. and Pentland, A., 2016. Digital banking manifesto: the end of banks?. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
9. McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. John Wiley & Sons.
10. Wu, D.D., Chen, S.H. and Olson, D.L., 2014. Business intelligence in risk management: Some recent progresses. Information Sciences, 256, pp.1-7.