Strategic Marketing Planning: A Report on Virgin Airlines

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Virgin Airlines' strategic marketing plan. It begins with an introduction to strategic marketing planning, emphasizing its role in enhancing sales and profitability. The main body delves into the concept of corporate strategy, outlining Virgin Airlines' vision, mission, and SMART objectives. It explores the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical equipment) as a key tool for achieving marketing objectives. The report also examines business strategy, focusing on the STP model (segmentation, targeting, and positioning). The history of the Virgin Group is briefly discussed, followed by an overview of the company's corporate and business objectives. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of strategic marketing planning for business success.

Strategic Marketing
Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................................3
Concept of corporate strategy..................................................................................................................3
Business strategy.....................................................................................................................................6
History of Virgin group...........................................................................................................................7
Corporate and business objectives of company.......................................................................................7
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................8
REFRENCES..............................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Strategic marketing planning refers to prepare effective strategies with an aim to enhance
overall sales and profit margin of organization. It is related to preparing marketing goals,
analyzing internal as well as external environment, product planning, implementation and more.
In strategic plan all the activities are combined together so that predefined business objectives
can be achieved within stipulated period of time (Baker and Hart, 2016). Main aim of strategic
marketing plan is to expand business at large level which will inflate revenue of organization.
Virgin airlines have been selected as company for present report that is British airline founded in
1984. It is headquartered in London UK. They are working within in three classes such as
Economy, premium and upper class in order to meet with requirements of all segments of
customers. In the present report concept of corporate strategy has been discussed. In addition, it
also comprises theories of strategic marketing planning to attain desired results within stipulated
period of time.
Main Body
Concept of corporate strategy
These strategies refer to formulate long term vision which are made by organizations to
create value and motivate work force in an efficient manner. So, they implement predefined
strategies to gain higher level of customer satisfaction. It is process under which managers work
to enhance engagement of investors with an aim to improve value of organization (Cash, 2016).
It not only defined long term goal of entity but also depicts the direction at achieve it in
minimum possible time. There is long term vision is determined under corporate strategy so that
work force get a proper direction to perform different task. In context of Virgin airlines, vision
and mission of entity are crucial part of its corporate strategy that is mentioned below:
Vision: “To be most valuable and preferable travel organization at global level in terms
of providing better experience to customers and maintaining proper working environment to
retain talent for longer duration”

Mission: To create motivated, vibrant as well as resilient work place where staff member
valued and supported to provide better services to customers”
Objectives:
It refers to the goals which are formulated to provide a particular direction to individuals
so that they get motivated towards attainment of goals. For this purpose smart objectives of
virgin group is described as under:
 Specific: As per this objectives need to be specific which provides clarity to individuals.
Here, main aim of virgin group is to attain annual rate of return of 33 % over sales to
ensure growth and success of company.
 Measurable: This objective is measurable on the basis of increment in annual income of
company. It will help them to make necessary improvements in existing objectives.
 Attainable: Here, objective to enhance annual rate of return can be attain with due efforts
which need to put by organization to accomplish predefined goals.
 Realistic: In this, objective to enhance profitability is completely realistic and can be
achieved by making effective strategies.
 Time bound: There is a particular period of time of one financial year has been
determined to accomplish the set objective.
There are a lot of corporate strategies are used in business in order to inflate overall sales and
profit margin. For this purpose different tools and models are used which are given as under:
Marketing Mix:
It is a tool that is used by managers in order to get higher competitive advantage at
market place. It is a combination of different factors such as price, product, place and promotion
which helps in preparing customer centric strategies. This framework is used by managers to
attain their predefined marketing objectives within target market. Now, there are some additional
elements such as people, process physical equipment has been also included in expanded
marketing mix. In context of Virgin Airlines, elements of marketing mix are given as under:
Product: It refers to products and services which help to fulfill requirements of
customers. It includes the attributes that differentiate products and services from competitors.

Managers need to undertake detailed market research while producing products as it need to
meet with current trends prevailing in market (Cavicchi and Santini, 2017). In this regards, virgin
airlines, is working in service industry and has three cabin configurations in aircraft. There are
categories such as economic, premium as well as business class. Here, premium category
passengers are given priority in check in and boarding. These cabins are completely furnished. In
addition, passengers of business class of have access of lounges that are maintained by
organization.
Price: It is also a crucial component of marketing mix under which marketer need to
determine price of their products and services. For this purpose, they are required to consider
different factors such as competition, target audience, cost and more while determining price. In
reference of virgin airline, pricing strategy of organization is clear as they adopt comparative
strategy in order to target different audience. They have different categories such as economic,
business as well as premium class to meet with requirements of different audience. In addition,
they are using competitive pricing by analyzing strategies of competitors.
Place: It is concerned with distribution and supply of products and services in order to
meet with requirements of customers in timely manner. It refers to the place from where products
and services are being offered to customers. In references, Virgin airlines it is a global brand
having presence in all major cities across the world. It is working at large level thus have
tremendous distribution network to meet with market demand in time as well as cost effective
manner (Chandra, 2019). Promotion: In current business world, there is extensive competition
prevailing in market due to presence of more number of products and services providers within a
particular sector. So, it is imperative to prepare effective strategies in order to promote products
at wide level. Main aim of promotion is to enhance market share of organization that will results
in increasing existing level of sales and revenue. In context of Virgin airlines, they promote
services through print media such as newspaper, billboards and more. In addition, they have
named of aero planes after women names such as Ladybird, the island lady and more for gaining
attention of passengers. Further, they also use electronic as well as online platforms such as
social media, websites and more to present their services at wide level.
People: In this, employees are included who give significant contribution toward growth
and success of business. It is stated that employees are crucial part of business so it is vital to

