Importance of Market Strategy and Marketing Mix

Discuss about the Marketing Strategy and Marketing Mix for Demographic Segmentation.

The purpose of the report is to give a clear understanding of the concept of market strategy in business (Armstrong et al., 2014). Additionally the study also highlights the importance and use of marketing mix in the business sphere. The whole course of the discussion sheds light on the practical application of the two concepts by an organization.

Market segmentation is closely related to the market mix hence it will be right to assert that the market segmentation determines the components of marketing mix is designed in accordance with the customer specification (Armstrong et a., 2015). 

The most of the customer of the Qantas airways belongs to the age of between 25-45. It clearly shows that the customers are mostly service holders. Despite of the fact that Qantas offer different range of products in terms of price range to its customers, the customers who avail the flight services of Qantas are seen to be belonged from the upper middle class strata (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Another variable has also been seen that the education background of customers is quite higher. As the airline company is Australia based, it has been seen that mostly the customers are from Christian background in terms of religion.

The customer of Qantas airways are from different nature as well as from different mindset. In accordance with that, their lifestyles also differ (Baker, 2014). Customers belong from different class of society which also has an impact on them. Thus examples can be drawn that the customers from middle class travel economic class while the customers from affluent uses business class.

Qantas offer its service across Australia and the neighborhood countries like New Zealand and others. The geographic segmentation shows that most of the customers of the company are from European countries rather than Asian countries. Therefore, the company densest its products keeping the European market in mind (Armstrong et al., 2014). 

The customers of the Qantas airways can be divided into two sections in terms of behavioral segmentation. They are divided according to the response to the service offered by the airlines. Thus it can be said that the behaviors of the customers heavily impact on segmenting the customer base (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). For instance, some customers want more facilities, while others focus only on the quality service.  Thus, behavioral segmentation plays a crucial role in product designing.

Market Segmentation and Customer Demographics

Positioning is crucial for every company in order to position in the concerned industry. In case Qantas, it is mandatory to understand the business strategy of other brands in the same sphere (Weinstein, 2013). In order to secure its position in the market, Qantas must satisfy the customer needs with a view that customers avail the business service than the other brands. The marketing strategy also needs to be effective in order to reach out to maximum customer base. In accordance with the present market scenario, Qantas has been successfully positioned itself in the aviation industry.

The value proposition of Qantas Airways adheres to the value of money. Over the years, Qantas has been marked itself as the largest airline in Australian aviation industry due to having the largest network across the country as well as across the neighboring countries (Osterwalder et al., 2014). It exclusively focuses on customer satisfaction by providing quality service.

Over the long year of its service in the industry, Qantas have been working on how to make its brand more recognized in the market. It has been continuously modifying the product range and service area in order to make its branding stronger than others. Beside of modifying the product range to improve the branding, Qantas has been continuously putting effort to improve its customer satisfaction by providing quality service (Slack, 2015).

Qantas airways have been positioned itself as the largest airline company in the entire Australia. As compared to other airlines companies, Qantas airways have been holding a huge customer base by providing best service to the customers. It has been taking different measures in order to maintain the brand vitality (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). The growing brand strength index of Qantas revealed that the company is financially sustainable which indicates strong brand value of the airlines company. 

In order to stimulate the customer loyalty, interaction with the customer and long-term customer engagement, relationship marketing strategy is designed. Qantas uses strong communication strategy by which the customer service department of the company interacts with the customers as well as assists them in resolving their queries. It also provides information regarding ticket booking, fight status and other aspects (Baker, 2014). By adopting relationship marketing strategy, the Qantas airways promote open as well as direct communication with the customers towards the further improvement of their service.

In order to attract more customers towards its business pricing strategy plays an important role. Qantas airways also uses specially designed pricing strategy towards the greater hold of customer holding (Baker, 2014). Therefore, Qantas airways have adopted low pricing strategy and high pricing strategy. Keeping the customer of lower income strata, Qantas offer lower to medium price range of air tickets, while for the affluent class, it offers high price range with multiple facilities. It also offers in flight catering service in order to provide more facilities to the customers (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). Qantas adhere to the policy that effective pricing strategy can reach out to more customers. In addition to that, Qantas provides different offers and discounts throughout the year, for example during seasonal festivals, it reduces its flight fare. Mostly, it offers discounts and special offers to customers for attracting them.

Positioning and Value Proposition

Pricing strategy plays a crucial role in business strategy thus a company needs to design the pricing strategy very effectively (Baker, 2014). Qantas airways use its pricing strategy for holding a greater customer base as well as for generating more revenue from the market. Price adjustment strategy is the one of the main part of pricing strategy thus it includes seven strategies of price adjustment such as geographical pricing, discount strategy, dynamic strategy, segmented strategy, promotional strategy, international strategy and psychological strategy. Qantas specially designed pricing strategy based on the seven aspects while keeping the customer need in mind.

