EECT056 Oil And Gas Management

The report will focus on Travelodge, highlighting specifically their marketing concept. Under marketing management, the report will dwell on production orientation covering their pros and cons. It will also discuss the marketing orientation approach adopted by Travelodge. The report will additionally cover the marketing environment, highlighting a legal and technological factor that may impact the operations of Travelodge. It will also cover internal environmental factors that may impact Travelodge’s business. The focus will also include marketing strategies by addressing the importance of positioning in planning as used in Travelodge. Lastly, the report will cover the marketing mix in Travelodge.

Travelodge was started in 1985 in the United Kingdom. Over time, the hotel has grown opening many subsidiaries in other major cities in the UK such as Cardiff, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Birmingham (Travelodge, 2018). Travelodge has branches also in Ireland and Spain. Travelodge has significantly grown to become the largest private hotel brand in the UK, boasting of 560 branches and a total of 40,000 guestrooms.

Marketing orientation is the focus a company puts to meet the desires and needs of its customers through production mix.

Product-orientation is when the business places the needs and wants of the consumer ahead of making more product. The advantage of this approach is that the business is responsive to consumer needs enabling the business to have a profitable niche. However, this approach hampers creativity and innovation as the company is tied to the consumer wants (Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi, 2015, pp 705). Production oriented concept applies when a business focuses more on its product without considering the needs of the consumers. Its advantage is that the business constantly comes with many products that may appeal to the masses and at a much lower price. The disadvantage of this approach is that the consumer may not necessarily be responsive to the new product as quality is not always guaranteed. Travelodge adopts the use of product orientation as they offer customers with comfy King size beds, at an amazing value.

One of the legal factors that could affect the operations of Travelodge is consumer protection law. This law is design to protect the consumer from fraudulent, deceptive and unfair practices from businesses (Paharia, et al., 2014, pp. 650). In cases where Travelodge violate this law, the business may be subjected to financial sanctions, class action suits, and negative publicity. Travelodge can adopt the use of the internet as a technological factor. The internet will increase connectivity between the business and the outside world. The internet will further impact Travelodge effectively by giving business platforms such as YouTube and social media sites to advertise their business.

A company’s internal environment are the factors within the business that define the behavior of the organization. This may include such factors as corporate culture and an organizational capability (Coviello, et al., 2013, pp. 40). Corporate culture is a strength at Travelodge because the business prides itself as a value hotel. The organizational capabilities, however, limit the business to a certain clientele. Those in high social class may find the hotel not befitting their status.

Positioning is the perception of a brand by the consumer in relation to the other products in the market. It involves setting one’s business ahead of the competitors. The approaches to marketing planning include; the price quality, the competitor approach, customer benefits, product class, product use and the cultural symbol approach (Park, et al., 2014, pp. 219). Positioning helps Travelodge to distinguish themselves from other service providers in the UK. The hotel focuses on the great attributes of their rooms to give them an edge over their competitors.

The hotel can embrace the use of customer benefit to position themselves. They should ensure that their services are developed with the consumer’s well-being at heart. They can adopt a catchphrase such as “we are here to serve you.”

These are factors that a business can adapt to influence the customers to purchase their product or service (Mintz and Currim, 2013, pp. 35). Travelodge basically applies this method by upgrading their rooms to be bigger and using more comfortable beds. The rooms are additionally fitted with tv screens and Wi-Fi connectivity to give the customers’ entertainment and internet access. The physical environment of the hotel is also top notch. The rooms are well decorated and fitted with high-quality furniture and the attendants are well groomed and effectively represent Travelodge brand.

Travelodge is ranked among the best service providers in the hospitality industry in the UK. The hotel considers product orientation by offering its customers the best service. Some external factors such as corporate consumer law and the internet are adopted by the business. Travelodge additionally position itself as one of the hotels with amazing prize value. The newly upgraded rooms give Travelodge a market mix, consequently attracting more customers.

Integrated marketing communication is a method that focuses on achieving a marketing objective through the use of different promotional approaches that complement each other. The use of this marketing solution is important because it applies consistency in all mediums and the message is delivered to consumers in all advertisement platforms. The solution also saves money by eliminating the duplication of information. Additionally, this marketing method improves search results for consumers and enables them to find relatable content. This report will review the marketing campaign used by Travelodge.

Promotional mix is the use of several promotional tools together with the aim of marketing. It applies four elements of marketing which include; advertising, personal selling, public relation and sales promotions (Sagala, et al., 2014, pp. 2252). Advertising is the promotion of goods and services by an agent in exchange of a fee. Personal selling is a traditional promotion strategy that involves one on one interactions between the seller and the buyer.

