Marketing Strategy Southern Ocean Lodge

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Strategy for Southern Ocean Lodge. Answer: Introduction The aim of the report is to develop a clear and concise concept of marketing strategies of an organization. Southern Ocean Lodge, a tourist hotel in Australia has been selected as the case study for this report. A detailed analysis of the market segmentation where this hotel operates shall be done in this report. In order to understand the strategic planning of an organization, it is important to take a note of the market where the organization operates along with the targeted consumers. The business of an organization largely depends on the behavior of the customers. Therefore, it is important that the marketing strategies that an organization undertakes should be based on the behavior of the consumers. Following the findings of the internal and external factors that affect the marketing of this lodge, certain recommendations will also be made in this report. Southern Ocean Lodge is a luxury lodge that offers true luxury and unique experience to its visitors. The lodge is located on Kangaroo Island in Hanson Bay in South Australia. The lodge offers excellence service to its visitors. The lodge located on scrub covered cliffs above the pounding surf; this hotel is a boutique hotel and is an exquisite designer heaven. There are 21 luxurious rooms that the lodge offers and is endowed by lavish King bed and dramatic glass walled bathroom and outdoor terrace (southernoceanlodge.com.au, 2016). The objective of the organization is to provide more than just accommodation to its visitors. Clear and concise description of the market in which the organization operates Southern Ocean Lodge operates at the Hudson Bay on the Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is one of the important and attractive tourist spot in Australia. Kangaroo Island is the third largest island in Australia. The land belonged to the Australian aborigines but now it is a land open to the Australians. This part is considered as the heaven of the visitors. There are number of holiday resorts in the Island. In the peak seasons of holidays, the number of bookings for the hotel rooms increases by many folds and even situation arises when there happen to be a crisis of the availability of rooms in the hotels and resorts (Ryan 2014). Therefore, it can be easily said that the demand of rooms and lodging is always high and there is a great market for these boutique hotels in this part of the country. A detail description of the market can be made by the means of micro and macro environmental analysis. Summary of the marketing environment Micro environmental analysis: Power of Suppliers The suppliers of a tourist resort that affect the marketing of the organization are the advertising, PR and marketing agency. As commented by Best (2012), that marketing and advertisement help an organization to increase its business. Therefore, the power of these suppliers automatically increases. Power of Buyers The buyers are the prospected consumers or visitors of the hotel. In the view point of Solomon (2014), buyers power is the most impactful criteria in the business. In case of a hotel or a tourist lodge, the demand regarding discount or personalization of the surrounding always remains a criterion. These factors impact the business of a hotel or a tourist lodge. Threats of Substitution Australia and New Zealand are famous for boutique hotels that provide a thematic and personalized experience to the visitors. However, other big hotels and lodges or guest rooms also remain an option for the visitors (Mullins, Walker and Boyd 2012). Threat of New Entrants In the recent situation there remains a threat for opening of new Hotels in Australia like Peppers Docklands Hotel in Victoria, Melbourne; Elements of Byron Bay on the beach at Byron Bay are some of the new projects that might affect the business of Southern Ocean Lodge (Chari et al. 2014). Competitive Rivalry Kangaroo Island Seafront Resort, life Time Private retreats, Ozone Hotel Kangaroo Island and others offer great price in accommodation and other attractive facilities like free Wi-Fi and complementary breakfast to its visitors. Fig: Porters Five Forces Analysis Source: Created by the author Macro environmental analysis: Political Australia is politically stable and the corporate decisions are not changed at a regular basis. In addition to this, the country is also open to FDI and welcomes companies from outside to do business. The government also allows Visa to the prospected visitors or tourists (Green, Whitten and Inman 2012). These factors create a positive implication on tourism industry. Economic Australia has a stable Economic growth and its GDP is higher than major European countries. Cost of living in cities like Victoria or Melbourne is less than other countries worldwide. The currency exchange rate is also favorable (Weidner and Jnicke 2013). The low-cost commercial properties in Australia welcome Asians and others to do business in Australia. It has been also estimated that the capital growth of the country raised by 36% approx (Zarrella 2013). Socio-cultural In terms of the population of Australia, it consists of Anglicon, Roman Catholic, Christian and others. Another important factor that impacts the hotel or the tourism industry is the incoming of tourists (Gabrielsson et al. 2012). Australia is also an important sector for foreign students who come to the country for education purpose. Technological Technologically Australia is equally advanced like other developed countries. People are active on internet and use the social media sites considerably. Any kind of marketing that shall be done using the media shall be very successful. Legal The taxes including corporate tax, goods and services tax, Capital gain tax and other business related taxes that are applicable for the business in Australia impact the tourism business in Australia (Harvey Lemelin et al. 2013). Australia also offers mortgage facility that offers companies from other