Marketing assignment on: British Airways

1. Introduction:British Airways has been referred to an airlines operating in UK & situated near the: London Airport. British airways has been rendered to one of the largest airlines based upon the various factors such as size, number of international flights on roll & the number of destination it covers.

In the year 1971, the British Airways Board came into picture which was responsible to manage the two main airline corporations i.e. BEA & BOAC. In the year 1974, British Airways was originated.

This report majorly takes into consideration the evaluation of the marketing communication strategies & develops an Integrated Marketing Plan keeping in mind the SOSTAC analysis.

2. Body:

2.1 Communication strategies:Communication strategies refers to the way with which an organization communicates with its employees, managers, board of directors, stakeholders, shareholders and any other interested party (Duncan, 2002). This section of the report highlights the various marketing communication strategies which have been undertaken by British Airways. Since, British Airways belong to the leisure industry; therefore the services offered to its customers would communicate the same. The communication strategies have been discussed as under:

Þ    Creating Ancillary services: The first communication strategy which is taken into consideration by the British Airways refers to create a world class experience for its customers. The services offered by the British Airways should be such that, it should provide value for money (Duncan, 2002). The services offered at British Airways have been based upon the various strategic areas which should be kept in mind while designing as well as implementing of the marketing communication strategy.

Þ    Branding naming/ corporate identity: Brand name also plays a very role in building a strong relationship between the customers. It must be seen that, people rely upon the brand & trust the quality of goods or services being provided them. Therefore, British Airways has been established as an airline which serves its customers with one of the finest quality of products. Thus, brand management or the identity of the organization plays a very important role in satisfying its customers. Some of the aspects which are taken into consideration in the brand strategy refer to the structured communication methods, segmentations of the products, brand portfolio, fair recognition of the organization, brand values, etc (British Airways, 2009)..Þ    Segmentation: Segmentation refers to the next communication strategy which is being adopted by the British Airways. This means that, the information which is to be communicated to the various parties involved should be quite specific. This aspect would help in order to provide the relevant information to all the relevant parties (Duncan, 2002).

Þ    Customer Loyalty: The other way through which communication could be practiced amongst the target audience of British Airways would refer to loyalty of the customers (British Airways, 2009). At British Airways, the airlines provide its customers with one of the best technology which would help in order to retain more number of customers towards them. Proper optimization of the resources would help the airlines in order to create loyalty amongst the audience as well as have a fair position in the minds of the customer.

Þ    Communication: Based upon the various factors such as opportunities, competence, etc the airlines have formulated its communications strategies. The communication strategies which are being kept in mind at British Airways are quite specific in nature. The structure of the communication strategies are precise as well as consist of various messages which are majorly targeted towards the target audience. The benefits of the communication strategies so formulated would be quite helpful to the target audience (British Airways, 2009). Different dialogues have been formulated which would help to target the specific audience.

Þ    Online Marketing: Online communication marketing strategies have been kept in mind which would help the organization i.e. British Airways to communicate the relevant changes within the organization. The website of British Airways is quite dynamic as well as interactive in nature (Duncan, 2002). Fair communication methods such as updating the websites, a write up in the newsletters, magazines, and interactive websites would help in order to inform the target audience.

2.2 IMC Plan:

Integrated Marketing Communication refers to a process which is mainly structured towards the customers & uses various tools of communication in order to communicate with the target audience. IMC plan refers to the integration of the various marketing tools which would help in order to maximize its overall impression over the target audience. The IMC plan would help in order to build fair coordination amongst the various tools used & the level of satisfaction of the customers (BSA Marketing, 2010). The IMC plan would also help in order to widen the coordination which could be achieved by minimizing the level of cost involved. The IMC plan has been structured keeping in mind the different tools of marketing communication such as sales promotion methods, advertisements, PR, direct marketing methods, etc. The IMC plan at British Airways should be formulated keeping in mind the SOSTAC analysis.

Some of the elements which should be kept in mind while formulating the IMC Plan would be as under:

Þ    Prepare responsive websites: British airways should try to formulate self explanatory websites. This means that, the websites should be formulated in such a manner which would help the organization in order to speak regarding the airlines. It should be flooded with relevant information which might be of some help to the target audiences. The website is one of the best means through which communication would be done (BSA Marketing, 2010).

Þ    Advertisements: Advertisements refers to the next best component which should be kept in mind by British Airways. The various advertising means which should be by British Airways would refer to the print media such as advertisements in the travel magazines, leisure journals, etc (BSA Marketing, 2010). Television commercials should also be aired on various channels which would help the target audience to get familiar with the airlines. Time to time advertisements should be aired which would help in order to recall as well as build awareness amongst the target audience.

Þ    Online Marketing: Various online marketing tools should be used. Most of the customers are online throughout the day, therefore British Airways should use the appropriate methods which would help in order to target more number of people & retain them (Duncan, 2002).

Þ    Securing Brand: Use of various brochures, written material & case studies should be formulated which would help in order to build as well as retain fair position in the market. The branding should be done in such a manner which would help in order to rightly position British Airways (BSA Marketing, 2010).

2.3 SOSTAC analysis:The SOSTAC analysis should be conducted at British Airways which would help them to reach varied levels of success in the years to come. SOSTAC analysis would refer to a market plan which would consist an overview of all the strategies & objectives which could be used by the people of the board members at British Airways. This analysis would help the organization in order to make a detailed plan of action keeping in mind the six major factors of the marketing plan (Alvi, 2008).

Situation: The first factor which should be kept in mind in the SOSTAC model would be to ascertain the current position of British Airways. In the first step of SOSTAC model, situation analysis of British Airways should be conducted (Alvi, 2008). Some of the questions which should be kept in mind would include, the current performance of the organization, various competitive advantage as compared to its competitors, the effectives of the current marketing mix, current channels of communication used.

Objective: The second factor which should be kept in mind in the SOSTAC model would be to see where the organization does want to be. The mission, vision & objectives of the business should be well defined.  The SMART objectives should be considered which would help the airlines to ensure that the objectives are measurable.

Strategy: The third factor which should be kept in mind in this model would be to formulate various differentiated strategies as to how to reach its ultimate goal. Proper segmentation, targeting & positioning should be done in order to satisfy its target audience in a well defined manner.

Tactics: Tactics means to use different marketing tools in order to implement one of the best strategies. A structured tactical plan should be made considering the following aspects such as the various communication tools to be used, appropriate messages to be communicated to its target audience, measure the consistency of the communication tools, required budget, etc (Alvi, 2008).

Action: The action plan for British Airways would include the 3 W’s i.e. What, Who, When. This means that, what is to be done, when it is to be done & who is responsible for it. It should also consist of the various resources which should be kept in mind, key performance measures & how the performance should be recorded (Duncan, 2002).Control: The last aspect of this analysis refers to control & keep a track of the overall progress of the organization. This would consist of the various means through which measurement should be done, frequency of measuring the performance, making fair reviews upon the measurements, etc (Alvi, 2008).

3. Conclusion:

Hence, it could be concluded that British Airways refers to one of the key airlines serving the customers for the past many years. This report majorly consists of the communication strategies which have been used by the same in order to minimize the gap. The report also highlights the IMC i.e. an Integrated Marketing Communication for the airlines keeping in view the SOSTAC model. All the aspects mentioned under the SOSTAC model should be taken into consideration which would help in order to reach high levels of success in the years to come.

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