Marketing Principles Report: Dorset Hotel's Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing principles applied by Dorset Hotel. It begins with an introduction to the elements of the marketing process, followed by an assessment of the micro and macro environments, including a SWOT analysis. The report then delves into segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies, focusing on the launch of Dorset Hotel's new seafood product, considering demographic and psychographic segmentation. It explores the impact of buyer behavior on marketing activities and examines product development, distribution strategies, and pricing strategies, including concentration pricing. Additionally, the report discusses promotional activities, the extended marketing mix, and the differences between B2B and B2C marketing, as well as domestic and international marketing considerations. The report incorporates marketing tools such as the Ansoff matrix for product development and provides a detailed overview of the marketing mix for the hotel's offerings.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Explain various elements of the marketing process..............................................................1
1.2 Identifying the benefits and cost attached to the marketing orientation................................2
2.1 Analyze the macro and micro environment with the help of tool.........................................2
2.2 & 2.3 Segmentation criteria and choosing the strategy to target the customer.....................3
2.5 Choosing positioning options for the selected product/service.............................................3
2.4 Impact of buyer behavior on marketing activities in different buying situations..................4
3.1 Development of products and services to sustain competitive advantage.............................4
3.2 Way of arranging distribution to provide customer convenience..........................................5
3.3 Explaining pricing strategy as per marketing conditions......................................................5
3.4 Role of promotional activities to achieve marketing objectives............................................5
3.5 Additional elements of extended marketing mix...................................................................6
4.1 Marketing mix for two different segments in the consumer market.....................................6
4.2 Differences between B2B and B2C in terms of marketing of products and services............7
4.3 Comparison between domestic and international marketing.................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In the present scenario, doing marketing in an effective manner has become the most
important in order to make a business sustainable as in this competitive environment, these are
the marketing activities only which attract the customers towards products and services of an
organization. Marketing principles refers to the norms and policies which marketing department
of an organization follows in order to run the business in an ethical and successful manner
(Lancaster and Withey, 2007). In the present report, there will be focus on the elements of
marketing process along with assessing the micro and macro environment of Dorset hotel that is
a UK based hotel. In addition to this, there will a discussion on the segmentation, targeting and
positioning strategies of organization for launching its new product, that is, sea food.
TASK 1
1.1 Explain various elements of the marketing process
There are various elements of marketing process which should be considered by the
Dorset hotel for marketing their product.
 Identifying the needs and requirements of the customer- in this step, the responsibility of
the company is to identify the needs and requirements of the customer. In this case, the
hotel is responsible for identifying the services which are required by the user.
 Analyzing the condition of the environment- Dorset hotel should analyze the environment
in which it is operating its business. The hotel should evaluate the conditions and the
scenario which will be helpful in making the marketing plan (Constantinides, 2006)
 Designing the plan- After analyzing the environment, it should design the plan which will
help in creating competitive advantage over other company.
 Building relationship with customer- the main element of the marketing process is
building the relationship with customer as it helps in building strong relationship with the
user.
 Extracting value from customer-This marketing process will help in generating profit
from the customer in terms of services (Dennis, Fenech and Merrilees, 2005).
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1.2 Identifying the benefits and cost attached to the marketing orientation
Marketing orientation is the model which is used by the markets to market their products
effectively in the market. In this competitive time where the numbers of hotels are increasing, it
is the responsibility of the Dorset hotel to do market orientation but there are cost and benefits
attached to it:
 According to the demand of user- the products are made according to the needs and
requirements so the chances of failure of the product are less. This helps the Dorset hotel
to create its brand image in the minds of the users.
 It is a time consuming process- This is process is time consuming as it requires lot of
time for making the market orientation. If it is not successful then it will be counted as
the unproductive time for the Dorset hotel (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003.).
 Requires plenty of resources- The resources which are need to make the market
orientation plan are many. The Dorset has to gather the resources for make the market
orientation successful.
2.1 Analyze the macro and micro environment with the help of tool
It is important for the Dorset hotel to evaluate the micro and macro environment so that
all the marketing activity can be made according to the requirements and needs of the scenario.
Micro analysis
 Customer- Dorset hotel should make the services according to the needs and the
requirements of the customer. It is very important for any hotel to make the product or
the service according to the customer requirements (Rowley, 2007)
 Government- Even the hotel should follow the food and safety act which is made by the
government for the safety of customers.
 Employees- These are significant part of the organization, they should be made satisfied
by the salary and benefits which are required by them (Yoo, Donthu and Lee, 2000).
Macro analysis (SWOT)
 Strengths- The main strength of Dorset hotel is its brand image and the name another
main attractive point is the food which it serve in the hotel.
 Weakness-the promotion which the company is doing is weak and is not using social
media for doing promotion (Beamish and Ashford, 2012).
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 Opportunity- it can expand its business in many areas as the demand of the customer is
high for the food which is served in this hotel.
 Threat- The major threat is from the competitors as there are many competitors who are
rendering the same product to the customer (Harley Davidson SWOT, 2015).
