Marketing strategy and the four P's at Hawaii's visitor convention bureau

Mark Strat

Marketing Strategy: Hawaii Visitor's and Convention Bureau

In order for an organization to survive today's marketplace, it must have an effective marketing strategy to remain competitive. The best approach to the largest segment of the market, means a company must remain focused on the customer. This paper will focus on the techniques that make up market strategy for a company. Use of integrated marketing communication or IMC should be used to achieve this goal. This paper will look at how IMC is used as a marketing strategy. IMC as a concept encompasses the use of tools like advertising, public relations and direct marketing in different types of media (Tri-Media 2005). This paper will look at the Hawaii Visitor's Convention Bureau or HVCB. It will discuss how the organization uses marketing tactics and the four P's of product, price, promotion and place. How do these as a part of a marketing strategy reflect the company's mission and vision? What are some factors that create obstacles for the organization? This paper will explore how strategy is formulated by HVCB; what tactics are used specifically; what could be done differently; how factors change strategy and how by doing this gives HVCB a competitive advantage.

Marketing Tactics and the Four P's of HVCB

Essentially a marketing strategy is built around the core values, vision and objectives of the organization. Study of market strategy one become aware that in order to have product, price, promotion or placement, the organization must have done its research on the market and the consumer need for its service. Without an understanding the targeted audience, the organization cannot market at all. It is important to work the product, its price, distribution and promotion around the needs of the people and of course, from there working to persuade segments of the segment into wanting the product. This is called product diversification. Not everyone can afford an Hawaiian vacation and all the attractions that are available at HVCB. The travel industry is highly competitive, cut throat with many threats to income. Consumers are more wary travel today than five years due to present conflicts in the world. It is important for HVCB to get around these obstacles by enticing the consumer. Really Hawaii can sell itself on the premise of being a beautiful relaxing place but after that it is the job of an organization like HVCB to continue marketing the idea of a vacation. This is where pricing and promotion become important to the marketing strategy.

Pricing strategies usually change as the product passes through its life cycle. There are a number of different methods of determining price depending on the product. In today's game, diversification of products and product add-ons is the key to success. It is with this in mind that companies usually develop product lines instead of just a product. This way, the company has a product that can be priced for every budget. For an organization like HVCB, this may mean running promotions, for instance a two for the price one during the winter season or provide extra nights for the customer who buys a week's package. It may mean running a contest for free snorkeling lessons or a free helicopter tour. Add-ons can be enticing as the customer thinks they getting something for nothing.

Product placement is key especially with a service-based company. These companies need to have not only traditional medias working for them but also newer e-marketing tools such as a web presence and email newsletters. It is important to meet demand for excellent customer service to have the physical product within an immediate need of the client. This means utilizing technology to provide ticket-less travel and communication about the service via email or cell service. A happy customer is a return customer.

Other Possible Tactics

There are endless opportunities for a smaller business to flourish if they put customer value first. It is important they listen to feedback and implement new ideas as they come. Relationship marketing holds the greatest opportunities as it opens the lines of communication not only between customers but also other businesses, which the company may want to do business with in the future. Also these relationships play an important role as the future of business is found in alliances that work to strengthen each company's bottom line. In other words, there are equal benefits and exposure. By aligning itself properly, HVCB can use an alliance to gain further exposure into new markets without requiring much more overhead or manpower. A web site will aid in this process. By having a web site, the company puts e-commerce to work for them and allows them even more exposure to the global arena.

Conclusion

This paper focused on the techniques that make up market strategy for a company. This paper looked at the Hawaii Visitor's Convention Bureau or HVCB. It discussed how the organization uses marketing tactics and the four P's of product, price, promotion and place. This paper explored how strategy is formulated by HVCB; what tactics are used specifically; what could be done differently; how factors change strategy and how by doing this gives HVCB a competitive advantage.