Marketing Strategies of Virgin Atlantic Airways: A Case Study Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes Virgin Atlantic's marketing strategies.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
LO 1................................................................................................................................................ 3
P1 KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MARKETING FUNCTION...............................................3
P2 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MARKETING IN THE EXPANSION OF THE BUSINESS.............5
M1 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN MARKETING ENVIRONMENT...................7
M2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARKETING AND OTHER
FUNCTIONAL UNIT.....................................................................................................................8
LO 2.............................................................................................................................................. 10
P3 MARKETING MIX TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES.........................................................10
M3 DIFFERENT TACTICS USED BY THE ORGANISATION TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES...14
LO 3.............................................................................................................................................. 15
P4 BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR AN ORGANISATION.............................................................15
M4 DETAILED MARKETING PLAN FOR AN ORGANISATION......................................................16
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 21
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................22
1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process of exchanging values with the individual or organisation for fulfilling
the needs. For an organisation, marketing is the process of identifying and satisfying the
customers for the profit of the business. The market is not static and changes dynamically with
the need of the customer. The organisation has to adopt the changes as an opportunity for the
growth of the business. Marketing essentials are the strategies used by the organisation for the
development of the business. In this assignment, the learner comes to know about the
importance of marketing, the skills and knowledge needed for doing marketing and the issues
and challenges an organisation faces during business. Marketing is one of the important aspects
of doing business.
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LO 1
P1 KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MARKETING FUNCTION
Marketing is the process of exchanging of goods and services for satisfying the customers need.
The main aim of marketing is identifying the need of the customer and satisfying them for the
growth of the business. Virgin Atlantic Airways is an airline company founded in 1984 by
Randolph Fields and Alan Hillary. The company employees more than 8000 employees and has
an expansion of business across 200 countries in the world. The company is responsible for
providing air transportation to passengers with overall comfort (Armstrong et al., 2015).
Market information- Market information is the process of identifying the needs and demands
of the customer and satisfying the demands with the help of proper planning and strategies.
Virgin Atlantic Airways needs to identify the need of the passenger like what the passenger
want while travelling. The organisation needs to look after the comfort zone of the passenger
for the growth of business (Pilehvar et al., 2016).
Market planning- Market planning is the process used for achieving marketing objectives. For
achieving the goals the company needs to do proper planning for the production, promotion
and distribution of the products. Virgin Atlantic Airlines aims to provide better facilities to
passengers during travelling (Patassini, 2017).
Exchange functions- The buying and selling process is the exchange function. Virgin Atlantic
Airline is an airline company and needs to look after the convenience of the customer. The
company needs to value its customers by taking care of their comfort zone and value for money
and time (Ali and Al-Aali, 2015).
Product designing and development- Product designing and development are the processes of
making the product attractive for the customer. Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs to enhance the
services they provide to the customer. The organisation also needs to work on the designing of
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the aeroplane that provides a comfort zone to the passengers and helps in the development
and growth of the organisation (Gebhardt and Krause, 2016).
Finance- Finance plays an important role in the development of the business. The organisation
needs to invest the capital for the growth of the organisation with proper planning. Virgin
needs to invest in the business for the expansion of the business in other countries as well as
for providing better services to the consumers (Malshe and Agarwal, 2015).
Promotion- Promotion of the product plays an important role in the success of the business.
The organisation needs to promote the product with proper strategy by providing the brand
name or label to the product. Virgin Atlantic Airlines need to promote the facilities and services
to the customer for the success of the business. Also needs to prepare a logo for the promotion
of the business (Hackley and Hackley, 2017).
Customer support- customer support plays an important role in the development of the
business. Customer support is a way through which the customer interacts with the
organisation for choirs and feedback. Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs to provide customer support
for interaction with the customer (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
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P2 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MARKETING IN THE EXPANSION OF THE BUSINESS
Marketing plays an important role in the expansion of the business. Every organisation needs to
follow the marketing strategies and planning for the growth of the business. The marketing
department of the organisation is responsible for carrying out the business to the market
environment and helps in the expansion of the business. Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs to the
emphasis on the role and responsibilities of marketing for the expansion of the business (Suzuki
and Okamuro, 2017).
Understanding the customer- understanding the customer’s needs is one of the important
aspects of the expansion of the business. The customer has the power that can lead the
organisation towards success or downstairs. For the success of the business, the organisation
needs to focus on the demand of the customer. Virgin Atlantic Airlines is an airways
organisation and needs to look after the demand of passengers during travelling (Pilehvar et al.,
2016).
Market planning- Market planning is the process of achieving market objectives. The objectives
may be the expansion of the customer, product or the services that depend on the
organisation. Virgin needs to do proper planning for the achievement of the goal that helps in
the expansion of the business. Proper planning and use of correct strategies no doubt success
the business but also helps the organisation in the expansion of the business (Patassini, 2017).
Product designing and development- Product designing and development are the processes of
making the product attractive. Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs to enhance the services and the
designing of the product for the growth of the business. Improved service of the airlines
attracts the customer to adopt the organisation instead of others (Gebhardt and Krause, 2016).
Finance- Financing is the process of investing capital for the development and growth of the
organisation. The organisation needs to do proper planning for investing the money or other
resources for expansion of the business. Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs to do emphasis on the
investment for the manufacturing of the product and for improving the services of the
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organisation. The organisation can also invest in the expansion of the business in other
countries (Malshe and Agarwal, 2015).
Customer support- Customer support plays an important role in the expansion of the business.
Customer support is responsible for communication with the customer. The customer can
easily interact with the organisation for any quarries and issues. The customer support has to
be more interactive and skilled that helps in customer in resolving the issues. Quick resolution
from customer support built faith in customers mind that directly help in the expansion of the
business (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
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M1 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
Marketing environment surrounds the business and influences the marketing operation.
Marketing environment includes internal and external factors. Internal factors are the
employees, customers, shareholders and distributors. External factors include social, political,
technical and economic issues. The marketing environment affects the operations of the
organisation. As the marketing environment changes the organisation needs to change the
strategies and planning for the growth of the business. The organisation needs to use the
challenges an opportunity that helps in the expansion of the business (Shaw, 2016).
Internal environment- The internal environment includes all the factors within the organisation
like; labour, budget, company policies and capital assets. The market affects these factors as
the environment of the market changes. The organisation needs to handle the changes as an
opportunity that helps in the growth of the business (Fahy and Jobber, 2015).
Microenvironment- the microenvironment factor includes the customer, employees,
shareholders, distributors and competitors. The microenvironment factors are affected by the
change in the market environment. The organisation needs to handle these changes with
proper planning that helps in the development of the business. The organisation needs to look
after the demand of the consumer and the convenience of the employee that creates a good
organisational environment (Lehman, 2017).
Macro environment- Macro environment is the environment that is not included within the
organisation and is not under the control of the organisation. The factors that get affected by
the change in the marketing environment are political, social, legal, technical and economic.
The organisation needs to do proper planning for handling these factors that help in the
development and growth of the business. The company needs to handle the changes as an
opportunity for the growth of the business (Kennedy, 2016).
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M2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARKETING AND OTHER
FUNCTIONAL UNIT
Marketing is the process of exchanging goods and services by the individual or organisation for
the satisfaction of the consumer. Marketing plays an important role in the development of the
business. Virgin Atlantic Airlines is one of the world’s biggest airline company and needs to
expand its business globally with proper market planning. The organisation needs to interrelate
market planning with the functional units of the organisation for the growth of the business
(Cooper, 2015).
Finance- Finance department is responsible for figuring out the profit and loss of the
organisation. In Virgin Atlantic Airlines the finance department plays an important role in the
development of the business. The finance department helps in set, investments and manage
the budgets of the organisation that helps in enhancing the marketing (Malshe and Agarwal,
2015).
Human Resources- the HR department of the organisation is responsible for the hiring of the
employee, promotions, performance appraisals and salary. This department plays an important
role in the growth of the organisation. The HR department of the Virgin Atlantic Airlines needs
to follow all the procedures properly for making correct decisions keeping in mind the market
environment. The company needs to hire the candidate that has proper skill and knowledge
about the organisation that helps in the growth of the business (Wright, 2018).
Manufacturing- Manufacturing of product is one of the important aspects of every business.
Manufacturing of good quality product helps the organisation in earning a profit as a good
quality product attracts the customers. The manufacturing department of the Virgin Atlantic
Airlines needs to an emphasis on the manufacturing of the quality product (Gebhardt and
Krause, 2016).
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Marketing- Marketing is the process of making strategies for the selling of the product. The
different organisation has different strategies for marketing. Also, the strategies depend on the
type of market in which the product is selling. According to Virgin Atlantic Airlines, the
strategies of marketing are international and needs to an emphasis on the expansion of the
business. The expansion of the market can be done by covering more and more countries for
the airline's services (Patassini, 2017).
