Re: Questions : MARKETING PLAN

by kathia Morano Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:13 pm

To build a competitive advantage in the European Market and try to differentiate from European competitors, which marketing solutions seems to you the most efficient for e trip company?

- Customized portals: The Objective of this kind of offer: try to gain customer’s loyalty by enabling him to customize the contents like My yahoo!. With that kind of portals, each customer can, in that way, receive personalize advertisements and offers.

- Purchasing card (form of company credit card that allows goods and services to be procured without utilizing a traditional purchasing process), they are provided by major credit card companies and can reduce dramatically purchasing costs

- Electronic catalogue: can be the central reference for many customers. A catalogue where you can find pricing information, new promotions, lowest price promotions (of course, the catalogue need to be updated with the best promotions)

by florent_lefevre Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:36 pm

kathia Morano wrote:To build a competitive advantage in the European Market and try to differentiate from European competitors, which marketing solutions seems to you the most efficient for e trip company?

- Customized portals: The Objective of this kind of offer: try to gain customer’s loyalty by enabling him to customize the contents like My yahoo!. With that kind of portals, each customer can, in that way, receive personalize advertisements and offers.

- Purchasing card (form of company credit card that allows goods and services to be procured without utilizing a traditional purchasing process), they are provided by major credit card companies and can reduce dramatically purchasing costs

- Electronic catalogue: can be the central reference for many customers. A catalogue where you can find pricing information, new promotions, lowest price promotions (of course, the catalogue need to be updated with the best promotions)

Perhaps this could be the starting point of a new thread, it is unfortunate to see it "lost" in the second page of a topic !

by TA_Max_Huang Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:09 pm

kathia Morano wrote:Imagine that you are the CEO of e-trip, which one of the following marketing tools will you use in order to build your brand identity?
Don't forget that we have to respect the marketing budget and be coherent with the brand and the customers' target
- Use the Acquisition e-mailings: e-trip can buy external databases and send e-mails to external customers with e predefined template to ensure the quality of the database. Which kind of partners could e-trip find on the web?
- Use Banners: to create awareness and visual opportunities to other partners'websites.
- Use the viral marketing :Facebook and blogs
- Buy words on Google to be in the first commercial links
-In terms of complementary services, offer SMS and Mobile marketing to their customers (for example, send a SMS when a fly will be delayed?)
Which one of the marketing tools is the cheapest for the company?

I think the "Facebook and blogs" one is interesting and worthy of our attention.
Etrip should and can take advantage of "word-of-mouth" marketing.

The Facebook may be a very powerful marketing tool in the future because of its more than 3 billions customers.

BTW, Etrip can think up some special services to cater to the mobile phone users. Travellers may not have a computer and an Internet connection with them, but they often carry a mobile phone. If travellers want to book a flight ticket in a unfamiliar country, it would be a convenient choice for them.

Therefore, I suggest that Etrip can place importance on these two technology.

by Chi Fai_Cheng Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:40 pm

florent_lefevre wrote:Creating the buzz... Not that easy. Said that, one has to think about Ryanair! I can't remember of any ads from them... even from Easyjet ! How did they start ? How do you launch a low-cost airline ?

Hey Florent,

Yes indeed, not that easy to create the buzz. Especially for a starter... But why are you talking about how low-cost airlines launch their service? Shouldn't we focus on how we can launch a search engine as best as possible? Though I see the overlap, because the airlines also put their flights online, but it isnt really a search engine.

by Chi Fai_Cheng Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:42 pm

chloé_laluc wrote:Just a simple question : have you guys heard of Etrip before this forum?

Actually, I haven't heard of it.

by Chi Fai_Cheng Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:50 pm

Janick_Edinger wrote:@Chloé: no, I don't have. When I searched for the Website for the case study it was my first time to see the emblem/logo

I think the amount of money Har Adir plans for marketing issues is rather small. Compared to his goals of the number of visitors it is a relative small amount.

So he plans to spend 36,000€ on Marketing Issues (in 2009) to reach 3,575,000 visitors. That means hardly 0,01€ per aquired visitor. I think that plan is very optimistic.

What do you think?

