Essay: Brand Association's Mediating Effects On Loyalty." (61 Characters)

Marketing Strategies for G Adventures in Australia

Discuss About The Mediating Effects Brand Association Loyalty.

Marketing plays an important role in enhancing the business effectiveness and performance of the organizations. Moreover, in the current business scenario, the role played by the marketing is more important and holds more value for the business organizations. This is due to the reason that in the current competitive business scenario, organizations should have effective marketing strategies in order to stay ahead in the competition (Akaka, Vargo and Lusch 2013). However, it is also to be noted that prior to the initiation of marketing strategies, there are number of factors that should be considered by the marketing organizations.

This report will discuss about the different marketing aspects for G adventures in Australia. In addition, the external and internal environmental factors will be discussed for G adventures. Based on this, the potential target market segment will be identified along with determining the positioning statement for them. In accordance to the identified factors, this report will state the ideal marketing mix strategies for them.

G adventures are one of the leading tour service companies in Australian market. Currently, they are holding a significant market share in the Australian market. They are founded in 1990 with just having a handful of employees in the initial stage to having more than 2000 country presence around the world along with having more than 20 offices. They are mainly known for their customized and small groups travel plan (Gadventures.com 2018). The mission statement of G adventures states that they want to offer distinctive and unique tour experience for the travelers and offers the maximum value for the customers. They also target to provide the travelers with authentic experiences without being too professional.

It is identified that G adventures is market oriented due to the fact that they design their service offerings in accordance to the market trend and requirements. As per the information on their official website of G adventures, they offer number of tour services to match with different set of requirements of different set of travelers. Moreover, the mission of them of providing customized services in small tour groups is also an element of marketing orientation of G adventures. Moreover, they are marketing oriented organization due to the reason that their major concentration is mainly on the distinctiveness of service quality rather than on the regions and locations covered (Salyova et al. 2015). It denotes that G adventures are more oriented towards the providing effective travel experience rather than offering more tour locations to the customers. However, they still offer good number of locations to their customers.

Potential Target Market Segments

G adventures offer tour services to the travelers around the world. As per the available information, they are providing large diversity of exotic locations ranging from mountains to seas and Arctic and Antarctic expeditions (Cabiddu, Lui and Piccoli 2013). In terms of the service customization, they offer varieties of the resorts, cruises and motor coach. Accommodations are having number of varieties to meet different requirements of the customers and to target customers across different income levels.

The positive branding of G adventures is helping them to push their service offerings in the market. This is due to the fact that the branding of G adventures in providing customized travel experience along with the more than 20 years of the operation in this sector have helped them to built positive brand image and recall in the market. This is helping them to effectively penetrate in the market with their new offerings.

Thus, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that G adventures are having number of key resources. One of their key resources is positive brand image that helps them to cater to the target market effectively. In addition, the human resources for G adventures can also be termed as their key resources. This is due to the fact that human resources of G adventures help in gaining competitive advantages by providing distinctive service to the customers including providing guidance to the travelers during the tour (Shamaileh and Khanfar 2014). However, on the other hand, there are number of negative factors also being identified. It is identified that origination of the economic recession may cause reduction in the number of potential customers due to the reason that economic recession will reduce the purchasing power of the customers to spend money for tour activities.

Currently, G adventures are offering services to the travelers seeking adventure in their tour activities. In accordance to that, G adventures provides majority of the adventurous activities to their customers. Thus, the target market for G adventures is the younger generation with having adventurous attributes. It is identified that the target customers for G adventures expect that they will be provided authentic local experience of the destination region (Canhoto, Clark and Fennemore 2013). In addition, the target customers for G adventures prefer more real world experience rather than being cocooned in the higher end accommodation. These customers are also inclined towards visiting more extreme locations. These customers will not get attracted towards popular destinations rather they will get attracted for more offbeat locations.

Marketing Mix Strategies

The major collaborators for G adventures are the resorts that help them in providing effective accommodations to the travelers. G adventures are having collaboration with different resorts and home stay services in different locations around the world. They are important for G adventures due to the fact that quality of the accommodation will determine the level of satisfaction for the travelers. Another key ally for them is the travel agents who help them in managing the ticket booking mechanism for the travelers along with dealing with the new and potential customers (Tseng 2014). The local communities can also be considered as their key ally due to the fact that tours of G adventures always involve the local communities. This is having dual advantage by empowering the local communities in involving them. These local communities are involved in providing guidance to the tourist and offering authentic local cuisines and experiences to the travelers.

The major competitors for G adventures are intrepid, Intro travels, Cosmos, Ultimate travel and Globus. All these players are operating in the same market and they are catering to the same set of target customers. Thus, it can be concluded that the market scenario for G adventures is much competitive.

G adventures are having effective market research mechanism in order to collect information about their 5Cs. In order to collect information about the need and want of the customers, G adventures initiate different activities including social media interactions. This helps them to initiate direct communication with the customers and determining their need and wants. Moreover, online market research is initiated in order to gain the practical insights of the needs and wants of the customers (Cechanowicz et al. 2013). Online research is being done through posting the questionnaires in the public portals. On the other hand, competitive analysis is also being done by G adventures in order to gain information about the competitors also. Initiation of the competitor analysis by comparing the performance of the rival organizations with that of them helps them in identifying the nearest and close competitors.

