Marketing Concepts and Strategies of British Airways

This report discusses the marketing concepts and strategies used by British Airways to achieve its objectives. It covers the 7Ps of marketing mix and the STP model. The report also explores the interrelationship of marketing with other departments.

Marketing
Principles and
Practice AS2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Task..................................................................................................................................................1
a) Marketing concepts and Terminologies used in Business..................................................1
b) Strategies used by British Airways to achieve its objectives ............................................3
c) Marketing concepts and tools ............................................................................................4
Interrelationship of marketing with other departments....................................................................7
Covered in poster ...................................................................................................................7
Recommendations ...........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Airline industry are responsible for smooth transporting of paying passenger, freight,
cargoes and other items through using aircraft like air planes and helicopters. In starting phase of
airline industry, marketing was not essential or unimportant because they are having a stringent
regulation and also secured by government possession thus, they are safe and risk free from
serious competitive effects of business environment and market place. But in recent years, due to
rapid change and advancement in technology certain philosophical transformation are taken
place in airline industry which has created opportunity for improving brand positioning through
making better use of marketing tools for attracting more customers. Today, airlines are making
use of customers oriented marketing concepts to effectively respond to the changes in
environmental conditions (Rowley, 2017).
For this report, British airways is selected which is a flag carrier airline of United of
kingdom and having its headquarter at Waterside, Harmondsworth, UK. On the basis of
passengers varied and fleet size, it is the second largest airline of united kingdom. This report
includes key marketing concepts and terminology which are applicable on British airways.
Marketing strategies are also included in this report which will help British airways to reach its
objectives. This report also consist a description about 7Ps and STP. At last a cross functional
relationship between marketing and other departments are also included.
Task
a) Marketing concepts and Terminologies used in Business
Marketing concept is a phenomena used by business to analyse needs and wants of
potential consumers in order to fulfil those needs. Different strategies are used or organisations
to satisfy consumers and to maximize profits by increasing sales (Salvo, 2015). There is five
essential concepts of marketing which are explained below in context of British Airways:
1. Production Concept- Basic thought of this is organisations are willing to produce goods
in very low cost with maximum products and profits. Here, it is assumed that buyers are
more interested in products available in low prices, need satisfaction and goods quality is
neglected. This concept is operation oriented, economies of scale phenomena is adopted
by company's to decrease cost and increase profits.
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2. Product Concept- Here, idea is to offers best quality innovative products to customers.
More concern is on potential buyers, quality of goods delivered to them, their loyalty
towards the brand and benefits they are getting from commodities. Superior products are
made with time to time changes in them to make them better for people (French and
Russell-Bennett, 2015).
3. Selling Concept- This concept is more for company's that are sales oriented, they
produce goods and sell them in target market without thinking of needs or wants of
people. Objective of it is to increase sales, beat competition and to be best in sales with
some concentration on consumers demands. British Airways can use this strategy to
improve their sales along with better profits and increased customer base.
4. Marketing Concept- In this type of strategy buyers are most important, all goods or
services are geared towards customers needs and wants. By concentrating more on needs
of people company can provide best quality products to consumers in relation with their
desires and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Pull strategy is applied,
more buyers are being attracted and preference is given to the brand (Rowley, 2016).
5. Societal Marketing Concept- It is new concept, which particularly look at needs or
wants of target market and accordingly serve improved goods to consumers then other
competitors. It is directed towards well-being of consumers and society as a whole.
Terminologies
Product Strategy is ascertain all related steps or ways company has to adopt to make
product success and survive in market. A product strategy is planning of course of action to
make sure that product touches desired market with right directions. It involves some elements to
make effective product strategy which are as follows:
 Business Goals- An effective plan for every product is made in relation with the goals of
business and what they expect out of it. All plans are made ultimately in order to achieve
organisations objectives (Kumar and Sharma, 2015)
 Needs and Wants- Strategy focuses on needs of people, therefore goods are designed in
accordance with understanding market and its wants to provide what is actually needed
by buyers to provide satisfaction.
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 Differentiation- Key aspect of goods which help in standing out from other products
available in market. Enabling the brand to be first choice of buyers before other
competitors (Saunders, Barrington and Sridharan, 2015).
Branding is a activity to create unique name, symbol and design of goods which will
differentiate it from other similar commodities present in market. Branding give a competitive
edge to organisations in competitive environment and how people adopts brand in market. It is
important to create future business as it bring value to companies by changing peoples
prospective about company and developing better image in their minds. New consumers are
attracted by spreading brand awareness and reaching out to more people in diversified locations
or regions (Resnick and et. al., 2016).
