Marketing for Birmingham Barge Trips - Case Study Example

Marketing for Birmingham Barge Trips By: Professor: Class: University: City: State: Date of submission: Marketing for Birmingham Barge Trips Marketing audit To undertake an effective marketing audit, it is important to examine both internal and external analysis of the business. External analysis is a process involving scanning and evaluation of different external environmental factors for the business; consequently, the process determines the performance, positive, and negative trends affecting the business (Baker, 2003, 72). Birmingham Boat Trips is considered successful within the leisure boat industry in the past 4-5 years. The major factor that has influenced its growth is the development of International Convention Centre (ICC) and the surroundings. External Analysis of Birmingham Boat Trips based on Porter’s Five forces Competitive Rivalry and New Entrant Threats There are several concerns that affect the business. The town, Birmingham, lies within the Midland Canals that offers accessibility to the ICC and numerous attractions for the visitors. As a result, the business is positioned to attract more traffic, which acts to its advantage. There is an extension of the network towards Manchester to offers advantageous location to Birmingham. Moreover, there has been growth of boat trip market, which presents numerous opportunities for the business. currently, people take 35,000 holidays of overseas waterways while 145,000 holidays through sailing; as a result, the overall growth seem to supplement the business for the exploitation of the Birmingham Boat trips. From David’s point, the surrounding areas present numerous opportunities for the business, which it could exploit to earn more profit through taking advantage of the opportunities resulting from the external forces including increased demand from the local areas. In 2011, London had about 2.5 million passengers within river Thames. From all the passengers, more than 130,000 passengers used the trips in Birmingham (Canal Museum, 2016). However, the major that external factor that could directly influence business opportunities for Birmingham is the continued strengthening of pound against the US Dollar and Euro. From the economical perspective, it means that UK would be an expensive place for many visitors. As a result, the overseas trips would be less attractive while the residents find it attractive. This major factor reduced the number of overseas passengers in the last 3 years considering that the nature of the business directly relates to the number of tourists that come within the country as well as their spending power. Therefore, competitive rivalry and new entrant threats are high. Bargaining power of customers and suppliers With increasing competition and ever-changing needs of the customers, customers are increasingly becoming important in achieving business needs. The need for satisfaction of the needs of the customers is the major factor that the business needs to focus on. To achieve this, the business needs to offer unique services around the city and focus on buying the decision process that strictly depends on the tourists that are coming into the city. Birmingham Boat Trip experiences stability and respect in its brand within the market, which in turn motivate people to consider the business for their boating needs (The Local Government Association, 2014). From the case study, the business considers the diversity of the customers’ needs; as a result, the Birmingham Boat Trip creates customer value through offering different types of options including entertainment and boat services. In addition, the business provides dinner and dinner dance boats. Hence, the bargaining power of customers and suppliers is low. Threats of substitutes Considering the nature of the industry and opportunities associated with investments, the industry attracts many investors, which increases the level of competition. Besides, the industry experiences intense competition especially the onboard dining market segment which continues to grow at fast pace and becoming attractive to the investors. In addition, services offered are very attractive compared to the standard torus, which earns it profit. Many businesses offer Christmas parties on the canal barges. Moreover, there are several exotic parties offered leading to intense competition level that occurs between the companies, which intensifies the rivalry. Nonetheless, with the location of the Birmingham Boat Trip, it continues to enjoy various opportunities as its strengths as well as the weaknesses of the competitors. The threats of substitutes is very high. PESTEL Political Economic Peaceful political environment or stability Support for the boating industry by the government Development of ICC Strengthening pound against US Dollar and Euro Increased cost of modifying the boats Economic stability issues Sociological Technology Increased popularity of boating activities Changing consumer behaviour especially during holidays Increasing preference for boat dinner and dinner dance Improved distribution in wealth development High rate of technological change Increased business automation Integration of online mobile system in the management to ensure efficiency for the customers Improved safety of customers due to GPS tracking systems for the boats Environment Legal Seasons affect the boating activities Increased environmental consciousness among the customers Legal protection for the marine ecosystems Expansion of international protection of patents Regulation of charges by the boating companies Improved legal framework for the marine resources Internal analysis Throughout the years, the business has been able to establish its competitive advantage. Birmingham Boat Trip offers several employment