Marketing Principles & Practice

This assignment focuses on key marketing concepts and terminology for British Airways, marketing strategies and programs that helped British Airways achieve their objectives, and the cross-functional relationship of marketing and other departments in British Airways.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES &
PRACTICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Key marketing concepts and terminology for British Airways...................................................1
Marketing strategies and programs that helped British Airways achieve their objectives..........3
7Ps, STP used in British Airways daily organisational operations.............................................3
Poster...............................................................................................................................................5
Cross-functional relationship of marketing and other departments in British Airways..............5
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be defined as a process adopted by organizations for communicating,
creating, exchanging and delivering products or services that are valuable for customers, clients
etc. Marketing has changed over time as well as its importance for organizations has also
enhanced (McCabe, 2019). Most of the business strategies are today build by considering main
principles and practises of marketing. Importance of marketing is continuously growing in
almost all industry including airline industry. Airline industry is a kind of business industry
where fright or transportation facility is provided to the customers on regularly scheduled routes
(Mojahedi and Hassanpour, 2016). Due to increasing competition in this industry importance of
marking is increasing and more and more types of airline organizations are focusing on different
types of marketing strategies in order to enhance their business. this assignment will focus on
British Airways which is a flag carrier airline of UK that operates both nationally and
internationally. This assignment will lay emphasis on various marketing terminology and
concepts, marketing programs and strategies that helped British Airways, 7P marketing
principles, STP, cross-functional relationship of marketing and other departments in British
Airways. Other than this, this assignment will also recommend ways in which British Airways
can improve their effectiveness in the application of the marketing concept, strategies and
programmes.
MAIN BODY
Key marketing concepts and terminology for British Airways
Marketing concept is a kind of strategy which is used by organizations in order to fulfil
their customers needs, requirements and satisfy them. It helps them in enhancing their sales, gain
competitive advantage as well as maximize their overall profit (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl,
2017). There are five main types of marketing concepts that can be used by organizations such as
product concept, selling concept, selling concept, production concept, marketing concept and
social media marketing concept. But out of all of these concepts only few of them that can be
applied to British Airways like Product concept, selling concept, marketing concept and social
medial marketing concept.
Product concept: According to this concept customers prefers products or services that are of
good quality, and price and availability does not affect their decision. So, in order to develop
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products or services of greater quality price of the product increases. Due to this marketer’s
focus on quality of the service or product more as compared to others.
Selling concept: This concept focuses on actually selling the products. As per this concept
organizations do every possible effort to sell their services and products regardless of the quality
in order to fulfil their customers needs and requirements (Keller, Halkier and Wilska, 2016). The
main of the organizations who use this concept is to made an aggressive selling program to
enhance their sales but it is of high risk.
Marketing concept: In this business organizations tends to understand their customer’s needs
and requirements. According to this concept by focusing on needs of the customers company can
enhance their organizations values compared to their competitors. According to this concept
focusing on customers needs and requirements can help in reducing risk associated with the
organization.
Social medial marketing concept: it is a part of marketing concept that focuses on maintaining
both customers and society’s wellbeing (Wang, Ghalih and Porter, 2017).
According to all the above concepts only marketing and social media concept are
applicable to British Airways which can help them to gain competitive advantage and expand
their customer base.
Marketing Terminologies:
Other than these concepts there are three main type of marketing terminologies that are mostly
used by organizations:
Product Strategy: It is a kind of strategy that helps an organization to build a vision of their
products or services (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). In order to build an effective product
strategy, it is important for organizations to understand few things such as: target customers, end
products or services, value of their products, price, distribution channel etc. On the basis of this
British Airways has build a product strategy for their customers and for this they have
categorized their customers into four categories and has set their pricing strategy according to the
categorized customers.
Branding: It can be defined as a term which is used to create value of the organization and
influence their customers on the basis of brand name (Roy, Smith and Clow, 2015). Branding
helps the organizations to differentiate their products or services from their competitors and gain
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competitive advantage so that they can establish their brand name and value which will further
help them to enhance their customer base and attract more customers.