Promotion Strategy is ideas implemented by businesses in marketing plans to increase
demands of goods and services. It plays very important role in sales of products produced by
company in order to fulfil its set objectives or goals. It is mainly dependent on three factors,
Target audience- to whom company is selling goods to, Budget- how much its able to or willing
to invest in promotional activities and Plan of action- what actions are taken by company to
reach its aim and make profits.
b) Strategies used by British Airways to achieve its objectives
Many different strategies are used by British Airways to attain it goals to have effective
and efficient working of its operations and to become best in airlines industry. Effective
marketing strategies can affect business for short and long term, they needs to be creative and
unique with effective implementation of those plans. Some of these strategies used by British
Airways are as mentioned below:
1. Radical Marketing Strategy- This strategy is used by British airways which includes
internal and external consumers of company. It focuses on inclusive marketing to show
its loyalty towards its thinking of “serving best to its guests who fly with them”. It helped
them to improve their relationship with their customers (Andreasen, 2018).
2. Integrated Marketing Strategy- It incorporate different platforms to promote British
Airways like, social media, TV etc. also a film is made to attract internal and external
gusts. It ease its operations to focus on its core business.
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3. Event Marketing Strategy- By using this strategy company has given different offers to
customers like on Christmas festivals. Prices are reduced to certain extend, silver and
gold class guests got free updates about their flying schedule.
4. Advertising- It is one of the most important source to reach to people in order to attract
more guests. To capture more customers British Airways used TV ads to present its
products in diversified groups of consumers and attract them to purchase its commodities
and services offered. Although, these campaign are costly for company still they are
using it as these advertisements are benefiting them and bringing more customers
(McDONALD, 2016).
5. Direct Marketing- British Airways is known for best service provider to guests and also
for maintaining customers privacy. They also used direct marketing strategy to keep its
guests attracted and to be their first choice amongst other competitors. Some of those
ways used by marketers are: Customer can sign-up on its online site to get notifications
about new offers and discounts, mobile users have advantage to receive instant
information their phones without any hustle.
All these marketing strategies are done in favour of consumers and British Airways itself to
attain its predetermined objectives or goals. These activities are performed with all ethical means
keeping in mind every small rules and regulations made by government also of organisation
itself.
c) Marketing concepts and tools
Use of different marketing concepts and tools and are made by an organisation to
properly analysis its business environment and to develop polices and strategies which are most
suitable to garb the existing opportunity at market place (Luca, Hibbert and McDonald, 2016).
Use of 7Ps and STP model is made by British airways to properly evaluate its business activities
and to provide right services to customers as per the latest trend.
Marketing Mix (7Ps)
Marketing mix provides a set of tactics or actions that are used by an organisation to
promote its brands or services or product in the market. Marketing mix includes 7 most
important factors on which success or image of a product or services depends. British airways is
also making use of marketing mix tool to determine the suitability of its services at particular
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target market and also explains its marketing strategy. 7Ps of marketing mix of British airways
are as follows:
Product- British airways is a flagship airline of UK, offering high quality services to its
consumer. Use of latest and best technology are made by British airways to provide best services
like entertainment screens, comfortable beds, cabins, extra space, main meal course, etc. . A fleet
of British airways includes Boeing 777s, 787s and 747s which offer an arrangement of in-flight
services to its customers. Various classes of flight tickets are offered by British airways like
economical class, business class, premium economy and first class (British Airways Marketing
Mix, 2019).
Price- British airways aim at providing its tickets at affordable prices so that every
customer can bear its travelling expenses easily. To achieve this aim use of differentiation
pricing strategy is made by British airway where prices are charged on the basis of value or
services provided to a customers i.e. different prices are set for different class. Discounts are also
offered to frequent customers at times of festival.
Place- British airways is having around 400 destinations with a swift of 273 aircraft
which consists of Boeing 747s, 777s and 787s and around 40% of the slots are at Heathrow
airport. The head office of British airways is at Waterside near London Heathrow airport. For
better distribution of services and information about its travelling destination use of phone app
and website is made by British airway. For better functioning and smooth flow of its operation,
British airway is also getting tied up with world's airport authorities (Moravcikova and et. al.,
2017).
Promotion- To face or tackle the increasing competition in airline industry use of right
marketing and promotion strategy is necessary. Use of a very classy and sophistication message
is made by British airways and this message was advertised through billboards, TV
advertisements and newspapers. For making booking of tickets convenient for customers, facility
of online ticket booking is provided thorough using official website and mobile app of British
airways. Use of famous brand ambassadors such as Golfer Justin rose are made by British
airways for endorsing its brand. It was also a airline partner for Olympic games and London
Paralympic in 2012 and also a sponsor of many sporting, charitable and cultural events at global
level (Crittenden and Crittenden, 2015).
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People- The CEO and head of management team of British airways is Willie Walsh.
British airways is having around 40000 employees which consists of 5500 engineers, 3600 pilots
and 15000 cabin crew. For safety of customers, pilots are recruited or selected after a tough tests
of its skills. To maintain the standards of services, employees are only get recruited from top
hospitality institutes and timely training are also provided to cabin crew and other employees to
maintain the level of skills and creativity to provide best possible services to customers (Bahn
and Mills, 2015).
