National Express Marketing Strategy for Nationwide Expansion

This assignment requires creating a comprehensive marketing strategy for National Express to achieve its objective of nationwide expansion. The company should focus on the 7 Ps with an emphasis on modern promotional tactics such as social media promotion, online advertising, and event marketing while considering relevant research from journals and books provided.

Marketing essentials
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1 Explain the key duties and responsibilities for the Marketing Officers and a proposed
structure and operations of the marketing department....................................................................3
Proposed structure and operations of the marketing department.....................................................4
P2 Explain how the roles and responsibilities will contribute to the wider organizational
objectives.........................................................................................................................................6
P3 Using the 7Ps compare Your Destination approach to applying the marking mix to that of
National Express in achieving the business objectives....................................................................6
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for the nationwide expansion..................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
As per American marketing association (AMA) marketing is defined as a set of activity,
institutions as well as process that are used for creation, communication and delivery of those
offerings that provide value to the consumers and society at large (Definition of marketing,
2017). The marketing department of any firm thus aids in capturing the attention of target
audience and also facilitates to generate a positive purchase decision. Overall, marketing is less
about getting consumers to pay for the product and more about creating a demand for the same
so that their needs and desires can be fulfilled (de Oña, de Oña and López, 2016).
The current study has thus made an attempt to gain awareness about the marketing
principles, its 7ps as well as a marketing plan so as to attain the desired results. A case study of
your destination has been chosen which is a UK based fast growing transportation company that
provides facilities related to personal hire as well as industrial level transportation. Emphasis of
the report will be on understanding the roles, responsibilities of marketing officer who has been
appointed in the firm as well as proposing the structure of the department. This will be followed
by comparing the 7ps of marketing of the company with that of the rival firm being National
express followed by devising a marketing plan for expansion of the company.
P1 Explain the key duties and responsibilities for the Marketing Officers and a proposed
structure and operations of the marketing department
Key duties and responsibilities for the Marketing Officers
Marketing officers are the one who oversee the marketing campaign of the company on internal
and external level and also play a key role in communicating the promotional message of the
organization (Kaminski and Rink, 2015). In order to aid in proper expansion of your destination
firm there has been an appointment of marketing officer in the company whose roles and
responsibilities are as follows;
Carrying out market research
The marketing officer will be required to carry out market research activities so as to gain a
clear understanding about what exactly the consumers want from the transportation business.
Market research will assist the officer in finding out new opportunities where the company can
expand itself. It can further aid the senior managers in creating a plan for its products and service
offers related to transport (Lammgård and Andersson, 2014). The officer through market
research will further get a chance to study the working of competitor firm who are providing
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similar transport services in UK. This can help the firm in developing superior services like pick
and drop facility etc.
Developing the Marketing Strategy
Marketing officer of the newly formed transport company also has the responsibility to develop
marketing strategies for the firm which will outline the how the team will promote services to the
consumers. Marketing officer in this respect will have to keep in mind that the promotion should
aid in increasing the sales volume and getting an edge over the rival firms (Carreira and et. al.,
2014).
Managing consumer relations
Marketing officer also has a major responsibility to manage the relationship with consumers in
the best possible manner. He usually does this by collecting data about consumer database so that
client satisfaction can be judged (Zehrer and Hallmann, 2015). It is also the responsibilty to
convey the results to manager so that proper steps can be taken to satisfy consumers and
maintain their loyalty.
Proposed structure and operations of the marketing department
Figure 1Proposed marketing department for Your destination
Vice President
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Vice
president
Marketing
manager
Market
researchers
Public
relations
Creaative
team
Web
designers
Graphic
designers

In case of the newly formed company, the vice president will be in charge of the entire marketing
department and may also be known as vice president of marketing. He is the one to be involved
in creating as well as planning marketing strategies for firm, its products as well as services
(Lillqvist and Louhiala-Salminen, 2014). He further acts as a liaison between entire marketing
department of transportation firm as well as upper management.
Marketing manager
This person will bear the responsibilty of making marketing strategies for promotion of
transportation company. This will include crafting messages in form of taglines such as safe and
on time transport facility; selecting mediums like web ads, print etc. Marketing campaigns will
also be carried out by the manager so that target audiences in form of those in need of private
taxi, cranes for industrial work etc. can be contacted. Marketing manager is required to report
directly to vice president.
Market researchers
Then comes market researchers who fall under marketing manager and carry out the task of
finding out what exactly is needed by target audience with respect to transportation. He also
gains information about the services provide by other transportation company within UK. The
information is then used to create promotional messages, taglines and marketing objectives by
the manager (Kaminski and Rink, 2015). As the company is newly formed hence it can hire a
third party source for market research as well so as to cut down on cost factor.
