The example essay below discusses Hilton’s target market and their strategies for promoting their products and services.
Hilton Marketing Strategy and Plan
The marketing strategy will focus on positioning Hilton hotel as a place where excellent service is offered. The strategy will focus on creating and sustaining strong customer relationships, so as to maintain their loyalty. Customer relationship management initiatives, will help the hotel to understand the needs and expectations of its clients.
The hotel will offer services which give each customer the highest level of comfort, to make him or her feel at home. The hotel will also focus more on innovation, to ensure that new products and services are introduced to help satisfy clients’ needs. Each Hilton hotel will have its own individual style, to give it a solid reputation and brand identity.
Target Market
The target market for the hotel consists of clients with high incomes who value multiculturalism. This is reflected in the service that the hotel offers which caters for different tastes and preferences of clients. The hotel’s services cater for business clients, tourists, conference guests, heads of states, actors and musicians.
These clients have varying needs and as such, the hotel staff are trained to handle all guests with utmost care. Each individual client will be attended to by a specific employee, to ensure that he or she gets premium personalized service. The location of each individual hotel will determine the target market it will appeal to. The hotels are designed to cater for tourists, business people and large conference groups.
Hilton Marketing Mix
Product
Hilton offers products which are meant to satisfy individual needs of each customer. Hilton hotel’s products offer unrivalled personalized service and they guarantee each customer a unique positive experience. Services which add value to products offered to clients will be made available. Clients will be offered laundry services in the hotel at an additional cost. In some areas, the hotel will offer its clients transport from and to the airport.
Place
Hilton can be accessed by clients through various media formats. Customers have the convenience of making their bookings online through Hilton hotel websites in different locations across the world. Customer care attendants are always responsive to inquiries made by clients regarding services offered.
Price
The hotel’s products are of a premium quality and their prices reflect their positive attributes. The hotel has different price categories for different products based on the quality of comfort, service and the level of exclusivity. The price strategy adopted is relative to client’s tastes, who are mainly drawn from the upper income segments of the society. The price segments will each offer unique benefits to clients that visit the hotel.
Promotional Strategy
The hotel will publish and air adverts in select locations and media. The company will participate in various trade exhibitions in different parts of the world, where its customer representatives will sell its products to prospective clients. The company will partner with airlines and tour promoters to market products that target specific clients during different times of the year.
The public relations function of the firm will be used to establish strong relationships with clients, to foster customer satisfaction. This will be used to encourage repeat visits by clients, to encourage them to refer their friends and families to stay at the hotel.
Hilton Target Market: Research
Secondary Research
This will be done through monitoring of print, electronic and online media to understand people’s perceptions about Hilton. The company’s quality assurance departments will constantly evaluate people’s views and opinions about the quality of services offered by the hotel. The quality assurance teams in spread out globally, will then come up with strategies which outline how the hotel can maintain high standards in its operations.
Primary Research
Concept Testing will be one of the methods Hilton will use to determine the market potential and viability of new products. The firm will encourage its customers to try out new products being offered and give their opinions about their experiences. This will guide the firm on the quality measures that need to be undertaken to ensure that its new products are competitive in the market. Products concepts which receive positive ratings will be made available to clients, while those concepts which are rated negatively, will be shelved or improved.
Questionnaires will be used to encourage feedback from clients. Hotel customers will be requested to fill in questionnaires to talk about their experiences and perceptions of services offered. These questionnaires will help the hotel to understand the needs and expectations of its clients. The hotel will be able to implement procedures which improve its reputation in the market.
Attitudinal research will be conducted through constant interaction between Hilton staff and clients. The research will be done to determine how Hilton employees interact with clients and if they satisfy clients’ expectations or not.
Test marketing will be done to determine the impact new products are likely to have in the market. The hotel will use market surveys which profile the types of clients it attracts and the products they like most. This information will be used by the hotel to formulate strategies which help it expand its customer base.