Process- Use of latest technology is made by British airways to provide fast and better
services to its customers. It has launched a new ticketing services known as e - ticketing which
has reduced the time taken for booking tickets. A better cargo services is also offered by British
airways to deliver or transport dangerous or perishable goods. A smooth and less time
consuming process of getting boarding pass, verifying luggage, etc. are implemented to provide
maximum customers satisfaction.
Physical Evidence- British airways aim at providing maximum satisfaction to customers
to create a long lasting and effective impact on its customers. Use of sophistication symbol,
colours, ambience and interior of flight, design of cabin, etc. form the physical evidence of
British airways.
STP model
Use of STP model is made to identify the most suitable segments and target audience for
a product or service (Green, Grace and Perkins, 2016). British airways is also making use of STP
model to develop an effective marketing strategy and it also reduce the risk of product failure
(Marketing Strategy of British Airways , 2019). All the elements of STP model of British airways
are explained below:
Segmentation- It is a process of splitting or dividing a market into smaller groups to
identify or select the most appropriate target market. British airways is using a combination of
demographic and Psychographic segmentation to reach a vast number of customers.
Demographic segmentation is based on age, gender, income and education level of customers
while Psychographic segmentation includes intrinsic traits of customers like personalties,
interest, attitudes etc.
Targeting- This aim at targeting or attracting a specific group of customers from selected
market segment so that effective strategies and polices can be made to attract potential
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customers. Use of Differentiated targeting strategy is made by British airways to attract avail the
advantage of each of segment and to attract a lager number of customers.
Positioning- This shows the perception or belief of customers about key features of a
service or brand. British airways has effectively positioned itself through making use of customer
class based positioning strategy which has facilitated leadership position in strategic
markets,alliance and diverse customer groups (Lim, 2016).
Interrelationship of marketing with other departments
Covered in poster
Recommendations
Following recommendations can be made for better performance of British airways:
 British airways is making use of differentiate pricing strategy which is good for attracting
more customers, but as prices of fuel are continuously increasing thus it is recommanded
that British airways should make use of premium pricing strategy which will improve the
profit margin of British airways and will provide better income.
 British airways a making use of TV, billboards and newspapers for adverting its brand or
services. Thus, a more effective and aggressive use of social media and online website is
recommanded for British airways to cater more customers.
CONCLUSION
Above report is about marketing and different practices used by businesses to accomplish
their goals with effective strategies and implementation of those predetermined plans. British
Airways is second largest air travel provider in UK which makes its very operations more
complicated but, to deal with these small issues marketing techniques are used. They made use
of marketing concepts to understand market, needs of consumers and their willingness to pay for
those needs. Accordingly products or services are designed by them. Promotional strategies are
used to make market presence, spread awareness in market and to be best amongst other
competitors. Tools like marketing mix or 7P's and STP is worked on to created effective business
for people which is possible with good interrelationship between various functional department
and coordinated tasks performed by employees in teams.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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Marketing (pp. 3-19). Psychology Press.
Bahn, K. and Mills, M. K., 2015. Towards Better Theory and Practice in Marketing Education: A
Choice-Based, Application-Oriented Approach. In Proceedings of the 1982 Academy of
Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 238-240). Springer, Cham.
Crittenden, V. and Crittenden, W., 2015. Digital and social media marketing in business
education: Implications for the marketing curriculum.
French, J. and Russell-Bennett, R., 2015. A hierarchical model of social marketing. Journal of
Social Marketing. 5(2). pp.139-159.
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Green, A., Grace, D. and Perkins, H., 2016. City branding research and practice: An integrative
review. Journal of Brand Management. 23(3). pp.252-272.
Kumar, R. and Sharma, V., 2015. Auditing: Principles and practice. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Lim, W. M., 2016. A blueprint for sustainability marketing: Defining its conceptual boundaries
for progress. Marketing theory. 16(2). pp.232-249.
Luca, N. R., Hibbert, S. and McDonald, R., 2016. Towards a service-dominant approach to
social marketing. Marketing Theory. 16(2). pp.194-218.
McDONALD, M. A. L. C. O. L. M., 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice.
In The marketing book (pp. 108-142). Routledge.
Moravcikova, D. and et. al., 2017. Green Marketing as the Source of the Competitive Advantage
of the Business. Sustainability. 9(12). p.2218.
Resnick, S. M. and et. al., 2016. Marketing in SMEs: a “4Ps” self-branding model. International
Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. 22(1). pp.155-174.
Rowley, J. E., 2017. Information marketing. Routledge.
Rowley, J., 2016. Information marketing. Routledge.
Salvo, S. G., 2015. Massage Therapy-E-Book: Principles and Practice. Elsevier Health
Sciences.
Saunders, S. G., Barrington, D. J. and Sridharan, S., 2015. Redefining social marketing: beyond
behavioural change. Journal of Social Marketing. 5(2). pp.160-168.
ONLINE
British Airways Marketing Mix. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17544-british-
airways.html>
Marketing Strategy of British Airways .2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-british-airways/>
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