Travelodge uses advertisement as a promotional tool to market their new and upgraded rooms. This method helps Travelodge in creating awareness about the rooms and attracts the customers through catchy phrases such as “great rooms, big bed, and amazing value.” The advertisement also helps in setting the brand apart from their competitors. (Raki? and Raki?, 2014, pp. 7). Additionally, the advertisement is effective in reaching a wider customer base and attracting new customers. However, this method has its con.The outcome of an advertising campaign is not guaranteed. The message implored may not yield to the expected results of the brand.

Travelodge adopts social media, particularly YouTube, as a channel for their brand recognition. Social media is an excellent channel to create brand awareness, as the content is accessed by many people globally (Barker, 2013, pp.120). However, YouTube comment section can be accessible by anyone and some of the comments that may be posted may affect the brand reputation. Travelodge has recently produced a mobile application to increase interaction with the customers. The mobile application provides seamless service such as online booking of the rooms and increases customer base.

In their video campaign, Travelodge tries to convey a message about their new and improved accommodation. In the video, Travelodge talk about their great rooms, big king size bed and location, all for an amazing value (YouTube, 2018). The video campaign focuses mainly on the value. The customers can access the upgraded room at a pocket-friendly price.

Travelodge targets mainly families in their video campaign. The use of puppets is a huge attraction for the little children. The children can influence their parents to book the room. Additionally, the video campaign targets those who wish for great accommodation services at a good monetary value. The video campaign claims that the rooms are offered at an amazing value. This is aimed at attracting economical individuals.

The AIDA model (attention, interest, desire, and action) is a cognitive process that customer follows in buying goods or services (Hadiyati, 2016, pp. 60). In their video campaign, Travelodge employs AIDA through the following ways. The brand grabs the attention of the customer with the use of puppets and music to convey the message. The interest and desires of the customers are covered by the message of great rooms, big beds, and location at an amazing price. Lastly, Travelodge addresses the action principle by incorporating their website at the end of the video. The customer, therefore, gets a platform to access additional information and book the rooms.

Travelodge can collect feedback in the comment section of the Youtube. This platform gives a comment section where viewers can air their questions, appreciations and also give reviews (Gerber, et al., 2014, pp. 7). In their video campaign, Travelodge can study the comment section of their videos and address issues brought up by the commenters.

The foregone are the strategies employed by Travelodge in their video campaign. The campaign effectively addressed important marketing tools such as the AIDA framework and promotional mix for an effective marketing campaign. The use of YouTube as a channel of brand awareness has proven to be effective owing to the number of views the video has so far attracted. Travelodge has used the integrated marketing communication solution effectively.

Barker, R., 2013. Strategic integrated communication: An alternative perspective of integrated marketing communication?. Communicatio, 39(1), pp.102-121.

Coviello, N.E., Brodie, R.J., Danaher, P.J. and Johnston, W.J., 2013. How firms relate to their markets: an empirical examination of contemporary marketing practices. Journal of marketing, 66(3), pp.33-46.

Gerber, C., Terblanche-Smit, M. and Crommelin, T., 2014. Brand recognition in television advertising: The influence of brand presence and brand introduction. Acta Commercii, 14(1), pp.1-8.

Hadiyati, E., 2016. Study of marketing mix and AIDA model to purchasing on line product in Indonesia. British Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(7), pp.49-62.

Karjaluoto, H., Mustonen, N. and Ulkuniemi, P., 2015. The role of digital channels in industrial marketing communications. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 30(6), pp.703-710.

Mintz, O. and Currim, I.S., 2013. What drives managerial use of marketing and financial metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal of Marketing, 77(2), pp.17-40.

Paharia, N., Avery, J. and Keinan, A., 2014. Positioning brands against large competitors to increase sales. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(6), pp.647-656.

Park, T., Mishra, A.K. and Wozniak, S.J., 2014. Do farm operators benefit from direct to consumer marketing strategies?. Agricultural Economics, 45(2), pp.213-224.

Raki?, B. and Raki?, M., 2014. Integrated marketing communications paradigm in digital environment: The five pillars of integration. Megatrend revija, 11(1), pp.187-204.

Sagala, C., Destriani, M., Putri, U.K. and Kumar, S., 2014. Influence of promotional mix and price on customer buying decision toward fast food sector: a survey on university students in jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) Indonesia. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 4(1), pp.2250-3153.

Travelodge. (2018). Our company – Travelodge. [online] Available at: https://www.travelodge.co.uk/about/our-company/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].

YouTube. (2018). Travelodge Advert – That’s Travelodgical. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OeWko8-aK0&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018].