Public relations
These employees may submit the press releases about the transportation company to national
media of London with an aim to attract the attention of consumers towards the company. They
may act as a media spokesperson for the company and may give interview to the media regarding
the offerings and ongoing works of the company (Shalmani, Javadi and Torabian, 2014).
Creative marketing team
These are the graphics designers and web designers of the company who will work on creating a
good image and brand value for the firm in the eyes of public. The employees here perform the
task of brochure layout so that company messages can be portrayed in best possible manner.
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P2 Explain how the roles and responsibilities will contribute to the wider
organizational objectives
The major organizational goals of Transport Company are ensuring towards the safety as
well as well-being of employees and consumers; maintaining quality operational standards,
offering competitive rate structure and hiring quality staff members for good working of the
company. In this regard, the above stated roles and responsibilities are most likely to contribute
towards attainment of objectives as mentioned above in present section. For example, if public
relations team of marketing department functions properly then there can be maintaining of good
image of the company (Liebowitz, 2013). This can aid in attainment of objective to become the
number one transportation company in London. Public relations can do the work of enhancing
consumer confidence towards service offering of the company. It can further bring a positive
change in overall attitude of buyer. Hence roles and responsibilities of public relations
department should be strengthened by the management of Your destination.
It is the market research team that makes a survey about prevailing market conditions as
well as competitive scenario that is there in the industry. In the present case, the market research
team will focus on National express which is the market leader of the transportation industry and
also the compeer of Your destination. Hence the market research team will be required to collect
information about this competitor firm (Palmatier and et.al., 2016). This will aid the management
in setting competitive rates so as to reduce the effect of competitive rivalry that may arrive from
national express. In this way, the objective of offering competitive price offering can be attained.
P3 Using the 7Ps compare Your Destination approach to applying the marking mix to
that of National Express in achieving the business objectives.
Product – In the area of product and service section, National express has a fleet of around 29000
vehicles as well as a network of scheduled national coaches, buses and rails in order to aid in
transport (National express, 2017). The wide variety of product offering has thus aided in
catering to the needs of requirements of a large number of consumers which has also made the
firm as a market leader of transportation industry. On the other hand, Your Destination
specializes in private personal hire as well as transportation facilities at industrial level. Hence
Your destination focuses on industrial transport as well which is not done by National express.
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Hence the objective of maintaining a unique service offering by the company has already been
achieved.
Price – in terms of pricing National express transportation company is following a competitive
pricing approach wherein prices are charged on the basis of what the competitors are charging.
This strategy has aided the firm in attaining its organizational objectives as it has helped in
maintaining a good profit margin for the company and as well as overall market share. Your
decision on the other hand adopts penetration pricing approach where low prices were kept for
its services during the initial phase (Carreira and et. al., 2014). This strategy has aided Your
destination in attaining its objectives as consumers can be easily attracted towards the services.
This has helped the firm in completing three years of successful operation and also resulted in
opening of many branches all over London. It will further aid the company in getting a firm
ground in competitive marketing scenario of transportation business (Palmatier and et.al., 2016).
Place – A widespread distribution channel has been followed by National Express so as to aid in
easy access for consumers. Transport can be booked through various channels such as bookings
through phone call, personal visit to office as well as through website. Similar strategy has been
followed by Your Destination so as to cover maximum number of consumers and increase the
amount of bookings done on any single day. However, your destination is required to maintain a
fleet of vehicles so as to avoid losing consumers on account of absence of any means of
transportation.
Promotion – Various promotional strategies are being used by National express so as to lure the
consumers towards the company. The marketing team has been providing sales promotional
strategies such as promo and discount codes that can redeemed by providing the journey details
on website (Promo codes, 2017). Other than this, the company also provides discounted coach
followed by group travel scheme and 2 on 1 offer for the attractions present all over London
(Two for one, 2017). It also adheres with public relations activities such as press releases,
newsletters among others. The company also has a presence on social media sites such as
Facebook that has aided in consumer interaction and maintain a long client base. Your
destination has adopted all the above strategies as done by National express. Other than this it
also focuses on traditional forms of advertising such as newspaper, TV and radio ads, door
hangers and flyers etc.
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Physical evidence – It can be defined as that environment were the product and service offerings
of any company is delivered. In this regard, the physical evidence of National express includes
booking offices and counters where consumers can talk with the employees regarding the
offerings. The interiors of the offices are well designed which has also been done by your
destination (de Oña, de Oña and López, 2016).
People – National express has kept a huge base of employees to manage the various needs of
consumers. It recognizes the employees as it asset and wants them to reach at higher level. The
employee base of Your destination is very small but still they are efficient enough to meet the
requirement of consumers.