opportunities to various people. The caterers, cleaners, and crew account for 30 employees while the business also hires about 20 temporary staff during its peak season characterized by boom in customers. Staffing plays important role within the business as the crew frequently interact with the customers and in turn communicate their needs to the management. Due to significant amount of assets associated with barges, the business enjoys strong balance sheet. In the recent past, the company has also reaped profits. To ensure that it adequately address its different operations, the business six 70-foot narrow boats that are highly accommodative in terms of the number of seats. Consequently, it carries more people for drinks and to some extent dinner in comparison to the other holiday boats that have bedding and accommodation. There are boats fitted to be floating restaurants for the provision of wider range of services compared to the boats. Current Birmingham Boat Trip has the plans of increasing its operations in the next 5 years and explores the opportunities available in the other ventures. To purchase and fix the boat to meet the expectations of the customers, it costs about £130,000. Throughout the years, the business has spent considerable amount of money fixing the restaurant boat to meet the specific needs of the customers; as a result, it has attracted many businesses from a wide array of clients (Marketing Birmingham, 2016). The marketing team that the organization uses is simple which makes it easy to meet the required target. SWOT Analysis Strength Weaknesses Properly established business brand Easy accessibility to the Birmingham city Adequate asset and capital base Strategic location Diversified products and services Inadequate marketing strategies Expensive products and services High prices for the products and services offered Unstructured marketing team Opportunities Threats Expanding boating industry Opportunities presented with development of International Convention Centre Increased growth of local areas Improved tourism sector throughout Birmingham Increased entrants into the market making competition stiff Strengthening pound against US Dollar and Euro which makes the cost expensive Changing needs of the consumers Offers by competitors during Christmas holidays Marketing Plan Objectives Boat trip industry is increasingly becoming important in Birmingham with many investors seeking to explore the opportunities associated with investing within the industry. In Birmingham, many boating and yachting companies offer incredible tours and boating associated activities. With such competition, Birmingham aims to achieve its competitive advantage through offering quality products and services to the customers and ensuring that every decision made within the business meets the needs of a given market segment. To set itself apart, the business needs effective marketing strategies, which are well thought out, has practical aspect, and actionable steps. Moreover, the strategies need to reach the target audience and ultimately ensure that the business gets more bookings. The aim of the business is to make efforts in holding on to some of the biggest spending customers and ensuring that they spend more through revamping various aspects of traditional cruise and offering the potential customers more experience that is exclusive. To compete effectively, it is important that the business offer upgraded accommodation suite that matches the needs of the VIP, high quality meals, priority booking for the spa treatments. The major objective of Birmingham Boat Trip is to ensure adequate growth of the business majorly through increment in the numbers of customers. For the marketing objectives, the business aims to increase its level of awareness and undertake evaluation of the market target segments and monitoring specific strategies of growth. Moreover, the marketing plan aims to focus attention on the short-term marketing strategies of increasing the numbers of customers of assisting the business in ensuring adequate financial growth and capital of fulfilling the long-term objective of the business. Within the boating industry, just like any other industry, it is not only important to make the brand known to the market but also ensuring adequate differentiation strategies. Through effective implementation of impactful and targeted marketing campaign, the business is likely to stand out among the competitors and wide variation of audience. Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning Effectively designed, implemented, and evaluated marketing communication is priceless in the achievement and building the level of brand awareness and equity position within the business. Birmingham Boat Trip operates within a small market segment with numerous competitors; nonetheless, it has several points of difference compared to the other business. The business has both broad and narrow market segments, which use differentiation strategy. While determining the market segments for the company, it is important to have an analysis of the customers. Birmingham has a broad customer base; however, it has four main market segments including corporate clients, customers in need of boat dinner, international visitors, and young professionals. International visitors segments involves both the domestic and internal customers seeking off-shore boating services and customers aged between 20-25 who majorly exploit the services from the company (Visit Birmingham, 2016). Therefore, to increase the potential of such market segment, it is important to focus the promotional strategies in such age category. Tourists also form the business’ market segment through the cruising on the narrow boats that majorly lasts for between two and five hours. In addition, the business offers