Topic 3

Six Elements of Marketing

Research
marketing research gathers data systematically through recording and an
alyzing the problems connected in the aspects of the market place by gathering i
nformation regarding the problems of products and their prices, the consumers beh
avior towards the product, the consumer s point of view and to find the solution t
o improve such marketing plan and how to solve marketing problems by focusing po
ints on what greatly impacts the marketing process.
Comprised of two types:
Consumer Research
investigates and focuses the consumer s point of view regarding
a product by delving deeper about the consumer and what they like to buy and why
, as well as taking into account who the consumer is as a whole, how they behave
psychologically regarding that product, what they prefer, what are their opinio
ns and likenesses, what satisfies them and how to satisfy and attract them to ga
in profits.
Product Research investigates and researches on a product and or service and how
it can affect the customer in order to satisfy them. It aims to identify a cha
racteristic of a certain product and or service to gain the consumer s satisfactio
n and gives a refinement to improve a product suited to consumers.
Examples for Consumer Research would be advertising campaigns and slogans to att
ract customers, i.e. Royal Caribbean cruises giving discounts, promotions, freeb
ies and versatile packaged shore excursions catering to the type and level of pa
ssengers interested in the Caribbean islands.
Examples for Product Research would be a holistic massage and health zone servic
e with quality anti-aging products at a reasonable price available at a certain
cruise ship ready to serve those interested health conscious people.
Product Design an element in marketing that delves to focus on how to improve a
product or service through design. Example would be ease of access and feasibil
ity, a cruise line designs and launches its own online travel agency that suppor
ts a high level of security and interaction with the customers online to cater t
o their needs as well as simultaneously branching out physical agencies or branc
hes in malls and in near feasible areas like hospitals, shopping centers, school
s and restaurants also advertising a range of choices to choose from such as edu
cational travel product and tours. It also supports membership and a fast twent
y four hour customer care and support. Members are eligible for freebies and ad
vantages.
Pricing
an element that focuses on the pricing of such a tour depending on the p
ackage desired by consumers. Discounts and the careful adjustment of prices pla
y a very important role here to attract consumers. For example, a specific tour
with a nice package is being advertised in media for a decent discounted price
and there is also a customize your own tour package as well so that consumers ar
e attracted to explore it and try the experience right away.
Promotion this is an element focusing on raising the customer s awareness of produ
ct or service and its aim is to attract customers. Examples are giving fliers t
o the public and through someone s positive experience scattered and voiced out by
word of mouth which costs cheap and in some ways free (called promotion through
Publicity). Advertising promotion through media, television, online, radio bro
adcasts, ads, banners and tarpaulins which can be costly but effective.
Distribution an element that focuses on how to distribute the market, service or
product whether tangible as something that exists physically and can be perceiv
ed by the five senses or intangible as something that can be felt emotionally.
Examples of tangible products are food and beverages like coke, smoothies, chees
eburger and Intangible products are those services offered like insurance, freig
ht and cargo handling, online downloads and amenities. Sale
however in the busi
ness of cruise lines, the sale itself is the distribution since tangible and int
angible products are all part of the sale distribution in cruise lines since the
y import these from third party companies, store it in the cruise ship and sell
it adjusting the prices higher and the same goes for the services.
Follow Up Groups gives importance to groups of passengers especially those that
travel by group for a specific purpose. This is an interactive communication be

tween cruise ship companies and their valued passengers and it can boost sales b
ecause they tend to regularly interact with their customers and get their feedba
ck, comments and suggestions and in turn improve their products and services and
give another chance to gain profits by knowing the customer s next plan for futur
e trips and as well as mutual understanding and loyalty. An example of this is
a cruise line company mutually communicating with potential group passengers to
gain their trust and improve their services to them and possibly giving them dis
counts and catering to their needs depending on such agreements for future trips
thus posing another sale and profit.
Topic 4
It is cheaper to go for buck packages.
Travelling in groups is cheaper as each one can share the expenses from transfer
fees and type of expenses fees such as some hidden cabin expenses and other lan
d fare expenses as well as other amenities expenses and even discounts to hotels
they plan to stay. Most people travelling in groups or buck packages can be en
titled to discounts most of the time though not that big however, but a discount
is always useful. Travelling agency and other agents tend to give people trave
lling in groups a percentage discount as well as it makes the agency or agent sa
ve time due to the group profits they earn since they can book it all in one set
ting and this also goes well to a cruise line too as booking a group consisting
of people boarding together being set into an individual client
mainly a one to
many setting which saves a lot of time, and adds considerable profits as well as
giving room for communication and interaction from that group. Examples of the
se are those group of people who serve a specific purpose and who will board for
a specific tour to a destined country for a specific function, they are easily
monitored since they booked in as a grouped up number of person into one individ
ual setting. They can be offered discounts and be followed up afterwards regard
ing their function and feed back to a service regarding the tour experience. An
other example of these are packaged tours, packaged tours are always discounted
and travelling in a group is more fun and safe than travelling alone. An instan
ce to this though not in a cruise line but still quite similar is that we booked
and reserved a tour in a travel agency, a packaged tour consisting of twelve pe
rsons going to Bohol, an island in the Philippines. The package is so cheap and
discounted since all of us are going to the same destination that we are given
an itinerary as part of the tour for free and some free discounts to the destina
tions (restaurants, hotels and other famous tourists attractions) based on what
is actually stated in the itinerary. And also since we travel by the dozen, we
are also given a plus one person to also be booked under our group package tour
for free all for a total of thirteen persons for the same discounted price. Thi
s is also very similar to cruise lines, travelling in group is cheaper and can b
e fun and more adventurous since one can be discounted while sharing for the exp
enses and the memorable experience the group can have during the vacation.
Topic 5
Performed Group
are those groups of people who have previous records of travelli
ng under the same cruise lines or other cruise lines and agencies. They are als
o well known and have known each other since they are the kind of people or grou
p who are members of an organization, an association or a club. They frequently
travel for a specific purpose usually depending on what they plan in accordance
with the group, the group members and their organization, they usually contact
each other and set an appointment and coordinate with the cruise lines and trave
l agency. Examples are retired senior citizen s group that occasionally travels t
ogether for fun, some special elite member group that travels together for a rea
son, educational tour group, research tour group, hunting group, travelers group
and the likes.
Speculative Group these are groups of people who travel based on their instincts
and have their own interest. A somewhat experimental group that has recently h
ave known each other as travel group members or as somewhat have not really know
n each other that much but only travel together as a group but not really shares
the same specific ideas in travelling. Speculative groups choose to travel wit

