Customer Understanding, and Integrative Communication Mix of Quicksilver Cruise - Assignment Example

Marketing Project - Adventure Tours in Cairns Executive Summary Quicksilver Cruise is the largest scuba diving offeringcompany in Australia and this can be attributed to its reduced price and efficient tour offers that are appealing to most tourists. They include the Quicksilver Cruises, Ocean Cruises, Wave dancer and Reef Bio-search among others. It is among the largest cruise company in Australia. The company is considering introducing various other offers that would ensure Quicksilver Cruises stays a head of competition. Competitor analysis is an essential tool in business management since it provides the business with the appropriate information about its competitors. The major competitors of this company are Passions of Paradise, Sunlover Reef Cruises, the Diving Cairns and Pro-dive Cairns. All the four companies offer almost similar services which ranger from Scuba Diving, Live Aboard diving to deep sea diving and site viewing. Thus, most of their target markets are Local tourists and tourists from the neighbouring nations. Passion of Paradise among other competitors that quicksilver cruiser faces offer a relatively limited range of products and thus the fact that quicksilver cruises offers a wide range product keeps it ahead of competition. This report generates the details necessary for the company to compete in the Queensland area by offering a unique product line that is desirable by tourist for neighbouring countries. The focus is on customers from Hong Kong and the development of a plan of analysis that details the unique nature of this East Asian market, how Quicksilver Cruises can best market to this demographic group, and how the development of a comprehensive marketing plan will help them to be successful in this endeavour for the long term. Table of Contents Introduction Quicksilver Cruise operates in the highly competitive tourism industry within Queensland, Australia. Being on the coast, the company offers a product line that is appealing to many types of tourists, particularly those from the Hong Kong region. As the company is in a particular genre with many other businesses, however, it must focus on carving its own unique niche within the market. To accomplish this objective, the company has been working hard over the past years to develop unique tours and water sport offerings that others in the region are not currently offering. In addition, the company does have a focus on attracting tourists from nearby regions. Of particular interest at this time is the Hong Kong market. Hong Kong itself represents a unique opportunity for Quicksilver Cruises to market an area of the world that is sunny and has a plethora of water sport opportunities available for today’s discerning Asian tourist. What follows is a detailed synopsis of how marketing to Hong Kong can take place within this context by conducting a detailed situation analysis, understanding the unique nature of the Hong Kong customer, and integrating it all together into on comprehensive product offering that is marketable and sustainable. Situation Analysis, Customer Understanding, and Integrative Communication Mix Any tourism oriented company must look closely at this existing situation within both he country and the market to determine how best to proceed with and grow its base of operations. Quicksilver Cruise is simply no exception (Ahmmed, 2013). Situation analysis refers to the various methods that managers within a company can employ to better analyse a companies environment condition, both internally and externally, related to its capabilities, customers, and business environment. By conducting a thorough 5Cs, SWOT, and Porter’s Five Forces analysis, a marketing plan can be generated that will guide Quicksilver Cruise towards offering a product line that is more in line with the desires of their existing and potential customer base. Such an analysis, and ensuing marketing plan, is an essential step on the path towards establishing a longer term relationship with customers throughout the organisation (Wood, 2012). The situation analysis for Quicksilver Cruise must examine bath macro and micro environmental factors that might affect the company in the short and long term. From a macro perspective, Quicksilver Cruise does operate in a market in which it has developed a niche by offering multiple tour options for its customers, where most companies in the broader surf and scuba industry focus on particular type of clientele. From a micro perspective, the company does have certain concepts that it must take into consideration as it develops a strategic plan for the future (Webster & Lusch, 2013). This involves looking at the development of the tourist industry in Queensland as a whole, the feasibility of continuing to compete with neighbouring countries, such as New Zealand and Indonesia, and the ability to continue attracting an overseas and international customer base. Quicksilver Cruises does depend a great deal on the international tourist, as the domestic market itself is quite saturated, so this situation alone details what a marketing plan should look like moving forward. By conducting a 5C Analysis, Quicksilver Cruises can better develop an integrated communication mix that better defines its company, competitors, collaborators, customer, and existing business climate. Many considered this method of analysis to be the most effective at analysing the actual market environment given the integrative component of the information it provides in such a wide array of areas directly impacting upon the business as a whole. In consideration of the company, for example, it is important to get an in-depth picture of Quicksilver Cruises objectives and strategies, in addition to its existing and future capabilities. This will enable the company to determine it