Report – Role of Marketing in Creating and Sustaining Brand Loyalty

Report – Role of Marketing in Creating and Sustaining Brand Loyalty

U.S. Park Southeast’s case safety incident calls for a customer relations management plan to raise awareness and promote international theme park services. The safety crisis incident harmed the company’s corporate reputation. However, an effective marketing strategy can help the company rebuild its brand image and ultimately regain a competitive edge. Branding plays a crucial role in acquiring customer loyalty. Marketing aims to know and understand customers’ preferences to ensure theme park services fit them well and sell themselves. Particularly, a balanced marketing mix constituting price, place, promotion, and product (4Ps) can help U.S. Park Southeast create brand equity. This report explains the roles of the 4Ps in building a robust brand and customer loyalty and proposes that the company should strategically use the marketing mix technique to rebuild its brand by eliminating the perception gap that influences customer loyalty.

Creating and Sustaining the Brand through the Four Ps

Product

The product element of the marketing mix plays a significant role in creating value and satisfaction for the customers. Typically, the product operates as a major force that meets customers’ demands and creates a long-lasting and profitable relationship with them (Al Badi, 2018). The attributes of theme park services are the cornerstone for customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. Improved functional aspects of theme park services per customers’ requirements could lead to a robust brand image. Kotler et al. (2016) observe that a strong brand image is a critical element of any business that it can use to differentiate itself from market players. Thus, a robust brand image improves customers’ psychological acceptability, essential for reassuring existing customers and attracting new ones.

Price

Similarly, the prices of various theme park services build brand equity by influencing customers’ purchasing power. Price in the context of U.S Theme Park Southeast refers to the cost of entrance tickets, services, and food and beverage. Kotler et al. (2016) espouse that price is a critical element in the buying decision, affecting how customers in the target market pay for service categories. The level to which the total theme park services offered meet customer expectations, and a great pricing strategy could enhance the company’s value proposition. The value proposition statement could convince potential consumers and inform existing ones that various categories of theme park services could add more value than other similar offerings in the market. Therefore, an effective pricing strategy could help U.S. Park Southeast penetrate the market.

Place

The place element promotes the accessibility of U.S Theme Park Southeast services. A marketing strategy that allows the company to meet the availability goal of ensuring the ideal location and ambiance of the parks could go a long way could motivating customers to flock to these parks. Essentially, the extent to which customers can readily access services depends on availability and convenience (Odoom, 2016). In the same vein, the placement of theme services on televisions, webpages, and films to garner attention would mitigate unpleasant perceptions by showing that the U.S. Theme Park Southeast is committed to resolving issues for the benefit of customers. Ultimately, the perception of availability and convenience of theme park services would restore customers’ trust and confidence.

Promotion

Accordingly, the promotion element of the marketing mix is useful in persuading the target market. Promotion refers to how much customers are informed about the features and attributes of services, persuaded to try experiencing them, and reminded to purchase them (Odoom, 2016). Furthermore, the promotion concept entails events and outreach programs that the company will use to inform, persuade, and remind the target customers about its theme park services. The idea is to build a favorable image in customers’ minds and reduce the communication gap between the company and customers to promote brand awareness and knowledge about the services. Therefore, a promotion mix of events and outreach programs could develop and position the firm’s brand image in customers’ minds to reach more customers and create additional traffic and more engagement.

Benefits of Customer Loyalty to the Brand

The Role of Brand Loyalty in Reducing Marketing Costs

Brand loyalty leads to numerous benefits that reduce marketing costs in the long run. Brand loyalty’s potential benefits include an improved brand image, customer acquisition and retention, repeat business, increased customer lifetime value, and honest quality feedback (Kotler et al., 2016). Brand loyalty usually makes customers brand advocates who understand a firm’s offerings. These customers have more reasons to continue buying services from a particular company (Kotler et al., 2016). Remarkably, they can give honest online reviews, spread positive word of mouth, and provide honest feedback to help the company improve on its services. These practices can accelerate the company’s brand to reach a wider market audience, thereby reducing marketing costs.

