Developing a Marketing Plan for Belmond: A Comprehensive Report

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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
LO1: Explanation of the role of marketing and its relation with the other departments of the
organisation in the hospitality industry............................................................................................4
Roles and Responsibilities of the Marketing Functions..............................................................4
Roles and Responsibilities of Marketing Relate to Wider Organisational Context....................6
Interrelationship between Marketing with other Functional Units..............................................7
LO2: Comparison of the marketing mix used at an organization in the tourism industry..............7
Marketing.....................................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix.............................................................................................................................8
Comparison of the marketing mix used in Belmond and Audley travel...................................10
LO3: Development of Basic Marketing Plan................................................................................12
Situation Analysis......................................................................................................................12
Market Segmentation.................................................................................................................13
Target Market and Positioning..................................................................................................14
Marketing and Financial Objectives..........................................................................................14
Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................................14
Allocation of Budget..................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
Introduction
Marketing function is one of the major components needed to enhance the business in of the
organisation in this world of globalisation in an effective and efficient manner. Due to the
positive impact of globalization, which help the companies to diversify its business and establish
the business in the foreign market in prominent manner. Moreover, the marketing is required by
the organisation to target specific customer segments to enhance the business in a specific
manner. Additionally one of the major components is the digital marketing that may help the
organisation to enhance business in the tourism industry.
This study is mainly focused on the role of marketing and its relation with the other departments
like the administration and the finance department in a prominent manner (Leung, Bai, and
Stahura, 2015). Additionally the study will include the comparative analysis of the marketing
mix of the use of the Belmond Company and the competitor of the company that is Audley travel
in an efficient manner. Subsequently after the critical analysis of the marketing mix used in the
two companies a basic marketing plan should prepared in a prominent way. At the end, the
summary of the major points will be included in the conclusion section of the study.
LO1: Explanation of the role of marketing and its relation with the other departments of
the organisation in the hospitality industry
Roles and Responsibilities of the Marketing Functions
There are key roles and responsibility of the marketing function that helps the organization to
develop the specific market in this competitive business environment. In the travel and tourism
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
sector due to the globalisation competition is increasing specially in the UK market 70 Per cent
of the consumers prefer digital mode. Digital marketing and physical marketing both modes
should be used.
Effective Market Research: The market department of the organisation should perform
extensive marketing research to identify the exact demands of the consumers and their likes and
dislikes (Leung, Xue,. and Bai, 2015). Extensive market research should be done by the
Belmond tourism organisation. The company deals with holistic package of hotels, train service
and river cruise and flight ticket bookings so market department should study the requirement of
the consumers. Effective feedback of the consumers should be noted as it is witnessed it help to
increase 10 Percent of the sales.
Market strategy formulation: The function of the Marketing department of Belmond Ltd
includes marketing strategy formulation according to the recent trends of the consumers.
According to the recent trend it is seen that UK consumers prefers quality of service and the
young generations are attracted if the company conducts digital marketing compared to physical
marketing by almost 10 per cent. The Belmond Ltd should perform the digital marketing in an
efficient manner (Huang, and Rundle-Thiele, 2015).
Marketing Budget: Marketing budget preparation in compliance with the finance department is
one of the major functions of the marketing department of the Belmond Ltd. Moreover, one of
the budget allocations in different kind of marketing like advertisement, digital marketing and
endorsement should be properly done by the organisation. Allocation of financial resource
should be based on the strategy of the marketing in an efficient manner. Moreover, the
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
compliance with the financial department should help in optimization of the resource use and
helped in enhancement of the profit level of the Belmond by almost 10 per cent
Preparation of sales target according to the marketing: The sales target of the Belmond
should be set by the marketing department as the marketing department includes the promotional
activity that helps to set the sales of the organisation in an efficient manner (Rivera and Pizam,
2015).
Roles and Responsibilities of Marketing Relate to Wider Organisational Context
The roles and responsibilities of marketing within the Belmod Company relate to a wide
organisational context. These are:
 Marketing Research: Marketing Research of the Belmod Company help the
organisation to research the market, which takes effort and use of resources as well as
workforce. Based on this marketing research, a plan is formulated for the future of the
company (Ashnai et al., 2019).