Distribution- Distribution is the process selling of the product to the distributors, retailers and
consumers. Distribution of the products plays an important role in the development of the
business. Virgin Atlantic Airline needs to enhance the distribution strategies and also needs to
increase the distribution channels that help in more distribution of the product. The distribution
channels in the Virgin Atlantic Airlines are the online channels, offline partners and the
employees of the organisation (Nunan, 2018).
Customer Service- Customer service may be defined as the services provided to the customer
for resolving there quarries and issues. Virgin needs to enhance customer support for the
development of the business. The company needs to provide 24 hours customer support and
also ensures that the customer support executive should have proper knowledge about the
organisation that will help in resolving the issues more accurately and quickly (Lovelock and
Patterson, 2015).
Information Technology- Information Technology is one the major aspect for the development
of any organisation. IT helps every organisation in enhancing the services as well as in
developing new services. Virgin Atlantic Airline needs to adopt new technologies for serving the
customer. The company needs to look after the convenience of the customer and for that, the
organisation needs to develop new services like online booking with the help of information
technology (Cooper, 2015).
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LO 2
P3 MARKETING MIX TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
A marketing mix is a tool used by the organisation for the achievement of the response from
the target audience. Marketing mix contains variables on which the company works for the
growth of the business. There are seven elements in the marketing mix known as 7 Ps. British
Airways is Airline Company founded in 1974 by Alex Cruz and is the world's third-largest Airline
Company. British Airways uses the marketing mix for making new strategies for the launching
and distribution of the services (Steenkamp, 2017).
Product- Virgin Atlantic is one of the most leading airline companies in the world and serves
across the world. Virgin Atlantic Airlines has more than 30 Airplanes as a product that serves all
around the world and includes Airbuses and Boeing. The airline mainly focuses on Quality and
consists of three classes; business class, premium class and business class. The aeroplane has
comfortable cabins with more space and provides all other facilities like food, games,
entertainment. On the other hand, British Airways has three types of Boeing for serving the
customers. The serve the customer with the latest technology and has entertainment screen,
beds, extra space, mail meal for the customers. The Airways offers different classes like first
class, premium class, business class and economy class and the service provided are according
to the duration of the flights. Both the companies have a different type of lights design
according to the convenience of the customers and the main aim is to provide better facilities
to the passengers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015).
Price- Virgin Atlantic emphasis on quality over quantity and because of it the price of the
economy class is higher in comparison to other airlines Even though more quantity of
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passengers is in the economy class. According to Virgin price doesn’t matter of the quality and
services are better as every customer wants value for the money. Although the pricing strategy
of Virgin is a little bit lower than other companies and follow comparative pricing strategy for
the benefit of the customer as well as of the organisation. On the other hand, British Airways
pricing strategy depends on the aim that everyone can be able to afford the ticket and due to
which has low pricing than other companies. The price of the ticket varies according to the
destination and the time of booking. British Airways also provide discounts on the occasion of
festivals like Christmas. The organisations need to manage the pricing strategy according to the
rising price of fuel and another part of the aeroplane keeping in mind the convenience of the
customer (Armstrong et al., 2015).
Promotion- Promotion refers to educating the customers about the service and facilities
provided by the company to the customers. For gaining the attraction of the customer the
Virgin Atlantic Airline have launched social media campaigns, television advertisements, and
started special offers according to seasons, festivals, destination and types of customer. On the
other hand, British Airways promoted the company by advertising on television, newspaper and
billboards. The promotions are very unique and highlighted the facilities provided by the
company during the flights. The company also started online booking that became convenient
for the customer to book from the mobile app and websites. The company also sponsored
other activities for a promotion like cultural events, charity and sports and also by making films
like planes (Armstrong et al., 2015).
Place- Places refers to the area where the organisation serves the customers. Virgin has 39
flights that serve in 29 destinations. The organisation has only three places for operating the
flights namely London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport and Manchester Airport. The
distribution channels also work for serving the customers like the customer can book the tickets
online through the official website of Virgin Atlantic Airlines. On the other hand, British Airways
has 273 flights and serves more than 400 destinations. The company has a head office in
Waterside and tied up with the airport authority across the world for providing better facilities
to the customers and smooth working of the business. The distribution channels are the
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