Qantas Airways Essay: Marketing Plan And Strategic Options.

Background of Organisation

Discuss about the Qantas Airways Digital Marketing Business.

Marketing plan refers to the blueprint of the organisation’s idea of its marketing activities that the organisation wants to take up for the upcoming year (Luther, 2011). The project report deals with one of largest player of the airline industry of Australia i.e. Qantas Airways. The report prepares the background of the organisation which includes the mission statement and its corporate objectives. Further, will be any product that the organisation can launch other than those in which it is present dealing. There will be some of the strategic options out of which the organisation will opt one of them. Then, the marketing objectives for the new product launch, its target market, strategies and finally, the marketing plan for the product of the organisation. Lastly, there will be the recommendations that can be followed by the organisation in order to implement the plan based on the report prepared.     

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. popularly known as Qantas Airways headquartered in Mascot, Sydney, New South Wales in Australia (Qantas, 2017). It was founded in 1920 in Winton, Queensland. It is one of the largest airlines in Australia and New Zealand and one of the oldest in the world. The airlines also have various subsidiary alliances that are Qantas Freight, Jetstar Airways, Australian air Express, Jetconnect, Qantas Link and Network Aviation. The hubs of the airlines are the Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne Airports and secondary hubs are the Adelaide, Perth and Dubai International Airport. The Qantas airways serves 20 destinations within the country and 21 international destinations across 14 countries in which some of them are Asia, Africa, America and Europe etc. while the subsidiaries have their different areas and flights. The logo of the organisation is a flying Kangaroo which has undergone changes four times since 1944 when it was introduced. Hans Hulsbosch designed the logo for the organisation.

The mission statement of the organisation is to serve as the best airlines across the destinations of the world with great travel experiences to its customers and keeping their safety as the first priority (Qantas, 2016). They want to become the great airline of the world which reflects the identity of its country, Australia with values like togetherness, innovative, positive, genuine and experienced. The corporate objective is to manage risks during the journey and also connecting the citizens of Australia to the other parts of the world with the best of the travelling experience. Other than this, they also believe that their customers and employees are to be treated with due respect and trust. They are also concerned with the sustainability of the environment and maintaining ethical standards.

New Product Launch

Qantas airways being a big name in the airline industry on the global platform the company has to come up with the products or service which will add value to the brand. The services which the company can introduce are different for the international and domestic flights. International flights being large in sizes the company can come up with an innovation in it that can be a small section of the library in their airplanes. This can be done especially in the international flights as they have longer travel time which will be a good spend time for the passengers. Qantas carries a large number of business travellers who can just spend time with good books and not feel that their time got wasted in the journey. The book section will have all kinds of books of fiction and non-fiction which can be read by the passengers according to their interests.

The other kind of service innovation can be that the company can introduce low fare flights within Australia to promote travelling among the middle and lower middle class people. The low price flights can attract people to explore beautiful destinations within Australia (Hubbard, Rice & Galvin, 2014). Although the company is doing the same with Jetstar its low cost initiative still they should also increase the frequency of such flights in order to enjoy the economies of scale (Webb & Kain, 2003). A company enjoys the economies of scale when their production expands which results into the decrease in the average cost. This service can be added to the company’s already running CityFlyer program

These two types of new services will prove to be good for the growth of the company. In relation to this, it will beneficial because this targets both the market segments i.e. domestic as well international travellers. Successful companies are also provided to keep on with the time to time changes that they should make in their company’s products and services portfolio. Apart from this new launch of services will result in the value addition of the brand. Further, it will lead to the good returns of the company from the different choices that they will provide to their customers.    

Strategic options are those that the company has to come through especially because of the external factors i.e. the change in preferences, change in government regulations etc. The company needs to take in considerations all such changes because then they are provided to make strategic plans for the solution of the same. The company should opt for the strategic option in which they should shift from the traditional method of marketing to the new mediums of marketing especially the social media as this will ensure the company’s global online presence. One of their creative initiatives is the online check-in for the domestic passengers (CityFlyer, 2017).

Strategic options

The above figure shows that how the company will have to shift from the older marketing methods to the new ones in order to have a wide coverage of targeting people. It depicts that the company will have to update their website, creative posts on different social platforms like Facebook, YouTube etc. The mobile application will be of great help for their frequent flyers as they will be able to keep the track of the offers, discounts and ease in the bookings. Along with all these they should not ignore the traditional media as it will hinder the company’s goodwill and brand image.

