Integrate Marketing Communications Plan for Hotels - Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Integrate Marketing Communications Plan for Hotels. Answer: Introduction Integrated marketing communications are an important aspect of the marketing strategy of any national or international business. It covers the entire process of communicating with stakeholders at large to fulfill the marketing objectives of the company (Belch, Belch, Kerr Powell, 2014). This assists the firms in enhancing brand awareness and setting the correct brand positioning of the business. This report throws light on the integrated marketing communication or IMC plan for Mermaid hotels and resorts. Mermaid Hotels Resorts (MHR) group comprises of high quality resorts with an upcoming property within the Indonesian archipelago in an island Lombok. The resort is located to the east of Bali and is equipped with the capacity of 220 rooms. The rooms are both island as well as ocean facing with luxurious infrastructural design and state of the art facilities. It is crucial to market the resort to the target customers in an innovative fashion in order to survive competition. This report has paid specific attention to analyzing the target market as well as a designing and defining detailed marketing strategies that are expected to fulfill the sales objectives of the resort. Situation Analysis The situation analysis utilises both internal and external environment information to understand and determine the current position for Mermaids Hotel and Resort and how we fit into the new market we are about to enter. It helps the organisation to determine what is to be done for a better positioning and what potential risks it should overcome, in order to achieve its goals. In such, the company's internal environment (strengths, weaknesses, and external environment), opportunities and threats, are identified. In other words, the SWOT analysis will be utilized. The external environment entails elements outside of the organisation that they could not control (Marketing Solutions, n.d.). Internal environment - Strengths are the positive and engaging aspect which draw the consumers attention and commitment. The weaknesses of an organisation is the disadvantage the company has to its competitors. Internal Strengths Weaknesses - Range of facilities and activities to choose from at the resort - Internationally established (Hawaii, Australia, Fiji, South-East Asia French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu) - Loyalty club for frequent guests: point system that allows for guest to redeem for offers and even free accomodations) - Limousine pick ups from ferry terminals in Lombok - New entrant to the market (not well-known like some other competitors) - Amount of land space - Up against a large number of competitors on a small scale and less commercialized island - Rephrase: new environments call for different managing ways-gonna be some inefficiencies that need to be worked out. External environment - Opportunities are occurence of events in the market that allows for the organisation to better its products and/or services, thus allowing for enhancement in their performance and achieving their goals more accurately. On the other hand, threats are obstacles that undermines the company's ability to perform well and is out of their control. External Opportunities Threats - Expansion into Lombok, Indonesia (huge market for tourism) - Increase in brand image and reputation - Newly-established partnerships with local businesses in the region - Less commercialized (as compared to Bali: ability to expand influence) - Competitive market (number of well-established competitors already exist in the market) - Less commercialized (as compared to Bali: less tourist) - Adaptation risk: service expectations may differ across regions Target Market Target market of a business is the set of customers it wishes to service in order to generate sales. The resort stay as well as membership is premium priced and hence it becomes imperative that the target market involves people who can afford the luxury (Price, 2017). In order to define the target market for any business, it is first imperative to divide the market into appropriate segments. The various segments that could be effectively targeted by Mermaid resorts are as below: Demographic: Demographically, business people who travel frequently for work can be targeted by the resort. Owing to the excellent facilities of child care, families with children can be targeted. Psychographic or lifestyle: Premium pricing of the hotel, makes it advisable to target higher income groups of the country. Large level societal clubs can be reached out to conduct their events and meetings. International tourists as well could be targeted to plan their stay with Mermaid resorts. Geographic: The primary target would be the people in Singapore. Behavioral: This segment divides people on the basis of their knowledge about the product. Hence, a brand loyalty program could enable Mermaid resorts to target previous customers. The resort must focus on marketing to the higher income segments of the society especially tourist, families and couples. Corporates could be targeted to utilize the conference rooms. Tie