Module 07 The Marketing Mix in Tourism and Hospitality

DEFINITION Marketing is about anticipating and identifying the wants and needs of a target market of consumers, then satisfying those needs in order to make a profit Firstly, travel and tourism organisations must understand their customers’ demands. This is the ‘anticipating’ and ‘identifying’ part of the definition

MARKETING RESEARCH Anticipating and identifying demands depends on effective marketing research Research into the existing and potential market We will look into this in detail in the Activity Classifying customers according to socio- economic status, lifestyle, family circumstances, gender and so on May involve primary research – surveys, observation, questionnaires And/or secondary research – statistics and records, quantitative and qualitative

CLASSIFYING CUSTOMER A target market consists of a whole group of potential customers, drawn from the whole population It’s better to define the target market as a collection of ‘segments’ Each segment will have different characteristics Each segment’s needs and wants must be satisfied

MARKETING MIX The way in which current and potential customers’ demands are satisfied depends on the marketing mix of the organisation’s products and services: The tools available to a business to gain the reaction it is seeking from its target market in relation to its marketing objectives Traditionally 4 elements of the mix – Product, Price, Promotion and Place 7Ps – Price, Product, Promotion, Place, People, Process, Physical Environment

Elements of The Marketing Mix

Product or Service Methods used to improve/differentiate the product and increase sales or target sales more effectively to gain a competitive advantage e.g. Extension strategies Specialised versions New editions Improvements – real or otherwise! Changed packaging Technology, etc.

Product or Service Cont. Core Product Facilitating Product Supporting Product Augmented Product Product Life-Cycle Image copyright: