Intent Marketing at Travel Associates - Essay Example

Intent Marketing Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction/Firm and Industry 3 Situational analysis for Travel Associates (Environmental and SWOT Analysis) 3 Strengths 3 Weaknesses of Travel Associates 4 Opportunities 4 Threats 4 E-Marketing Strategic Planning-Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation and Positioning 5 The determination of E-Marketing Objectives by Travel Associates 5 Travel Associates’ E-Marketing Strategy using the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) 6 Travel Associates’ Implementation Plan 7 Budgeting for Travel-Associates’ E-Marketing plan 7 Introduction/Firm and Industry Travel Associates is a travel agency having complete focus on customer service that is uncompromised. Travel Associates goes out of its way to tailor make clients’ dream itineraries and also present a first class business and first class special interest tours, airfares, luxury rail journeys and luxury cruises with a difference. The company (Travel Associates) has a total national network comprising of one hundred and twenty consultants who offer the clients a genuine passion and love for travel, a wealth of experience in the industry and also numerous years of actual firsthand knowledge regarding destinations. At Travel Associates, they believe that travel is their passion and they are therefore excited in offering quality services to their clients (Molenaar, 2013). Situational analysis for Travel Associates (Environmental and SWOT Analysis) The major environmental factors which affect Travel Associates’ e-marketing strategies include technology, legal and other market related factors. Strengths Travel Associates, unlike other competitors has got more experience in the travel business and apart from that, the company has got the most experienced and knowledgeable naturalists who provide the clients with one of the best in-depth knowledge through the use of e-marketing strategies. Apart from that, the company is more flexible in its activities and it offers guests with various activities through the use of numerous e-marketing platforms. Travel Associates is also committed to conservation, has got year round departures and the presence of technological tools actually adds value to the experience of the guests. For instance, Travel Associates has various tools for exploration like for example plasma screens, video microscopes, hydrophones, undersea specialists, splash cams, video chroniclers and other reports in expedition reports. Apart from that, Travel Associates is also committed towards offering unique opportunities for bonding which are available to both groups and families and the company is committed towards offering excellent expeditions meant for both the connection of the mind and the body as well. These services are well advertised and marketed through the company website http://www.travel-associates.com.au/ (Chaffey, et al.2013). Weaknesses of Travel Associates The presence of weaknesses in Travel Associates makes it hard for the company to capitalize on opportunities and therefore makes it to become more vulnerable towards the threats. In addition to that, weaknesses can also make Travel Associates to drain its own power or ability of the strengths in its e-marketing strategies. Some of the Travel Associates’ weaknesses include having small budgeting for its marketing and a small historical emphasis. In addition to that, the company also has an irregular publication of its newsletter and it also has a low yearly growth patterns. Opportunities There are various new destinations which have not been exploited by Travel-Associates and thus venturing into such green markets through using e-marketing strategies or platforms like twitter and Facebook will ultimately bring the company lots of profits. There is therefore great need for the company to expand into such new markets where their services may ultimately be on high demand. Threats Some of the threats facing Travel associates include among others, unfavourable public perceptions regarding the conventional travel agencies, negative impacts created due to some of the unqualified travel agents and failure of attracting new agents. There is also a common belief by Travel Associates that the mass media is responsible for the creation of a negative public image regarding the company. The media is therefore regarded as a big threat by Travel Associates (Rana, 2009). E-Marketing Strategic Planning-Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation and Positioning Travel Associates has clearly broken down all its clients into groups of potential flights and cruises through its e-marketing segmentation strategy available on the company’s website. As a result, clients having the same likes or tastes are allocated same services which are appealing to them. Apart from that, Travel Associates also selects the group of organizations or individuals to sell their services through targeted or differentiated e-marketing strategies on the company’s website. These processes are so important because they help the company to avoid any form of head on collision with other companies in an effort to capture the same clients. It is also beneficial because it will help Travel Associates to not only establish new offerings and expand its profitable brands but it will also help in their expansion as well. Travel Associates can therefore segment itself through using either psychographic segmentation or geographic segmentation (Bates, 2009). Since, Travel Associate’s products and services may still face competition, then it is prudent for the company to position itself so that it also becomes relative towards the competing products. It can effectively achieve this aim through the adoption of e-marketing platforms available on the web. Travel Associates has also positioned itself to an extent that its products and services have been tailored to stand out or emerge the best from those offered by the competitors. The company can position its products and services through plotting a 2 dimensional map visually depicting where its products and services stand, where it ought to stand in relation to its competitors (Dann, et al, 2011). The determination of E-Marketing Objectives by Travel Associates The use of E-Marketing objectives will help Travel Associates to define what it wants to accomplish through its e-marketing strategies. The company will therefore use numerous