Targeting and Positioning Strategies - Essay Example

THE ADVENTURE WATER PARK Name Institution Professor Course Date Targeting Strategies Once the organisation has completed segmenting its market, it must then assess every segment to establish its attractiveness. Evaluating each segment will help the firm to determine if it provides prospects that correspond to the firm’s resources and capabilities. Market targeting must be based on marketing intelligence that involves the systematic analysis and collection of publicly assessable data about developments and competitors in the recreation industry. The fact that the park is not doing well as per its financial records demonstrates the need for market targeting. The firm should focus on attracting novel clients while at the same time retain the old customers. In this regard, it is essential for the Park’s management to determine the firm’s target markets and determine how to pursue the target markets. Understanding the specific needs of people or groups of people will help the firm to provide services and products that attain the customer’s needs. Undifferentiated Targeting Strategy The feasible target market for the Adventure Water Park would be families with young ones. Nevertheless, the firm can also include middle and elementary school going children and young adults for well-liked games. Given that the Park hold tentative attractions such as playgrounds, the management can target younger audience such as people with preschool-age children or day-care centres operators. In this regard, adults, carers and teachers form part of the parks target market particularly during school excursions and holidays. According to Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2010, p.126), target market entails a group or organisations for which a firm designs, implements and upholds a marketing mix directed at meeting the needs of the group leading to mutually satisfying exchanges. Given that the Adventure Water Park target families with young children and young adults as well as carers and teachers, undifferentiated targeting strategy would be appropriate for the firm. Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2010, p.126) assert that organisations that use an undifferentiated targeting strategy adopt a mass-market philosophy where they view the market as a one huge market with individual segments. Concentrated or Selective Targeting Strategy Adventure Water Park must understand that the individual customers visiting the park do not hold akin needs attainable through a general marketing mix. As a result, the firm should also employ a concentrated targeting strategy that allows selection of a market niche. Apparently, the firm is open to both active and inactive children, teens and adults. Therefore, understanding the needs of every market segment is essential. The firm should concentrate on comprehending the motives, satisfactions and needs of every market segment, develop as well as maintain a highly specialised marketing mix. Selective targeting strategy is appropriate for the firm because the Park holds multiple abilities in scores of different service and product categories. Selective targeting will be appropriate for the firm because it helps in the diversification of organisation’s risks and the capacity to cherry pick the most attractive market segments (Ferrell & Hartline 2012, p.142). The firm should use selective targeting to offer clients scores of different services for young children, school going children and young adults. Selective targeting will help the firm to select market combinations where it abilities correspond to the customer’s needs. Multisegment Targeting Strategy The firm can also employ multisegment targeting strategy that would allow it to select two or more well-defined market segments and establish distinct marketing mix for each segment. Multisegment targeting provides scores of potential benefits for organisations including considerable sales volume increased profits, larger market share and economies of scales in marketing. Positioning Strategies After identifying the target market, the marketers must position the service or product in the mind of the target consumers. This calls for the development of a suitable competitive positioning strategy. Armstrong (2001, p.53) defines positioning as the process of reaching market segments. Positioning entails creating an impression in the mind of the target customers because consumers tend to utilise images while marking purchases. Positioning helps in distinguishing a firm’s service or product from that of its competitors so that it becomes the preferred brand in defined market segments. The firm service and product position should offer a focus in the development of an advertising campaign. The firm’s management must consider the attributes of its services and product, specific applications of the products and services, competition and the types of people using the firm’s services. In this regard, the Adventure Water Park should position its services by attributes, consumption experiences, exclusive quality or premium segment, by service class, by reference to competition and by the service user. Positioning by Service Attributes, Consumption Experiences, Service Benefits, Service Quality, Reference To Competition and by Service User Given that the firm’s customers are segmented based on demographic segmentation where age, gender, income and family life cycle are considered, positioning by customer’s s benefits, price, quality, service use, class is essential and practical. Positioning by service attributes, experience and benefits is linked with distinctive sensory, projective or emotional experience that customers experience while using the product or service. Positioning by product user helps in tapping the needs of the customers for identification or modelling behaviour. The age, income level and family life cycle forms a major Adventure Water Park market segment. The Park is interested in attracting children, teens, parents, carers and teachers. However, the firm must not focus more on gender specific services and products and ethnicity to attract an extensive customer base. However, consideration of the family life cycle is paramount because the park customers include young single parents, young married with children, middle-aged and divorced people with kids. More so, the firm segments the market psychographically to determine the markets psychographic characteristics. Customers who enjoy fun and leisure, and who like spending their leisure time with their families require a market positioning that enhances the benefits of products and services to the