Through value delivery network, all the direct participants of a company get involved in the business operations of the company such as production, customer service, distribution and the marketing (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Through the value delivery network, Qantas airways adds more value to its services and products which in turn adds as well as increase the value for its customers. In this regard, it must be mentioned that the every components of Qantas’s value delivery network are interrelated with each other. For example, the overall sales of its products determine the customer satisfaction whereas its effective customer service influences its product sales. 

Qantas airways is partnered with different other independent organizations by using which customers can use the service and product of the airlines company. In other words, these organizations work as channels which provide easy access of the service and products to the customers (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013). The primary aim of using the external organizations as partners is to reach out to more customers. For example, ticket booking sites like sky scanner and cheap flights are partnered with Qantas Airways by offering the products of Qantas over their websites so that customers get an easy access to the services provided by Qantas.

The members of in the value chain play a key role for the business process of Qantas airways. Being the largest airlines company in the country, its members of the value chain includes digital intermediateries for the purpose of online transaction (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). The airlines company owns its own websites, where it features its products so that customers can book tickets using the online service of the company.

Qantas airways use integrated marketing communication in order to promote its products. Therefore the promotional mix of the company can be divided into five sections:

Relationship Marketing and Pricing Strategy

In order to advertise its products as well as brand Qantas uses both the traditional way and internet based ways (Armstrong et al., 2015). In traditional ways, the advertisements featuring the products of the company are aired over the televisions, newspapers, magazines, billboards, posters and  handouts, while in the internet based way, using the modern technology, advertisements are featured over social midis sites and as pop-ups over different websites.

By using the sales promotion method of marketing strategy, the airlines company adds value to the image of the brand. To be very specific, in sales promotion, Qantas offers a trail of its products whenever a new product or service is launched (Baker, 2014). For the purpose of trialing its product, it reduces the prize. In ties regard, it must be noted that the sales promotion exclusively customer oriented.

The concept of personal selling refers to the direct promotion of the products by the company. Apart from the partnering organizations, the company promotes its services directly through personal selling (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

Qantas’s main purpose of using of the public relation strategy is to uplift its sales margin. Through public relation, Qantas airways remain attentive to its every customer and value them. Qantas keep continuous contact with the customers in order to promote the products of it (Armstrong et al., 2015).

The digital marketing strategy of the company includes prompting its brand, services and products over tee social media platforms (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2016). Facebook, twitter, Instagram and many other social media platforms are used by the company for the purpose.

People in terms of employees have immense importance in the business process of the company. It has been observed that Qantas has been recruiting effective workforce for its business process (Jain, 2013). Additionally, it gives adequate training to make the workforce effective.

The term refers to the service by which the airlines company allows its customers to give feedback regarding the service, product specification and other aspects (Jain, 2013). As most of the customers prefer clean atmosphere, Qantas heavily focus on the matter of cleanliness so that customers can remain satisfied.

Qantas made the process of delivering its service very systematically so that the customers can receive the best service from the company. It improves itself based on the feedback of the customers (Jain, 2013). Another noteworthy point is that the company made an ease for veiling its service.

As the issue of population is emerging, Qantas has been putting continuous effort in the area of sustainability. It undertakes many charitable activities towards the betterment of the society (Ottman, 2017).

To end up the discussion, it can be very right to state that Qantas has been secured its place in the aviation industry. It has been continuously improving its business operation in order to overcome every little challenge that it faces. However, still there are some e issues which need to be highlighted. One such challenge is inefficiency of the employees. Since the entire business process of the company is exclusively depended on the effective workforce, it must recruit the best talents from leading institutes. Another major area is the customer service. Most of the customers come with the complain regarding the customer service department of the company. Thus special training program must be initiated so that customer service personnel act towards the satisfying the customers by resolving their queries and providing them assistance. In the concluding line, it can be said that despite of the challenges, the company has been holding leading position in the market. 

References

Armstrong, Adam, Denize and Kotler and also Marketing: A Snapshot by Valenzuela-Abaca

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. (2015). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital marketing. Prentice Hall.

Hartley, R. F., & Claycomb, C. (2013). Marketing mistakes and successes. Wiley.

Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer, New York, NY.

Jain, M. K. (2013). An analysis of marketing mix: 7Ps or more. Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4).

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2014). Value proposition design: How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.

Ottman, J. (2017). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding. Routledge.

Slack, N. (2015). Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Weinstein, A. (2013). Handbook of market segmentation: Strategic targeting for business and technology firms. Routledge.