IM 541 Marketing: Scooby Tours - Strategy, Segmentation & Action Plan

This report provides a detailed analysis of Scooby Tours' marketing strategy, focusing on segmentation, targeting, and the marketing mix. The company, based in Auckland and specializing in day tours to Hobbinton, aims to attract a younger demographic, particularly travelers around 20 years old from Australia and China. The report outlines a segmentation strategy based on demographic variables, emphasizing the diverse needs of this age group. The marketing mix strategy focuses on product expansion to enhance attractiveness, competitive pricing for market penetration, strategic placement through partnerships and online channels, and promotional activities using both digital and traditional media. An action plan is provided for each strategy, detailing specific tasks, responsible parties, and timelines. The report concludes by assessing the appropriateness of each strategy and action plan, highlighting their alignment with the target market's needs and the company's capabilities. Desklib offers a wide range of solved assignments and past papers to assist students in their studies.

MARKETING
&
MANAGEMENT

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Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................2
One segment in domestic market.......................................................................................................2
Marketing mix strategy for Scooby Tours.........................................................................................3
Action plan for each of the strategies.................................................................................................5
Appropriateness of each strategy.......................................................................................................6
Appropriateness of the action plan....................................................................................................7
Budgeting..........................................................................................................................................8
Key performance indicators that Scooby tour can use.......................................................................8
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................9

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INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism has expanded at much faster rate in different parts of the world (Sun,
Ryan & Pan, 2015). There are many types of tour plans that are getting developed as per the
trends in the market as well as the demand of the target consumers. New tour companies are
coming up and they are offering several types of products and services to their potential
customers. In this process various types of strategies are used by the companies so as to
increase the number of consumers taking their services. They are taking use of action plans so
as to achieve their goals in their target time frame. Scooby Tour is an Auckland based
company that deal in the business of day tour from Auckland to Hobbinton. It is fairly new
company and got established in December 2017. This report highlights the segmentation and
targeting strategy of Scooby Tours as well as the marketing mix they have made for
themselves. It also describes the action plan for the cited firm.
One segment in domestic market
It is essential for any company to make sure that they make products as per the demand of the
particular section of the market (Schiff & Becken, 2011). This is to be understood that no
products or services achieves success without solving the problems that are faced by people.
In order to attract more number of people towards the business of company they must make a
target section for which they will produce the product. It is to be understood that there are
several variables that are involved while making the target section among the larger part of
the market. These variables help the company in making sure that they can target the exact
section of the market. This segmentation on the basis of certain variables will assist the firm
in attaining higher sales.
In New Zealand there are various kinds of people making up the society (Becken & Schiff,
2011). This has forced the companies like Scooby tour to make the package as per the
demand of the market. The variable that this company can select is the demographic. In the
demographic they can target customers that are young and mostly around the age of 20 years.
This segmentation of young people has been done because the type of adventures trip that
this company is offering tends to attract the consumers more in this age group. The people are
from different parts of the world but mostly are from Australia and China. Travellers in this
age group have a very diverse kind of demands hence fulfilling them must be the first priority
of the company (Lonelyplanet, 2018). People in this group may have different kind of
psychological and behavioural interest and this kind of tour comprises of almost all kinds
things. So the overall segmentation revolves around age group 20 years.

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People in this age group want to have a package that is having large amount of fun. Tour
from Auckland to movie set of Hobbiton goes through Waitomo Caves and great Lake
Taupo. The whole trip contains various interesting activities like a 45 minutes experience of
Glowworm Caves. In this they offers several choices to the customers like Water rafting, boat
tour or kayaking as well as a guided tour in the movie set of Hobbinton. Apart from this it
also involves a barbeque lunch in the restaurant which is having the view of Great Lake
Taupo. This tour is offered in a price range that is also affordable for the youngsters of this
age group. There is nominal price range for tour i.e. $370 for adult while $175 for child.
Marketing mix strategy for Scooby Tours
Marketing mix is a very beneficial strategy that helps in designing of the marketing plan that
would add value to the services offered and hence a desirable outcome can be achieved
(Genç, 2013). It is also to be made sure that the marketing mix is designed as per the
resources that a company has. It is essential that a marketing mix that is created for the
company has a particular objective to achieve. Marketing mix if designed in a proper manner,
then there is always a chance that large number of customers can get attracted towards the
company’s product. The marketing mix for the firm is as follows:
1.Target
segment within
the domestic
market
Potential customers of Younger age around 20 years
2. Marketing mix strategies for Scooby Tours
P1: Product
Objective To increase the attractiveness of the product that company is offering.
Strategy The strategy that can be used for this process by the company is product
expansion. Since most of the people in this age group wants more and
more products to be involved in the same tour package hence company
also need to add the number of products in the same package. Currently the
product that this company is offering is a tour to Hobbinton movie set from
Auckland. It comprises of experience that is capable of attracting more
number of fun and adventure loving people. Young age travellers generally
wants some of the things that will help in making the overall experience
memorable like the river rafting, cave experience, boat tour and kayaking.
The package also includes the tour to Hobbinton movie set and this is a