Promotional Strategy: It can be defined as a tactic or plan adopted by organizations to
implement their marketing plan in order to increase their services or product demand and sales.
Promotional strategy of an organization revolves around their target customers, action plan and
overall budget (Wahab, bin Mohamad Shah and Faisalmein, 2019). British Airways uses an
effective promotional strategy. They mainly focus on marketing through internet i.e. through
social media marketing, email marketing, pop up window, advertisements etc. organizations may
focus on these strategies for promotion because these are one of the most effective and efficient
way of promoting their products or services (Abidin, Roslin and Kamaluddin, 2018). Other than
this they also organize charity programs. These programs words as funds raisers as well as
promotional activity for the organization.
Marketing strategies and programs that helped British Airways achieve their objectives
PEST Analysis of British Airways
Political Factors-
This factor is concerned with the role that the government of different countries play such
as how their involvement and intervention in the business affects the profitability of the
company. British Airways were facing many difficulties because after the terrorist attacks people
started to feel unsafe and stopped taking flights as a tour which resulted in cancellation of many
flights. That is why the company is dependent on the government. Above that they are also
facing the issue of Brexit which is rising the fear in the mind of the company as that issue will
change many rules and regulations of the business which can affect the profitability of the
business.
Economic Factors-
Company was facing many issues because the currency of UK was getting weak. The
sales of company was consistent but due to change in currency there have been many issues in
generating the level of expected revenue. Apart from this they were facing the issue of Brexit
which has changed the prices of fuels and interest rates. It has helped the airlines to increase their
operations and expand them at some point but it is also a threat that the pricing and other factors
don't remain stable which affects the profit structure of the company. They have to face
competition from different airlines on the same issues.
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Social Factors-
There have been many strikes by the team of air traffic control which has resulted in
cancellation of many flights in countries such as France. The company needs to keep in mind
those factors that can affect the culture and beliefs of the people so that they can earn more by
satisfying the needs of the people. In order to do that they need to formulate new strategies and
policies so that they can satisfy the group they have targeted. Airlines needs to focus on the
trends of the people and implement those changes which are necessary in the structure so that
they can increase their share into the market. This way the company can take a chance if they
have any kind of opportunity in the market.
Technological Factors-
After the terrorist attacks which happened on 9/11 this aspect is used by all the airlines in
the flight as well as on the airports so that the necessary safety requirements can be met. It will
help them to meet the safety so that no one can enter with fake passports and their luggages can
be checked in the machine at anything which is not allowed can be taken out.
7Ps, STP used in British Airways daily organisational operations
7Ps of British Airways
Marketing mix is a kind of framework that helps in explaining 7Ps of marketing and is
centred around product, place, price, promotion, people, process and physical evidence.
Marketing mix of British Airways are:
 Product: British Airways focuses on product branding more in order to increase their sales
and gain competitive advantage. They mainly provide services such as ticketing, travelling as
well as hotel booking (Rossi, Germani and Zamagni, 2016). Today as more and more
customers are focusing on using digital technology, as a result British Airways has
introduced their own mobile application for their customers so that they can easily track their
miles, flight information, reservation and many more things.
 Price: Pricing policy of British Airways (BA) has been designed in such a manner such that
each and every passenger of every class can avail services required by them. Price of their
products or services varies upon destination, routes and class (business and economy class).
BA follows three type of pricing strategy: economic pricing strategy is for passengers who
require low priced tickets, medium pricing strategy is for passengers who require some extra
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benefits and premium pricing strategy is for those passengers who wants high class service
and benefits.
 Place: They have developed their infrastructure in order to provide their products and
services to their customers in a more appropriate manner. Customers can also book or avail
their services from airport counters. They also have their own website and mobile application
through which their customers can book or avail their products and services (Fan, Lau and
Zhao, 2015). Other than this their customers can also book their tickets through SMS, mails
or through agents.