ups with event management firms would garner more crowd for local events. Most couples who are newlywed and travelling for their honeymoons plan lavish vacations and hence they would be an ideal market for the resorts. A lot of high level business executives travel to Lombok and prefer to stay within the top class resorts. These corporate executives could be targeted for the loyalty programs of MHR. The facility of water slides as well as childrens clubs could be leveraged to target families with young children. The parents could conveniently relax or even bring their children along when they are travelling for work. The locals of the island could be offered a premium membership of the health and fitness club. This would serve two purposes, firstly it would increase the footfall at the resort and secondly the tourists could converse with the locals and enhance their knowledge about the island. Determination of the IMC Objectives In this session, the IMC objective to be accomplished in the first year will be clearly define. Sales objective and communication objective will be discussed in detail. Sales objectives What are you going to achieve in $ and cent value? With a budget of 2.1million dollars, be more specific on sales objective. If we sell so and so many rooms, how much do we get in return? 60% on social media advertisements, and we are expecting to attract 10,000 people = 35,000 bookings, so $1.26millions (1 260 000) advertisement minus the income from the bookings = return. Asset. Cash. Money. Income. As the report mention before the Lombok resort will be located on the west coast of the island at Senggigi Beach. It is also the largest hotel property around Senggigi Beach area. The resort will possess 220 rooms. And there will be 115 of the rooms are classified as Ocean View, and 105 rooms classified as Island View. The standard price for a one-bedroom Ocean View room is to be set at US$225 per couple per night. Meanwhile, the standard price for a one-bedroom Island View room is slightly cheaper at US$185 per night. On the other hand, there are 70 of the resort rooms will consist of two bedrooms and 150 resort rooms will consist of one bedroom. The standard price for the two-bedroom Ocean View rooms will be US$325 per night. The standard price for the two-bedroom Island View rooms will be US$285 per night. Besides that, for additional guest, the surcharge of $30 per night per person will be required. The sales objective of the first year of Lombok resort is to generate 35,000 book ing night in total. Therefore, the target revenue for the first year would be around US$8,925,000. For advertising, there will have 40 percent of our budgets goes to 1,260,000. Communication objective Whats our brand image and awareness? How many % do we want to receive? The name of a business can be key of brand image and brand awareness. The name of the hotel is Mermaid Hotel Resort (MHR) which makes people associate with the ocean because mermaid is from ocean. This name also easy distinguish with other hotel in the market. This hotel will also use advertising to attract people through both traditional and new media mainly focus on Singapore market. On the other hand, it is vital to getting staffs of the hotel moving in the same direction to achieve a common goal. In the end, developing brand recognition and brand awareness such as top of mind is also one of our communication objective. Creative Approach Choosing the right way to communicate messages is vital as to how well the organisation will be able to connect with its consumers. Whats more is that the message has to be distinctive, creative, and and able to leave a strong impression besides conveying its main objectives. Message consistency is also important in what the organisation promises and its actions towards consumers - consistency provides assurance and aids in the confirmations of what users might say about the product and company (Duncan, 2005). Message Strategy: Positioning Due to the competitive market in Indonesia, it is critical for Mermaids Hotel and Resort to establish a differentiated position in the consumers mind (Eckerson, 2016). In encoding of the message strategy, Mermaids Hotel and Resort (MHR) has to first understand the strategic triad - finding the connection between the consumer, product/service, and competition. Firstly, understanding the functional aspect of the facilities and MHR itself will answer an important question: why and when would consumer utilise? Secondly, assessing the saturation of the market in Lombok and knowing its competitors. Lastly, analyzing of the targeted audience and market segment to understand their needs and wants. Having knowledge of these three elements is crucial for MHR to successfully establish itself in a foreign market. Mermaids Hotel and Resort message strategy involves the use of positioning strategy where it establishes a differentiated position in its consumers minds versus its competitors. Thus, MHRs message strategy statement will utilise the positioning approach to achieve its IMC objectives. Building on its internationally inaugurated hospitality company foundation, top-notch services and amenities will be provided at higher than competitive prices. The message strategy