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guided tour. Apart from this the tour package includes the barbeque lunch
which is having the view of great lake Taupo. This product offer by the
company has all the features that could attract younger age people. It is a
complete package that can help in bringing higher consumer satisfaction.
While designing of the product company needs to have a proper
understanding of the demands of the people especially from Australia and
China. It is a package that is more flexible and is according to the demands
of the consumers as they have choices from which they can customise their
package. This customisation can help the company to market the product
in different ways as per the demand of the target segment.
P2: Price
Objective To win the price war in the market
Strategy In order to win the war that is present in the market due to several big and
smaller players. They have adopted the strategy of pricing for Market
penetration where they have put the prices on the lower side. This is highly
beneficial strategy for making the mark in the industry and capture larger
market share. As per the target section which this company has made for
itself, this can be the best strategy. It is due to the fact that most of the
people in the target group are students who not want a premium range
products rather they want to experience many things at the lower cost.
Apart from this they have used price differentiation strategy for people of
different age group so as to make sure that it becomes more attractive.
P3: Place
Objective To capture large market share
Strategy In order to achieve this objective company can take use of the smaller
partners as a channel of choice and channel members. This strategy is
highly capable to reach to larger section in the market at once. This is
beneficial for the company like Scooby Travellers which is having such a
less amount of resources. The booking for the tour can be done from both
online mediums as well as from the office. Online strategy will help the
company to reach the consumers all across the globe. They have been
providing the services in a best possible manner. They are offering their
services in the friendliest environment where they can enjoy all the
experience of the journey. This also helps the company in increasing the

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consumer satisfaction and hence can help in retention of the old
consumers. These old consumer always acts as communicator where they
tell other people about the journey.
P4: Promotion
Objective To convert more number of potential customers into the actual customers
Strategy In order to achieve this objective, Scooby tour can take use of the digital
mediums of promotional along with the traditional methods. The
traditional campaign with the help of newspapers, magazines and outlets
can help in attracting the local customers. The use of digital medium will
help in reaching to more number of consumers with their products. They
can be international consumers. It is also to be understood that most of the
people in this target section are highly active at the online sites. The use of
social media campaigns or promotions can be highly beneficial since this
the place where the customers like to spend their time. This strategy of
market also makes the whole campaign more attractive. It is done with the
help of adding extra features like photos and videos of the people that have
gone through the tour. Posting of video that contains experience of the
consumers can help in persuading the potential customer’s mind.
All these strategies have been according to the likings and disliking of the young age people.
Action plan for each of the strategies

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Marketing
strategies
Task/s or actions
required
(Identify at least
one task or
action).
Person/s in
charge
Schedule/Timeline Place
P1
Adding more
supplementary
services in the
package for which
consumers do not
have to pay.
Planning head May 2018 On the site
of tour
P2 Lowering down
the price when
people arrive in
groups
Accounts
head
June 2018 On the
online site
P3
Distributing the
channels to smaller
partners which
would help in
selling of the
package.
Sales officer July 2018 Online
and well
as smaller
sellers
P4 Promotions
through tools like
SEO, blog, social
media campaigns
Marketing
head
June-august (2018) Online
sites,
Social
media
platforms,
papers,
TV, radio,
magazine,
hoardings

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etc.
Appropriateness of each strategy
The strategies that are made for the each of the marketing mix are very efficient. Two factors
were mainly considered before making these strategies. First the target section which is the
young generation people and second is the fact that Scooby Tour is a fairly inexperienced
company. The appropriateness can be justified on the aspect that whether the strategies made
by the company is able to satisfy the need of the target section or not as well as the fact that
whether the company is capable enough to incorporate the strategies or not.
 Product expansion: This is highly justified in the case of Scooby Tour as the younger
people demand of various types of experiences to include in the tour package. The
company is capable to deliver it as they have effective relations with the local partners
who would help them in adding new things in the whole product (Kalbaska, 2011).
 Pricing for market penetration: For capturing the larger part of the market, they are
adopting this strategy. The lower price products always work in favour of the
company when they made young people as their target section. Scooby tour can easily
adopt this with the help of local resources they have.
 Expanding distribution channel: This is again an appropriate distribution channel due
to the fact that distribution channel help in increasing the visibility of the product ().
This results in enhancing the sale of the product. Due to large number of partners in
their network they will be able to do it easily.
 Digital advertisement: Most of the target section’s individuals are available on the
online sites and social media platform. This would help them in increasing their reach
to larger part of the market. Since a very low cost is required in this type of marketing
hence Scooby tour can easily implement it.
Appropriateness of the action plan
The action plan made in the above section is appropriate for the cited firm. These reasons are
as follows:
 Products: This action plan is appropriate because adding supplementary services can
help in enhancing its attractiveness. This whole thing must be done at the beginning
level in starting one month only.

