...MKT 501- Strategic Marketing November 17, 2014 As we begin the journey to understand strategic marketing, we have to embrace the fact that customers are every company’s source of revenue. Because customers are the source of income, a company’s most valuable asset is its customer base. With new and unfolding technological capabilities, companies are able to recognize, measure, and mange relationships with each of those customers individually. A forward thinking company must focus on the preserving and increasing the value of that customer base. Organizations like airlines must mange their customer relationships effectively in order to remain competitive. In this case analysis, I will identify and explain key external factors that affect the passenger airline industry. This analysis will then turn towards explaining what the major airline market segments are, by applying segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Finally at the end of this analysis I will contrast two specific airlines United and Delta Airlines and describe each of the company’s target market and positioning by giving some examples of how these strategies are implemented for each company. Key External Factors Companies, like the airline industry, are forced to alter their business models, pricing, revenue, and cost structures to suit their customers’ changing needs in different economic conditions. The airline industry has experienced several modifications in terms of marketing and strategic planning...
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...TUI UNIVERSITY Module 1 Case Assignment MKT501 – Strategic Marketing 23 January 2012 1. Briefly describe Harley Davidson’s traditional targeting and positioning strategy. Harley Davidson is a company that has been around since 1903 and in that time has got quite accustomed to dealing with the changes in markets, which are driven by the changes in people. Having a good “tough image” and great marketing plan has kept the US motorcycle king afloat for over 100 years and will undoubtedly, as it attracts new riders, will be around for many years to come. The Hollywood scripts and early magazines depicting the young, wild motorcycle rider became less and less a reality in the late 1990’s, according to Motorcycle Industry Council statistics. Even in the 1990s, riders became more mainstream. The typical heavyweight segment motorcyclist in 2009 was male, 42 years old, married, and had a college degree. A motorcycle industry’s census showed that there were more riders, more households, more women and more young buyers. Since 2003, the number of motorcycles owned and used in America grew 19 percent to approximately 10.4 million. That is a 58 percent increase from 1998 (6.6 million). The average income of the motorcyclist in 2009 had more than tripled since 1980 ($17,500). In 2009, motorcycle owner household income averaged $59,290 while the U.S. average was $50,233. Riders are also much older. The typical rider was interested in the outdoors. In surveys about their other...
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...MKT501 STRATEGIC MARKETING MODULE 5 SLP PRICING STRATEGY PRICING STRATEGIES AND TACTICS Pricing strategies can vary throughout the marketplace and the different companies. Pricing is an important strategic issue because it is related to product positioning. Pricing also affects other marketing mix elements as well, such as product features, channel decisions, and promotion. A pricing strategy is a course of action designed to achieve pricing objectives. This strategy helps marketers set prices (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2006). The types of pricing strategies and the tactics that Lowe’s uses are “at-the-market”. Different types of pricing strategies are skimming, penetration pricing, everyday low pricing, and cost-plus pricing to name a few. The many different ways that Lowe’s keeps itself competitive in the marketplace is by combining the some of the different types of strategies for their various products. When a new product comes out that the public has been waiting for they could use the skimming strategy. This means that Lowe’s might set a higher price initially in order to target the consumers that want it right away and are willing to pay a higher amount without waiting for pricing to level out. One example might be a new type of refrigerator that has come out and been advertised and is very energy efficient and has modern features to appeal to the consumer. Another method that is more commonly used is penetration pricing. This type of strategy is used...
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...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...
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...Consumer Behavior Consumer Behavior: Contrast Jet Blue vs. Southwest Airlines Trident University MKT501 CS1 Identify key external factors that affect the passenger airline industry and explain how that impact occurs There are several external factors that affect the passenger airline industry. Some of the factors that affect the industry are economic crisis, instability in aviation fuel price, and environmental factors. I will elaborate more in detail in the following paragraphs on these factors. The first area I want to talk about is our countries current Economic Crisis, and in my opinion drives all the other factors that affect airline industry’s the most. The current economic situation is not good and therefore will have an effect on what a customer will or will not do. Air travel is very expensive as it is, in my opinion, so a sluggish economy will add more pressure on an individual or family thinking of flying anywhere. The second area that affects the airline industry is the cost of aviation fuel. If fuel prices are high, the airline will have to charge more for tickets. As I mentioned earlier, higher ticket prices is not what the public wants in our current economy. The airline industry is a business and in order to make money and continue to provide the service, the company has a breakeven price, approximately 66% of their operating cost (Airline Economics Break Even Load Factors Paragraph). If the company doesn’t...
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...TUI University MKT501 - Strategic Marketing Module 5 SLP Dr. Darlene Jaffke INTRODUCTION Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The company I choose to write about is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world’s largest public corporation by revenue. Wal-Mart is a household word in the U.S., but it is quickly becoming a well-noted name in the international realm. Wal-Mart is one of the leading multinational and multibillion dollar companies in the US for most sale and most employees. They focus on low prices and making sure everyone is treated like family. The Wal-Mart story began in 1962, when Sam Walton opened the company’s first discount store in Rogers, Ark. Five years later, there were 24 Wal-Mart stores in Arkansas ringing up $12.6 million in sales. Wal-Mart employed 1,500 Associates working in 38 stores, with sales of $44.2 million. In 1970, Wal-Mart also began selling shares over the counter as a publicly held company. In 1991, Wal-Mart became an international company when they opened a Sam’s Club near Mexico and Wal-Mart international was created. By the year, 2006 Wal-Mart weekly customers had grown to more that 176 million around the world with 6,779 locations. Wal-Mart has had records sales of over $345 billion. Wal-Mart increased its ownership stake in Seiyu in Japan to 53 percent and its ownership of Carhco to 51 percent renaming the company Wal-Mart Central America. While...
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