Qantas’s past year’s strategy were also with a view of making its international business more profitable as that of its domestic routes business. In addition to the same, the company signed an alliance for ten years with Emirates to share some of their flights in order to make it beneficial for both of the companies. Qantas will be benefitted as this will increase the frequency and they can get more passengers from several Middle-eastern, Asian and European stops. On the other hand, Emirates will also benefit from the win-win situation as this will increase the business of Emirates in Australia in comparison to its competitors Qatar airways and Etihad airways. From this alliance, Qantas will be able to face the competition with its domestic competitor Virgin Airlines who has its alliances with Singapore airlines and Etihad airways (The Telegraph, 2017).      

Marketing objectives are those which are prepared by businesses in order to achieve its marketing goals (Wood, 2008). They can be short-term or long-term both. They are important in order to manage all the marketing activities and means of measuring the performance of the business. In relation to this, the marketing objectives for Qantas Airways new product launch is to reach out to the people who are willing to travel but only because of fewer resources they are unable to. Therefore; the company should target such middle class people’s market. As they will be able to avail such services if adjusted a little. Frequency of domestic flights should be increased with some weekend offers and discounts. The motive behind the launch of library section in the company’s international flights is to give people an addition in the amenities along with the food, shopping, games etc. because this make people experience customer delight. The reason behind the introduction of books section is to make the traveller’s journey pleasing and peaceful as this will also settle the complaints of the passengers of getting bored in long time journeys. This will especially solve the problems of the ones who are professionals and business class as they categorise it as a waste of their time simply doing nothing. Moreover, they will find the time spent with books worth utilised and learning.

Marketing Objectives

Target Market is the group of those people on whom the company has decided to focus on to sell your product or service (Weinstein, 2013). The company also make marketing plans for their specific target market only by focusing on their needs and preferences. Choosing the right segment of people for the consumption of company’s services is very important as services without the consumption of the right people is of no use. On the basis of the report the target market for the company’s services within the country are the middle class people who are willing to travel by air mode for experiencing the locations around their country. The company has focussed on such customers as they are already dealing with premium and high class people but within the country they can just pull more number of people in order to be the master of their industry and this will happen only when they will enjoy the maximum market share.

Further, the target market for their new service of the library is the professionals and business class people. The flights going to international destinations are full of amenities, adding one such of them will definitely add to the value against the money paid by them for availing the services of the company. The classification of the target market can be both proactive and reactive in nature. Likewise, first developing of a product or service and then offering it to the right people and secondly, looking for the needs of the people and then, designing the products or services accordingly. This is of the proactive kind as the company is coming up with the service first with the apt market segment for it (Dickinson, 2012).

After such product launch and catering to the kind of market segment it will be a win-win situation for the company because they will now serve the new set of customers of the normal class also which will get returns to the company. The market segments targeted by the company are best for the airline industry which is full of competitors at both the national and international level. According to their new services the market targeted is the best suited as they will fulfil the objective of the company of serving more and more and becoming the premium airlines for the customers around the world. Segmentation of target market is also important to position the new or existing products in the minds of the consumer (Weinstein & Cahill, 2014).

Marketing strategies are those which are set with objective of catering to the needs of the consumers and persuade them so that they end up buying the products or services (Baker, 2014). It is important because it ensures coordination among all the departments. It provides and edge to the company in comparison to its competitors. Marketing strategies are the later step of the market research. The marketing strategy of Qantas Airways should be to promote and increase its international business as that of its profitable domestic business. In addition to the same, the company will have to be very aggressive in relation to the marketing efforts that should be made for the increase in the international business. The company should market the conveniences that they will provide their customers during the journey and also the fares in which they will offer the same. This will give a sense of comparison to the travellers on the basis of the prices and the facilities that will be given to them in the same amount. Apart from this the customers will be able to finalise the best airlines for their journey making a rational decision.

The strategy for the high frequency low cost airlines is to give the best of the deals in comparison to the competitors present in Australia who are also striving for the same. The company is required to be present everywhere so that the customers are aware of the company and their various offerings. The AIDA model of marketing will be best suited to the company which stands for awareness, interest, desire and action. This model explains that firstly awareness is spread among the customers by some creative advertisements which secondly, develop interest for the product or service among the customers thirdly; repetitive ads will cultivate a desire for the product which can be satisfied by offering some discounts or deals which finally, the customer will end up in buying the product or service (Behm, 2009).

