Assignment Topic: A Digital Marketing Strategy for The Windsor Colombo

Transcription

1 Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Individual Assignment December 2017 Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability (CMS) Examination /Assignment Registration Period Examination / Assignment Registration Grace Period 01st to 26th October th of October to 31st of October 2017 Assignment Submission Period 06th to 12th November 2017 Late Submission Period 20th to 26th November 2017 Assignment Acceptance time period Weekend and Weekday from 9.00am to 3.00pm Presentation Date address to send soft copy N/A cms.pgd@slim.lk GUIDELINES Assignment Submission: You are required to register for examinations / assignments within the above given period. Assignments will not be accepted if you have not registered for the exam/assignment. Assignments should be submitted to SLIM within the Assignment Submission Periods indicated above. Assignments will not be accepted after the late submission period under any circumstances. SLIM will issue an acknowledgement slip upon the submission of your assignment and it must be retained by the student as proof of submitting the assignment. Assignment Cover Page: Attached cover page format should be used, printed in the relevant colour (Stage 1-Blue/Stage 2-Green/ Stage 3-Pink). Page 1 of 8

2 The Assignment Marking Sheet should be attached after the cover page followed by the Assignment checklist & declaration form. A Soft copy of your assignment should be sent to the above mentioned address for which you will receive an automated reply of receipt of the assignment. If you have not received the automated reply, please verify with course coordinator. The soft copy is only a reference document that will not be considered as an assignment submission. IMPORTANT NOTES If you have not submitted the assignment your results for the respective subject will appear as Fail in the final grading. In case of absent at the examination, relevant student has to re-do the assignment in order to pass the subject in the next examination. If you are a student of an Accredited Study Centre, you can submit the assignment to the accredited study centre and presentation date and time will be notified to the accredited centre once all assignments received to SLIM Home in parallel to the SLIM web site. Current University students are allowed to submit the assignment without attending lectures since they register as self-study students but they have to attend the individual presentation sessions. Refer Student deliverables indicated below for specific details about assignment submission and presentations. Page 2 of 8

3 Assignment Topic: A Digital Marketing Strategy for The Windsor Colombo BACKGROUND Overlooking the ocean, the Windsor Colombo is a 120 room 5-star luxury hotel situated on Marine Drive, Colombo. The hotel features three restaurants, Namigochi - a Sushi restaurant, Glades - a bar and fusion restaurant serving Western and Chinese cuisine and Taffles - the main restaurant offering a buffet spread. The hotel also boasts of a fantastic Spa, managed by Six Senses. Guest Profile Hotel 1. Business travellers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia and the UAE. 2. Leisure travellers including families that spend 1-2 nights in Colombo as part of their overall journey in Sri Lanka. These leisure travellers are primarily from the UK, United States, France, Germany and China. Restaurant 1. The restaurants of the hotel are primarily patronised by Sri Lankan residents (locals) and Expats currently living in Sri Lanka. Namigochi is popular among couples as the restaurant has a separate dining area that offers a romantic setting. While offering highend service, the restaurant is also competitively priced with stand-alone Sushi restaurants. While Glades is popular among the office crowd who visits the bar and restaurant for dinner and drinks, Taffles is mostly patronized by in-house guests and families that enjoy the buffet. Most of the hotel s accommodation sales are made through travel agents and corporate clients, booking on behalf of their visitors. In 2015, more than two years ago, the hotel created an e- commerce team under the Director of Sales and launched a website. The hotel also actively looked at their online distribution strategies and decided to list their property with online travel agents (OTAs) including expedia.com and booking.com. While a steady growth is visible on online channels, overall online still accounts for less than 15% of the property s business. At present the average cost of sales for each channel, as well as the overall percentage of room sales is as follows: Channel Percentage of Room Sales (as a %) Cost of Sales (as a %) Travel Agents 68% 30% (commissions paid) Corporate 21% 25% (rate discounts) Walk-ins 0.5% 1% (front-office costs) Brand Website 1% 8% (maintenance + advertising) Affiliates % (commissions paid) OTAs 8.8% 17% (commissions paid) Page 3 of 8