 Promotion: BA focuses on their promotional activities in a much better manner. They use
various strategies in order to communicate with their customers. They use internet as one of
the main source through which they promote their products or services and attract more
customers. They also use mails, popup window for promotion of their services. As a part of
their promotional strategy they provide their premium tickets at most affordable price or
sometimes provide gift vouchers to their customers as well.
 People: They also focus on their employees who are working for them. They have
professionals and skilled pilots, flight attendants, ground staff, fright packers and movers
working for them and in order to provide best service to their customers (Homburg, Jozić and
Kuehnl, 2017).
 Process: Tickets are available for customers at airport counter, website, mobile application
etc. BA focus on their process so that their customers get same quality standard practise
every time.
 Physical evidence: It focuses on where the product is available or where service take places.
One of the main physical evidence is their flights itself, website, application. They have
focused on making their tickets more attractive in order to attract their customers.
STP of British Airways
STP is one of the most commonly used strategic marketing approach used by organizations. STP
stands for segmentation, P stands for positioning and T for targeting (Wahab, bin Mohamad Shah
and Faisalmein, 2019). It is done in four steps: first is to identify market segment, second is to
select target market third is to develop a positioning strategy and last on the basis of STP develop
a marketing mix.
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 S- Segmentation: It focuses on dividing population or customers into few groups as per their
characteristics. BA follows single segment marketing strategy but offers various kinds of
products or service packages to their customers of different segment. With the help of
segmentation, they divide their customers into groups so that it becomes easy for them to
understand their tehri target market and customers. British airways divide their customers
according to demographic segmentation i.e. according to their age and income. As per the
income of their customers they have divided their services so that their customers can opt
service as per their convenience.
 T-Target: it focuses on choosing specific group who have been identified as a result of
selling products. As per the segmentation British Airways target customers in four different
levels, that are: economy, premium economy, executive and first class i.e. customers who
want to opt services or products at lower price comes under category of economy (Wahab,
bin Mohamad Shah and Faisalmein, 2019). Customers who want additional benefits with
lower price services or products comes under category of premium economy. Customers who
want quality service and products comes under executive category and lastly all high class
customers who want excellent services with various benefits comes under category of first
class.
 P-Positioning: Positioning focuses on selecting marketing mix which most suitable for their
target customer segment (Nykamp, 2019). In order to maintain their position, they focus on
bringing improvement within their premium priced products and services. This helps them to
bring improvement within their global position and gain competitive advantage.
Poster
Cross-functional relationship of marketing and other departments in British Airways
British airways have strong cross functional relationship between marketing and all the other
departments. All the functional areas of BA cooperate with each other. Main BA departments
that cooperate with each other and has strong cross functional relationship with each other are
marketing, community relation and finance. This relationship help the organization to speed up
their processes and take effective decisions. marketing, community relation and finance
department functions with each other’s cooperation in a totally different manner.
Marketing and Finance department: In all the three department relationship between
marketing and finance department is quite strong as marketing department need to advertise as
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much as they can in order to reach to their customers but for this they need to report back to the
finance department in order to know the budget as they can use money for marketing till a
certain extent. It is also visa versa as Finance department need to communicate with the
marketing department in order to set prices of their tickets. This cross-functional relationship of
both the department helps in maintaining the image and success of the company.
Marketing and community relation department: Community relation department carry out a
research in order to understand and find out what their customers want and also conduct a
research to show what employees of BA does to care about their customers’ needs and fulfil it
and for this they need to work with finance department so that a reasonable budget can be
decided in order to maintain expenditure on research and marketing areas such that both research
and marketing can fit into the budget. Likewise, marketing department also works closely with
Community relation department so that on the basis of the research results they can understand
their customers requirements and need and on the basis of this result they can being
improvement within their work. Marketing department also need to work with community
relation department so that they can work with them in order to do marketing of their charity
program and focus on bring customers to fly with BA and use their other products as well.