 Market Strategy Formulation: Marketing strategy formulation of the Belmod Company
helps the organisation to formulate a market strategy, which would be helpful for the
future of the company. For the market strategy formulation, the use of the company’s
financial resources and human resources are necessary which would help to bring success
to the plan.
 Marketing Budget: Marketing budget is essential for the Belmod Company as it helps to
provide and allocate suitable financial resources to the plan. As such, the company’s
financial resources and human resources used to help improve the marketing aspects.
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
 Preparation of Sales: The sales of the Belmod Company are set when the marketing
plan has been finalized and financed and as such, this uses the company’s human
resources to ensure that the goods and services are promoted and sold successfully to
enhance the revenue generation and profitability(Ashnai et al., 2019).
Interrelationship between Marketing with other Functional Units
There is an interrelationship between the marketing aspects with that of other functional unit of
Belmond, which helps to benefit the company in their sales and revenue generation. Marketing is
inherently linked with the financial and accounting aspect of the company, which allows them to
gain an enhanced and increased boost in revenue generation as well as in profitability through
the sales of their goods and services (Yang and Tsai, 2019). Marketing also helps the financial
department to keep track of the cash flows as well as the budgets and revenues of the company.
Marketing is inherently linked with the customer services of the organisation as marketing
allows the customers to give their questions, doubts, and enquiries about the products and
services to the customer service where the company would be able to communicate with them in
an effective manner. Marketing is also interconnected with the aspect of Human Resources
where the workforce helps in not only market research of the company, but also in the
formulation of a strategic marketing plan. As such, marketing is interrelated with the other
functional unit of Belmond (Micevski et al., 2019).
LO2: Comparison of the marketing mix used at an organization in the tourism industry
Marketing
Marketing is basically a particular function in an organisation that is operational in nature. The
activities practiced for creating awareness among the people about the products and services of
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
an organisation is dealt by the marketing department of that particular organisation (Stead and
Hastings, 2018). It is often said that market is a destination which provides a platform to both the
producers and consumers. The usage of different marketing strategies and convincing advertising
is of utmost importance in order to create a buzz and awareness about the product amongst the
costumers in the market. This increases the sales and profit of the company.
Marketing mix
Marketing mix is the fundamental and the most vital part of market planning. The concept of
marketing mix includes all the important elements and organisations should focus on while
producing and manufacturing their products and services (Datta et al,. 2017). They are basically
important marketing tools that work together for generating response for a product and its
marketing in the market. It is essential for every organisation to use marketing mix as a tool of
their marketing plan.
The process of 4P’s shifting to 7P’s
A lot of decisions of an organisation especially the marketing department has to be made for
generating a product’s marketing plan. Here the tool of marketing mix allows the analysis of
factors related to the product that is required for the necessary making decisions. In the past the
key concepts of marketing mix included product, place, price and promotion. However with time
the organizations realize that there are more key concepts that need to be focused on apart from
the 4Ps’ (Bowie et al., 2016). After this realization another 3Ps’ were added to the theory of
marketing mix. The 3Ps’ were people, process and physical evidence.
Elaboration of the 4Ps’ of marketing
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
Product - It is a very vital component for any business. Product can be defined as the goods or
service offered by a company to its targeted consumers. It plays a very important role in the
travel and tourism industry. The product provided by an organisation can be either tangible or
intangible in nature (Braimah, 2016). A product’s nature can be classified into three categories.
They are the ore product, the actual product and the augmented product.
Price – The price of a product is the amount that has to be give in exchange of buying a product
if we have to calculate price it can be said that it is the amount or the cost of the product added
with the profit margin of the seller as well as the intermediaries. These intermediaries are
associated in the process of delivering the product to the consumer (Dzhandzhugazova et al.,
2016). Price plays an important in the tourism sector as the organisation that provides the best
price for a particular service is chosen over its competitors in the market.
Place – Place is basically the area where the products are made available to the target customers
and the market.