statement will be paired with a slogan paradise awaits you across all marketing platforms along with the imagery execution technique to achieve consistency. Type of Appeal to be implemented: Emotional Appeal Mermaids Hotel and Resort will execute the emotional appeal, which will essentially focus on the social and psychological needs of prospective guests when conveying the company's messages. The approach and appeal used to attract the attention of consumers forms the underlying content of the message. As such, the execution technique - imagery - is the step in which the appeal becomes an advertisement (Weilbacher, 1984). In reference to the AIDA model, the execution technique will be put to work towards achieving the IMC objectives by attaining prospective guest awareness, interest, desire, and action. The combination of all there components creates a system of codependency, where customers require the one objective to be fulfilled before moving on to the next (Eagle, 2013). In this case, the imagery technique will be used by focusing on visual elements like pictures, illustrations and symbols. An emotional appeal in advertising also means more emphasis on persuading guests with imaginable and accurate illustrations about Mermaids Hotel and Resort. With that, the source has to be credible and information has to be trustworthy (McGraw, 2007). Lastly, using an imagery technique as an execution technique will allow us to give potential guests the final push and encouragement to undertake action - making a booking with MHR - and go on a well-deserved holiday. Another option would be integrating testimonial and endorsement. It allows customers to be able to relate to their favorite celebrity by visiting the same places frequented by celebrities.This will aid in pushing potential guests from being interested to executing the action. However, it must be highlighted in the IMC plan that imagery technique will take precedence over testimonials due to the small customer base and funding constraints of a newly introduced market. IMC Options In order to formulate a marketing plan, it is imperative to consider the effectiveness of various IMC options. These options include digital marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, outdoor marketing and even celebrity endorsements. These are all channels through which any organization can market their products in order to reach out to a target market. Few of these channels are explained as below: Outdoor advertising Once a tourist enters Lombok it is essential that they become instantly aware about the existence of MHR in the area. This is why outdoor marketing in the form of billboards or hoardings across the island must create a buzz. It is important that the hoardings are creatively designed to garner attention of people. For this purpose, MHR must hire an efficient advertising agency. Every billboard has a rating known as Gross ratings point. This is based on traffic, visibility, location and size of the billboard (Fortenberry McGoldrick, 2015). MHR must ensure a higher rating as compared to its competitors as this will evidence a higher number of people crossing the billboard on a daily basis. Digital Marketing This is one of the most important forms of marketing especially in the highly globalized and digitized world that we live in. Digital marketing involves two critical processes which are search engine optimization and search engine marketing (Ryan, 2016). These assist people in easily searching about the resort and the marketing the resort through search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing (Ledford, 2015). This is specifically crucial for the resort because most of the target customers are tourists. The first thing that tourists do is search their travel plan online. At this stage itself, if MHR can make an impression and mark their presence on the island, then the possibility of people booking the MHR resort increases drastically. Television Advertisements Television advertisements are the most traditional methods of promoting any product to a wide audience groups. The television advertisements must be creatively designed and effectively timed in order to ensure a large viewership. Mermaid resorts must target their family audience with these advertisements. Therefore it is important that the ads are designed in a manner which is suitable for that particular audience. These advertisements must be featured in leading channels of TV which are largely followed and have a strong viewership. Television advertisements may or may not include celebrity endorsements, depending upon the budget demands by various celebrities. Affiliate marketing Tied up with various travel agencies and online portals would assist is gaining traffic on the website. Affiliate market involves performance based marketing where the resorts will reward all the affiliates through which customers can reach out to the resort (Gregori, Daniele Altinay, 2014). This would encourage local travel agents as well as online hotel and flight portals to recommend MHR to their consumers. Social media marketing Social media marketing will involve effective marketing using online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter or Pinterest (Tuten