True, 1cent per acquired visitor is quite optimistic. We need to have a complete view to judge whether this is possible. But lets say this search engine really provides the visitor with an ideal flight. Then, I'm not that pessimistic about ETRIP chances to grow rapidly.

by julie Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:04 am

I think there is an alternative of buying some Google words, which is very expensive. They should have chosen a different name for the website. I mean using e-trip is not really efficient because this brand remains unknown. As you all said, no one had previously heard about them. They should have taken something like "easytravel.com" did. They could have used I don't know maybe "cheapflights.com" or something like that. So when customers are looking for a flight and put "cheap flights" as a Google key word, your website appears first. It's not really interesting for the brand image and the brand recognition but at least it's totally free. When your marketing budget is limited, you should think about it...

by edwige_aoudiani Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:33 am

I agree with Julie. Their name should be more accurate with the cheap fligths they provide. It would be easier to be found on the web.

Another thing they could do to enlarge their market is to create some partnerships with small to middle size companies, which don't have much budget for business trips.

by Naomi_Karnovsky Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:40 am

It's true that the buzz strategy is the cheapest one, and could also be the most effective. However, there is a major problem with it. It is usually very hard to create and also very hard to predict. You can hope people will like your product enough to not only use it, but to also tell their friends about it and spread the word.

However, I do believe Etrip has the potential to acheive it. The reason, as I mentioned in one of the other topics, is their competitive advantage. The fact that Etrip searches as many sources as possible to get the cheapest deal, instead of limiting itself to a number of online agencies or airlines basically puts the customer first. This makes users feel more confident when they use Etrip, and maybe even feel like they are part of a new community, in which users can help each other (selling unused tickets, for example) and where the users are more important than getting more clicks on affiliates' links.

This could really create a buzz among people who don't like the "big corporates" and are frustrated from spending hours to find a cheap flight and getting bad sercive.

by Maiju_Hamalainen_ Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:47 am

To answer Janick's question, I believe traditional marketing campaigns would have simply been way too expensive for Etrip.

I think creating trust among consumers is the most important thing for this business. The consumers have to believe that Etrip provides the cheapest flights. I believe buzz marketing and social networks are suitable for the purpose and the more the word speads out from mouth to mouth the better.

by kathia Morano Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:27 am

I think that in Europe, we have this "saving philosophy" -> put the emphasis on saving money . For example, it is much more difficult for us to get a loan. We cannot afford all the brands that we want to buy because it's really expensive.
In US and in Asia, they have this "buying philisophy" put the emphasis on new advertisements, having the new IT technlogy models. Asian people are therefore more interested to buy and they search informations about new products and create a buzz more easily.Am I right or not? Questions : MARKETING PLAN - Page 2 Confused

Questions : MARKETING PLAN - Page 2 Confused

by Naomi_Karnovsky Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:34 am

Kathia, maybe you're right about Europens phiosophy, but I don't think it's in contradiction to creating buzz. On the contrary, there could be a buzz that is based on how amazingly cheap the deals you can get on Etrip. Even more so, people usually like to brag on what a great deal they got. That's a great basis for a buzz to work on!

by Janick_Edinger Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:09 am

I think the most important thing with creating buzz is the creation of an artificial desire. People don't even know that they have such a desire but buzz marketing, a new wave of entusiasm, make them having such a demand. All of the existing demands are satisfied today. So this artificial desires have to be cool, very innovative and unique. You can see at Ebay, Facebook and Twitter. Nobody needed it before it was created.

And what about buzz marketing for a website saving in average 10% of a flight price? Well, you are not a trendsetter by using it. So buzz marketing, in my eyes, is predetermined to fail in this case.

by kathia Morano Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:57 am

I agree with you Yanick but on the other side, we also can create a desire or a need. E trip can promote really cheap flights for 1 day trip or a weekend trip. People who are just checking their Facebook can improvise a trip because it's cheap to go inother country non?

by shirleyo Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:55 am

To answer Chloe 's query about the differences of buzz marketing in Asia and Europe, I think you may be right. As the individualism is prevailing in the European society, people tends to make decision relying on their independent thinking. Most of the Asia countries have been long ruled in an authoritarian manner historically and culturally. I think that is why most of Asia people is used to be a follower and believe to follow the majority will be safer. Buzz marketing could enable them getting some sense of opinion climate, knowing that which way to follow.

chloé_laluc wrote:
Jeffreymchen wrote:hi all,

I did my best to sort of read what everyone wrote but the nature of a forum makes it too difficult and time consuming to read everyone, so I apologize if I repeat or be redundant.