2.2 & 2.3 Segmentation criteria and choosing the strategy to target the customer
The service which is recently launched by the Dorset hotel is the sea food as it is in very
much demand by the youth customer. So the segmentation can be done on the basis of
demographic and psychographic. The customers who are fond of this kind of food come in the
age group of 18- 30 years of age and another segment is according the lifestyle. The youth which
are rich are fond of the sea food. According to their demand only the Dorset has introduced this
service. These people are very fond are price insensitive and are ready to pay any amount for that
food (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2008).
The target strategy which can be used to target the youth customers are the
advertisements on the social media channels because they are the one who uses the most these
kinds of sites (Market Segmentation, 2010). Besides this, they have also promoted their new
service in the pubs and the disco because it is the place where the youth are found. Earlier the
promotional strategy of this hotel was very weak but now as the change in time they have
transformed their strategy according to the changing scenario (Sarin, 2013). They have focused o
the differentiation strategy. In which they will provide the seas food which is different from its
competitors. In UK the individual are sea food lovers so they have targeted the main population
and also it is beneficial for the Dorset hotel because if the customer will consume the food it will
also use other services which will ultimately benefit the hotel and will help in creating
competitive advantage among the competitors (Thorson and Moore, 2013).
2.5 Choosing positioning options for the selected product/service
Numerous methods are there through which the selected product of Dorset hotel, that is,
sea food can be positioned. However, the most effective positioning tool through which the
product of organization can be promoted is advertising. With the help of this promotional tool,
product can be positioned in the minds of customers. Along with that, there is one more
advantage that this promotional tool provides. It is of capturing the attention of people at a large
scale at one time (Dennis, Fenech and Merrilees, 2005). It means, through advertising, audience
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at a large scale can be made aware with the product along with its features and benefits at a fast
pace. Thus, for Dorset hotel, in order to do positioning of it’s newly launched product, sea food,
advertising would prove to be the best medium which can be done through newspaper, TV or
online.
2.4 Impact of buyer behavior on marketing activities in different buying situations
As Dorset hotel has chosen the segment of youngsters who are in between the age of 18
to 28 years, these people are generally conscious about their looks and want to have anything at
any cost by which their health and looks can be improved. Along with that, customers of this age
require a happening ambience where they can enjoy and have fun. Thus, by providing an
ambience as per wishes of youngsters that they like, Dorset hotel is gaining the advantage of
attracting maximum customers of this age and earning higher profits through that (Fillis, 2010).
Along with that, it is also providing the facility of online booking of the food and home delivery.
Thus, people who have busy schedule due to their jobs, they can order their food through online
and Dorset hotel will deliver it to their place. This facility has increased the customer base of
firm.
3.1 Development of products and services to sustain competitive advantage
For sustaining in the market in the long run and to beat the competition, Dorset hotel can
use the method of ansoff matrix. For having growth in its business and to increase its scope,
hotel can use this method in which it can formulate successful plans. In addition to this, to stay in
the market in the long run, product development and diversification strategies would prove to be
very helpful (O’Cass, 2001). Through using these strategies, Dorset hotel can develop its product
in such a way that it would be different from its competitors and thus, can gain competitive
advantage in the market. Thus, these strategies will play a vital role in putting new features in the
product so that attention of target market can be grabbed towards it. For retaining the existing
customers as well, Dorset hotel can do some modification in the product or services offered and
can satisfy the needs of customers according to the changing trends of market (Swoboda and
et.al., 2007). Through these ways, hotel can sustain the competitive advantage successfully.
3.2 Way of arranging distribution to provide customer convenience
When the product is ready at the Dorset hotel, then the next step is to make it available to
the final user, that is, the target customers. Just making the product, sea food, is not enough as it
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cannot generate profits until and unless it will be reached to the customers. Along with that,
another reason of reaching products to the customers is that if the launched product will not be
reached to target customers on time then there will be chances that competitors may copy the
strategy of Dorset hotel (Constantinides, 2006). Thus, to avoid this risk, it is important for the
hotel to make its distribution procedure effective so that product will be available to the target
customers as per the predetermined time.
3.3 Explaining pricing strategy as per marketing conditions
There are many pricing strategies which a firm can use in order to fix the prices of its
products in such a way that it can cover its costs and would make profits through that. These are
like competitive pricing, value pricing and cost based pricing. Also, it is important that price
must be set in a way that customers would not have any issue to pay that means it must be
affordable and reasonable and must be according to the value that product is giving to customers.
Dorset hotel can use concentration pricing strategy for its newly launched product, sea food. In
this, it can charge quite high prices from customers as this product is not common in the market
and there are no competitors as well (Dennis, Fenech and Merrilees, 2005). However, it needs to
be set as per the quality and worth of the product, that is, according to the value that customers
will be getting, prices should be set. Thus, through adopting this pricing strategy, Dorset hotel
can earn higher profits as well as the competitive advantage by which it can sustain and survive
in the long run.