4 With several new hotels launched in the recent past and a slowdown in tourist arrivals, the hotel is concerned about their profitability due to the higher costs of sales. The Director of Sales has been tasked with changing the distribution mix with an emphasis on room sales growth via the brand website. Independent of the accommodation business vertical of the hotel, the restaurant segment performs quite well with each restaurant averaging at 85% service capacity on weekdays and 96% on average during the weekends. The restaurants are focused on creating new reasons for patrons to visit by hosting specific events weekly such as theme nights and chef features. The restaurants are primarily advertised on print and radio with weekly newspaper features, sponsored radio segments and press releases for each restaurantcentric themes. Under the renewed focus on profitability, Digital and Social Media are viewed as cheaper alternatives to create awareness and drive conversations around the restaurants, compared to the traditional media channels. This too, has come under the Director of Sales purview and he is required to maintain the current restaurant performance while reducing media expenditure. TASK ONE The Director of Sales has tasked you with increasing the direct brand website room sales contribution from 1% to 5% in the span of the next 12 months. When auditing the current website, one of the first things that you noticed is the current conversion ratio on the website is 0.4% (looker to booker ratio), while the industry norm is 1%. a) List the tools and describe the methods in which a market research should be conducted to understand the potential for online in achieving the stated business objective. b) Based on your market research, state how a digital marketing strategy can be developed to achieve the same. Emphasis must be given to indicate how the objective will be translated to goals and what areas you will focus on. c) List your recommended digital marketing channels and provide justification as well. TASK TWO Picking the Namigochi restaurant, the Director of Sales wants to reduce the traditional media expense by 70% during the next 6 months and will only redirect 10% of that investment to Digital Media. a) Indicate and justify at least two buyer personas (customer profiles) that you would create for Namigochi. The idea is to be more focused as the marketing expense has been reduced. Please justify any assumptions made. b) The restaurant has asked for your help with marketing communications and you are asked to suggest themes to advertise the restaurant. The theme is centred on Valentine s Day, which is just 4 weeks away. You are allowed to offer discounts or suggest value additions. Recommend a digital marketing campaign for Valentine s Day. Target all the identified customer profiles in the previous session. c) Suggest at least two digital channels to keep in touch with your guests and explain why these channels will be suitable. Page 4 of 8

5 IMPORTANT: Please refrain from copying-and-pasting information from the Internet or another source and make sure to reference your work according to the Harvard referencing format. Word Allocation for each task Task Task one 50% Task two 50% Total ( word count ) 100% Content Weightage Note: Please refer the given assignment marking scheme for marks allocation. Page 5 of 8

6 Assignment checklist & declaration This document is intended as a guide to check and improve your assignment. Review your assignment together with the specific guidelines and criteria (marking schedule) that are mentioned in the programme handbook given to you. You are expected to confirm that your assignment fulfils the below requirements. Please tick ( ) in the cages as necessary. Student Name Registration No ( As per registration book ) Cover page with relevant colour code of the stage Stage 1 Blue Stage 2 Green Stage 3 Pink Assignment checklist & declaration form ( This sheet) Assignment marking scheme is attached Assignment sheet is attached Table of contents Body of the assignment References Course fee paid in full (coaching/registration/exam and membership) Exam registration completed Assignment ed to relevant address (You will receive an automated reply of receipt for the assignment. If you have not received the automated reply, please verify with course coordinator. The soft copy is only a reference document that will not be considered as an assignment submission) I am fully aware that any misleading information provided in the above checklist will lead to the rejection of my assignment. I, the undersigned, confirm that I have read and understood the statement about plagiarism which is outlined in the students handbook. I confirm that the work that I have submitted accompanying this report is wholly my own, and that any quotations or sections of text taken from the published or unpublished work of any other person is duly and fully acknowledged therein. Signature: Date: Page 6 of 8

7 Assignment Marking Scheme December 2017 Subject Student Registration Number Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability (CMS) Criteria Allocated Aligning to the purpose of the assignment 20 Some of the answer addresses to the purpose of the question 1-5 This has addressed the purpose of the assignment 6-10 Has addressed the purpose of the assignment coherently This has addressed the purpose of assignment comprehensively Clarity of expression 20 An attempt to organize in a logical manner 1-5 Satisfactory showing of logical manner and organization 6-10 Shows higher level of Carefully and logically organized Shows coherent structure with clearly expressed ideas Using examples/evidences 20 Shows a little use of examples 1-5 Some use of examples. Some evaluation attempted 6-10 Some use of examples. Well evaluated Shows appropriate examples are fully and reliably evaluated Critical analysis of concepts, theories, conclusions 20 Demonstrates limited evidence of critical analysis 1-5 Demonstrates some critical analysis of relevant theory 6-10 Demonstrates application of theory through critical analysis Demonstrates application of critical analysis well integrated Following assignment guidelines 20 Limited follow-up of assignment guidelines 1-5 Some level of follow-up of assignment guidelines 6-10 Good display of adherence to assignment guidelines Excellent adherence to assignment guidelines Marks Awarded Special Remarks Total 100 Signature of the Examiner Page 7 of 8

8 Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability (CMS) Assignment Topic Student Name Reg. No. December 2017 Examination Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Page 8 of 8