Marketing Strategy for Traveller Solutions - Essay Example

Number Marketing: Individual Report/briefing Executive summary This report presents a marketing strategy for Traveller Solutions – a company offering travel information to international travellers regarding the destinations. The report analyses the current situation within the industry, identifying various shortcomings of the currently available information. The report further discusses the various opportunities that are available for the company in creating a competitive edge within the industry. The information provided by other companies within the industry fails to comprehensively satisfy the requirements of customers in terms of information validity. The report explains the strategies that could be employed by the company in dealing with the imminent threats from existing companies, and establishing brand recognition for the company services. The report further explains the different e-marketing approaches that could be utilised in ensuring marketable products from the company. Situational Analysis According to Kotler et al (2010) Marketing could be defined as the process of communicating essential information to customers and clients. The communication channels used to deliver the message determine the clientele target for the organisation. Corporations aim at providing their clients with information regarding the products offered, and any other relevant information explaining the products to the customers/clients. This corporation aims at reaching the target clients with the marketing report targeting the specified corporate customers. The core business for the organisation involves provision of travelling assistance services to international tourists, and other people travelling into foreign countries. These services include among others, basic information regarding the destination country. The numbers of persons travelling to international destinations continues to rise with time. These international travellers face numerous challenges while in foreign countries regarding access to basic amenities within foreign countries. The need to access information about destinations continues to necessitate the availability of the information from a different source. The company aims at availing this essential information to different people travelling to international destinations. The numerous challenges faced by this category of travellers have necessitated the company to establish a database containing information about social amenities within different countries. The information provided by the organisation seeks to satisfy the requirements of international travellers. This organisation provides information that could become beneficial to individuals travelling into foreign countries. The information provided shall include basic directions for finding social amenities in different locations within other countries. Other essential provisions of the company include information regarding seeking assistance within the countries. The information could essentially enable travellers enjoy travelling into different countries. The information remains critical in enabling individuals receive significant understanding of the various cultural practice in different countries. Tourists and other travellers could establish the expectations regarding the countries’ citizens’ beliefs and practices. With such information, travellers would easily establish rapport with the citizens of the destination country, imminently establishing meaningful relationships. The company provides information regarding the services found on different countries, and where to find these services. The company keeps a database of information which should be availed to customers upon demand at a price. Different demographical information provided shall aim at making travelling experience exciting as travellers shall be able to find places themselves while avoiding getting lost. Detailed maps for different regions across the globe shall also accompany the information contained within the company database. The information contained in the company database remains updated to ensure that customers receive only the relevant information. According to Chernev (2006) availability of information remains essential in assisting customers in making tough decisions regarding similar products. Issue Analysis The company could establish itself as a leader within the business of providing information to global travellers. The current trends within the industry contain numerous shortfalls in the present information. The company could utilise this shortfall as a market entry point for Traveller Solutions in the segment of offering travelling information to tourists and other travellers. The company shall provide specified, comprehensive information, about different destinations, to international travellers. Availability of limited information online regarding different destinations continues to cause problems to international travellers seeking destination information. The company aims at collecting information and creating a database accessible from any global location. This would become critical in satisfying the information requirements of international travellers. Majority of the competition shall be expected from websites offering free information regarding different countries. While the information offered by competitors remains free, the company shall ensure delivery of quality and relevant information to maintain sustainable competition with companies offering free information. The availability of free information remains a surmountable threat to the marketing of the company products. The company shall however ensure that the information presented to the customers remains updated and accurate for customer satisfaction. Provision of quality information shall ensure that the company satisfies the customer demand and requirements. According to O'guinn (2008) rigorous online marketing could enable customers to differentiate the information provided by traveller solutions from that offered by other companies. The marketing shall enlighten people on the importance of the information. Market Analysis The company targets a market that contains numerous corporations undertaking similar business. Though the industry appears congested, the company should aim at developing a comprehensive database where information retrieved would efficiently suffice the requirements of customers. Lenskold (2003) suggests that providing comprehensive information remains core towards achieving significant business level compared to the competitors. While a traveller could easily download a map for specified destinations globally, these maps never contain extra information regarding specified items within the map. The products offered by this company shall include maps containing written details offering an explanation for the map. Through online marketing, the company should be able to reach customers from different locations within the globe (Schultz and Kitchen, 2000). The company shall be targeting all individuals within the globe through online marketing campaign. Through this marketing frequent internet users shall know of the company’s existence, and they could become valuable in informing others, through word of mouth, of where to retrieve valuable travelling information. The internet remains