Running head: THE ROLE OF PROMOTION IN MARKETING DECISIONS

The Role of Promotion in Marketing Decisions

TUI University

Module 3: Case Study #3

MKT501: Strategic Marketing

February 08, 2012

The Role of Promotion in Marketing Decisions

This Company’s Targeting and Marketing Strategy Success

Part of what made this company’s targeting and marketing strategy a success comes down to what I reviewed in our reading from KnowThis.com. This article discusses that you need to know the members of your target market. In this case, as Medina (2011) covered in her article, the management staff of the casino looked around and discovered they had a large Hispanic population. This as it turned out was a shock considering that prior research suggested the Hispanic population typically don’t gamble. Since the casino already had a considerable Hispanic clientele, as KnowThis.com suggests, the casino can exploit this information to target their current customers and recruit previous and even potential customers. Another way to do this according to KnowThis.com is to use influencers on the target. The casino invested in signs in Spanish, Spanish speaking blackjack dealers, announcements in Spanish and probably one of the biggest influencers, Spanish entertainers. In Medina’s (2011) article she tells us how the casino sold out all the rooms in the hotel and had a full audience in attendance during these shows, numbers any casino in Las Vegas would kill for. The entertainers also stay after the show is over and interact with audience members; a definite crowd pleaser and something that’s never been done before. All of this has led to a substantial increase in profits for the casino and verifies this is a marketing success.

Three Principles and Ideas Used to Explain this Company’s Success

The principles and ideas that contributed to the company’s success can be explained by discussing some of the promotion objectives. The first thing you want to accomplish is to build awareness. The casino wanted to effectively reach the customer and make them (the Hispanic consumer) aware of what they had to offer. In other words the casino went out of their way to target the Hispanic population by incorporating Spanish language communication venues in order to become a Hispanic “friendly” place and encourage spending. The casino marketing team also created interest by instituting a promotion that “gave away” meals, rooms, and other items to those deemed high rollers. Of course we can’t forget about the Spanish entertainers and their contribution to increasing consumer spending and participation. This casino also provided information to the Hispanic consumers to inform them that this particular casino caters specifically to their needs as Spanish speaking people; a niche market that hadn’t been explored in the past. Demand was stimulated in the fact that this casino has penny slots, something other casinos did away with years ago, combine this with mobile waitresses that serve high end tequila and you have a recipe for success! The part that sealed the deal to ensure continuing consumer loyalty was reinforcing their particular brand of casino specifically geared towards the Hispanic community.

New Market Targeting Lessons Learned

Not having a marketing background I actually learned a lot in this module and know I’ll be able to apply this case study in the business world. I learned from Perner (ND) on the value of the hierarchy of effects and how using this model will help you target the market your business wants to focus in. Take our reading assignment from Medina (2011) for example; the casino marketing team created awareness among Hispanic consumers that there are several locally owned casinos that caters to Spanish speaking people. Then the casino owners set up a trial where they convinced Hispanic consumers to “try” their product. In this case the product is the local casinos that offer more than the Indian and big time casinos located in Las Vegas. This was accomplished by signs, directions on how to play games, announcements, and dealers that spoke the same language and can relate to Hispanic consumers. Next they moved on to the growth stage wherein the casino group persuaded the Hispanic population to not only spend their money in a local, Hispanic themed casino, but that the casino’s brand or way of catering to their specific needs is greater than competitors. The casino accomplished this by offering perks, bringing in Spanish speaking musicians, letting children roam freely through the video arcade, letting people dance in the buffet line while listening to the band, having penny slot machines and all of the other items specifically geared towards Hispanic people.

Conclusion

This was an interesting paper to write research and analyze. Living in the desert Southwest for a long period of time and witnessing the ever increasing size of the Hispanic population, it would be foolish to ignore this market. For this case study I discussed this company’s strategy and marketing target success. I went into detail and used examples from some of our required reading to explain why I feel the marketing team did a great job. I then went into some principles and ideas behind why this company was as successful as it turned out to be. The techniques the marketing team used to target their brand to the Hispanic consumer were genius and obviously a money maker. Finally I covered what I learned in this case study and provided several specific examples pertaining to the article by Medina (2011). These casino owners had a vision outside the box and ended up targeting a specific group of people to fulfill a need Hispanic consumers couldn’t get from any other entertainment themed business.

References

Anonymous. (ND). KnowThis.com. Promotion Decisions. Retrieved February 07, 2012 from http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/promotion-decisions/types- of-promotion-objectives/

Medina, J. (2011, August 29). NYTimes.com. Casino Town Puts Its Money on Hispanic Market. Retrieved February 07, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/us/30primm.html

Perner, L. (ND). Integrated Marketing Communication. Consumer Psychologist. Marshall School, USC. Retrieved February 08, 2011 from http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/intro_Promotion.html