h different cruise lines and usually do not stick loyally to the same cruise lin
es due to the fact that each group member have varied interests in travelling an
d do not actually share the same opinions. Some speculative group members do no
t actually know each other until departure, and they can be hard to choose to be
formed into a group, requires more time and research of an individual group mem
ber and requires time to attract and for a promotion because group members are n
ot that close to each other. Examples of these are booking of individual person
s who do hardly have known each other to be formed into a group. Sometimes they
do not share the same purpose of the trip.
Incentives Group
a special group banded together due to an incentives reward. T
hey are rewarded by incentives usually in the form of free travel incentives or
business travel incentives because of a well deserving and exemplary performance
in the company whether in the travel agency, cruise lines or other type of comp
any or corporation. An example would be a team of call center agents have been
rewarded a free travel incentive as well as a business incentive trip for 3 days
and 3 nights in Singapore as a reward for achieving the highest excellence and
performance in the company sales boost of an online cruise ship reservation and
most awarded successful online ticket sales through outbound calls and customer
representative inbound calls. The travel incentive is used to motivate these em
ployee and staff to perform very well and possible to perform very competitively
all throughout the incentives program that they have actually boosted sales and
cruise line ticket and tour reservation by up to 150 percent in just a short sp
an of time in order to achieve the incentives reward and travel to Singapore for
free and take a part to participate in their Singapore branch at the same time
enjoying the vacation.
Topic 6
What is the difference between Product Research and Consumer Research?
The difference between Product Research and Consumer Research is that in Product
Research, the research delves deeper on a specific good or items innate characte
ristic or the specific service it provides to someone interested on that specifi
c item with regards to that person s perspective as to why he or she wants that it
em. This research also focuses not only on a good or item but also on the quali
ty of a specific service mainly from an establishment, a company, a corporation
or someone who provides service which caters the specific needs of a person. Th
e characteristics and qualities of these goods and services are thoroughly resea
rched in order to purely identify whether it satisfies the recognized needs or w
ants of a customer or client and to the extent as to why or whether it would rea
lly qualifies to further satisfy such clients needs or wants regarding that good
or service.
It researches information as to why the specific characteristics of a good or se
rvice is desired and to satisfy such wants or needs. For example in the world o
f big game hunting we tend to analyze the desirable characteristics of a specifi
c good, an item as we make an example of a firearm like the Desert Eagle Mark XI
X which is mainly used as a protection pistol and side arm in outdoor big game h
unting. It is used as a rifle back up when hunting big game in the wild such as
hunting bears. Though it is a very powerful magnum pistol that fires a forcefu
l .50 caliber bullet that is dangerous for the untrained hands and unskilled use
r that most hunters just stick to the lesser powered magnum .357. However, what
is most desired with this pistol is the fact that it is mostly cherished and bo
ught not due to its pop culture and as being famous an icon pistol in Hollywood
movies as having one of the most powerful handguns in the world but rather its q
uality and reliability as a powerful handgun for protection. Researching with t
his product, is its desirable characteristic of being very reliable to the train
ed hands that a lot of people whether hunters or not would dearly try their best
to train hard on how to handle this pistol in order to just get the chance to o
btain and own it because they know that this product doesn t lie whether or not re
gardless of appearance to actually put down a very dangerous foe in such few aim
ed shots whether it s in the head part or the body part. It is very reliable to t
he trained hunter s hands giving it ample protection when hunting in the wild for
wild bears that three to five shots or even just a couple of it to the bear poin