the most utilised source of information and utilisation of internet in marketing could present surmountable benefits to the company. The company could reach extremely large numbers of people through the internet enabling the establishment of a strong position within the market. The company aims at maximising the extensive use of internet in reaching the target clients for the products being sold. Majority of international travellers and tourists extensively search for information over the internet. The importance of the internet remains essential in ensuring the company reaches as many as possible clients globally. Since the company targets global travellers, lacking specified locations, utilisation of the internet remains critical to the overall success for the marketing plan (Rajagopal, 2007). The information provided by a majority of the companies within the industry lacks depth in terms of specificity of different countries. Several organisations only provide information regarding countries where the organisations operate physically. This generally occurs because of companies’ capability and desire to handle customer complaints, should they arise. Traveller solutions shall also provide an online portal for solving customer complaints. This portal shall also be available globally. While existing companies provide categorised information, limiting the customer choices for desired information. Traveller Solutions shall offer personalised information to the customers requiring travelling assistance. Customers shall be able to select required information and retrieve the required information for their needs. This process shall enable the company to establish a competitive advantage over the others offering similar services. Development of personalised information retrieval remains critical in ensuring that customers receive only the required information. This would essentially assist the customers in gaining helpful information from the database of traveller solutions. Generalisation of the information essentially dilutes the contained message limiting the customer satisfaction from the information. Traveller solutions shall seek to deliver comprehensive information, which clients could find substantially beneficial. Objectives The utilisation of e-marketing aims at reaching large numbers of target clients within a short time. Through the marketing, the company shall present a unique selling proposition to the target customers globally. The company shall establish a niche for the products offered through explaining to customers the difference between these products and competitor products. Clow and Baack (2007) concur that product differentiation could present surmountable benefits in terms of market growth. The marketing shall utilize the internet as the method of availing the product as well as marketing the product. Through viewing of the advertisements running on different website, automatic connection to the company server shall be established, enabling the client to retrieve required information. While other companies only allow viewing, traveller solutions shall include a feature for converting the required data into hard copies for reference. Strategy The company shall establish necessary strategies aimed at ensuring the product remains available to customers always. The company shall utilize right-time marketing in informing clients about the products. The advertisements would run on websites for companies offering tourism services like hotels, travel agents and airlines. Majority of people visiting these websites would be interested in gaining information regarding specified destinations. According to Charlesworth (2009) individuals tend to become attentive tom advertisements occurring at the most convenient timing. The company shall keep customers informed about product development through personalized emails send to customers occasionally. This will enable the customers to remain updated about the presence of the company products. The purchasing of the product shall occur through the online portals while payments shall also be received through similar method. Repeat clients could be presented with discounts aimed at enticing customers into purchasing the different products offered by the company. These discounts shall also play a fundamental role in promoting other services offered by the company. Through offering discounts to customers, the company shall establish a market share for its product. Occasionally, the company shall run promotional campaigns targeting the customers who purchase the product. During promotional period, the services offered could remain discounted for all clients. Baker (2008) proposes that such a move could potentially increase the customer base for the company and significantly contribute to market growth. E-marketing Technological advancements continue to develop modern strategies for achieving previously difficult activities. Strauss and Frost (2008) describe e-marketing as achieving marketing objectives through utilising the internet. The company shall also embrace this technology in informing potential clients about availability of services online. The utilisation of online viral marketing remains a potential channel for reaching large numbers within a short time. The social networks hold immense potentials fro accessing customers using viral marketing. Once customers become aware of the company services, recommendations could be made to friends using social networks. The networks provide a platform for individuals to share information regarding new products within the market. E-marketing could become significantly enhanced through utilisation of these platforms in passing information. The Facebook social network, for example, has an estimated 800 million users as of December 2011. Marketing using these social networks includes providing eBooks, picture blogs, among other methods. This essentially increases the brand awareness for people, hence, brand recognition. These services could be integrated in mobile devices like Smartphone increasing the accessibility of the services. Blogs for e-marketing could also be availed of search engines like Google and yahoo, which have a relatively high usage globally. Presenting advertisements and blogs on social networks and internet search engines could potentially increase the brand awareness by customers. References Baker, M. (2008) The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit. Cambridge: Cambridge Strategy Publications Limited Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet marketing: a practical approach. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Chernev, A. (2006) Strategic marketing analysis. London: Brightstar Media Clow, E. & Baack, D. (2007) Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education. Kotler, P. et al (2010) Principles of marketing. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Lenskold, D. (2003) The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability. New York: McGraw-Hill. O'guinn, T. (2008) Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rajagopal. (2007) Marketing Dynamics: Theory and Practice. New Delhi, India: New Age International. Schultz, E. & Kitchen, J. (2000) Communicating Globally. London: Palgrave Macmillan Strauss, J. & Frost, R. (2008) E-Marketing. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Read More