Butlins

Throughout this blog I will be relating to Travel and Tourism.

The importance of this blog is to explain the concept of marketing. Marketing mix is important within the marketing sector. The mix is grouped into 4 groups of variables which are known as the four P's which are the following:

1. Product - This is the product which is delivered to the customer
2. Price - This is the set price which customer pays for the product
3. Place - Where the product will be placed on the market
4. Promotion - How they’re going to promote the product

When thinking about a new product you will have to go through the product mix stage where you decide if it’s goods or a service or maybe it’s both. You will need to consider the factors within the product such as the product features/characteristics, brand image of the product and where you’re going to position in it within the life cycle. They will need to consider the customer when introducing a new product, for example when Thomas Cook brought out the 18-30's brochure they was looking at new ways to interact with the younger generation and to attract the customers eye.

Product Life Cycle

There are five stages within the life cycle:

1.       Development - This is when a new product has had no sales profit, all money has been spent on research and the development of the product.

2.       Introduction - This is when the product is introduced to the customer by advertising and promoting. At this stage sales will increase slowly.

3.       Growth - This is when the product has been successful and accepted on the market. Sales will increase rapidly.

4.       Maturity - Sales have been achieved and they are slowly decreasing. Profits will be declined to the increase of the cost due to competitive companies.

5.       Decline - Increased competition or technological change cause sales to decrease. The product will then be taken of the market.

Price Mix:

When a company have decided on a product or service they will have to come up with a price. The company need to decide on a price which is going to suit the public; they may need to think about, if they are going to put it on offer to see how the product gets on in the marketing industry. With a new product or business some companies need to be careful on what price they set their products, for example if a new travel agents opened on the market and they had 20% off all holidays, then they aren't going to make profit, which will lead them to go bankrupt. Even with competitors, companies have to have an even balance when pricing to ensure they don't go under.

Companies will also be keeping an eye on their competitors prices and they will react efficiently to any lowing prices by reducing their own. When pricing a product/service companies may use 'odd pricing' method, this is when a company will put their product/services at £99.00 rather than £100, this makes the customer feel that the price is cheap because its an odd number.

Place Mix:

This is when a company has to decide where they’re going to place their product/service within the marketing sector and if it's available . They need to find a suitable place where it's going to attract customer, for example Thomas Cook travel agents are situated in town centres and in major shopping centres i.e. White Rose centre, Meadowhall, Trafford Centre...etc. They situated their travel agents in these particular areas as shopping centres and town centres are busy, so they will be able to attract new customers.

If its a visitor attraction the company need to ensure that its in the right location and its accessible for customers. For example Alton Towers is near the M6 motor way, so customers driving down will be able to get their easy. Customer without a car can travel by train as they have trains from Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Chester.

The means of getting the product to the customer is known as the channel or chain of distribution. In the Travel and Tourism industry, the channel is complicated as there is often no tangible product to pass to one another through the channel. Within the Travel and Tourism sector there are many variations on a traditional channel of distribution, this includes the use of the internet, call centres and travel agencies. Most bookings for holidays are via the internet, which is good for the airline, hotels and the customer, but its not so good for the travel agents as their losing business.

Promotion Mix

To achieve their marketing objectives, Travel and Tourism companies such as Thomas Cook must ensure that consumers and trade customers are aware of their products and services. Communication has an important part part within the promotion mix, this is known as 'Marketing Communication'. The company have to ensure that they target the public. Thomas Cook travel agents can give face-to-face advice on their products, Thomas Cook Group PLC (tour operator) can promote their products within the travel agents i.e. Window display.

There are many promotional methods Thomas Cook may use such as:

They can advertising their products and services on their own website, they have their own brochures with tells you all about their products and services they offer. They may advertise through social networks I.e Twitter, television, newspapers, radio, magazines i.e. Travel Weekly, Advertising on different types of transport and outdoor site such as billboards.

Public relations plays a a leading part within the promotional mix, its very important to Travel and Tourism companies that have a small marketing budget. It plays a big part as public relation activities are much cheaper than other methods of promotion.

Now I’m going to talk about Butlins and how they structure their marketing mix:

Product Mix:

Butlins is a holiday camp within the UK which provides holidays and events for families and adults; they have been going since 1st January 1936. Butlins is a unique selling point as it was one of the first holiday camps to open in the UK and it’s very safe and secure, so this will encourage customer to book a holiday with them as they will feel safe. Butlins dont just sell family holidays, they have different events throughout the year to meet all age groups. Every year Butlins provide an event called the Big Reunion which is one of the Uks biggest indoor winter festival, which is hosted over 2 weekends. This targeted for 18-30's this was promoted in Thomas Cooks brochure 18-30's, and you could also book through them as well. This will give people the chance to catch up with old friends and meet new people. This will give Butlins a good reputation as they are giving the younger generation a domestic weekend to remember.

Butlins have a unique branding as they have stuck with their logo from the start, as its very plain but its also unique. Over they years Butlins have made a few little adjustments to there logo as you can see below:

As you can see they have kept 'Butlins' in red, this is the unique part about it, they have also added colour and pictures to their logo, as this shows the customer what they offer.

