Transcript The Marketing Mix for Tourism Services Objective

The Marketing Mix for
Tourism Services
Objective: Introducing the four basic controllable variables –
known as the 4Ps of marketing that marketing managers use in
order to manage demand. In addition, explaining how these
variables expanded to include people, process and physical
evidence or design for travel and tourism services.
Marketing mix defined
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A company’s success depends on the ability of
the company in;
responding the changes in the environment,
forecasting the direction and intensity of these
changes, and
using the internal controllable resources
(marketing mix) in adapting to the changes in
the external environment.
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Marketing mix may be defined as the mixture of
the controllable marketing variables that the
firm uses to persuade the customers in the target
market in order to secure sales.
Basically, the marketing mix variables are
referred to as the 4 Ps: product, place
(distribution), promotion, and price.
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The four controllable are the product formulation
which is adapting the product to the changing needs of
the target customer; pricing which is used to increase
or slow down the volume of sales according to market
conditions; promotion which is used to increase the
numbers of the people in the target market who are
aware of the product and directed to buy the product;
the place which determines the number of prospective
customers who are able to find convenient places and
ways to convert their buying intentions into purchases.
These four are guided continuously according to the
market conditions, especially with regard to the actions
of the competitors.
4 Ps and 4 Cs
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The four conrollable marketing mix elements all
begin with the letter “p” by McCarthy (1981).
They are stated in producer oriented terms,
therefore Kotler and Amstrong (1999) restated
them by using the “c” to reflect consumer
orientation central to modern marketing today.
Customer value for product
 Cost for price
 Communication for promotion
 Convenience for place
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Product
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Product covers the shape or form of what is offered to
prospective customers. Product components include:
Basic design, such as the size and facilities of a hotel.
Presentation, which is mainly the atmosphere and
environment created on the property.
The service element, which includes the number,
training, attitudes and appearance of the staff who
deliver the product to the consumer.
Branding, which identifies particular products with a
unique name and image. In other words, is the synthesis
of all product elements. So that, it is the focus of the
promotional activity.
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In modern marketing, products in travel and
tourism are designed for and continuously
adapted to match, target segments’ needs,
expectations, and ability to pay. Most
organizations produce and market not one but
several products. For example, tour operators
provide a range of products within their
brochures. And large hotels have separate
products ranging from meeting and business
class rooms to short break packages for holiday
market.
Activities: Product planning; product research and
development; product testing; and the service
accompanying the product.
 Market research on product planning,
development, and product testing
 Product research on the development of
product styling and fashions
 Presale service
 Postsale service
Price
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Price indicates that the published or negotiated terms of
the exchange transaction for a product between a
producer ( who aim to achieve predetermined sales
volume and revenue objectives) and prospective
customers ( who aim to maximize the value for money
in choices they make between alternative products).
In tourism there is generally a regular or standard price
for a product. In addition, there are discounted or
promotional prices because of the needs of particular
segments of buyers, or particular market conditions
such as seasonality.
Activities: Price determination; pricing policies;
and specific pricing strategies.
 Determining list price of products given
demand, cost, and competitive constraints
 Determining channel member discounts
 Setting overall strategy on pricing above or
below competitors’ prices
 Dealing with legal constraints on prices
Place (or distribution)
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For marketing purposes, place does not just mean the
location of a tourist attraction or facility, but the
location of all points of sale that provide access to
tourist products. For example, “place” for Disney
World in the USA is not only Orlando, Florida, but also
the numerous travel agents that sell the Disney World
product. However, travel agents are only one of the
ways in which “place” or access is created for products
in travel and tourism. Place would include
computerized and other reservation/booking systems
that provide access to products for repeat/loyal or
prospective customers.
Activites: The selection, coordination, and
evaluation of channels; transportation
 Transportation
 Determination of the basic channels of
distribution
 Selection of individual establishments within
the basic channels
 Producer’s efforts to develop and assist the
channel of distribution
Promotion
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The most visible of the four Ps is the promotion which
includes advertising, direct mailing, sales promotion,
brochure production, merchandising, public relations
(PR). Promotional techniques, which will be examined
in detail in the following chapters, are used to make
prospective customers aware of products in order to
sharpen the attractiveness and stimulate demand. In
addition, they provide information to help customers
decide, and generally provide incentives to purchase.
Note that, promotion can only be effective if it is
coordinated with the other three.
Activities: Sales management; personal selling; advertising;
sales promotional programs; and all other forms of
marketing communications
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Product branding and promotional packaging
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Printed media advertising (newspapers, magazines,
and brochures)
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Broadcast media advertising (radio and television)
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Sales management and personal selling, including
training, and supervision and sales efforts of company
management personnel
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Special promotional activities - promotional
warranties, trade shows, dealer aids, and product
displays
Expanding the marketing mix
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The expanded marketing mix is offered by
Booms and Bitner in the 1980s. They added;
People; participants in the service delivery
 Process; of service delivery
 Physical evidence; of service delivery
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There is overlap between them. In addition, they
may be considered as part-product and partcommunications mix.
People
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Regarding travel and tourism products, there is
substantial human interaction as part of the
service experience. Participants include;
Visitors; interaction with other customers
 Employees; front-line and support staff interact with
visitors
 Host community; residents of a destination country
interact with visitors
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The service delivery process
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The travel and tourism experience includes both
process and outcome.
Consumers move through a series of sevice
delivery encounters during their experience.
Some encounters may be more important than
others;
Critical incidents
 Moments of truth
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Critical incidents; specific interactions between a
consumer and service employees (or equipment)
that are especially satisfying or dissatisfying.
They are less memoriable.
Moments of truth; stays in consumer’s mind and
signify quality and satisfaction.
Service recovery systems are required to turn
dissatisfied customers into satisfied customers.
For this, companies need to;
Measure and track the costs of customer retention
 Encourage complaints
 Train employees in service recovery
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To improve the performance of service delivery;
Using scripts; sequence of actions, equipment and
words that help to have a smooth and seamless
service delivery process
 Service blueprinting; flowchart of the service
delivery process; a picture, graphical representation
or map that accurately portrays the service system so
that the different service people can understand and
deal with it objectively. A blueprint can involve all
relevant points of contact, standard length of time
for activities, bottlenecks, possible service failure
points, etc.
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Physical evidence and design
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Refers to the internal and external design of the
built environment of the travel organization.
Due to inseparability, physical setting in the
service delivery process is an important part of
the visitors’ experience.
In relation with intangibility, it is used to
tangibilize the offer, especially important at the
point of sale to influence purchase.
Useful Links and Sources
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Kotler, P.; Bowen, J. and Makens, J. (1999).
Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism (2nd ed.).
Prentice Hall. NJ.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2006) Principles
of Marketing (11th ed.). Prentice Hall. NJ.
Middleton, V.T.C. (2004) Marketing in Travel
and Tourism (3rd ed). Elsevier. Oxford.
http://www.hotelsmag.com
http://www.tourism.bilkent.edu.tr/~eda