The company should create awareness by aggressive marketing tactics which will cover all the kinds of sources so that the customers are learned and informed about the company. The company can raise the interests of the customers by constant, creative and conversational advertisements. The desire for the consumption of the product or service will take place among the customers when they will be offered a good deal i.e. value for price in terms of the experience that the company will be promising to its customers. Likewise, Qantas will be providing the extra to their customers as there is no such kind of books section in any of the airplanes. The customers will take the action of buying the service when they will be given customer delight in comparison to their competitors.

The passengers will experience customer delight when they will be given various facilities. For example: passengers can enjoy shopping while flying brands on discounted rates (these include products are cheaper in comparison to the land prices), duty-free products, on air advertisements of the detailed products and services of the company, reviews of the past customers. Other than this the most important is to provide the type of training to their crew members is not to treat passengers as customers but as family. This will prove to be one the most important factor of getting an edge over the competitors as the crew members will be the medium to give the worth remembering experience to the passengers. They are required to develop an emotional human connect with the passengers which can bring the customers back to them in future. Moreover, customers who will carry good experience will act as a referral for the company and will spread good word of mouth. Strong connect with the customers is much important as customers also create customers for the company on the basis of their past experiences.

Marketing plan refers to a blueprint describing the overall marketing objectives and strategies for the upcoming year. It is important (Luther, 2011). It is important as it coordinates between the vision, mission and the marketing of the company. It is a great tool of market research as it provides immense data of the market to marketers. According to which they can study the external environment in detail (Greene, 2008). A marketing plan is majorly dependent on how effective the marketing mix of the company is. It is also important to set the best combination of the Ps of marketing mix so that it gives out the best of the results to the company.

The marketing mix refers to those factors which are important from the company’s perspective as these factors will enable marketers to influence or persuade consumers towards their products or services (Stewart & Gugel, 2016). The very first is the product mix which deals with all the benefits and features of the product which will cater to the needs of the consumers and make them happy customers. Qantas being in the services industry they will satisfy their customers by making their journey pleasant and stress free. The journey can be made tension free when the flights will be on time, the in-flight conveniences that include food, drinks, seats, entertainment and most importantly behaviour of the crew members which can make their passengers feel that they are near to their homes.

The price mix is one of the critical factors that keep on changing very often according to the change in any of the attributes of the product or service and also with the change in policies etc. Qantas is following the cost plus margin pricing method in which they add their profit margin to the manufacturing cost. The new services which the company will launch in their domestic and international flights according to that, the company should go for low fare pricing in the domestic flights is in good sense as it will can be one of the criteria to motivate domestic travellers to travel with them. For the introduction of the library section in the international flights the company can just add the reasonable amount to the section of the amenities provided in flight because this won’t be an expensive preposition for the company as they can connect with any of the publication houses which can provide them with the books on discounted rates for the bulk buying. For retaining customers more programs like that of CityFlyer should be introduced.

The place mix refers to that how your product or service will be made available to the target market (Baker & Hart, 2008). Qantas can make their services available through the travel agents and retail agencies that can refer them to the customers coming in to book tickets and also provide them with the best offers given by the company. The company should increase their online presence as this will make a direct contact with the customers and there will be no involvement of extra cost of the agents in between. Online bookings through website will be a cost effective preposition for the company as well as the customers because this will not include the commission and fees of the travel agents.

The promotion mix is the way of communicating the service or product and the value it will provide to the customers. Qantas is already into advertising on various platforms like broadcast, print, outdoor mediums to reach out to customers. The best of the promotional technique for Qantas should be the digital and online medium which will not involve much cost as that of the other mediums moreover, will give wide coverage also in comparison to them (The Australian, 2015). Videos showing the relationship between the crew and passenger with an emotional appeal can be one of the ideas. The people mix is considered with the people who are involved in delivering the best of the services to their customers whether it is on ground or in flight. Qantas should schedule the time to time training programs of all the employees and crew involved (Qantas, 2015). The processes mix is that how prompt the company’s people are in delivering the services at the right time. Qantas should make the processes efficient by providing various mediums to fulfil customer’s needs like options for ticket bookings can be online, mobile app, outlet, agents etc.   

Conclusion

From the above discussion of the report it can be concluded that companies cannot afford doing nothing because of the constant changes taking place in the market. Qantas is in the industry where there are many players therefore; they have to come up with time to time add ons and attractive offers for their customers then only they can sustain their business. The report has discussed the two of the products launch for their domestic and international flights i.e. the low fare flights and books section for them respectively. Marketing plan according to the new service has developed so that it will help them in making their international business as profitable as that of their domestic business.

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