3.4 Role of promotional activities to achieve marketing objectives
Main objective of marketing is to attract more number of customers towards the products
and services of hotel. In case of Dorset, promotional activities are very helpful in achieving the
marketing objectives in an effective manner as it help hotel management to inform customers
regarding its products and services. Along with this, it assists business entity to maintain
relationship with existing customers as well as attracting new customers (Rowley, 2007). In
order to inform youth customers about the introduction of sea food on its menu, social media is
one of the effective source for the promotional activities as huge number of youth are available
on these sites. On the other hand, celebrity endorsement can be used by hotel management in
order to deal with high class customer in terms of informing them about the availability of sea
food.
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3.5 Additional elements of extended marketing mix
There are three additional elements that needs to be considered by the management of
Dorset at the time of making its marketing strategy. These are as follows:
Physical evidence
In accordance to this, proper lighting should be available in the rooms and lobby of the
hotel that is focused on rendering better experience to customers.
People
According to this section, hotel management should focus on hiring skilled and qualified
employees in order to provide better customer service to its guests (Yoo, Donthu and Lee, 2000).
Process
Process is related to various type systems, physical resources and techniques that are
available in the hotel environment.
4.1 Marketing mix for two different segments in the consumer market
In case of Dorset Hotel, two different segments are related to demographic and
psychographic. In case of demographic, youth customers in between the age of 18 to 28 will be
considered and high class customers will be targeted in psychographic segment. Marketing mix
for these two segments is as follows:
Youth customers
PRODUCTS Sea food will be offered to youth customers as
they like to east new variety of food items and
they are fond of healthy food.
PRICE Price must be competitive as youth people are
focused to compare the process of competitors.
PLACE Home delivery and restaurants.
PROMOTION Online marketing and mostly social media
marketing (Beamish and Ashford, 2012).
High class customers:
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PRODUCTS Sea food will be offered to them as they are
focused on choosing food that relates to their
lifestyle.
PRICE Price can be high because these types of people
can afford food related to high quality with high
price.
PLACE Home delivery and restaurants (Lamb, Hair and
McDaniel, 2008).
PROMOTION Celebrity endorsement and television
advertisement.
4.2 Differences between B2B and B2C in terms of marketing of products and services
Differences between B2B and B2C in terms of marketing of products and services are as
follows:
Basis of
comparison
Business to business Business to customer
Meaning In this business, products and
services of Dorset are delivered to
other hotels and restaurants.
In this, products and services are offered
to the customers.
Cost Cost of sale is higher. Cost of sale is less expensive as compare
to B2B (Sarin, 2013).
Focus In this, businesses are focused on the
features of goods and services.
Customers are focus on the prices of
products and services as well as its
quality.
Product Whole-selling Retailing
Place Orders are made through websites
and through Face to face
communication at headquarter of the
Home delivery, hotel and restaurants.
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hotel.
Promotion With the help of trade discounts and
different types of offers.
Through social media marketing and
television advertisement.
Consignment Consignment size is large. Small
Approach In this approach, quotation is given to
make deal.
Customers directly contact to
professional working in the hotel.
Price Prices vary from client to client. All customers pay same price for the
same service (Thorson and Moore,
2013).
4.3 Comparison between domestic and international marketing
Basis of
comparison
Domestic market International market
Meaning In includes the process in which
goods and services are delivered
insider the home country.
It includes the process in which goods
and services are delivered in between
two or more countries.
Scope In this, scope and opportunities are
limited as compare to international
market.
It includes a range of scope and
unlimited opportunities.
Barriers There are no barriers in the domestic
market (Lancaster and Withey,
2007).
It includes barriers related to
differences in currency, language,
culture and traditions.
Role of politics In this, influence of political factor is
low.
Influence of political factor is high in
case of international marketing.
Risk Deal with domestic marketing
includes very few risks.
Deal with internal marketing is very
complex.
Financial In domestic marketing, need of In this marketing, financial resources
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resources financial resources is low. are needed to a higher extent.
Payment Letter of credit is used as the mode
of payment.
Cash payment and bank cards are used
for the payment (Dennis, Fenech and
Merrilees, 2005).
Transport cost In this market, transport cost is low. Transport cost is very high as compare
to domestic market.
Government
interference
Government interface in domestic
market is not very must in the
comparison of international market.
All the business transaction takes place
through using the regulations of
government.
Market It deals in single market. It deals in different kinds of markets of
several countries (Fillis, 2010).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that marketing principles are the guidelines
which show right direction to the business in order to perform its marketing activities without
committing any unethical activity. Thus, these are the principles through organization like Dorset
hotel perform its business in an ethical manner and gains a high goodwill and profits in the
market. Along with that, it can be inferred from the report that without giving due consideration
to the marketing activities of organization, it is not possible for a firm to stay in the market in the
long run and to beat the competition would also be an issue for the enterprise.
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Online
Harley Davidson SWOT. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/automobiles/381-harley-davidson.html>.
[Access on 12th December 2015].
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