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 Price: Further lowering down of prices will help in making the products more
attractive especially in the case of target section which this company has. This must
also be done in one month’s time and the accounts head will help in making it
profitable.
 Place: Adding small partners will be helpful in achieving the strategy that is made by
the firm. The distribution and sales executives have the major role in it. This must be
done in one month so as to reach to the products as soon as possible.
 Promotions: Use of the tools like social media sites, SEO and other advertisements at
online portals can help the firm in achieving the strategy. This is a long term process
and the initial phase must be completed in two months’ time. The marketing head is
the most appropriate person to do this in a better manner.
Budgeting
Activity Cost per Item (Per person)
Core services 100$
Supplementary services 20$
Online marketing 10$
Distribution channel costing 30$
Total 160$
All these four items in the budget is having higher importance as per the action plan. All
these factors helps in making the package complete and gives the overall estimate of charges
that will be used for calculating the net profit. Any changes in the environment directly affect
the costing of the overall operations and hence it is of higher importance in the budgeting
(Thomas, Shaw & Page, 2011).
Key performance indicators that Scooby tour can use
In order to measure the performance of the whole marketing campaign, various KPI must be
used (Medlik, 2012). Four KPI that can be used by the company in order to access the
marketing performance against the objectives are as follows:
 ROI: As one of the major objective of the company is to complete the entire
marketing program in limited budget. This KPI would help them in accessing the

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financial performance of the marketing program (Morrison, 2013). Company wants to
invest a little due to their limitation of resources at same time they want to enhance
their product attractiveness.
 Incremental sale: This is another important KPI that is used for accessing the
performance of marketing (IBM, 2018). The ultimate goal of the marketing is to
enhance the sale hence this KPI will help in having the exact figures regarding the
performance of the marketing plan (Pearce, 2015).
 % new visitors: The percentage increase in the new visitors can help the firm in
accessing the facts that how effective is the distribution channel (Jaafar, et al., 2011).
 Total visits: This is also an essential KPI that help in measuring the performance of
the online marketing campaign. The more the visits the more is the chance that they
can be converted into potential consumers.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be said that Scooby Tour is a new company in the New Zealand
and offers its services in the adventure tourism. Their tour from Auckland to Hobbinton film
set is a tour having wide range of experience. The type of product it is offering will be
beneficial to make young people as their target section. Marketing mix strategy must be
designed as per the objective they want to achieve. The action plan must also be in
accordance to the strategies they have made. Budgeting must include all the activities that are
crucial for making the action plan successful. Apart from this there are several KPI that
would help in measuring the marketing performance of Scooby tour.
REFERENCES
Becken, S., & Schiff, A. (2011). Distance models for New Zealand international tourists and
the role of transport prices. Journal of Travel Research, 50(3), 303-320.
Genç, M. (2013). Migration and tourism flows to New Zealand. In Quantitative methods in
tourism economics (pp. 113-126). Physica, Heidelberg.

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IBM, (2018) Retrieved from:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSPG9M/DigitalAnalytics/
BestPractices/Marketing/Marketing_channels_analysis.html
Jaafar, M., Abdul-Aziz, A. R., Maideen, S. A., & Mohd, S. Z. (2011). Entrepreneurship in the
tourism industry: Issues in developing countries. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 30(4), 827-835.
Kalbaska, N. (2011). Travel agents and destination management organizations: eLearning as
a strategy to train tourism trade partners. Information Technology & Tourism, 13(1),
3-12.
Lonelyplanet, (2018) Retrieved from: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/new-zealand
Medlik, S. (2012). Dictionary of travel, tourism and hospitality. Routledge.
Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.
Pearce, D. G. (2015). Destination management in New Zealand: Structures and
functions. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 4(1), 1-12.
Schiff, A., & Becken, S. (2011). Demand elasticity estimates for New Zealand
tourism. Tourism Management, 32(3), 564-575.
Sun, M., Ryan, C., & Pan, S. (2015). Using Chinese travel blogs to examine perceived
destination image: The case of New Zealand. Journal of Travel Research, 54(4), 543-
555.
Thomas, R., Shaw, G., & Page, S. J. (2011). Understanding small firms in tourism: A
perspective on research trends and challenges. Tourism Management, 32(5), 963-976.