Marketing Uk Tourism Analysis Essay Example

need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. (Docks, 2001). It is also stated by AMA (1985) as " the process of planning and execution the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of teas, goods and services to create an exchange and satisfy individual and organizational and Appetite, 2000) Both the definitions critically examine that marketing is all about building an ongoing and profitable relationships with the customers for the growth of your business. It can be analyses that the immediate goal may be seen as sales but the long term objective of marketing is to become effectively valuable to an increasing number of customers for future success (Him, 2009).

These definitions in particular show the importance for the tourism industry as a consequence of competitive nature of this industry. As projected in the case study marketing helps in enhancing visitors number( 6th most wanted tourist place- Britain) , diversifies methods of promotion (Visit Britain focusing on commercial partnership and digital communications), increases awareness of the values, services and products (British Tourism Week in 2007) and targets new client groups for tourism (Visit Britain new ventures: wry. Visitation. Com/football). (Rodgers, 2004)

Critically analyses the strategies adopted by the company in recent years (focusing on STEP, product/market development, and competitive positioning) The strategic processes used by Visit Britain for marketing Britain are:

Segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Market segmentation is intended to pinpoint homogeneous customer groups within a heterogeneous population in order to foster and implement marketing strategies designed as per the needs of the customer. Segmentation is a requirement because affording marketing programmers for the entire tourist market is difficult.

Segmentation helps tourism

organization identify, priorities and concentrate their efforts on few segmented customer group (Sexton & Bennett, 1996). As marked by Mercer (1992), segmentation is a strategic tool used by organizations to focus and optimize the capitalization of their resources within the total market(Sexton, 1996). These focused groups are also known as target markets and they lead to positioning of product or services. Basic strategies for consumer segmentation used by Visit Britain are:-

Geographic segmentation

The distribution of market according to geographic borders is a common style of segmentation used by tourism industry. As we see in the case study that one of the department of Visit Britain, I. E. Overseas Network is responsible for overseas operations in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and America. It is obvious that they have used geographic segmentation for market Cryptographic segmentation- When the market is divided according to lifestyle profile, personality and socioeconomic profile it comes under this criteria. London, 1997) As mentioned in the case study, tourism is maximized in I-J due to sports activities such as Olympic and Paralytics games. Olympic Games success story was understood on the very opening day when it gathered

Olympics and other events inflated overseas tourist up to 4,000,000. It is also viewed that 40% of the visitors to Britain are football lovers, as stated by researchers out of six visitors one is a viewer or a player of football. This has led Visit Britain to work with the English Premier League to encourage football.

Also in the overview of UK tourism it is commented overseas visitors come for holidays, visit friends and tourist attractions. Through these sports lovers and visitors for leisure

from outside and within Britain are targeted.

Buyer Behavior segmentation

In this segmentation users are categorized based on their knowledge of the product or service background and response towards the product or services (Bean, 1987). In the case study, initiatives of Visit Britain are acknowledged as targeting overseas market depending on the knowledge of and familiarity with I-J.

The study also confirms that to encourage more visitors to visit Britain, national museums and galleries are kept without an entry fee, which covers benefits sought of buyers behavior. This information can be attained with the help of this segmentation strategy which allows the company to target unaware customers and educate them o familiarize with Britain. Customers looking for benefits can be targeted as potential customers as information about packages, trips and tours can be influential.

After targeting, the company has worked on positioning Britain as a vibrant place packed with culture, history, shopping and entertainment appealing to visitors who are not much stimulated by countryside and heritage sites. Britain is positioned in a manner that visitors get a better experience and benefits.

Discuss the importance of branding to Visit Britain's success

In present globalizes and well networked world, each nation has to compete with there for their share of the world's consumers, businesses, investment, tourists, attention and respect. Brand is an entity evolving in the mind of a customer. The sum of all elements of tangible and intangible, that makes the product offering unique" (Melanin, 2010). On the basis of AMA (1960) theory of branding, Kettle and Armstrong (1999) presented the definition stating " a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination

of these intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competitors. "(Knowles et al, 2004).

Both authors are signaling branding as a differentiation competitive advantage. Supportive observations from Simon Manhole (2006) were found on Nation Branding stating "the reputations of countries (and, by extension, of cities and regions too) behave rather like the brand images of companies and products, and they are equally critical to the progress, prosperity, and good management of those places. " The strength of a brand can be imitated in four ways Brand awareness- how many potential customers are familiar to the brand.