strengths and weakness in core operational areas, enabling them to deterring how to integrate improvements with other area of the 5c analysis. As mentioned, this begins with a look at existing goals and objectives in an effort to determine the extent to which they are currently being met (Webster & Morrison, 2004). The company does have a mission to provide unique water based tour opportunities to its customers, within a niche market where few others are providing the same options. Conducting this integrated communication will go a long way towards them determining if this objective is being met or not. In consideration of it competitors, Quicksilver needs to look at the positions of other companies in Queensland to determine who might pose a potential threat to the viability of the concept that the business employs. The main goal of conducting a competitor analysis is to enable Quicksilver the opportunity to dissect a competitors current and potential possibilities for attracting their own customer base that might directly compete with Quicksilvers own existing and future customer base. This will enable them to determine how they can proactively work to combat any such threats (Chung, 2007). Any such analysis begins with actually identifying existing competitors in the Queensland area that are working to attract the same type of clientele as Quicksilver. An assessment of competitors should also be conducted in order to take a look at competitor goals and objectives, and the resources that they have to meet those. This is an integrated analysis that will further enable Quicksilver to carve out a niche for itself within the market at it works to align itself towards offering a unique product line that will make it even more competitive in the long term. Doing so will also require that Quicksilver works to predict the future goals of its competitors as well (Geyskens, Kumar, & Steenkamp, 2009). If this can be one effectively, the company can avoid making costly product introductions into a market that would be over saturated from the outset. For Quicksilver, it is critically important to understand both their existing and potential customer base. As the adventure sports arena in the Queensland area is highly competitive, the company should distinguish itself from the rest. This can be accomplished by not only understanding their customers, but also by better servicing their needs and desires (Clarke, 2005). The main purpose of conducting a thorough analysis of customers is to better understand the current position that Quicksilver finds itself in, particularly in terms of it capability to better prepare to go up against fierce competition. This begins by advertising in areas that are most likely to reach their target population. This entails marketing to a particular demographic group, which in this case would be the Hong Kong tourist. This also enables the company to better understand its existing market size and the potential it has for future growth (Heffernan, O’Neill, Travaglione, & Droulers, 2008). To do this, naturally the company will want to examine the wants and needs of its customers, both in terms of the water sports that they desire, and the on land activities they would potentially like to experiment with at night. Upon doing this, Quicksilver will want to gauge where customers are like to book, be online or with a traditional type of travel agency, or a mix of both. They will also want to look at the average income of their potential customer in order to align their product line with the ability of the customer to pay, in addition to how often they will partake in the tours that are offered. Yet another component of this integrative mix is to implement the use of a series of collaborators to examines areas for potential future growth in terms of the products that Quicksilver offers. There are various types of collaborators that could be used for this purpose including agencies, suppliers, distributors, and partnerships (Kulcsar, 2010). For Quicksilver’s particular business model, they should look at partnerships with various tourist industries that directly complement their product offerings. Such business partners can share expenses and resources, which allows both to mutually benefit by enlisting individuals with new skill sets previously not available to them, in addition to providing them with an infusion of capital with which they can separate themselves from the competition by offering even more opportunities for tourists than previously though possible (Radulescu, 2012). Quicksilver Cruises has the benefit of being located in Queensland, which is a relatively stable area of Australia that benefits from a solid political situation, in addition to an economic and social environment that is business friendly, caters to tourists, and has a generally appealing climate by which to appeal to tourists from outside of the region. In consideration of the Hong Kong market, Quicksilver is definitely well positioned to take advantage of East Asia’s lack of sunny coastlines and market adventurous water sports to this generally affluent area where customers generally benefit from currency fluctuations that make Australia an affordable holiday destination. By focusing on the positive attributes when marketing the product, especially in terms of the tourist and economic climate, Hong Kong tourist will likely be lured in by what Quicksilver has to offer. All it takes in an in-depth situation analysis, as discussed in this report, coupled with a solid marketing plan that is both prudent, conservative, and risky all the same time and in measured doses. References Ahmmed, M. (2013). An analysis on tourism marketing in Bangladesh. International Proceedings of Economics Development and Research, 67(1), 35. Chung, H. (2007). International marketing standardisation strategies analysis. 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