But out of curiosity, what type of "Social Networking" aspect or tool are they trying to use.
I recall way back when Facebook just became "Open Source" and all the new applications started rolling in, there was a very well known one called, "My Travel Map" or some name like that. In a nutshell, it became so popular and well liked that Expedia.com eventually gobbled it and uses it now on their website or some form of that.

Like most great ideas, it either gets going and makes the money or it get gobbled up through an acquisition and is leveraged or is basically thrown into a corner and left for dead.

I'm curious as to what exactly Etrip wants to do. Will they be using pre-existing Social Networks and try to pivot themselves into it or to create their own network due to the low startup and available source code out there.

In my personal opinion, I do agree with a few of you and believe that traditional ways of marketing are a bit outdated. Buzz marketing is basically the way to do it in Asia. Although I am unfamiliar with European trends and dear not oppose another cultures marketing strategies, but if it were at all similar I would say that this would be the most effective. It is low in cost and all it would take would be provide some form "eye-catching" advertisement. Advertisement can come in many forms such as giveaways, games, competitions or what not.
I am not fully against the usage of social networking, but rather more interested in their method. Social networking has become a huge marketing beast and if utilized correctly I feel like it would overlap with the buzz marketing and kill two birds with one stone.

Also mentioned by others, yes indeed this website needs to be retooled and modernized to become more consumer friendly. From the looks (granted I'm looking at the right site), it looks like a college student made it for a school project.

Thanks,
Jeff

I think that in Europe, which was supposed to be the center of Har Adir's marketing plan, creating the buzz on the internet is harder than in Asia. I remember that when the relations between France and China damaged because of the Tibetan issue (I'm not talking about political issues ), a lot of chinese people started to boycott french products and brands, using the internet and their social network to create the buzz.

For European people : do you have this feeling too? (that buzz marketing and use of social network better work in Asia than in Europe? I spend one year in China two years ago, and have this feeling, particularly concerning students and young adults, maybe I'm wrong

For the others, especially those coming from Asia : Can u explain us the trend in your country?

by Natalie_Garcia Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:14 pm

I agree with what Kathia said about the differences in the saving culture of Europeans vs. US/Asia buying habits. This is something to definitely considered with Etrip's marketing strategy. But to go back to the original question regarding a larger initial investment....I would say it not necessary with his intended marketing plan. Now if he was interested in investesting in more traditional and/or more aggressive advertising (print ads, commercials, google adwords, etc) then yes a larger investment is undoubtedly needed. But, given his business model, I think he made the right choice.

by chloé_laluc Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:33 pm

TA_Max_Huang wrote:
kathia Morano wrote:Imagine that you are the CEO of e-trip, which one of the following marketing tools will you use in order to build your brand identity?
Don't forget that we have to respect the marketing budget and be coherent with the brand and the customers' target
- Use the Acquisition e-mailings: e-trip can buy external databases and send e-mails to external customers with e predefined template to ensure the quality of the database. Which kind of partners could e-trip find on the web?
- Use Banners: to create awareness and visual opportunities to other partners'websites.
- Use the viral marketing :Facebook and blogs
- Buy words on Google to be in the first commercial links
-In terms of complementary services, offer SMS and Mobile marketing to their customers (for example, send a SMS when a fly will be delayed?)
Which one of the marketing tools is the cheapest for the company?

I think the "Facebook and blogs" one is interesting and worthy of our attention.
Etrip should and can take advantage of "word-of-mouth" marketing.

The Facebook may be a very powerful marketing tool in the future because of its more than 3 billions customers.

BTW, Etrip can think up some special services to cater to the mobile phone users. Travellers may not have a computer and an Internet connection with them, but they often carry a mobile phone. If travellers want to book a flight ticket in a unfamiliar country, it would be a convenient choice for them.

Therefore, I suggest that Etrip can place importance on these two technology.

I agree with you Max; the problem with using your mobile phone in other countries is that it can be very costly for the customer. For exemple, I won't use 3G (using my french operator) in another country, because I'm sure it will be too expensive

by Sponsored content