Brand beliefs- quality characterized in a brand as distinguished by potential rand in the mind of the potential customer. Brand loyalty- how many customers resist incentives of the competitive offering and remain loyal to the brand. (Docks et al, 2001) In today's world every destination appears to want to upgrade/ enhance, adapt, reverse or manage their reputation globally. An image is created in the mind of customers which gives countries competitive identity; France is about romance and fashion, Japan is about technology, Germany is about quality, Italy is about style, etc.

I-J was branded as "Cool Britannic" in 1997 portraying hip and trendy look of the country. It can be noticed on the website of Visit Britain that Branding Britain has led to establishment of more than one brand. Scotland, England, Wales and London are viewed as distinct and regional brands with their own core characteristics and values. This style allows the agency to brand Britain as "a land of contrasts"(Leonard, 1997).

England is

staged as a contrast between heritage and the unconventional, Wales as a land of natural beauty and legends and Scotland perceived as a land of stone and fire Gaffe, 2006) In the case study Visit Britain clearly intended brand Britain for its culture and heritage of the British Royal family, Castles ND Churches (big source of fascination for many overseas tourist and viewers all over the world), British museum, National gallery on Tarantula Square, Tate Modern and other museums/galleries (receive a large concentration of international visitors) which positions Britain for geographic as well as behavior segments.

Visit Britain is making effort to illuminate the image of other areas than London to the world. Britain's own history comprises of Big Ben, Bucking Palace, London eye, Vikings, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Theatres and many more famous works which attract tourists to enjoy music, art, literature and sceneries. In the case study there are signs of branding Britain for cryptographic segments, sports and leisure has been attracting a lot of attention since Olympics and Paralytics games, London. The opening ceremony of Olympics Games was alone viewed by 2. Billion people all across the world. Evidence in case study explain that I-J has already planned to host sporting occasions such as Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup in the coming years to rebind Britain in a manner that it gains a competitive identity. Britain has consistently been the fifth most desired destination brand keeping up the cultural tourism.

Outline the marketing mix strategies adopted by the company

The term Marketing Mix is described as the compilation of tactics used by businesses to achieve their objectives.

To present it as a

phrase Martin Evans (1999) puts it as , "the right product at the right price at the right time and promote it in the most relevant way for the market segment that is targeted. " Originally marketing mix was developed by Professor N. Borden (Harvard) containing elements as: Market research, Product Planning, Pricing, Promotion, Distribution and Servicing. Later McCarthy drew it down to APS- Product, Price, Place and Promotion. 1960).

Marketing mix is an outcome of the firm's mission, and the final hand over of the firm's offering to the market. It should be based on customer's needs, wants and problems. Victor P Bubble (1966) explained "The concept of Marketing Mix suggests that (and the sub-sections thereof) should be mixed in varying proportions depending upon the industry category of the firm, its position in the market, and the competitive situation. "(Kumar, 2010) Some tourism authors argue that tourism requires more than APS to be managed.

Authors like Morrison and Middleton extended the list for ours to APS by adding People, Process, Partnership, Packaging. (Sexton and Bennett, 1996) Taking in consideration marketing mix strategies in the case study on Visit Britain, attributes of the Mix explained by Kumar (2010) are: PRODUCT- A product is a set of characteristics accumulated in an identifiable form. It shows that customers don't see a product as a set of characteristics but as benefits that conciliate their needs.

Visit Britain's product for marketing is cultural heritage and sports manifesto. These factors are continuously emphasized upon in the case study y-products such as the Royal wedding, Big Ben, Nelson's Column, Houses of Parliament, Royal Crescent of Bath, Tudor Mansion, Olympics games, Paralytics

Games, Commonwealth Games etc. PRICE- The price of a product or service is the value added to it by the provider and it should compliment customer's notion of value.

Price can also be seen as the exchange value of a product/service; it is always expressed in monetary terms. Visit Britain doesn't have any control over the pricing policies of the product or by- products as there was no evidence found in the case study about agency's influence ever the price of any product or service.

Promotion

It is a communication tool used to provide information about the product/service to the target market in order to assist the exchange process. Promotion is also called evangelism that concerns informing, persuading and reminding the user.

This is the main strategy of Visit Britain for marketing positioned Britain as seen in the case study at different points. As mentioned Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012 was televised all over the world, billions of people were found tuned to the Royal Wedding in April 2011. In the peeing ceremony of the Olympics in London 2012 there were promotional activities as NASH had put up an info expo, London buses were advertised, the Queen arrived with current James Bond character, etc.