countries to operate in the country. Environmental Australia naturally has a diverse environment of beaches and seas and mountains as well. It is one the major tourists location that attracts tourists from around the globe. These factors automatically increase the opportunity of tourism and hotel or tourists lodge business (Laidlaw et al. 2014). Fig: PESTLE analysis of Southern Ocean Lodge Source: Created by the author Fig: GDP of Australia Source: (Ruhanen, Whitford and McLennan 2016) Detailed description of how the market is (or may be) segmented The target visitors of the Southern Ocean Lodge Australia are the ones who look for a comfortable and personalized stay at a hotel. The difference between a regular hotel and a boutique hotel is the kind of treatment that the guests receive (Tisdell and Wilson 2012). Therefore, it can be said that the major targeted customers of the lodge are the ones who want a personalized stay. These groups of people might include newlywed couple, tourists and visitors from other countries, people who want to celebrate the special days of their life like anniversary or a success party. It has been found that the students who come to Australia from countries like India, China; they are also the prospected visitors of this lodge (southernoceanlodge.com.au, 2016). The lodge mainly targets those people who visit the Hudson Bay and the Kangaroo Island and the other neighboring places of tourists attraction. The tourists that visit these places are the targeted and estimated that they shall be the visitors of the lodge (Cozens and Tarca 2016). In order to target these groups of people the resort mainly uses the on-site promotional technique. There are big hoardings and banners located at the Kangaroo beach that informs the tourists about the existence of the resort at that location. Apart from this, the resort offers complete description of their business in their website as well. Brief discussion of the behavior of customers in the segment(s) identified As pointed out by Ruhanen, Whitford and McLennan (2016), that every customer is different because of the nature of their behavior. It falls under the responsibility of the marketers of a particular company or organization to understand the behavior of the prospected consumers and design their marketing that shall help to attract the targeted consumers (Haines and McConnell 2016). The expected behavior and liking of the prospected visitors or consumers of the hotel can be described here: Newlywed couples: For a newlywed couple, the first tour or holiday is always special for them. In order to make their holiday memorable, these people tend to look something different than the regular things (Nicholls, Sharma and Saha 2015). Therefore, it is expected that they shall look for a kind of unique experience for their stay. It is for the same reason the resort shall focus on the personalization of their service based on the need and requirement of the clients. Tourists: There are many tourists who visit Australia from various part of the globe. Apart from the beauty of nature that the country offers its visitors, expectations remain high in respect to their stay and level of comfort that they gain in a hotel. Staying in a regular hotel is a common thing that is available in all parts of the world (Airey and Ruhanen 2013). However, New Zealand and Australia are the places that are famous for the boutique hotels and the personalization of stay that some of the hotels here in Australia offer. Therefore, understanding the needs of these tourists is very important because in case of tourism business, word of mouth publicity matters the most. If a person like the treatment received at the hotel, there is a great possibility that the person shall talk good about the resort (Packer, Ballantyne and Hughes 2014). This could be one of the important marketing methods that might help the resort to improve the business. People celebrating special occasion: People who wants to celebrate some kind of occasion such as anniversary, birthday or even a success party always look for a personal place where they shall not be interfered by other people. In such situations, these boutique hotels are preferred by the people (Hardiman and Burgin 2016). Although Southern Ocean Lodge has a limited number of rooms to offer, visitors might use this resort to celebrate their special days and create moment. Others: Other expected people include the students or the parents of these students. The tourism industry of Australia is greatly influenced by the foreign students and the country earns good foreign exchange from these people. In case of the foreign students like the Indians, they like to discover the uniqueness of a particular place (Packer, Ballantyne and Hughes 2014). This attitude of these people might increase the demand of the resorts and boutique hotels. Fig: Tourism statistics in Australia Source: (Abascal, Fluker. and Jiang 2016) Description of the marketing mix being used by the organization to target these segments The marketing mix of the lodge can be narrated by using the 4Ps of marketing: Product Southern Ocean Lodge offers services of staying at the hotel to its visitors. The hotel is a boutique lodge and offers a personalized stay to the visitors. The hotel is famous for its lavish suites and a luxury stay that the visitors enjoy when they select this lodge for their stay (Schweinsberg, Wearing and Darcy 2012). The lodge also offers great cuisine to its guests. Food ranging from continental, Chinese and Western items, the lodge offers a variety of fancy food to their customers (Abascal, Fluker. and Jiang 2016). Apart from the rooms, the lodge also has the facility of a swimming pool and a terrace that adds to the excellence staying experience of the visitors. Place The resort is located at the Hudson Bay in the Kangaroo Island in Australia. It is one of the important tourists destinations in Australia. Both Australians and other tourists or native people are found to visit this place as a part of their recreation activities. In the view point of Amelung and