Price Mix:

Butlins will have competitors within the Travel and Tourism sector, mainly holiday parks such as Centre Parks, which means they are a pricing competitor. This means that Butlins are willing to bring new products and services to there customers. Butlins will keep an eye on there competitors to see if any thing changes, which will then lead them to react quickly. Therefore if Centre Parks brought a new product out or discounted their products then Butlins will try do better. Butlins thought of how they can suit all age groups, this is when they came up with the Big Reunion event, so they can get involved and interact with the younger generation. This will look good for Butlins as it shows the audience that they are wanting to focus on all age groups not just families and adults.

Discounting pricing- If you become a member with Butlins Premier Club Bronze loyalty card, you will receive special treats when your on the resort such as: early check, member only offers. The best thing about this card is your guaranteed 5% off their lowest prices. They are also two other types of loyalty card Premier Club silver and gold, these involve vouchers when your in the resort and a choice of complimentary bottle of champagne.

Seasonality pricing- The off-peak season is when the children are off school, this will start July till September prices of Butlins holidays will increase. Then after the children go back to school holidays will decrease as normal, this is called peak season.

Place Mix

Butlins is located in the UK, so this will benefit domestic customers, who are wanting to book a family holiday, adult weekends, events...etc. Butlins holiday parks are easily accessible as they are nearby a motorway. If your travelling by car/coach to Bongnor Regis resort you would go on the M1, if you are heading to Minehead instead you would travel on the M5 and M6 and Skegness is on the M180. If you don't have access to a car you can travel by train to all three of these resorts. If you are travelling by train to visit Bongnor Regis resort you would catch the train to Bongnor Regis train station , the holiday park is 5 minutes away from the train station so you could either walk or get a taxi. If your going to Minehead by train, the nearest train station is Taunton, there is a bus service which goes from Taunton to Minehead. If your going to Skegness, Havenhouse is the closest train station but its approximately 3 miles from the resort so you would have to catch a bus. So as you can see Butlins resort are accessible and are located in suitable areas for their customers.

To book a Butlins holiday, you can visit there website and book online. This is a good idea as some people prefer to book online as it fast, efficient and simple, if you don't like booking on like you can book a Butlins holiday with a travel agents, travel agents will also recommend Butlins, if there customers are looking for a domestic holiday. Some travel agents will advertise in there shop what Butlins have to offer.

Butlins provide two brochure “Family Holidays Brochure” and “Live Music Weekends (over 18's)” , this will show the customer what products and services they offer. Brochures are always a good way to sell their holidays, as customer can take their time to look through it and it will also give them an idea what the resort looks like by looking at the pictures inside the brochure and will give them an idea of a price. By have a variety of ways to book with them they are targeting all individuals.

Promotional Mix

Butlins advertise their products and services using many methods of promotion. They will advertise their holidays on their website as when customer go on to have a look they will see all the latest deals, and their web page will be up dated every couple of hours if needed. Butlins also advertise on TV, they have a advert out now which shows you what they offer and what will be expect, its very catchy and colourful and it also shows you there aim as a holiday park “One true intent is all for your delight”.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDr1we3unEg

One of the main methods would be public relations, they will advertise their products in travel agents windows, so then it will catch the public eyes and then they can go into the travel agent and have direct information on Butlins, also in travel agents they provide Butlins brochures and leaflets, so then this gives the customer more information on the resorts and this is just by having a window display.

Another way they advertise is social networks, as social networks are becoming popular and common, they have a chance of people seeing their offers. Social networks are quick and efficient for people to look up deals such as Butlins.

M2

The four P's are very important to a company, all of the four P's work together to make a successful company. The four P's are there for the company to achieve their aims, targets and objectives.

Butlins as a company use the four P's wisely as they need to take in to consideration all there market research and how there going to sell this product to there customers for example every year Butlins promote 'The Big Reunion', Butlins need to ensure that the product and the price is suitable for there customers before they start promoting, they also need to ensure that the price is reasonable as this is target to teenagers, so to keep it going every year they need to ensure that their customers are satisfied and that they enjoy there time while they are there. Butlins will use the 'Cost Plus' method to calculate what profit they are going to gain for this event, they will add all the costings up and then add a percentage on to that amount which will then be there profit and if its good enough and successful they will know this product will take off. After thinking of a product and then going through the pricing stage, Butlins will then need to think how are they going to advertise this product and is it accessible for there customer. Butlins need to ensure that they have a wide range of promotional methods, they use T.V adds, newspapers, internet and they even have brochures in travel agents such as Thomas Cook and Thomson, this is good as when people go in to look for a holiday there brochure may just catch the customers eye. Butlins have very strong links, looking at there links it shows that Butlins are a successful organisation and have been running for 77 years now and they are still going this shows that they have a good lead on their marketing mix and they know what they are doing. They used to be known as a family holiday, but now they target different ages of the pubic such as special events and 'Big Reunion' which targets the younger generation.

Butlins use the four P's effectively to become a successful competitor advantage to other organisations such as Haven.