Marketing Principles and Practice

Marketing Principles and
Practice

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
a) Key marketing concepts and terminology applicable to British Airways...............................3
b) Marketing strategies and programs of British Airways...........................................................5
c) Marketing principle and concepts............................................................................................6
Segmentation, targeting and positioning......................................................................................7
Relationship of marketing department with other functional department...................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The airline industry comprises a large multitude of airlines varying from low cost carriers
to international airline groups. The airline industry in UK is the most prominent airline or active
airline in the world. It has the third largest aviation network in the world. In this report, British
Airline is taken. British airline is the largest airline of UK, founded in 1974, having the main hub
at Heathrow Airport in London. It offers year round low fares with an extensive global flying
routes. British Airline is the most popular airline with 60% respondents having positive opinion
of the company. The airline industry is very competitive nowadays with companies offering
similar products for the same customers so companies have to be creative, innovative and use
marketing strategies to generate buzz and attract customers attention. It needs to be understood
that it's a buyer's market and not seller's market. In this report, key marketing concepts and
terminology applicable to British Airways is studied and identifying the marketing strategies and
programs that helped British Airlines in achieving the objectives in an ethical manner, followed
by the recommendation to improve their effectiveness.
MAIN BODY
a) Key marketing concepts and terminology applicable to British Airways
Marketing is a broad process that includes research, product design, promoting, customer
care, branding. It revolves around the core marketing principles, strategies and functions. These
are the marketing practices that are implemented to remain in the business and take competitive
advantage over others. Some key marketing concepts applicable to British Airline are stated
below.
1. Product Strategy: British Airline is always indulged in giving world-class facilities to its
customers. It's product strategy includes flight services, quality of flights, executive class,
business class, security and other support services. It has come up with the loyalty
products which can be spent on flights, upgrades, hotel accommodation, car hire etc. It
has the best punctuality record on flight departing and trying to further improve it through
digital technology (Lancaster and Massingham, 2017). The services offered are integrated
with the latest technology. The services are also differentiated based on long haul and
short haul. Its main product is to provide flights to customers who wish to travel. It is
continuously working to merge with other airports at different locations to expand its
business and make its presence all over the world.

2. Pricing Strategy: British Airline sets the prices of its product in such a way that allows
customers to decide the level of service they want. Its premium strategy allows high
quality products and services at higher prices. Its main aim is that every body should be
able to afford the flight tickets (COUASME and GURGEY, 2016). It offers discounts to
customers who fly frequently and on festive seasons. Customers can avail the services as
per the requirement by adding the services they want which will increase the cost. It sets
its price using cost plus margin strategy. It's low price is giving tough competition to its
competitors which attracts more customers and increases satisfaction level.
3. Promotional Strategies: Businesses also emphasize on promotional activities. It is the
combination of advertising, public relation and selling to attract, sell and retain
customers. British Airline's promotion strategy is very attractive. It targets every aspect
of life in promoting its product and services based on target customers. Recently they
came up with a unique idea by introducing famous personalities to share their experience
of flying with British Airlines (Qiao and Griffin, 2016). This targets the audience who
admire these personalities and believes in them. The reason why it got success is that it
picked up on the viral video trend at right moment. With the increasing use of YouTube,
Facebook, Instagram, a viral video can make or break a campaign. It employed British
humour and made the airline affectionate in the hearts of viewers and passengers. It has
also gained customer advantage by marketing in-flight experience which includes in-seat
entertainment programmed with television shows, music, movies, games etc. Adding
these perks to the marketing strategy makes customer to rethink before choosing the
airline the next time it flies.
4. Distribution Strategy: British Airline tickets are available through physical locations,
travel agents, online via the website (Whyte and Lohmann, 2016). With the e-commerce
rapidly changing the distribution strategies, British Airline is trying to reduce its cost and
provide superior services to its customers by eliminating intermediaries within its
distribution channel. It has connected to more than 200 destinations in more than 82
countries. It has adopted NDC (New Distribution Capability), which allows airline
service providers to deliver rich content and ancillary services to its customers.
5. Branding strategy: British Airline is has been ranked 405th in Forbes magazine list of
global brand. The brand has been values at $13.7 billion, generating revenue of more than