Marketing Mix

EXTENDED MARKETING MIX

What is this handout about?

The main purpose of this handout is to explore, identify, analyze and describe the individual elements of the marketing mix, the 4 P’s. It will also cover the extended marketing mix for services which adds 3 extra P’s. It is important to remark that this marketing knowledge will be applied to a well-known independent travel agency called Bath Travel and Palmair their own tour operator.

MARKETING MIX

The marketing mix is a positioning strategy which implements the 4P’s. For companies which are customer oriented the 4C’s are also necessary:

 Product (customer value)

 Price (cost)

 Promotion (communication)

 Place (convenience)

Working with the 4P’s enables businesses to find the best characteristics for their products or services which will meet the needs and wants of the different target markets. As a result, products will be positioned in the market and the goals of the companies will be achieved.

Bath travel analysis: Being positioned in the tourism and travel industry Bath travel is marketing and customer oriented company. For that reason, managers should implement the marketing mix strategy, to manage the 4P’s and 4C’s; in this way they will be able to satisfy the customer needs and expectations in a more effective manner than the competition.

P1 PRODUCT-CUSTUMER VALUE

How products are developed to sustain competitive advantage.

1.1 What is a product?

Defined by Kotler a product is “Anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need”, Bath travel services examples are:

• Different types of holidays (family, luxury, UK, adventure)

• Value cruises around the world

• Flights from Bournemouth

• Currency exchange and more.

The products and services characteristics can be:

 Tangible (physical product): plane ticket, hotel room, meals etc.

 Intangible (services): (transportation, accommodation, restaurants etc).

Product  customer value: the perceived benefits, quality of experience provided and quality of service received from the company.

Providing several ranges of services and products for everyone, at anytime, anywhere and for different prices, Bath travel is able to satisfy identified customer value requirements to different segments.

1.2 The total product concept.

The total product concept describes the characteristics that build up the product and are important in its development. The total product concept is divided into levels: the core product, the actual product and the augmented product.

Image 1: The total product from the HND book

• The total product applied to Bath travel

From http://www.bathtravel.co.uk/ the main webpage of Bath travel one example is:

Ski Niederau, Innsbruck, 6th February 2010 is a ski family package holiday which departs from Bournemouth to Niederau, Austria.

 The core product: this is what the product is designed to do, the reason why customer buys the product.

The main customer motivation to purchase this product is because they want to have a great family holiday and skiing abroad.

 The actual product: The physical product, the improvements made to the core to add characteristics to the product that benefit the consumers.

The holiday package included a number of services to make the core (family holiday) better.

• Flights from Bournemouth

• Transfer to/from hotel

• Accommodation for 7 nights in a 4 star hotel

• Meals; breakfast and dinner

 The augmented product: The value and benefits added to the product to make it symbolic for customers.

The service offered by Bath travel is special for customer because they obtain some extra benefits some examples are:

 Parking spaces: Bath travel rents a limited number of airport parking spaces, which means that travellers are able to leave their vehicles in the airport on the day of departure and pick them upon on arrival day. Bath travel provides this service because most of the families have their own car and it is convenient to travel to the airport by car rather than bus or taxi.

 Hotel facilities: The hotel is located just five minutes stroll from the centre; it offers excellent leisure pursuits, sauna, new pool, and play area for children. These extra benefits will position the ski holiday above the competition because customers will be more satisfied: they are near to main attractions; they are able to relax and parents with children can rest while they children are having fun.

 Travel escort: This holiday package includes a travel escort, a specialist in ski holidays for nearly 20 years, Bath travel offers this service to add value to the product, families will be happy to travel with a trained person who will be friendly and will explain and show them the best places in the city.

The total product concept is used by businesses to satisfy customer needs and wants in a more effective way than the competition.

1.3 FAB- (features, advantages and benefits) selling technique.

FAB is a selling technique which focuses on the benefits provided by the company to the customer through the features and advantages of the product.

 Features: The characteristics of the physical product, which refers to colour, price, shape, price etc.

 Advantages: The performance of the product, the strengths of product features

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