various types of refreshments, entertainment, and services on the boats, which majorly targets customers who like having their parties in the boat. These services aims to combine trips with dinner, dinner dance, and the younger generation who seem to be enjoying these types of activities. The visitors from the business come from various parts of the world. Within Birmingham, the business attracts local tourists. However, the percentage of international visitors often fluctuates from month to month depending on the holiday season, world economies, and travel trends. Figure 1: Positioning Map for BBT Summary Marketing Mix In the report, Ansoff Matrix has been applied to Birmingham Boat Trip and products and services it offers. Considering that BBT is a company with ever-changing products and services types, it is important that it innovates its products continuously. BBT’s Ansoff Matrix Existing products and services New products and services Existing Markets Penetration of the market Process automation, boat dining, and boat dancing services, focusing on the ICC as market opportunity, Birmingham city, local area growth, development of tourism sector, online marketing through social media, online payment, potential customer targeted in December seasons Product development Innovation in all the products and services offered; introduction of new services within its brands; additional boat used as river taxi service during special occasions; entering joint agreement with bars and restaurant New markets Market development Exploring the Birmingham city opportunities, crafting marketing strategy to target the corporate market; development for student segments is important Diversification Diversified products and services: boat hiring, dining services; product innovation and addition of new features to the actual products and services; offering boat certification; sailing lessons Marketing mix involves various set of tools aimed at shaping the nature of the services offered to the customers. The aim of the marketing mix is to communicate the methods in which Birmingham Boat Trips would inform, persuade, incite, and remind the potential customers either through indirect and direct brand of the products and services that it offers. In the business, the marketing mix represents the voice of the brand and methods through which Birmingham would engage the customers in conversation regarding the products and services that it offers. The strategy for the business aimed to create, promote, and deliver the service and product value for the customers. Implementation Issues and Control Birmingham Boats Trip experience peak operating months during different seasons; therefore, to ensure effective implementation of the marketing mix, the business needs to implement the plan during peak seasons (Visit Birmingham, 2016). Implementation during such period would ensure that the marketing mix experience high level of exposure to the customers. Nonetheless, after the implementation of the strategies, the business should continue implementing other mechanisms through the quarters and future years. The business needs to implement strict record keeping with an aim of tracking successful and effective marketing strategies and the manner in which they impact the number of customers. Furthermore, the business should record its key performance indicators (KPI) based on increased level of awareness through determining how the customers heard of the business (Baker, 2003, 155). Evaluation of the target segments and monitoring specific strategies for growth through recording the discounts or offer used, whether the customers have used boats from the company, and records of customer demographics. Initially, the business aimed at gaining customer base through offering quality services that meet specific needs of the customers. The plan introduces new strategies of marketing that mainly focus on the sales, brand awareness, and growth specified to target corporations and international visitors. The recommendations of the marketing plan focus on implementation of the target short-term methods of meeting organizational objective through emphasizing on the multi-channel communication mix. The mix needs to focus on the place, service marketing activities, and promotions through implementation and regular use of various social media platforms and implementation of customer service training with an aim of increasing the level of customer satisfaction (Event Industry News, 2014). Moreover, the business should measure and undertake evaluation of the results and effectiveness of the marketing strategy plan. The effectiveness of the marketing plan depends on the business commitment towards the achievement of the desired results. References Baker, M. J. (2003). The marketing book. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Canal Museum. (2016). Boat Trips in London on the Canal. Retrieved from http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/boat-trip.htm Event Industry News. (2014). Birmingham unveils latest business tourism campaign to attract more events to region - Event Industry News. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from http://www.eventindustrynews.co.uk/brand-marketing/birmingham-unveils-latest-business-tourism-campaign-attract-events-region/ The Local Government Association. (2014). Economy | Local Government Association. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=17092163 Marketing Birmingham. (2016). Marketing Birmingham | Media Highlights. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from http://www.marketingbirmingham.com/media-hub/media-highlights/ Visit Birmingham. (2016). Attractions, Places of Interest, Visit Birmingham UK. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from http://visitbirmingham.com/what-to-do/attractions/ Read More