Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Management - Essay Example Internationalization and globalization have made markets competitive and the airline sector in particular, has had to revise its marketing mix to suit the current trends and customer needs. An evaluation of the existing 7Ps of the marketing mix of British Airways (BA) would help develop an integrated one-year marketing strategy. Product: the product in the airline sector is more than just the sectors the airline flies to. It also has to take into account the airports it operates from, the type of seats on offer, the on-board facilities including food and entertainment. In addition, aligning with customer needs is important. BA flies customers at convenient times to the best located airports across the world. They have the best global connectivity and they have a strong presence in the top tier global cities. The target customers of BA include both corporate and the leisure segment. However, with a focus on the business travelers, they want to promote their new sleeper service (Bahnon d, 2004). Nevertheless, they are targeting several segments simultaneously – they are also rethinking the leisure segment Pricing: Pricing also has to take into account consumer psychology, the sectors, the season (as demand in certain sectors are seasonal). However, BA does not believe in cutting costs at the expense of quality (Prokesch, 2000). Even in a cutthroat, mass market there are many would be willing to pay premium price for the services. BA commands premium price as they fill customers’ value driven needs. Place: Place in the airline sector refers to the location from where the passengers can access bookings and avail of the services. BA has done away with intermediaries like the travel agents and the purpose is not merely cost reduction. It enables the airline to collect personal passenger details. Most of their business comes through the internet and very little is derived through telephones or call centres. Through the internet they are pushing services s uch as online check-in, fast bag check, and pre-flight selection (New Media Age, 2004). Through this they target the regular BA travelers and those receptive to new technologies. They have dedicated travel sites for this and the purpose is to communicate the convenience of the web services. This focuses on people who book through the net. Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, direct selling and public relations. Again, this could vary depending upon the season, the sector and competition. BA’s public relations strategy is supported by values and goals. They try to ‘understand customers better than competitors’ which is in line with the communications theory that it is essential to understand the customer and not enough to just listen to the customer (Olorunniwo, Hsu & Udo). To lure the holiday makers they have appointed specialized marketing agency. People: This, in the airline sector would also include the staff that delivers the service. The cu stomer facing staff at BA is passionate about delivering outstanding customer service. To promote organizational values among people they have a â€Å"Owning Our Future† program which every employee throughout the organization has to undergo at some point (Summerfield, 2005). People should understand the business direction, the business environment which would help them understand how the business can be taken forward. Process: This refers to the automation