Marketing Principles and Mix

This assignment delves into the fundamental principles of marketing, examining various marketing mix strategies. It analyzes different perspectives on marketing, including Islamic marketing, simulated test marketing in emerging markets, and the evolution of social marketing. The assignment also considers the impact of digitalization on marketing and explores real-world examples to illustrate key concepts.

MARKETING
PRINCIPLES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
a) Various elements of marketing process...................................................................................4
b) Different benefits and cost of marketing orientation in Explore Plc.......................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
a) Detail analysis of external factors that can impact the functioning of Explore PLC..............5
iii) Conclusion from above analysis............................................................................................7
b) Segmentation criteria used by Explore PLC...........................................................................8
c) Targeting strategy....................................................................................................................8
d) The impact of buying behavior on the marketing mix of Explore PLC..................................8
e) New positioning strategy.........................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
a) Designing services to attain competitive advantages............................................................10
b) Dealing with place element of the marketing mix.................................................................10
c) Pricing decisions of company................................................................................................10
d) Promotional strategy for Greenwich tours............................................................................10
e) Extended marketing mix elements.........................................................................................11
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................11
a) Marketing mix for different segments...................................................................................11
b) Differences between marketing the walking tour to travel agent and individual..................12
c) Approaches for attracting overseas and domestic customers and companies.......................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
2

INTRODUCTION
The term marketing refers to combined activities involved in transfer of goods and
services from the manufacturer to final consumers. Further, marketing involves identification of
needs of customers and providing them offering that meet their needs in best manner. The
marketing also regards to four key elements, product, price, place and promotion that are the
basis of success of marketing orientation (Cochoy, 2014). In this report, various aspects of
marketing principles will be explained. Explore Plc is new company that is intending to develop
walking tours for historical town of UK. Further, in this report PESTEL analysis and Porters five
force analysis will be done to identify the impact of external factors prevailing in Greenwich on
the operations of Explore Plc. Thereafter, promotional strategy for Greenwich tours will be
framed to ensure customer attraction.
TASK 1
a) Various elements of marketing process
According to the provided scenario, Explore Plc is starting walking tours in different
parts of UK. The objective of company is to provide amazing tour experience to diversified
range of individuals like, millennial, retired people etc (Darley and Blankson, 2008). Further, the
pilot manager is intending to offer a walking tour of Greenwich. They are described below:
 Marketing audit: With the help of marketing audit, Explore Plc can identify and analyze
marketing strategies for its business. Along, with that company can determine the impact
of internal factors on its performance. In this respect, Swot analysis can be done by
company to determine various strength that can be used by business to overcome its
weaknesses.
 Integrated marketing: It is marketing approach that involve the use of traditional and
modern methods of marketing that further assist in generating brand awareness and
boosting the sales of various products and services (Hughes, 2002).
 Environmental analysis: It is a strategical tool that help in identifying the impact of
internal and external factors on the performance of Explore Plc in different markets. With
this aspect, business entity can determine various business opportunities that could be
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availed by it. In this respect, the pilot manger can conduct PESTEL analysis that help in
determining the impact of external factors on business.
 Marketing mix: It is blend of key elements of marketing; product, price, place and
promotion. It further help company in generating brand awareness in market and attract
maximum customers.
b) Different benefits and cost of marketing orientation in Explore Plc.
Marketing orientation is business approach used by company to offer products and
services according to the needs and requirements of prospective consumers (Jafari, 2013). The
key aim of conducting marketing orientation is to fulfill the needs of customers and maximum
satisfaction to them. This further help in increasing customer base and developing brand loyalty
among them.
Being a new company, it is crucial for Explore Plc to incur significant amount in identifying the
needs and preferences of customers.
Benefits of marketing orientation
The key advantage of marketing orientation is that walking tours will be designed as per
the requirements of consumers. Thereafter, marketing manager of company can communicate to
target customers how their tour packages meet the needs of target customers. Therefore, the
customer satisfaction level is maximum (Korotkov, Occhiocupo and Simkin, 2013). It further
help in inculcating brand loyalty among consumers. Further, manager can take advantages of
marketing opportunities and ensure long term profitability.
Cost of marketing orientation
The marketing orientation of Explore Plc will include intense market research that will
also involve significant expenditure. In addition to this, it involve market study by experts who
assist in identifying new techniques of marketing and offering services. This will further help in
providing unique tour experience to consumers. Thereafter, to gather consumer information,
questionnaire, market surveys, feedback form and other infrastructure and tools etc can be used.