vital factors to create effective e-marketing objectives. For instance, Travel Associates will use the “SMART” (Setting specific measurable achievable and realistic time) specific objectives when determining the e-marketing objectives that it will seek to achieve. In addition to that, Travel Associates can also link its e-marketing objectives with the strategies and provide a clear direction to its workers. Travel Associates has a lot of e-marketing objectives which are aimed at helping the company to achieve its set goals. For instance, Travel Associates has various objectives like for instance increasing the company’s market share, increasing the number of comments which are left on any internet blog, increasing the company’s sales revenue and also increasing the size of the company’s database. When building its e-marketing plan, Travel Associates should ascertain its e-marketing objectives based on terms of its revenue, ascertain its marketing objectives based on its market share and ascertain its marketing objectives based on terms of its products and services (Fischhoff, et al, 2004). Travel Associates’ E-Marketing Strategy using the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) Travel Associates should use its e-marketing strategy using the 4Ps and the Design Tier 2 of the plan. This will comprise of the products or services, which are being offered by the company. The value or the pricing of the products and services which may include online bidding or dynamic pricing, the place which may comprise of the supply chain or the distribution which will include either agent e-business models like for instance e-trade or e-bay and even direct marketing. Travel Associates Company will also have to ascertain the kind of promotion or communication that it will use in order to reach its targeted audience like for instance the use of email, social media and web pages. Apart from that, Travel associates will also have to ensure that it has got an effective Customer Relationship Management and a good Partner Relationship Management (CRM and PRM). These will greatly help the company to achieve its set goals and objectives (Decrop, 2004). The achievement of the above e-marketing strategies will be highly dependent on the application of both the Tier 1 tasks as described in step two, marketing objectives as stated in step 3 and also the application of Tier 2 tasks as applied in step 4. Tier 1 tasks include positioning, differentiation, segmenting and targeting. On the other hand, Tier 2 tasks will include the Offers (product), Value (price), distribution (place) and communication (promotion) (Fricker, 2002). Travel Associates’ Implementation Plan The implementation plan of Travel Associates will comprise the creative and effective process of designing the company’s product, the price of the products, the place and the promotion methods that will be used by the company to reach the targeted audiences while also adopting the use of e-marketing strategies. This can easily be achieved through the creation of a CRM program. A good Customer Relationship Management for Travel Associates is one which Travel Associates company will be able to use in order to handle its interactions with the customers through the use of e-marketing platforms. The company can therefore adopt the use of a reward Card Program in order to give them access towards special discounts and deals. The company can also adopt the use of CRM software which can help it in the storing of all vital information in a format which is easier to access (Ashmos, et al, 2002). Budgeting for Travel-Associates’ E-Marketing plan This will include the various costs that will be incurred right from the start of the E-Marketing plan to its final implementation. In the evaluation process, the Manager will have to ascertain if the E-Marketing effort is actually worthwhile or not through determining competitive actions, through the sales forecasting and also analysis the benefits which are associated with the implementation of the e-marketing plan (Costa, et al, 1996). Some of the costs that will be incurred in the e-marketing plan are listed in the table below: NO ITEM COST ($) 1. Technological costs 2000 2. Site design 1500 3. Other expenses on site development 2500 4. Social media communication 1540 5. Marketing communication 1783 6. Salaries 30000 7. Travel, stationary, printing, e.t.c 1000 8. Intangible benefits 1700 9. Advertising sales 800 TOTALS 42823 Based on the above information, it will not be difficult for Travel Associates Company to accomplish its set goals and aims. However, the accomplishment of these goals is not the responsibility of the management alone but rather; it is a collective responsibility of all the people in the company. It is therefore prudent that all people in the organization work as a team to ensure the fulfilment of these goals and objectives. References Ashmos, D., Duchon, D., McDaniel, R. and J. Huonker.. What a mess! Participation as a simple managerial rule to ‘complexify’ organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 39(2): 189-206. doi: 10.1111/1467-6486.00288, 2002 Bates, Andree. Online Marketing and eDetailing. New York, 2006, NetworkPharma Ltd, 2006. Chaffey, Dan, et al. Marketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing Your Digital Marketing. New York: Routledge, 2013. Costa, J. and R. Teare. (Environmental scanning: a tool for competitive advantage. In Kotas, R., Teare, R., Logie, J. Jayawardena, C. and Bowen, J. (Editors), The international hospitality business. London: Cassell, pp. 12-20, 1996). Dann, Stephen, et al. E-Marketing: Theory and Application. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Decrop, A. . Trustworthiness in qualitative tourism research. In Phillimore, J. and L. Goodson (Editors), Qualitative Research in Tourism: Ontologies, Epistemologies and Methodologies. London: Routledge, pp. 156-169, 2004. Fischhoff, B., de Bruin, W., Perrin, W., and J. Downs. . Travel risks in a time of terror: Judgments and choice. Risk Analysis, 24(5): 1301-1309. doi:10.1111/j.0272-4332.2004.00527.x, 2004. Fricker, R., and M. Schonlau. Advantages and disadvantages of Internet research surveys: Evidence from the literature. Field Methods, 14(4): 347-367. doi: 10.1177/152582202237725, 2002. Molenaar, Cor. E-Marketing: Applications of Information Technology and the Internet Within Marketing. New York: Routledge, 2013. Rana, Norman. 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