Solomon, 2017). This would be successful as the resort already has a strong brand name and a history of over 25 years in the business. MHR could share pictures of the hotel rooms on Pinterest and Instagram. On the other hand, customer attraction, engaging and communication could be conducted using Facebook tags and Twitter hash tags. Social listening forms a very important part of social media marketing. This involves the procedure of being aware about what is being spoken about the brand at all times (Lieberman, 2014). The marketers must make sure that twitter and Facebook mentions are taken seriously, grievances are immediately addressed and compliments are positively reverted Integrated marketing plan for one year For the next one year, the IMC objective for Mermaid hotels and resorts is to generate a total of at least 10,000 bookings in the first year of its business. The average length of stay must be 3.5 night. That makes it a total of 35,000 booking nights in the year. It is also important that the IMC campaign fulfills the objective of creating a positive brand image and enhances brand awareness of the resort. This calls for the need of an elaborate marketing plan. The strategy of the marketing process would be to ensure that the service marketing is offered as a premium service available exclusively to a niche class of society who can afford the luxurious lifestyle offered by the resorts. The brand positioning is absolutely clear throughout the promotional campaign and no discrepancy shall be observed on the same. Since the level of competition is high and most other players are competing on price, it is important that MHR retorts to a differentiated strategy and offers top class services at a higher price. This is known as premium positioning of a product (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker Brennan, 2015). It is crucial for any business to clarify how many people they wish to target through different IMC options mentioned above. The number of people that a particular channel can reach out to is the reach of that channel. The number of people that are expected to buy the product after coming across an advertisement of the product is known as exposure. It is important for any business to analyze their targeted reach and exposure while making a marketing plan. The exposure and reach of our select IMC channels are as given below: IMC Channel and amount of budget in USD $ Targeted audience Reach Exposure Social media $ Millennials, generation Z and young couples 70,000 people per Facebook post 80,000 people per Instagram post 10,000 people on review websites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp! 150 people from Facebook 200 people from Instagram 1000 people from review websites Digital marketing - Booking websites $ People who voluntarily search for holiday destinations E.g. Hotels.com, Booking.com etc. Over 20000 people would search for resorts in Lombok in a month Approximately 50% exposure. Highest exposure id through this channel. Over 7,000 people will make a booking. Travel agency $ 10,000 people using travel agency 1 300 bookings Others Advice from friends and families, some booking is attract by its own website ect. Action Plan The number of times that a particular brand wants its customers to see their advert is known as frequency. Establishing a target frequency enhances the chances of the consumers looking at the advert and hence the chances of them buying the product increases. This frequency must be well calculated. Too low a frequency would reduce brand awareness and give others a competitive advantage. Very high frequency of the ads would appear as some form of spamming and adversely impact the brand reputation and positioning of the resort. A very high frequency makes viewers lose interest in the advertisement and hence the brand. IMC Channel Frequency Social Media 8 Facebook posts a day. 20 Tweets a day (4 tweets between 8am to 3pm, 12 tweets between 3pm to 10pm and 6 tweets from 10pm to 4am) 4 instagram posts a day 2 posts on Pinterest a day Going live on Instagram and facebook once in every three days Television advertisements Ad must be shown 12 times a day on 8 leading channels of the country. Out of 12, 5 ads must be shown between 6pm to 10pm Tentative Budget In the span of one year it is important the brand awareness is created and the positioning of the resort is perfect in the minds of its consumers. Therefore it is crucial to have set targets for all the channels of the IMC plan. The response and the effective of each channel will result in a different target of consumers at different stages, which is why all the channels must be equally catered to and effectively utilized to reach out to a larger consumer base (Luxton, Reid Mavondo, 2015). IMC channel Target Approximate Budget allocated ($1000) Billboards 1. Total 472 billboards in the island (Total area of the island is 4725km square) 2. Change billboard design every 2 months. 700 Travel agency tie ups Tie up with the 10 leading travel agencies of Lombok as well as 5 leading agencies of Bali. 300 Facebook 20k followers and over 1095 posts (365*8). 2920 Instagram 10k followers and over (365*4) 1825 Twitter At least 50k followers and over 1825 (365*20) tweets. 