In addition to this, sales executives can be hired (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013).
TASK 2
a) Detail analysis of external factors that can impact the functioning of Explore PLC
i) PESTEL analysis
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Categories Analysis
Political It refers to various rules and regulation framed by government of
UK. Thereafter, it also involve impact of local political parties
that can impact the performance of new company. Therefore, the
local pressure groups stimulate tour company to conduct
sustainable tourism (Kubacki, 2015). Thereafter, various labor,
environment laws, tax policies can affect the operations of
Explore PLC in Greenwich.
Economical It involve impact of economic policies, interest, inflation and
economic growth rate that can affect the operations of company
in Greenwich. In this respect, the interest rate of UK is 0.5%
which states that company can avail loans easily at low cost and
utilize funds in expansion activities.
Social It refers to various social factors like, population and age
distribution, current trends, health consciousness etc that can
influence the functioning of company. According to the census of
2011, the population of Greenwich is increased with 18.7% in
past 10 years. Therefore, more customers can be targeted by
company (Miletsky, 2009).
Technological It involve technical factors that help in offering upgraded and
innovative services. With the help of technical factors company
can reduce the cost and improve the quality of services.
Environmental It regards environmental factors that are play an important role in
functioning of travel and tourism companies. It involve the
various rules and regulation followed by environment board,
conservation groups, Royal park management that should be
followed by company to ensure smooth functioning.
Legal It refers to various legal policies like, consumer, employment,
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discrimination and health and safety law that can impact the
functioning of company (Richter, 2012).
ii) Porter five force analysis for studying the competitive environment
The pilot manager can determine the level of competition in tourism sector through
Porters five force analysis. It is described as follows:
 Threat of new entry: It refers to threat of new tourism organizations that can enter the
market and increase the level of competition. Since, 2012 Olympics were conducted in
London, the attractiveness of tourism services in Greenwich has increased.
 Threat of substitute services: Being new organization, the company faces high threat of
substitute services. The customer can substitute its services with high quality services
provided by established market competitors. Thereafter, the substitution cost is also low
for customers (Stenroos and Makkonen, 2014). Same kind of tour packages and offers are
being provided to customer by other tour operators. This clearly shows the people in
market are available with wide variety of substitutes related to tours to Greenwich.
 Bargaining power of customers: The intense market competition in tourism sector, has
increased the bargaining power in the hands of customers. In addition to this, low
switching cost has also increased the bargaining power of customers.
 Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is low in tourism
sector as there are large number of suppliers of services. Therefore, supplier switching
cost is low for company which reduces the bargaining power of suppliers.
 Intensity of competitive rivalry: Tourism is highly growing industry and Greenwich is
emerging tourist destination therefore, the market rivalry in industry is too much high
(Tapp and Spotswood, 2013). Therefore, to overcome competition, Explore Plc can take
help of branding, increase advertisement etc that will provide distinct identity to the
company in market.
iii) Conclusion from above analysis
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that to attain the objective of high
profitability and increase the customer base in Greenwich it is important for Explore Plc to
consider various external factors. The company should pay tax on time and ensure it follow all
the rules and regulations prevailing in UK. Further, from porters five force model it can be
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concluded that company can minimize the impact of intense rivalry by improving the quality of
services.
b) Segmentation criteria used by Explore PLC
 Demographic segmentation: The company can divide the market on the basis of
demographic factors like, gender, age, income, education level, type of household etc.
Therefore, high end services can be provided to high income customers (Satell, 2013).
Therefore, company can offer air services in business class, sport activities like, river
rafting, para sailing to enjoy Thames river etc. However, company can distinguish
services on the basis of gender and age like, for young boys and girls between 16-30 age
adventure tourism services can be offered. In addition to this, for elderly comfortable
services that does not involve physical work can be offered.
 Behavioral segmentation: The marketing manager of Explore PLC can divide the
market on the basis of brand loyalty, attitude and service buying behavior of target
customers. With this aspect, those customers happy to incur extra expenditure for
attaining superior quality services can be identified (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013).
However, company can also ascertain the price conscious consumers who will consume
services only if tour package fall in their budget.
c) Targeting strategy
With the help of effective targeting strategy, Explore Plc can reach the target customers
comprising of young, elderly, retired people to whom company wants to offer its services.