Promotion - - promotion places a vital role in the flourishment of any kind of business. This
basically along with advertising deals with all the activities that are used for making then product
known in the market. There are various promotional tools that can be used by different
organisations for creating a buzz for the product in the m market as per their requirement ( Tiong
et al., 2017).
The 3Ps’ of marketing
The 3ps’ that were added later on to the concept of marketing mix are
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
People – people are the most important tool involved in marketing mix. They include all the
influence of human beings directly or indirectly in the process of an organisation producing a
product (Gomezelj, 2016). They include the targeted segment of people, intermediaries and all
the people of the organisation related in the process of manufacturing of product.
Process – the process includes all the activities as well as practices that are involved in the task
of producing a product. They can also be the activities that take place while making the product
available to the targeted market. A process of an organisation mainly focuses on the flow and
efficiency of the activities for achieving and obtaining the best possible results.
Physical evidence – physical evidence is basically all the material part that is associated with the
product. They are basically the evidence of the existence as well as presence of the product in the
market (Eneizan and Obaid, 2016). Physical evidences include signs, logos, goodies, packaging
and many more that attracts the customer towards the company.
Comparison of the marketing mix used in Belmond and Audley travel
Tools of marketing mix Belmond Audley travels
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
Product
The company Belmond is
basically a hospitality chain.
They have numerous number of
hotels and is a very well known
luxury hotel chain in the world.
The main products of the
company are the hotel services
and products that are provided to
the cutomers.
The company Audley travels is
mainly associated with travel and
tourism services. The core
product of the company is the
hospitality packages provided in
a tourist spot. Apart from this the
travel sector like the airlines,
railways, cruisers as well as on
road transport are included in this
sector’s services. The tangible
products of the company include
the food, drinks as well as
complimentary gifts provided to
the customers of the company.
Price
Belmond is luxury hotel and
hence the price the offer is on the
higher side. Anyways if we
compare the price they charge
with the quality of service they
provide, the cost is justified.
Audley travel is a tour operator
in England. They are well known
for private specialised trips to the
customers hence their pricing
ranges from medium to high
level.
Place
Place here is basically the
destinations where the company
is promoted. Belmond uses their
website as well as social medias
to promote the organisations.
Audley uses their website, social
media as well as various TV
advertisements to promote their
company.
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
Promotion
The key promotion tools used by
Belmond are public relations.
The promotion methods of
Audley include advertisement
public relations and sales
promotion.
People
The company targets rich people
who can afford their services.
The company targets medium
and high income groups.
Process
They usually use their own
software and website for
bookings and handling the
operational process.
Audley also uses their website
and booking software to target
their customers.
Physical evidence
Belmond has a logo and goodies
as physical evidence in the
market.
The physical evidence of Audley
is their logo.
(Source: Created By Learner)
LO3: Development of Basic Marketing Plan
The development of a basic marketing plan for Belmond company is as follows:
Situation Analysis
To evaluate the situation of Belmond Hotels, a SWOT analysis would be done. This includes:
Strengths Weaknesses
 The company has a high level of customer
satisfaction which is due to the strong
 The Belmond company has poor marketing
strategies which has made them unable to
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MARKETING ESSENTIALS: BELMOND
customer relationship
 The company has strong integrity and
ethics in their work practices
 The company has strong and consistent
quality within their services
 Belmond has a strong and loyal customer
base
attract more customers
 There is high employee turnover within the
company which not only affects the company
and their business operations, but also their
financial resources and time
 Most of the packages of Belmond are very
basic and as such, many customers would be
bored or uninterested by it.
Opportunities Threats
 Belmond has the opportunity to develop
their service packages so that it would be
effective in attracting the customers
 Belmond has the opportunity to develop
their marketing strategies so that it would
be highly effective in attracting the
customers
 The biggest threat faced by Belmond is that
they are faced by a number of other similar
tourism and hospitality companies in the
market
 Another big threat faced by Belmond is that
the company has possibility of losing their
customers to other companies such as Audley
travels.
Table 1: SWOT Analysis
(Source: Created by the Learner)
Market Segmentation
The target market is segmented based upon 4 major groups:
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