Market data regarding the tourism industry is being used by G adventures in gaining information about the market trend. Moreover, they periodically conduct five forces and PEST analysis in order to have the idea about the change in the current market scenario. Accordingly, they bring change to their strategies. In terms of determining the role of the collaborators, G adventures initiate supplier management mechanism in order to maintain effective relationship with the partners in their business operation.

Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis

In accordance to the internal and external factors identified for G adventures, there ae number of aspects identifies. These aspects will help in stating the most potential and effective target market for G adventures. In order to identify the target market for G adventures, segmentation, targeting and positioning model will be the used.

According to the segmentation, targeting and positioning model, the first step is to identify the target segment for G adventures. In terms of the geographical segmentation, the target segment for G adventures will be the travelers from the Australian market seeking for domestic or international destinations. Moreover, it is also recommended that geographical target segment for G adventures can also be the neighboring countries of Australia such as New Zealand and South East Asian countries (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). In terms of the demographical segmentation, the target segment for G adventures will be the people aged above 45 years up to 65 years of age. Currently the target customer segment for G adventures is the younger segment. However, it is recommended that customers above the age of 45 should also be targeted due to the fact that they are having more real income in the form of savings. Moreover, in the current time, older age people are opting for international tourism in post retirement stage. Thus, this segment should be targeted.

The next step is targeting the customer segment. It is recommended that G adventures should launch new service offerings to cater to the new target segment. They should have more classic type of tour plans, which will suit with the requirement of the older aged people. Moreover, the location should also be selected that will be convenient for the older aged travelers. Added facilities such tour guidance, travel insurance and medical facilities can be offered in order to create a holistic experience for the new target customer segment.

Value proposition for the target market will include customized service, covering all the associated need and requirement of the customers in the tour and guiding and assisting them in touring (Osterwalder et al. 2014). This will help them to enhance the value for the customers. Moreover, the travelers will have the option to experience the local cuisines and home stay. This will enable them to have the authentic experience of the tourist destination.

Currently, the services of G adventures are positioned towards more premium side. It is recommended that G adventures should position themselves for the upper middle class segments. This is due to the reason that targeting the upper middle class segment will ensure that market exposure will be more. In addition, services of G adventures should not be limited in the niche market; rather they should target more mainstream travelers in order to enhance the market share and revenue. The services will be offered in more diverse manner and not only providing eco tourism and adventurous tours. Thus, the diversity for the service will get increased that will help in targeting more diverse section of the customers.

Competitor Analysis

The above positing map shows that G adventures will be positioned as a premium offering with having more value compared to their competitors. However, the price level will not be as higher as Intrepid. Thus, the recommended positioning statement will ensure that G adventures will have an untapped market.

Positioning statement of them will be “experience life, experience world”. This statement will convey the experience that will be gained by the travelers in touring with G adventures. Moreover, it will also help to convey enhanced values for the customers.

G adventures will come up with new service for targeting the newly identified target segments. This service will be more mainstreamed compared to their existing service offerings. According to the ansoff matrix, product development is one of the major strategies for developing business potentiality. Thus, with the initiation of the new service in the market, G adventures will be more equipped to cater to their existing market and it will also help in increasing their market share. The new service will be targeted in the popular tourist destinations that will be acceptable to larger section of the target customers. Moreover, this service will be provided by offering standard hotel accommodation and other standardized facilities compared to the distinctive facilities provided with their current service offerings.

It is recommended G adventures should have both premium and market penetration pricing strategy. This is due to the reason that the existing service of G adventures will have premium pricing while the proposed service offering will be priced for market penetration. Initiation of the two pricing strategies will ensure that different customers across price level can get targeted. Having the premium pricing will ensure that the exclusivity of their existing service offerings. On the other hand, initiation of the market penetration pricing strategy will help to cater to more number of customers. Thus, G adventures will be able to gain positive market share in the initial stage of launching the new service.

It is recommended that G adventures should initiate exclusive distribution strategy. However it is also being recommended that they should have extensive placement of their branches or outlets. Initiation of the exclusive distribution strategy will help in providing holistic service to the customers. Moreover, having the market presence in more regions will ensure that penetration in the market will be more. It is also recommend Omni channel distribution should be in place. This will add convenience to the potential customers by providing the service through online mediums. The core objective of distribution strategy will be to ensure the maximum penetration of the market.

Industry Analysis

It is recommended that G adventures should also initiate Omni channel policy in their promotional strategy. This is due to the reason that initiation of the Omni channel strategy will help in promoting the services through both online and offline mediums. Thus, the market exposure will be more. On the other hand, social media marketing should be initiated in order to promote two ways communication with the customers. Seasonal discounts can also be provided to ensure the customer traffic is maintained.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that G adventures are effectively operating in the current market. However, this report identified number of internal and external factors that will pose challenge to them. In accordance to these factors, this report stated an ideal marketing strategy that includes the new target segment, targeting strategies and how they should be positioned in the market. In addition, this report also recommends an ideal and effective marketing mix strategy for G adventures. This will help them to operate in the market effectively. It is also concluded that effective implementation of the recommended marketing mix strategy will help G adventures to enhance their market share in their existing market.

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