Therefore, company can use differentiated targeting strategy. In this aspect, to target the young
customer of age 16-30 the latest travel services involving adventure sports, cruise, visit to
biological parks, amusement and theme parks etc can be included. However, the prices of such
tour can be kept little high. Further, the services offered to young customers should be as per the
latest trends. Thereafter, the tour packages can be designed as per the interest, needs etc of
customers (Jafari, 2013). Further, to reach the retired people, the company can design low budget
tour packages.
d) The impact of buying behavior on the marketing mix of Explore PLC
The buying behavior regards to those factors that stimulate individuals to purchase the
services offered by Explore PLC. To ensure repetitive purchase of services, it is important for
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manager of company to consider buying behavior of various customers. This can be better
understood through following examples:
i)A retired couple: The retired individuals do not have fixed source of money therefore, they
cannot spend much on purchasing travel and tourism services. Therefore, to attract such
customers, company can offer low budget tour packages. For this aspect, more bargaining can be
done for the suppliers this will also help in reducing the cost of services (Korotkov, Occhiocupo
and Simkin, 2013). This will help in attracting more elderly and retired customers willing to
explore rich heritage and culture of Greenwich.
ii)A coach company: To offer tour services to business customers it is important for company to
understand the buying behavior of commercial consumers. For instance, to attract the coach
company who organize tours of London for foreign tourist (American and Japanese), Explore Plc
can take help of direct marketing (Darley and Blankson, 2008). Thereafter, trade discounts can
be provided to them. Thereafter, company can provide benefits like 10% discount for booking of
group tour package.
e) New positioning strategy
According to the provided case scenario, the company is planning to offer educational
tours to college and school going individuals. In this aspect, manager of organization is required
to design new strategy. However, it will involve four key elements of marketing mix which are
explained as follows:
 Product: The company will offer educational tours to various college and school going
individuals. Further, the tour package will involve visit to famous historical places of
city.
 Price: To get booking of more and more educational tours, company can offer discounts.
Further, organization can design attractive packages for educational institution at
affordable prices (Jafari, 2013).
 Place: In this aspect, the company can offer visit to famous old royal naval college,
national museum, university of Greenwich, queen house, palace of placentia, etc located
in Greenwich.
 Promotion: To promote the educational tour, the company can market the tour packages
on educational websites like, academia, learner site etc. Further, sales executives can visit
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personally the top colleges and schools and promote their tour packages through
presentation, providing brochures etc.
TASK 3
a) Designing services to attain competitive advantages
In order to get competitive edge over rivals, effective business strategy can be designed
by the manager of Explore PLC. In this aspect, manager can do intense market research to
provide services as per the prevailing market trends in tourism industry. Therefore, company can
use technology to attract wide range of customers. In this aspect, new mobile applications can be
designed by company in the name of its brand (Richter, 2012). Further, these applications will
help in communicating various tour packages, tourist destinations, discounts etc offered by
company. Further, innovative services can be offered to consumers using latest technology.
b) Dealing with place element of the marketing mix.
The place of offering services plays important role in tourism industry. To ensure success
and reach wide range of customers, it is important for company to give special consideration to
place element of marketing mix (Lichtenstein and Johansson, 2011). Therefore, company can
highlight the attractive tourist destinations present in Greenwich. The brochure and website used
for promoting services should include attractive pictures of tourist locations. This will assist in
inducing customers to purchase the walking tour offered by company
c) Pricing decisions of company
To attain the long term objective of growth and sustainability along with the short term
objective of profitability, management of company is required to consider the pricing decision of
company significantly. In this respect, Explore Plc can take help of competitive pricing policy.
Therefore, company can align its pricing strategy with that of competitors to sustain cut throat
market competition. Therefore, while performing its function in monopolistic market, company
can use competitive pricing (Stavros, Pope and Winzar, 2008). However, while functioning in
monopoly market, price skimming strategy can be used by company. It is advantageous for
company as there are no competitors and there are large number of market opportunities for
customers.
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d) Promotional strategy for Greenwich tours
Being a new business entity in market, it is important for company to use effective
promotional strategy. This will further help company in building customer base and increase the
brand awareness and recognition in market. Therefore, company can boost the sales of tour
packages and other services using various promotional strategy. In this aspect, company can use
social media marketing, advertising on official website of company (Stover, 2007). With the
increasing use of social sites like, Facebook, Twitter, they are effective platform for attracting
customers. In this respect, company can design pages and groups of social sites. Thereafter,
advertisement can be done through television, travel magazines etc. Along with this, sales
publicity and personal commercialism can be used to increase the consumer base.
e) Extended marketing mix elements
There are 3 more Ps which have been added to the marketing mix are discussed in
context of Greenwich walking tour are as follows:
1. People: They are the employees of Explore Plc. who are in direct contact with the
customers. The company should hire highly skilled people and train them in an effective
manner so that they can communicate with the customers in well mannered and thus can
influence them for the repeat business or for word of mouth promotions (Wang, 2007).