maintain their efficiency as well as productivity at higher level to get positive outcomes. In this
regards, virgin airlines hire individuals from elite institutes who are capable enough to provide
better services to passengers. In addition, they also arrange necessary training and development
program so employees can deal with passengers in polite manner that is crucial to ensure long
term sustainability in hospitality sector (Donthu and et. al., 2020).
Process: Under this component, process which is used to provide better services to
customers is included to run business in smooth manner. It is stated that there are a lot of
activities are performed to gain higher level of satisfaction of customers. In this regard, managers
of Virgin group, undertake different activities so that they can provide ease as well as comfort to
passengers. For this, they make sure effectiveness in whole process from booking to check to
provide safe and secure lending to passengers. They ensure to provide most of the services at
online platform so that passengers do not need to face queues and other complexities.
Physical equipment: This component includes all the physical resources that are visible
to customers. It comprises equipment, ambiance, interior as well as other physical resources
which make a company different from other. In context of Virgin Airlines, they have their own
flights through in order to provide better services to passengers. In addition, they also provide
complimentary services to passengers in order to gain higher level of satisfaction. Further,
employees are also a part of physical resources who interact with customers. Here, staff of
respective company is highly skilled and competent thus able to provide better services to
passengers.
Business strategy:
It refers to the future course of actions that are prepared by managers in order to attain
desired goals in stipulated period of time. It is considers as a competitive move set of action
which govern future behavior of managers. Here, long term business strategies are prepared to
attract more number of customers which resulted increase in current level of sales and revenue.
Main aim of business strategies is to enhance market share of organization that will enhance its
presence and inflate profitability. Generally strategies are prepare by top management of
company and need to follow by other individuals so that they can achieve desired results. It also

helps to prevent and safeguard organization from future uncertainties. There are ample of
frameworks are used under business strategy which is given as under:
STP Model
Segmenting:
Under this, whole population is divided in smaller segment so that they can attain
predefined goals in stipulated period of time. Here, individuals having similar characteristics,
attributes are combined together in order to prepare a segment. With this, it is easy for managers
to keep focus on a particular segment. For this purpose, different ways of segmentation are given
as under:
 Demographic Segment: It comprises factors such as age, gender, income, occupation and
more. In reference of virgin airlines, they segment customer groups as per their income
level by having different facilities for different income group people.
 Psychographic Segment: Under this, elements such as status, lifestyle, attitude, behavior
and more such factors are included. In virgin airlines, they bifurcate customers in
different segment such as economic, business as well as premium class as per their status
and lifestyle (Kotler, 2016).
 Geographic Segment: It is based on geographical location, region, city and more. It is
sated that virgin airline, provides services in all major cities and region across the globe.
Targeting:
After segmenting, next step is targeting under which marketers need to select target
audience to whom they will provide products and services. There are a lot of components such as
price, cost, requirement of customers, profitability, resources are need to consider while selecting
target audience. In reference of virgin airlines, they believe in individualized services thus have
different categories in order to attract all income group people.
Positioning:
It is the final stage in which marketers put efforts to build positive image of brand in the
mind of customers. It depicts the way in which customer perceive products and services of

company. It is vital to maintain positive positioning to ensure long term sustainability in market.
In regards of virgin airlines, it has positions as an efficient travelling service provider with
attractive fares, top- notch service, fun and innovative environment with creative ambiance.
History of Virgin group
Virgin group is a British multinational venture that was founded by Richard Branson &
Nil Powell. The concept behind the name is considering both the founders of company as virgin
in business. The company was founded in 1970 and currently working in different areas such as
banking, aviation, health care and more.
Corporate and business objectives of company
The corporate strategy of virgin group is to function as a capital firm based on Virgin
brand. Main strategy of this company is to maintain proper interaction between corporate office
and individual business units to get better outcomes. They try to establish individual business
unit under a single unified brand name to leverage the existing brand identity.

CONCLUSION
From above discussion, it is summarized that strategic marketing planning is a crucial
business function under which different strategies are prepare to attain predefined business goals.
It is concluded that strategic marketing planning includes different theories such as Marketing
mix and STP approach to grab the attention of more number of customers.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Baker, M.J. and Hart, S. eds., 2016. The marketing book. Routledge.
Cash, M., 2016. Building an Aspirational Brand in an Established Luxury Market: A Strategic
Marketing Plan for Revel Custom Wine Cellars (Doctoral dissertation).
Cavicchi, A. and Santini, C. eds., 2017. Case Studies in the Traditional Food Sector: A Volume
in the Consumer Science and Strategic Marketing Series. Woodhead Publishing.
Chandra, M., 2019. Strategic Marketing of Educational Services and Consumer
Behaviour. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Leadership & Strategic Management, pp.1-6.
Donthu and et. al., 2020. A retrospective of the Journal of Strategic Marketing from 1993 to
2019 using bibliometric analysis. Journal of Strategic Marketing, pp.1-21.
French, J. and Gordon, R., 2019. Strategic social marketing: for behaviour and social change.
Sage.
Kotler, P., 2016. A framework for marketing management. Pearson Education Limited.
Vellas, F., 2016. The international marketing of travel and tourism: A strategic approach.
Macmillan International Higher Education.