Market Segmentation of Backpackers World Travel Explained – Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy

Introduction

The main aim of every business is to market their products and services in an efficient way in the target market so that they can reach the maximum number of customers and earn a good profit from the products and services they offer. In this case, good and efficient marketing and communication strategy is extremely important and can do wonders for a business. The concept of marketing communication strategy mainly comprises of some specific ideas or strategies that a business usually use to reach the target market they have set.
Marketing communication strategies mainly contains the messages that the business organisations want to deliver to their customer through their products and services. In this applying effective strategies can help the company to manipulate the mind and hearts of the customers and attract them to buy the product or utilise the services further. The companies brain storms these strategies and strategically choose the medium of the platform through which can reach to the targeted customers specifically or worldwide.
Integrated marketing communication strategies in this case, helps the business to form a strong and comprehensive plan that strategically evaluates the roles of various communication mediums for advertising, sales promotion, public relations and many more. In addition to this integrated marketing communications combines the marketing and communications platform so that the business can have clarity, reliability and greatest communication impact.
The following study following study analyses the market segmentation of Backpackers World Travel and discusses the social media platforms they have used for marketing and communication purposes. The study also will investigate the challenges the company is facing in terms of marketing in the recent time and propose a strategy that can be implemented to overcome those further.

Overview of the Business

Company’s Logo

Source: (“Backpackers World Travel – Imperium Tourism Holdings”, 2019)

The history of the company dates back to the year 1998 when it started with a mission of creating unique travel experiences for the customers through Australia and New Zealand. The company since is an SME has annual revenue of about $4.3 million and targets the citizens of Australia and the Students to serve them with travel-related services.
The company has outlets throughout Australia and has a well-traveled and experienced staff to assist the customers in their queries or requirements in every possible step so that they can be provided with a hassle-free travel experience. The company also includes hosting various events like information orientation, party nights and travel talks so that the value of the company can enhance further (“Backpackers World Travel – Imperium Tourism Holdings”, 2019).

Analysis of the Market Segmentation

The company and its staff expertise in student and backpacker travel and has built a Student Unit Travel brand so that the engagement of the students in English language schools and universities can be increased and the relationship can be nurtured further. The customer section of Backpackers World Travel is divided into three major sections such as demographic segment, geographical segment, and behavioral segment. All these segments are discussed below.

Demographic Segmentation

This sector depends on different factors such as family size, income ration, age, gender, educational background, and others. This segment is one of the major factors related to the customer section that further helps to achieve its target in a more effective way. In this case, of Backpackers World Travel, the company targets a huge number of customer section that likes to travel and explore countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
However, the company does not support those people who are interested in not paying the exact amount and has any kind of illegal motives. The demographic segment of Backpackers World Travel can be split into two sections such as annual income and market stability(“Backpacker Travel Australia – Tours & Packages”, 2019).

Geographic Segmentation

This segment is directly associated with the locations and area which is an important aspect of Backpackers World Travel. The company is associated with the travel department for this reason only the company needs to be really cautious regarding where to establish the office premise. The company further needs to set their office in main areas that the customers can easily find the offices. The office helps to provide important information related to the tour packages and its offers in both New Zealand and in Australia.
Further, to deliver their services in other locations the company needs to set a clear set of strategies in order to receive a proper guide for the company. In addition to this, the geographic location of Backpackers World Travel helps to know more about the organizational strategies and set them according to the customer’s needs. Moreover, an effective geographic segment helps to achieve the goals and target in a more efficient way(“Backpackersworld”, 2019)

Behavioral Segmentation

This segment depends on the factor of how one buyer acts while they are purchasing a service or a tour package from Backpackers World Travel. The market makes a behavioral aspect depends on different factors such as client’s consistency in the market, their readiness to buy a product, how they are dealing with a particular brand and others. In the case of Backpackers World Travel aims for the customers who are interested in buying services that are valuable than regular buyers.
The company needs to organize market research in order to know more about the market condition and its demand. With proper market research, the company can have a clear understanding of the customer’s demands from the company and packages(“Backpackers World Travel”, 2019). The company can increase its market revenue by focusing on different factors such as buyer’s habit, their income and spending habits.

Media Platforms which are used mostly by the company

The social media platforms in the recent world help to circulate knowledge and information around the world. In addition to this, the media industry became one of the major and important business sectors of the world culture(Us et al., 2019). Moreover, people use social media platforms in order to present their knowledge and opinion on a topic. The industries use these social media platforms in order to expand their market value, as the platforms are very much responsible for providing market stability for the company.
In recent years, based on the case study it is quite clear that Backpackers World Travel uses different media platforms in order to expand its business to a huge market. The media platforms help to recognize valuable customers around the country. In addition to this, the official websites of the company recognize the regular visitors of the page who are travel enthusiasts belong from Australia and New Zealand. The most used media platforms used by the company are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Apart from this, the company also uses Instagram and YouTube to reach a huge number of customers. Yelp is also used by the company. On Facebook and Instagram, the organization posts important travel-related pictures and shared various details related to the services. In addition, YouTube videos further attract people on the website through their travel videos.
The LinkedIn profile of Backpackers World Travel helps people to know more about the organizational structure and its demands. Further provides necessary information that serves job responsibilities. The twitter posts and pictures attract clients as well.