2. Physical Evidence: It refers to the physical layout of the store in case of manufacturing
firm. But in service sector it can be described as a type of innovative service it provides.
In this case, manager of this firm can design attractive tour plans and offer refreshments
during the walking tours (SERVICE MARKETING MIX (Extended Marketing Mix).
2015).
3. Process: There are several process such as customer handling process, customer
complaint process, customer care process, etc. All these process during tour should be
duly handled so that customer feel satisfied.
TASK 4
a) Marketing mix for different segments
i. The marketing mix for the localite can be designed by the management is that they can
offer different tour packages which are convenient because they are carrying children
also. They can offer the polo cars so that parents do not feel lethargic (Tapp and
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Spotswood 2013). Moreover, the penetration pricing strategy should be used in order to
attract more and more people. The promotion can be done by targeting the children so
that kids get influenced. Further, refreshments and gifts for the kids should be given
during the tour so that people get satisfied and similarly influence others for that purpose.
ii. For couples the marketing mix will be that company will offer them a romantic outing
and for that a place can be taken where couples can spent quality time together.
Moreover, the pricing should be skimming pricing because quality service will be
provided to them. Further, company can promote using advertisement in honeymoon
suite hotels.
b) Differences between marketing the walking tour to travel agent and individual
Basis Travel Agents Individual
Meaning Travel agents are those individual
that assist in attracting customers
for Explore Plc. They explain the
features of product and services
that will be offered to customers.
The tour packages are directly
marketed to the individual
customers and no other firm is
involved in middle. This function is
performed by the management of
Explore Plc.
Product Free services can be offered to
travel agents for attracting
maximum customers.(Richter,
2012).
Here one or the combination of
services are provided and the
customers cannot use it for further
use. The product offered to
individual customers will involve
customized tour packages based on
the needs of customers.
Price Prices of the services are generally
kept low due to bulk purchasing.
Prices of the services are relatively
higher than those offered to travel
agents.
Place In this case, company does not The company can have a outlet
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have any place and they can
directly deal on the calls or
through video conference.
where customer may come and
buys the packages. Moreover,
through website and mobile
applications customers can directly
do the purchases (Kubacki, 2015).
Promotion Generally, direct or personal
selling is done. It can be through
calls or emails.
In this case, company can do
advertisement using hoardings, TV,
website, etc. Moreover, email
newsletter can also be sent.
c) Approaches for attracting overseas and domestic customers and companies
There are several approaches used for attracting the customers and companies that is
company can provide customized tour packages to the buyers along with the special offers as add
on. The company can also go for globalization and can do the promotion to the overseas
customers. For this purpose, they can open its outlet in other countries as well. But for that it has
to take care about all the 5 factors of the macro environment and do the promotion accordingly.
For instance, company can open its outlet in Canada and China so that the people from these two
countries can be attracted towards the Greenwich. Further, the firm can do tie ups with the
established travel enterprise and do the promotion of the walking tours by taking in consideration
the legal policies of that country.
Explore Plc can take assistance of various effective and innovative techniques to attract
various international and domestic customers. The new and upgraded technology should be used
by company to sustain global competition (Jafari, 2013). To attract the domestic customers,
advertisement in television, radio, newspapers etc can be used. Thereafter, to attract the
international customers, online portals, search engine optimization, social media marketing etc
can be utilized. Further, additional discounts can be offered to foreign customers as international
tours are more expensive. For instance, company can offer Greenwich tour package to Chinese
as well as UK customers. However, there is huge difference in culture of UK and Chinese which
must be considered while offering tour. The major issue that will be faced with Chinese
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customers will be with regards to language issue. Therefore, local travel agents can be used to
attract customers in China while, direct marketing can be used to attract domestic customers.
Further, travel agents must be well acquainted with Chinese language. Thereafter, travel agents
can use eye contact while offering packages in UK while the same must not be used in China as
it is regarded at disrespectful.
CONCLUSION
After preparing this report, it can be concluded that marketing planning is essentially
required in every business aspects. In this case, the company has to analyze its market and than
only it can market its services to the customers. The macro environment of this company can
affect its business activities so Explore Plc. should make the strategies to overcome this issue.
Moreover, company also has the opportunities to expand its business in international market.
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