Nicholls (2014), Kangaroo island is the epitome of variety because of the presence of a pristine number of beaches, underground caves, gourmet local food and delicacies along with darling waddled water offers the tourists with the pleasure that one desires. Price The rate of the rooms of the hotel ranges from $ 1,000 to $ 3,900 for a single night stay per person. The rate differs according to the demand and needs of the visitors (southernoceanlodge.com.au, 2016). The price of the lodge is comparatively higher than other local lodges like Kangaroo Island Seaside Inn or the Western View lodge but with the kind of service that the lodge provides to its visitors, the rate does not affect the business of the lodge. Promotion The resort focuses more on on-spot promotion. Advertisements and promotion are mainly outdoor advertisements that include hoardings, banners, kiosks, billboards etc (Schweinsberg, Wearing and Darcy 2012). No promotion based on television commercial is used. The website of the lodge is nicely designed that provides all kinds of information to the on lookers (Moore, Rodger and Taplin 2015). The website also offers booking facility. However, the lodge does not use the social media effectively for its promotional activities. The resort also gives less discounts and offers compared to the other resorts of same genre (Tisdell and Wilson 2012). Fig: Marketing Mix analysis of Southern Ocean Lodge Source: Created by the author Conclusion The analysis of the internal and the external factors that influence the business of the Southern Ocean Lodge has been discussed in the report. It has been found that the prospected customers or the visitors of the lodge are the ones who want special kind of treatment and an experience that they might not have experienced before. The behavior of the identified visitors has also been analyzed and it has been found that the major targeted people are the ones who want to have a personalized experience of their stay. Therefore, any kind of marketing strategy that the lodge shall undertake should target these groups of people and portray the same thing to them. Conducting the market analysis, it has been found that the Kangaroo Island is a famous tourist spot and it attracts many tourists every year. At major time of the year, the lodges and the resorts fail to provide accommodation facility to the tourists. Keeping the same factor in mind, it can be said that there is a greater opportunity for the business to prosper which could give rise to the entrant of a number of new hotels and resorts in the Kangaroo Island. Therefore, the Southern Ocean Lodge might have to face tough competition in the future to attract major visitors or customers to the lodge. By keeping all these factors in mind, certain recommendations can be made that shall help the resort to conduct their marketing process to improve their business. Recommendation for improvements to the organizations marketing effort The prospected market has been recognized and the marketing shall be made on the basis of that. A number of recommendations can be made in this respect. These are: Promotion using social media: The advent and the impact of the social media like Facebook, Twitter cannot be neglected. With the increasing usage of these sites among a large number people, mass marketing can be easily done. It is expected that the lodge must use its Facebook page effectively. The marketing team has to be active enough to promote every activity about the hotel and increase the reach of the publicity to the greatest number of people as possible. Promotion using the search engines: The marketing procedure might include writing of blogs and articles and publish the same in the search engines like Google. If the searching process can be enhanced then there remains great possibility that many people could get to know about the hotel. It is also recommended that these pages shall have a direct link of the web site of the hotel with the help of which a person can directly get access to the website of hotel. Promotion at the foreign market: It has to be understood that there are many visitors who are from other countries like India or European countries. Therefore, marketing about the hotel in the foreign market is also important. The promotional method might be a bit expensive but it could fetch the desired customers that can add to the profit of the business. Promotion by the means of offering discount and packages: One of the important ways to fight against the competitive market is by offering certain things to the customers that other hotels or lodges do not offer to the visitors. The Southern Ocean Lodge should come up with a number of strategies that shall deliver discounts and offers to the visitors of the hotel. This way they can easily attract more customers and fight with the competitors as well. By the use other channels of marketing: In order to attract the local people of the place, the resort might use other channels of marketing. These channels include television advertisement or print advertisements in newspaper and magazines. In the seasons of holiday, the frequency of the advertisement might be increased to attract more tourists. By adopting a number of CSR strategies: One of the key efforts that bring prosperity in the business is by adopting a number of ways to perform corporate social responsibilities. It is recommended that the lodge shall undertake a number of CSR activities like involvement in community development or certain other approaches in the foreign countries like investing in the development of the condition of the people of that country might also act as a marketing tool for the resort. End note: The recommendations made in this report are suggested keeping the complete scenario of the market operation of the lodge. It can be said that there is a great scope of these industry in the market of Australia. If the marketing is done in a proper way, it the lodge can easily gain the required things that shall help the lodge to improve its business. 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