Figure: Facebook Page of Backpackers World Travel

Figure: Twitter Page of Backpackers World Travel

Figure: LinkedIn Page of Backpackers World Travel

Figure: Instagram Page of Backpackers World Travel

The Importance of Media Platform

The most favorite social media platform, which is used by the Backpackers World Travel, is definitely Facebook. In recent years, every people around the world use Facebook where they post their favorite pictures, as well as add their known people in their accounts and join different groups in order to gain information and data. According to this study, Facebook is very much responsible for establishing a strong market and brand value for the company.
The company posts various pictures and videos on their Facebook page in order to let people know more about every beautiful place from New Zealand and Australia. The videos help to facilitate more organizational services. The Facebook page further helps to attract new customers and visitors to the company’s services (“Backpackersworld”, 2019).
The second social media platform used by the company named Backpackers World Travel is YouTube; the platform shares different travel videos to inspire travelers. The videos mostly preach about the perks of traveling with the company. With the videos, people can know more about the unexplored places in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, YouTube is the most used social media platform that allows people to watch their favorite videos. With this platform, companies can easily attract a huge number of customers without wasting much money (“Backpackers WorldTravel”, 2019).
The third social media platform used by Backpackers World Travel is twitter where the company presents a clear and effective image of their business in front of the clients and customers. With the help of twitter, effective communication is established with fellow customers as well. The twitter works as a representative of the brand and increased its market value (“Backpackers World (@BWTaustralia) on Twitter”, 2019).

Figure: YouTube Posts of Backpackers World Travel

LinkedIn promotes small and medium-sized enterprises named Backpackers World Travel to create an effective network chain for the company around the world. This platform further uses the company to invest in an efficient relationship with other companies and customers. This platform attracts talented people towards the company and motivates them to work in the company (“Backpackers World Travel”, 2019).
The fifth important social media platform of the company is Instagram. In this social media sector, the company posts travel pictures to create a community and group of people interested in traveling in the course of Australia and New Zealand. With the help of Instagram, Backpackers World Travel can reach to a wider customer section with a positive impact and collaboration. The feedbacks further helps the company gain a piece of effective knowledge about the company’s services and market delivery(“Backpackers World Travel (@backpackersworld) • Instagram photos and videos”, 2019).
The very last media platform used by Backpackers World Travel is Yelp. The site helps the company to act as an efficient helper in the lives of the explorers. This site has feedback about the company to guide every traveler in an appropriate way. The site provides information about the hotel charges, new places, holiday rents, and others. With the help of Yelp, the company provides accurate feedbacks and information to the tourists(“Backpackers WorldTravel”, 2019).

Figure: Yelp Posts of Backpackers World Travel

Integrated Marketing Communication Theory

The theory of integrated marketing communication helps to increase organizational profits with a properly raised efficiency. The theory named integrated marketing communication help to incorporate various brand values to promote organizational services among the targeted client section. This theory is very much associated with the factor of decreasing the organizational cost and increasing market sales(“New Zealand Travel Packages, Tours & Itineraries”, 2019).
The strategies associated with the theory helps to create a plan that focuses on various factors such as communication, personal selling, market position, and public relation. A proper combination of these factors helps to create an effective communication impact in a consistent way. In addition to this, the tools related to integrated marketing communication presents both traditional media and digital media platforms such as radio, television, billboards, magazines, search engines and others (Kim, 2017).
The prime factor associated with the integrated market communication is to present effective market experiences to the customers with different marketing mixes. To promote the market mix at an effective level implementing this theory can be helpful. Improved communication helps to increase organizational revenues and efficiencies. The developed communication tools further help to provide customers with better and effective opportunities.
In addition, this theory creates an impact on various factors such as advertising, sales, and marketing, the factors later help the organization gain its success. The promotional tools used by the company are different blogs, banners and search engines. In different cases, it is quite evident that the organizations even gained its success from using emails, reached a huge consumer section, and created misunderstandings. To avoid these kinds of issues the organization is investing in the proper marketing strategies such as Ansoff matrix that can be implemented. This matrix further provides four major choices in order to present growth aspects (Kok, 2018).