Visit Britain has 30 websites providing awareness and information about Britain in 21 different languages which has allowed them to achieve 12 million overseas tourists every year, it has also launched a promotional online TV channel to stream major events of Britain live globally (visitation. TV). Case study also shows the range of social media platforms Visit Britain has on Twitter and Backbone. The agency has been trying to optimize

their promotion strategies over the period of time in order to rebind Britain.

PLACE- It is a contact venue between the consumer or target market who get the benefits of the product/service and the product/service provider. It can also be seen as a venue of target market for promotional activities. As evident in the case study Visit Britain has scaled back their presence from 35 markets to 21 key markets. The overseas network department of the agency have regional teams for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and United States. The agency has been interested in the BRICK nations as developing countries remain dominant in the international tourism industry and is forecasted to increase visits in I-J. However U.S. And France remain the top source to promote Britain and look forward to inflate the tourism industry in UK in the coming years.

People And Process

As recognized by Morrison and Middleton people is an element to discuss as tourism providing critically depend on customer service. Process was concerned with interactions that occurred in service providing (customer involvement). Visit Britain aims to boost tourism within I-J as the biggest aeries which put off British people are the unpredicted weather and football hooliganism. Many British people are found tired of holidaying to places that could be in I-J but with more sunshine.

Under the element of people, it can be viewed in the study that fourth-fifth of the visitors in 2008 was independent travelers, explaining independent travelers becoming mainstream. Agency's one of the new ventures (humanitarians. Com/football) where international football players who play in I-J talk about their experience. As researched one out of six visitors to

UK thatch or play football, thus this marketing strategy came out good for the agency as a process. Business services department of the agency looks into people and performance.

Battleship And Packaging

Partnership was concerned for the fact that collaborations with several companies were frequently practices in tourism marketing (airlines, travel agents, etc). Packaging and programming was explained as the manner in which certain products may be offered together as a conceptual item which is organized for users in a programmed sequence (inclusive offer tour). Visit Britain work with BAT, ALVA, BUTT, ICC, etc. The agency also shares relations with art galleries, B;B, caravan clubs in order to improve and preserve visitor's experience and promote the key messages.

Evidence of partnership were found between the agency and Samsung for free app on tablets and smartness named Best of Britain informing about maps of I-J, trips, things to do and places to stay. It was also evident that European tourists used packaged tours to save time. This marketing strategy is likely to be efficient as they deliver information about their product/services through technology and networking which allows them to cover a argue portion of the market. This is well looked after by overseas network department of Visit Britain. 5. Evaluate the role technology has played in relation to the company's development The role of IT is intrinsically linked to tourism industry; it is difficult to imagine the survival of the industry without the use of technology for marketing.

New technology advances offers to promote and communicate their product/services to the customers, as many visitors and tourists take use of World Wide Web (London, 1997). E-Marketing has

been a technology used by many industries for marketing; internet marketing can be defined as "achieving marketing objectives through applying digital technologies. (Chaffed et al, 2008). Digital media allows communicating information through interactive services conveyed by digital technologies such as internet, mobile phones, TV, PIPIT. It can be noticed in the case study that after the budget cut Visit Britain focused on areas of commercial partnership and digital communications. 5. 1 Digital communication marketing involves applying technologies as email, web, databases, wireless phones and TV to profitable ends and confinement of customers.

Using these marketing tactics Chaffed et al (2008) suggested "recognizing the strategic importance of digital technologies and developing a planned approach to reach and migrate customers to online services through e-communications and traditional communications. Retention is achieved through improving our customer knowledge (of their profiles, behavior value and loyalty drivers), then delivering integrated, targeted communications and online services that match their individual needs. " Recent innovations like Blobs, Feeds, Potash and social network allow individuals to access, analyses, comment and advertise on their preferences . Chaffed et al, 2008) In the case study, it shows that due to the cut in funding Visit Britain initiated 30 websites providing information about the I-J in 21 languages. They created an online streaming TV channel for the global viewers showing major events of I-J. They created platforms of social media on Backbone and Twitter. The agency worked with Samsung to introduce free app (Best of Britain) on tablets and smartness. They also made a blob for footballers. Visit Britain developed sub brand websites (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland) as ravel guides for direct users.