Insight Vacations - Situational Analysis, Environmental Factors, E-Marketing Strategic Planning - Example

E-Marketing Plan College: Name: Students ID: Date: Course Name: Unit Code: Time: Instructor: Introduction Insight Vacations operates under the tourism industry in Australia. The tourism sector in Australia contributes considerably to the overall economy of the country, mainly through creation of employment opportunities. the industry also supports other sectors of the economy such as education and training, retail sector, transport (by air, water, road and other means), hotel industry through accommodation, restaurants, cafes, and other takeaway food operators, tour operator services (such as Insight Vacations) and travel agency. The industry has two key divisions; the domestic tourism through local spending on tourist activities and the foreign tourism through visitors from other parts of the world, also regarded as tourism export. Regional economies are the ones that benefit the most from tourist activities. Australian tourism industry has been growing steadily over the past ten year (TRA 2013, 4). Insight Vacations is a company that offers escorted tours to various parts of the world. The company offers high quality, premium tour vacations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Its product range covers conveniently located first class hotels, terrific cuisine, multilingual and expert tour guides, immaculate service, and well-thought out routes. This ensures the tourists experience the best and get to see sights that remain etched in their mind. Insight Vacations offers red hot deals, air as well as land specials, great savings plus discounts and individual interest tours. The company’s products include ancient civilisations in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Greece and Turkey, Europe and Britain as well as the Winter Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, United States and Canada, and India and Nepal. Situational Analysis Situation analysis captures both the environmental factors and SWOT analysis that may well have an effect on Insight Vacation’s operations. The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis scrutinises the internal strengths and weaknesses as well as the external opportunities and threats affecting the company (Arens 2004, 120). Environmental factors that affect e-marketing include legal factors, technological factors, and other market-related factors (Cant 2003, 67). SWOT Analysis Strengths A good company website Online presence in social networks (Facebook and twitter) Located in a place with good internet and wireless connectivity Impeccable and quality standards Weaknesses Website does not allow for e-mail subscriptions Limitation in number of online sites presence (does not include you tube videos, my space, and others) Website does not support receiving online payments such as pay pal, visa-card and master-card Low level of search engine optimisation (SEO) Does not appear more on Google ads and lacks other fast online access features. Opportunities Growing E-Commerce functionality Global internet connectivity Online marketing strategies Increased internet connectivity and wireless connections Emergence of online payment modes such as pay pal, visa-card and master-card Threats Increasing online competition from other players Cyber crimes Increasing website hacking occurrences Environmental Factors Legal Factors Increased global regulations on patents and copyrights that include online activities Confidentiality and privacy concerns regarding online leakage of client information Protection of intellectual property rights Technological Factors Rapid changes in technology Development of industry-specific technology Adapting to current technologies Market-Related Factors Online ethical considerations Increased online business activities Global business interconnectedness E-Marketing Strategic Planning Segmentation and Targeting Demographics Owns a home personal computer Owns a smart phone Single; married; with or without children Earns between $27,000 -55,000 Generation X Psychographics Spends a lot of time browsing online content Active on social networks such as Facebook, my space and twitter and others Prefers to access the internet constantly Online brand conscience Reads fashion, news, travel, and art publications with a preference to online material Geographic Resides in or works in Australia Resides in regions with good internet connectivity Lives in neighbourhoods with access to internet Works in places with free wireless connectivity Resides in cities with free wireless connectivity Based on the market segmentation above, Insight Vacations shall adopt an undifferentiated (mass) market targeting strategy (Dwyer and Tanner 2006, 69). Differentiation and Positioning Insight Vacations seeks to ‘offer online premium quality tour operations’ through discovering ‘the art of touring in style’. E-Marketing Objective The goal of this e-marketing plan is to boost the traffic of tourists and brand loyalty to Insight Vacations. This will be achieved through; Enhance online brand consciousness Increase online purchase by 5 per cent every year Improve online database by October 2014 E-Marketing Strategy Product Insight Vacations seeks to offer products ranging from ancient civilisations in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Greece and Turkey, Europe and Britain that includes Winter Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, United States and Canada, as well as India and Nepal. These products are available for both online and offline customers. Price Insight Vacations offers premium quality products from a minimum of $5,000 per person. Customers will be allowed to make online payments such as through pay pal, visa-card and master-card. Place The company offers high quality, premium tour vacations in Africa (Egypt and Morocco), Asia (Israel, Jordan, India and Nepal), Europe (Britain, Turkey, Greece, Ireland), and North America (Canada and United States of America including Hawaii and Alaska). Promotion The company will mainly promote its products through; Website Social networks (face book, twitter, my space, you tube) Online publications and blogs (Voyager magazine, Wanderlust travel magazine, Australian travel magazines and writers) E-mail subscriptions Implementation Plan To realise that vision of offering ‘the art of touring in style’, Insight Vacations shall; Expand our presence in social networking sites (Facebook, twitter, you tube, my space, and others). Boost our website to have E-commerce attributes Increase our product range and develop online products Metrics Social metrics Customer survey 2014 (%) Customer survey 2013 (%) Insight Vacations Reviews and ratings 82 75 Yes Top rated products 74 70 Yes Mobile 25 18 No Share 70 40 No Facebook 97 95 Yes My Space 75 67 No You tube 89 85 Yes Twitter 80 75 Yes Wish list 79 68 Yes Other 75 72 Yes Favourites 45 33 No Customer service Hrs taken to respond CSR understanding (1-3) Business days to arrange tour Insight Vacations 3.56 2 5 Exotic Destinations 2.69 3 4 Nordic travel 4.51 2 3 Tempo holidays 3.89 3 6 Evaluation & Budget Promotions 1 2 3 4 Total Website Design update Content update $600 $600 $600 $600 $2400 Social media (face book, twitter, my space, you tube) Design Clicks $250 $275 $285 $300 $1110 Online publications and Blogs (free until approved) Voyager magazine Wanderlust travel magazine Australian travel magazines and writers - - - - E-mail subscriptions List Design $5000 $2500 $3800 $5500 $16800 Wage expenses $10000 $12000 $8000 $13500 $43500 Other (travel/beverages/hotel) - 500 1000 - 1500 Total $15850 $15875 $13685 $19900 $65310 Projected expenditure $450000 Projected balance $384690 Projected return on investment (ROI) 53.63% Bibliography Arens, W.F. Contemporary Advertising, 9th edn, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Cant, M. Marketing Research, Claremont: New African Books, 2003. Chernatony, L. and MacDonald, M. Creating Powerful Brands in Consumers Service and Markets. 3rd edn. Butterworth-Heinemann, United Kingdom, 2003. Dwyer, F.R. and Tanner, J.F. Business Marketing: Connecting Strategy, Relationship, and Learning, 3rd edn, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Futrell, C.M. Fundamentals of Selling: Customers for Life through Service, 8th edn, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Gurley, J.W. The One Internet Metric That Matters. Fortune, March 6, 2000. Kotler P. and Keller K.L. Marketing Management. 13th edn, Pearson, 2009. McDaniel, C. and Gates, R. Marketing Research, 6th edn, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Priore, T. E-mail Marketing Smartens Up. Information Week, July 24, 2000. Tourism Australia. Information about Australia travel and guide, 5 April 2014, TRA (Tourism Research Australia). Tourism Industry Facts and Figures at a Glance, Tourism Research Australia, Canberra, 2013 Read More