Challenges of the present Marketing Communication Strategy

The challenge, which is evident in the marketing communication structure of the company, is related to the poor use of social media. Due to this reason, the company fails to attract more visitors to their websites. With the help of market communication, it is a bit difficult to deal with these potential market challenges faced by the organization (Moreno-Munoz et al,. 2016)).
Another prime challenge associated with the organization is the inability to understand various marketing data. Thirdly, The company named backpackers World Travel finding it a bit difficult to cope with every changing linguistic term. This creates a negative impact on the market as well due to the negative and poor feedbacks. Fourthly, the company further finds it difficult to avoid people who post negative reviews. The bad review creates a negative impact on other people’s minds as well for this reason the visitors often unfollow and unsubscribe the company’s page.
In addition to this, Poor communication also creates a challenging situation for the company. The company’s inability to read the market data in an accurate way leads to campaign loss. The company has increased its budget, which created a direct impact on the organizational structure and initiates a communication challenge. The company in recent years also linked with fake follower news that created a direct impact on the company’s revenue (Stieglitz et al. 2018).

Implementation of a Digital Marketing Communication Strategy

The company needs to implement digital marketing strategies in order to increase customer satisfaction and creates loyalty towards the company. With the help of online advertisements and posts, the company can overcome these challenges.

Marketing Communication Plan Development

In two ways the marketing communication can be achieved such as, marketing objectives in which the company posts effective videos and pictures to attract customers, targeting people who like to explore new locations and finally expanding the business in more areas by implementing different strategies.

Sample Posts 1 Facebook

The post created for the company aims to offer various services and offers to its travelers to make them interested in their travel plan. Further organizing parties in an exotic location can help them attract potential customers.

Figure: Sample post from Facebook

Source: Created by the author

Sample Post 2 Twitter

Posting pictures regarding undiscovered places of Australia and New Zealand can help the company to attract tourists and explorers so that they avail their services frequently.

Figure: Post on Twitter

Source: Created by the author

Sample Post 3 YouTube

The traveler who is availing the plan needs to post a video of them where they enjoyed bungee jumping can attract other visitors in the travel plans.

Figure:  Sample post from YouTube

Developing Marketing Communication Planning

In order to avoid organizational challenges the company needs to implement better communication strategies that amend every negative feedbacks and comment. Rather than posting pictures of an individual on the web page, the company needs to send them personally. Further, in order to develop the entire plan in an efficient way, the company needs to hire a team related to PR.
The PR team creates an effective relationship with the customers and the company. Further, the company needs to post pictures of unexplored areas of the country to attract customers. In recent years, many travel companies providing influencers to travel with the company and post pictures about the entire travel to attract their followers to the company’s services.

Understanding and Implementing Communication Plan

A strong communication plan helps to increase the organization’s brand value and client base. The company and its employees need to understand the importance and benefits of customer communication so that they can develop an efficient set of communication strategies for further advertisements and promotions. To implement the strategies of communication the company needs to create a set of rules, which helps to set the goal and targets clear in front of the employees.

Conclusion

The above study helped to understand the concept of the integrative market communication strategy in detail and hence it can be concluded that these strategies are extremely helpful for a business to market their product efficiently. The study discusses the strategies that the company has implemented in its organization and observes that it is required to be changed further for gaining better profit outcome. The company, in this case, has to comprehend that social media can be extremely helpful to better product marketing and communication and hence requires to be utilized properly for better productivity and performance.

References

Backpacker Travel Australia – Tours & Packages. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://backpackersworld.com/australia
Backpackers World (@BWTaustralia) on Twitter. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://twitter.com/bwtaustralia?lang=en
Backpackers World Travel – Haymarket – Sydney New South Wales. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.yelp.com.au/biz/backpackers-world-travel-sydney-5
Backpackers World Travel – Imperium Tourism Holdings. (2019). Retrieved 7 November 2019, from https://imperiumtourism.com/backpackers-world-travel/#
Backpackers World Travel (@backpackersworld) • Instagram photos and videos. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.instagram.com/backpackersworld/?hl=en
Backpackers World Travel. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from http://www.oneworld365.org/company/backpackers-world-travel
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Backpackers World Travel. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://in.linkedin.com/company/backpackers-world-travel
Backpackers WorldTravel. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/user/backpackersworld/videos
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Kim, Y. Y. (2017). A contextual theory of interethnic communication. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, 1-10.
Kok, A. (2018). Kim’s Integrative Theory on Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation in the Age of Mass Self-Communication (Doctoral dissertation, Regent University).
Moreno-Munoz, A., Bellido-Outeirino, F. J., Siano, P., & Gomez-Nieto, M. A. (2016). Mobile social media for smart grids customer engagement: Emerging trends and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 53, 1611-1616.
New Zealand Travel Packages, Tours & Itineraries. (2019). Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://backpackersworld.com/new-zealand-tours/
Stieglitz, S., Mirbabaie, M., Ross, B., & Neuberger, C. (2018). Social media analytics–Challenges in topic discovery, data collection, and data preparation. International journal of information management, 39, 156-168.
Us, A., Deals, T., Guides, T., Forum, T., Blog, T., Partner, B., & Us, C. (2019). Backpackers World Travel – Bookmundi. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.bookmundi.com/companies/backpackers-world-travel/c1723