7300 The targeted customer segment can be catered to using these integrated marketing channels. These channels are widely used. However, in order to sustain the efficiency of these channels and ensuring best turnout, it is imperative that the plan is being followed sincerely. The number of Facebook posts and twitter mentions should be maintained. If not, the resort will risk its customers losing interest or even face a reduction in the overall brand awareness of the resort. Outdoor advertising Once a tourist enters Lombok it is essential that they become instantly aware about the existence of MHR in the area. Which is why outdoor marketing in the form of billboards or hoardings across the island must create a buzz. It is important that the hoardings are creatively designed to garner attention of people. For this purpose, MHR must hire an efficient advertising agency. Every billboard has a rating known as Gross ratings point. This is based on traffic, visibility, location and size of the billboard (Fortenberry McGoldrick, 2015). MHR must ensure a higher rating as compared to its competitors as this will evidence a higher number of people crossing the billboard on a daily basis. Digital Marketing This is one of the most important forms of marketing especially in the highly globalized and digitized world that we live in. Digital marketing involves two critical processes which are search engine optimization and search engine marketing (Ryan, 2016). These assist people in easily searching about the resort and the marketing the resort through search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing (Ledford, 2015). This is specifically crucial for the resort because most of the target customers are tourists. The first thing that tourists do it search their travel plan online. And at this stage itself if MHR can make an impression and mark their presence on the island then the possibility of people booking the MHR resort increases drastically. Affiliate marketing Tie ups with various travel agencies and online portals would assist is gaining traffic on the website. Affiliate market involves a performance based marketing where the resorts will reward all the affiliates through which customers can reach out to the resort (Gregori, Daniele Altinay, 2014). This would encourage local travel agents as well as online hotel and flight portals to recommend MHR to their consumers. Social media marketing Social media marketing will involve effective marketing using online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter or Pinterest (Tuten Solomon, 2017). This would be successful as the resort already has a strong brand name and a history of over 25 years in the business. MHR could share pictures of the hotel rooms on Pinterest and Instagram. Whereas customer attraction, engaging and communication could be conducted using Facebook tags and Twitter hashtags. Social listening forms a very important part of social media marketing. This involves the procedure of being aware about what is being spoken about the brand at all times (Lieberman, 2014). The marketers must make sure that twitter and Facebook mentions are taken seriously, grievances are immediately addressed and compliments are positively reverted to. Tentative Budget In the span of one year it is important the brand awareness is created and the positioning of the resort is perfect in the minds of its consumers. Therefore it is crucial to have set targets for all the channels of the IMC plan. The response and the effective of each channel will result in a different target of consumers at different stages, which is why all the channels must be equally catered to and effectively utilized to reach out to a larger consumer base (Luxton, Reid Mavondo, 2015). IMC channel Target Approximate Budget allocated ($1000) Billboards 1. Total 472 billboards in the island (Total area of the island is 4725km square) 2. Change billboard design every 2 months. 700 Travel agency tie ups Tie up with the 10 leading travel agencies of Lombok as well as 5 leading agencies of Bali. 300 Facebook 20k followers and over 1095 posts (365*3). 350 Instagram 10k followers and over 400 posts 200 Twitter At least 50k followers and over 1825 (365*5) tweets. 450 Monitoring and Evaluation of Program Monitoring and Evaluation (ME) of program is important to develop before starting on any monitoring activities in order to clear a plan for u References Duncan, T. (2005). Principles of Advertising IMC. Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Chicago (Author-Date, 15th ed). Eagle, L., Dahl, S., Hill, S., Bird, S., Spotswood, F., Tapp, A. (2013). In Social Marketing. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited. Eckerson. (2016). Message Strategy. Retrieved from: https://www.eckerson.com/articles/why-your-message-strategy-is-so-important Marketing Solutions. (n.d.). The situation: Situational analysis. Retrieved from https://vwmarketingsolutions.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Chapter-4-The-Situation-Situational-Analysis.pdf Weilbacher, W. (1984). Journal of Advertising. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. 14:4. Has to be on the same level as Recommended IMC. Use this as template IMC objectives, not marketing plan