Finance and community relation department: Cross functional relationship between Finance
and community relation department is quite strong as customers need is one of the most
important and required concern which is required to be focused on. community relation
department works closely with finance department as they need to fly in order to organize charity
programs and for this finance department fund them money so that cost of accommodation, food,
drinks, programs etc. can be covered. Like wise finance department also need to work with
community relation department so that they can understand their requirements and accordingly
they can adjust their overall budget.
From the above discussion it can be said that it is extremely important for the British
Airways to have a cross functional relationship between marketing and other departments as this
strong relationship helps them to attract more customers and enhance their customer base. This
also helps them to fulfil their customers’ needs and requirements in a proper manner. This strong
relationship strengthens the marketing department operations in order to attract more customers.
Finance and community relation department plays a vital role in enhancing functions of
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marketing so that additional funds can be generated and budget of the organization for marketing
of their products and services can increase.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Here, are few recommendations that can be used by British Airways to enhance
effectiveness of their marketing concept, strategies, such as:
 British Airways can provide variety of new and different offers for their frequent flying
customers (Belobaba, Odoni and Barnhart, 2015). This will help them to enhance loyalty of
their customers who uses their products and services frequently.
 They can also use social media marketing as today most of the people uses social media in
order to interact or communicate with each other. Social media marketing will help them to
interact and communicate with their customers in a more effective and better manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are various kinds of
marketing strategies that are used by British Airways in order to maintain their customer base
and attract more customers. British Airways uses various kinds of marketing concepts that helps
them to carry out their operations in a much better manner. In order to provide proper and
effective service to their customers they have divided their target segment into four categories so
that they can satisfy all of their customers in a better manner. It has also been analysed that BA
has strong cross functional relationship between marketing, finance and community relation
department.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abidin, H.A.Z., Roslin, R.M. and Kamaluddin, N., 2018. Internal Marketing and Employees’
Performance: Relating Marketing Strategies in Human Resource Efforts. In Proceedings
of the 2nd Advances in Business Research International Conference (pp. 1-9). Springer,
Singapore.
Belobaba, P., Odoni, A. and Barnhart, C. eds., 2015. The global airline industry. John Wiley &
Sons.
Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.
Fan, S., Lau, R.Y. and Zhao, J.L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business intelligence
through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research. 2(1). pp.28-32.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 45(3). pp.377-401.
Keller, M., Halkier, B. and Wilska, T.A., 2016. Policy and governance for sustainable
consumption at the crossroads of theories and concepts. Environmental Policy and
Governance. 26(2). pp.75-88.
McCabe, M.B., 2019. Intersections in Marketing Practice and Marketing Education: Bridging the
Gaps. In Evaluating the Gaps and Intersections Between Marketing Education and the
Marketing Profession (pp. 117-142). IGI Global.
Mojahedi, S. and Hassanpour, E., 2016. Identify and prioritize Neuromarketing strategies
nervous and their impact on the competitive advantage of the company on the basis of the
marketing mix (Case Study: Shiraz Travel Agencies). International Business
Management. 10(15). pp.3077-3083.
Nykamp, M., 2019. The Customer Differential The Complete Guide to Implementing Customer
Relationship Management. American Management Association.
Rossi, M., Germani, M. and Zamagni, A., 2016. Review of ecodesign methods and tools.
Barriers and strategies for an effective implementation in industrial companies. Journal
of Cleaner Production. 129. pp.361-373.
Roy, D.P., Smith, R.K. and Clow, K.E., 2015. Assessing Implementation Approaches For
Internal Marketing Programs. In Proceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science
(AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 61-65). Springer, Cham.
Wahab, S., bin Mohamad Shah, M.F. and Faisalmein, S.N., 2019. The Relationship Between
Management Competencies and Internal Marketing Knowledge Towards Internal
Marketing Performance. In Proceedings of the Regional Conference on Science,
Technology and Social Sciences (RCSTSS 2016) (pp. 531-537). Springer, Singapore.
Wang, T.C., Ghalih, M. and Porter, G.A., 2017. Marketing public relations strategies to develop
brand awareness of coffee products. Science journal of business and management. 5(3).
pp.116-121.
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