MARKETING

Marketing Principles

Marketing Principles

Introduction

Marketing is the process through which the values of a product or service are communicated to the customers. It is not only the method of selling the product, but it spreads awareness and attracts the customer towards the offerings of a business. Marketing is an integral function of organizations, and is a set of processes that create, communicate and deliver value to customers. Marketing is not only limited to goods and services but also to people and ideas. Marketing involves the identification of the right target market through effective market segmentation (Tsiotsou & Goldsmith, 2012). It only makes sense to market your product to the relevant buyers. Organizations have different budgets, objective and offerings, and in accordance to these dynamics the appropriate marketing strategy has to be determined. In recent years, the communication and the dynamics of the customer have changed rapidly making marketing a more challenging task.

The organization taken into consideration as a SME is a travel agency named “Travel Mate”. The travel business has been revolutionized with the advent of electronic ticketing. The target market is now broader as the service can also be availed online or through telephone and the payment can be facilitated through credit card payments (Katz, 2012). In the past, paper ticketing requires the client to have the physical possession of the ticket that was issued only once and the records were maintained through coupons.

Elements of Marketing Process

Market Research

The marketing process starts from identifying your target market and their needs. This is done through market research, a process through which the data is gathered systematically from customers to classify their needs. The research is essential in understanding the want and needs of the customers. The research will also help in analyzing the secondary products that can be sold along with the primary, i.e. the tickets. Secondary products could include travel insurance; rent a car services and holiday packages. The research could help in identifying the particular destinations for which the packages could be offered and what are the features that the customers look for in the travel insurance products. This can also be a valuable source of feedback for the travel insurance providers, who in partnership with the agency can offer better products that suit the need of the customers.

Situation Analysis

A situation analysis needs to be done to find out the current needs of the market and what the needs that are not being fulfilled are. This provides a window of opportunity to the company to meet those needs. The travel business has become very competitive with the opening up of markets that can cater to other countries as well. This is also an opportunity for the business as they can also cater to the needs of the other business.

Marketing Mix

The business needs to see it competitors which is all the other travel agents in the U.K. The company needs to develop a strong marketing mix that make s it product offering ...