Ciara Holmes – Travel and Tourism
Unit 5 – Marketing
P1 – Outline the background and concepts of marketing
Backgrounds and Concepts
Definition of Marketing: Marketing is the process a business or organisation does to promote and sell
their product or services. Organisations and businesses will use market research to establish customer
needs. A product or service which has had been well researched will encourage a consumer to buy/use. For
example the tour operator TUI might conduct market research to find out what a customer’s ideal holiday
is. Once they have found out this information they will put their findings into place in order to be able to
sell a holiday.
Function of Marketing: The function or reason why marketing is put in place is for several reasons. The
first main reason it is put in place is to sell the product. If the company cannot sell their product then they
will not be successful. Researching and promoting correctly will ensure that their product is sold. For
example the company TUI will use marketing techniques to sell airline tickets. The second reason is to
increase the profit income. The main aim of private organisations is to make a profit. In order to make a
profit they will conduct market research to make a product which will make them lots of income. Market
research that hasn’t been conducted correctly could cause the business to decline. Another function of
marketing is that it will build up reputation for the company. If they promote a product well lots of people
will take notice of the promotion and therefore buy their product/service. Another function is that
marketing encourages word of mouth to get around. Word of mouth for example is where you as a
consumer tell a friend or family member about it, who then goes on to tell others and so on. Good word of
mouth will also help build up good reputation for the business. The final function is it builds good product
knowledge. Market research will enable a business to find out exactly what it is a customer wants to see in
a product. This all links into the next bit about marketing mix.
Marketing Mix: In order for an organisation to consider how they can achieve their objectives and meet
customer needs they need develop strategies for the 4P’s (also known as marketing mix). The 4P’s are
made up of the following parts;
Product - The business have to consider the product, this is the thing which is bringing profit to the
organisation. They need to look at the features of the product, how it will benefit the customer and how it
functions. They need to produce a good quality product.
Price – They also have to take into consideration the price of the product they are selling. They have to
conduct research into how much a customer is willing to pay for a product and whether or not their prices
are beating competitors. For example Virgin might conduct research into how much British Airways are
selling flights too New York, in order to gain competitive advantage over them. Or they could do a customer
survey into how much they are willing to spend on a flight to New York.
Unit 5 – Marketing
P1 – Outline the background and concepts of marketing
Backgrounds and Concepts
Definition of Marketing: Marketing is the process a business or organisation does to promote and sell
their product or services. Organisations and businesses will use market research to establish customer
needs. A product or service which has had been well researched will encourage a consumer to buy/use. For
example the tour operator TUI might conduct market research to find out what a customer’s ideal holiday
is. Once they have found out this information they will put their findings into place in order to be able to
sell a holiday.
Function of Marketing: The function or reason why marketing is put in place is for several reasons. The
first main reason it is put in place is to sell the product. If the company cannot sell their product then they
will not be successful. Researching and promoting correctly will ensure that their product is sold. For
example the company TUI will use marketing techniques to sell airline tickets. The second reason is to
increase the profit income. The main aim of private organisations is to make a profit. In order to make a
profit they will conduct market research to make a product which will make them lots of income. Market
research that hasn’t been conducted correctly could cause the business to decline. Another function of
marketing is that it will build up reputation for the company. If they promote a product well lots of people
will take notice of the promotion and therefore buy their product/service. Another function is that
marketing encourages word of mouth to get around. Word of mouth for example is where you as a
consumer tell a friend or family member about it, who then goes on to tell others and so on. Good word of
mouth will also help build up good reputation for the business. The final function is it builds good product
knowledge. Market research will enable a business to find out exactly what it is a customer wants to see in
a product. This all links into the next bit about marketing mix.
Marketing Mix: In order for an organisation to consider how they can achieve their objectives and meet
customer needs they need develop strategies for the 4P’s (also known as marketing mix). The 4P’s are
made up of the following parts;
Product - The business have to consider the product, this is the thing which is bringing profit to the
organisation. They need to look at the features of the product, how it will benefit the customer and how it
functions. They need to produce a good quality product.
Price – They also have to take into consideration the price of the product they are selling. They have to
conduct research into how much a customer is willing to pay for a product and whether or not their prices
are beating competitors. For example Virgin might conduct research into how much British Airways are
selling flights too New York, in order to gain competitive advantage over them. Or they could do a customer
survey into how much they are willing to spend on a flight to New York.