consumer. The Adventure Water Park must use benefit, price and quality as the core subject in their advertising claim of brand positioning. In addition, the firm must identify its major competitors, assess the perception of the competitive brand, and determine the aspiration, and needs of its customers to ensure feasible positioning (Jayachandran 2004, p.184). The price, attributes, quality and customer benefits and experience must form part of the firm’s market positioning. Remember that the Adventure Water Park has not been a successful operation and, therefore, requires creating a good image in the customer’s mind. The firm must use all means possible to ensure that it attracts and retain an extensive customer base. The positioning must be tailored into ensuring a powerful influence on the mind of the customers. Aggressive advertising tools must be used to mould and strengthen the firm’s image. Strategies for Attracting New Customers and Building Customer Loyalty The ultimate objective of any marketing strategy is attracting, satisfying and retaining customers. It is usually not possible to retain all visitors as customers, so it is essential to acquire new customers constantly to replace those who leave. Novel customers are crucial because, besides the initial purchase, they bring the potential for lifetime value, which is the source of profits that accrues during a client relationship with the firm. Attracting new customers by itself is not enough because firms require retaining least a section of first-time customers to remain viable. Apparently, loyal satisfied customers hold value for the firm as they may augment spending overtime and spread positive word-of-mouth about the firm thereby attracting other customers. Attracting new customers requires the firm to offer exceptional services to the existing customer base given that positive word-of-mouth from the Park users hold the potential attract new customers. Other feasible strategies that the firm can use to attract new customers include the use of marketing mix that includes place, promotion and price. Place entails the task of making the services accessible and available; promotion entails the task of informing and persuading new customers while price entails the task of making the cost affordable ( O’Faircheallaigh 1991, p.91). According to Burns (2009, p.349), lowering the price will attract new customers. More so, established feasible promotional strategies and bringing the services closer to the potential customers helps in attracting new customers. More importantly, the use of consumer demographics and psychographics in advertising, as well as the provision of efficiency and convenience services, will help in attracting customers (Wambach &Newland 2015, p.148). To develop customer loyalty and attract new customers, the firm must increase customer satisfaction through lowering prices, providing quality services, ensuring efficient service delivery, use of excellent communications and endeavour to surpass the customer’s expectations. Repeated satisfying experience, feasible customer relationship management, loyalty programs and trust developments help in the development of customer loyalty. The firm should concentrate on the provision of quality services, exceed expectations of customers, promote customer feedback and keep them informed of loyalty development. Personalised services, regular contacts with clients and provision of services that corresponds to the needs of the customers also help in the development of customer loyalty. The firm should also implement added-value schemes that encourage customers to use constantly the Park’s services. Rewards and discounts do not only develop customer loyalty but also helps in attracting new customers. Recommendations to The Firm’s Management The Adventure Water Park is not doing well in the market based on its financial records. To ensure market effectiveness and a competitive advantage over its competitors, the Park management should demonstrate resourceful leadership. The management should focus on implementing effective marketing strategies that would ensure attraction and retention of an extensive market share. More importantly, the firm should refine its service levels and increase resources to ensure that customers’ needs and expectations are met. The firm management should focus on improving its marketing mix through ensuring provision of affordable and accessible services. Use of digital marketing platforms, such as the social media, and aggressive in advertising will help the firm to attract new customers and retain its existing customers. Rewards and discounts should also be used to entice customers and develop customer loyalty. As regard quality, the firm’s management should upgrade quality and service provision system. The management should also focus on reputation management through effective market positioning. The management should also focus on developing innovative services and products aimed at attracting and retaining an extensive customer base besides controlling operation costs through the application of effective marketing strategies. In addition, the firm must identify its major competitors, assess the perception of the competitive brand, and determine the aspiration, and needs of its customers to ensure feasible positioning. To ensure feasible market targeting, the management should conduct marketing intelligence that involves the systematic analysis and collection of publicly assessable data about developments and competitors. To ensure feasible market positioning, the management should conduct an internal and external assessment of the firm’s environment. To attract new customers and build customer loyalty, the management should collect demographics and psychographics data to facilitate the establishment of the customer profile. The profile gives the firm information needed to develop relationships and increasing spending with existing customers while using the data collected from them to attract novel customers References Armstrong, M.(2001), A handbook of management techniques: The best-selling guide to modern management methods, Australia, Kogan Page Publishers. Burns, P 2010, Entrepreneurship and small business, UK, Palgrave Macmillan. Ferrell, O, Hartline, M 2012, Marketing strategy, UK, Cengage Learning. Jayachandran, S 2004, Marketing management, India, Excel Books. Lamb, C, Hair, J & McDaniel, C 2010, Marketing 4, UK, Cengage Learning. O’ Fairceallaigh, C 1991, Service delivery and public sector marketing, AU, Macmillan. Wambach, K, Newland, B 2015, Sport facility and event management, UK, Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More