Process – In the process section both the firms focus on delivering exceptional quality by a good
network of suppliers. The website is also well maintained to take in queries on a timely manner.
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for the nationwide expansion
Current position of Your destination
Your destination is a transportation company that has been providing private personal hire to
industrial level transportation services. It has been in the industry since there years and has
successfully established itself in London as well as Essex. As a part of its future plans the
company wishes to open its branches in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen so as to
be able to compete with National Express which is the market leader.
Business goals and objectives
In order to aid in process of nationwide expansion by Your destination there has been a
formulation of many business objectives that are as follow;
 To expand the business two 10 new locations in the coming two years.
 To double the revenue growth over next two years
 To generate 100 new consumers in the next 12 months
 To attract 3000 visitors on the website on a monthly basis
Target market strategy
Demand patterns
There exists clustered demand pattern in the transportation market which is to be served by Your
Destination company. There is a presence of two clusters where one is that of the clients who are
in need of personal hiring of transport for a few days. Other than this, industries that are in
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needed of cranes, trucks, lorries etc. will also be targeted. This will help in pinpointing the
consumer base that will then assist in getting a higher return on investment. ‘
Market segmentation
There can be usage of geographic segmentation strategy where the segments can be formed on
the basis of location or region such as London, Essex, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and
Aberdeen
Target market approach
The company in present case can make use of differentiation or multi segment marketing in
order to serve target segments being industry and personal hire services in profitable manner.
There can then be development of specific market mix for both the segments.
Promotion
The firm will make use of both traditional as well as modern strategies in order to promote its
service offerings. The traditional strategies will include making use of banners and hoardings all
over the city that will depict its USP and service offerings. Radio channels will also be contacted
for promotion so as to lure a large number of consumers. The marketing officers of the company
will conduct press release from time to time to make the consumers aware about service
offerings and outlets that will be opened as a part of expansion.
Resources required to achieve the plan
There will be a need of several resources to achieve the stipulated marketing plan. Firstly, the
management will have to develop as well as train the necessary human resources so that the plan
can be attained. Then there is a need of financial resources in form of setting a proper financial
budget that will be based on marketing objectives of the company, overall budget, profitability
requirement, aims as well as mission and vision of the company.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that Your destination has been doing good efforts
which has resulted in successful 3 year operation for the company. However the firm is still
required to focus on all the marketing elements epically the 7 ps in order to attain the objective of
nationwide expansion. It should lay more emphasis on social media promotion, online
advertising, and event marketing rather than just traditions forms of promotion.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
de Oña, J., de Oña, R. and López, G., 2016. Transit service quality analysis using cluster analysis
and decision trees: a step forward to personalized marketing in public
transportation. Transportation. 43(5). pp.725-747.
Kaminski, P.F. and Rink, D.R., 2015. Synchronization of Transportation Strategies with
Demand: A Prescriptive Model. Springer.
Lammgård, C. and Andersson, D., 2014. Environmental considerations and trade-offs in
purchasing of transportation services. Research in Transportation Business &
Management. 10. pp.45-52.
Carreira, R., Patrício, L., Jorge, R.N. and Magee, C., 2014. Understanding the travel experience
and its impact on attitudes, emotions and loyalty towards the transportation provider–A
quantitative study with mid-distance bus trips. Transport Policy. 31. pp.35-46.
Zehrer, A. and Hallmann, K., 2015. A stakeholder perspective on policy indicators of destination
competitiveness. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 4(2). pp.120-126.
Lillqvist, E. and Louhiala-Salminen, L., 2014. Facing Facebook: Impression management
strategies in company–consumer interactions. Journal of Business and Technical
Communication. 28(1). pp.3-30.
Shalmani, S.B., Javadi, M.A. and Torabian, A., 2014. Expectations and perceptions of personnel
service transportation based on weighted ServQual–a case study of Saipa Press
Company. International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 18(4), pp.467-
482.
Liebowitz, J. ed., 2013. Big data and business analytics. CRC press.
Palmatier, R., Stern, L., El-Ansary, A. and Anderson, E., 2016. Marketing channel strategy.
Routledge.
Wensveen, J.G., 2016. Air transportation: A management perspective. Routledge.
Online
Definition of marketing, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx> [Accessed on
16th November 2017].
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National express. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.nationalexpress.com/waystosave/2for1/london.aspx> [Accessed on 16th
November 2017].
Promo codes. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.nationalexpress.com/offers/promo-codes.aspx> [Accessed on 16th November
2017].
TWOFORONE. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.nationalexpress.com/waystosave/2for1/london.aspx> [Accessed on 16th
November 2017].
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