The Role of Brand Loyalty in Preventing Newcomers into the Market 

Similarly, brand loyalty can create a barrier to entry for net firms. Customers may prefer to buy from established companies courtesy of the long-term reputation they have created. Meanwhile, new entrants lack the brand image that large firms have (Odoom, 2016). Repeat purchases of established brands make new firms struggle when establishing themselves (Odoom, 2016). The idea that established firms claim the largest market share denies new firms a level playing field by forcing them to invest heavily in building their corporate image. This situation may discourage new firms from entering the market.

The Role of Brand Loyalty in Improving Financial Performance

Brand loyalty is also a prerequisite for excellent financial performance. The role of brand loyalty in enhancing a firm’s profits, cash flow, and shares is based on the idea that superior brand preferences command higher price premiums (Kotler et al., 2016). Illustratively, customers perceive companies with robust brands as providing value for money and exceptional services. This perception creates an incentive for such firms to hike the prices of their goods and services, eventually increasing their revenue performance.

Conclusion

A marketing mix strategy can help U.S Theme Park Southeast attain a renouncement and a competitive advantage. Focusing on product, price, place, and promotion could help the company make strategic decisions when relaunching its theme park services. Applying the 4Ps strategically and in line with customers’ preferences could reassure existing customers and invite new ones, generate new customers and retain the existing ones, restore and enhance customers’ confidence, and generate more traffic and engagement.

References

Al Badi, K. (2018). The impact of marketing mix on the competitive advantage of the SME sector in the Al Buraimi Governorate in Oman. SAGE Open, 8(3), 215824401880083. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018800838

Kotler, P., Keller, K., & Chernev, A. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.

Odoom, R. (2016). Brand marketing programs and consumer loyalty – evidence from mobile phone users in an emerging market. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 25(7), 651-662. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-04-2016-1141

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Overview

You are a regional marketing director of a theme park in the southeastern United States. The chief marketing officer (CMO) of global operations of the theme park group wants you to lead the marketing response to a recent safety incident that has affected the brand globally. You are tasked with designing a phased marketing strategy for reopening all parks in the group while addressing the organizational goals of maximum safety, effective crisis communication, improved customer satisfaction, and increased profit potential.

As a first step, you must create a short report for all other regional marketing directors to help them understand the role of marketing in creating and sustaining customers’ brand loyalty, which is necessary for improving long-term customer satisfaction and profit potential.

As explained by Aaker and Moorman in Strategic Market Management, brand loyalty is the tendency of customers to purchase products from the same brand over and over again, rather than switching to other choices. Brand loyalty can also be viewed as a “resistance to switching;” it gives a business an edge over its competitors by causing it to be the first choice when a customer makes a spending decision. If a company has a high degree of brand loyalty it can redirect its assets to more impactful spending, including how it allocates those resources towards marketing efforts.

Prompt

Review the memo from the CMO of the organization in the course scenario and write a short report on the role of marketing in creating and sustaining a brand. You will also explain the benefits of customer loyalty to the brand.

Specifically, address the following criteria:

Explain the role of the four Ps of marketing in creating and sustaining the brand.

• How does the product (theme park services) from the four Ps of marketing reassure existing customers and invite new ones? Explain.
• How can price (entrance ticket, services, and food and beverage costs) from the four Ps of marketing be used to generate new customers and motivate existing ones? Explain.
• How can a place (location and ambiance of the parks) from the four Ps of marketing restore and enhance the confidence of customers in the brand? Explain.
• How can promotion (events, outreach programs) from the four Ps of marketing create additional traffic and more engagement? Explain.

Explain the benefits of customer loyalty to the brand.

• Determine the benefits of brand loyalty in reducing marketing costs.
• Explain how brand loyalty can be used to create a barrier to entry for new competitors.
• Explain how brand loyalty can help overall financial performance.