t blank will give the bear an excellent chance to meet its maker as compared to
lesser pistols which have a very high probability of its bullets not penetrating
a charging bear (as in the case of Glock 9milimeters) posing a threat to hunter
s by giving the hunted bear a chance to instead prey on the hunter unless the ai
m is accurately directed point blank to the head to penetrate the brain (however
bears have very thick skull and some are reported to notoriously deflect 9 mill
imeter bullets, thus still attack or even kill a hunter after being shot multipl
e times).
This Desert Eagle Mark XIX is one of the most reliable magnum handgun in the wor
ld developed and designed by Magnum Research Inc. under Israeli Military Industr
ies which is one of the world s desired firearm corporation due to its reliability
and expertise in magnum firearms and handguns which are sought after by gun clu
b members and gun enthusiasts worldwide due to its reliability and durability wh
ich its service is made an example of product research.
Now when we say product research with regards to cruise lines, it means that fur
ther research of that specific service and hospitality in the sense of customer
and cruise line business mutual understanding is involved. It studies the chara
cteristics of a cruise ship or cruise lines, the quality service it gives to the
passengers, the quality and the right aspect of food and the beverage catering
and its service, the quality and hospitality to the passengers it gives and how
such a cruise line business exerts exemplary efforts to please their passengers
which reflects to their actions and to the extent of utmost satisfaction and gua
rantee for a reasonable price and this also includes the human resource operatio
ns, the staff, the ship s crew, the culinary department and the way they treat pas
sengers and customers like they treat them in a given way in a professional sens
e adhered to the practices and the ship s or company s goals, mission and policy in
giving quality and satisfactorily desirable services to the customers. This is
measured by how food and beverage is catered to the customer, the reasonable pri
ce for a quality goods or services, promos and discounts, freebies, accessibilit
y, feasibility, amenities, cleanliness, neatness, empathy to customers and passe
ngers and the likes.
One such example of a cruise ship based on my cousin s finicky experience onboard
a ship, is the Queen Mary II under Cunard cruise lines due to the fact that base
d on what he has researched about it as a world traveler; they indeed give the b
est for their customers whether tangible or intangible services such as affordab
le discounted package price for 2,638 USD though a much higher compared to its o
ther competitors however Cunard cruise lines price is for a package of 12 nights
sailing to more than 12 historical sites and tourist destinations in a trans At
lantic voyage with palatable cuisine, distinctive amenities, warm hearted and ho
spitable service, clean dreamland like state of vacation in a ship on the sea ex
perience with no hidden charges and lots of freebies and a twenty four hour very
professional service in terms of room and general service involved. Additions
of other food ordered through the voyage is distinctively also cheaper indeed fo
r a 2,638 USD versatile package that offers very versatile services that way go
es beyond its price, a seemingly reasonable price for a seemingly almost endless
experience of excellent service to passengers. You can get almost anything fro
m that that price as stated compared to other prices much lower from other compe
titors however with some hidden charges that tend to hike up way much than what
actually and initially advertised and the price is also negotiable (18% - 33% di
scount at varied times and sometimes the price qualifies for two persons for a p
rice of one) depending on the season and time to book a travel.
Consumer Research on the other hand focuses on the consumer s behavior and their w
ants and needs, basically studying their behavior pattern and their psychology o
n as to the aspect on buying goods and finding services catering to their wants
and needs without seemingly giving ample research on what the product really is.
Advertisements, taste, the color, marketing campaigns and other research techn
iques to enhance people and its majority to boost profits and at the same time k
eep them adhered to that service or product is the main concern here. Quality i
s still here but not to the extent of applying in a scientific way but rather to
the extent of applying it to the image of the product and service in order to k

eep customers going and going like considering McDonald s Happy Meal to attract a
lot of customers usually children who are not into just eating fast food burger
but to actually attract them to buy a lot of toys with free burger like techniqu
e in a Happy Meal package, instead of actually psychologically buying food, comp
ared to a much more holistic healthy food on sale in holistic groceries that do
not have toys as freebies but aims to explain what is really in the product. An
example of this is the Disney Cruise lines from Walt Disney, basically a Disney
Land World in a boat at sea, attracting hundreds of passengers with children, b
eing children as the main point in the business which plays a vital role to make
the business and consumers tick like a never ending clock and make profits with
a bunch of advertisements to their goods and services with marketing campaigns
and pro children pro family agenda like technique to boost sales.
So basically product research focuses on the product and its quality and service
making it the great choice for giving satisfaction to someone who wants to know
more about the advantages of the product and to identify it thus eliminating mi
stakes from occurring and unnecessary expenditures as it understands what the cu
stomer really needs and want about the product or service thus giving the produc
t or service room for improvement and modification to be flexible enough to suit
one s needs and give satisfaction at the same time giving unlimited ideas and inn
ovation as means of improvement to make the company on always on the edge of com
petence and choice from consumers. The consumer research makes use of advertise
ments and means of media of attraction and interaction in goods and services to
consumer mutual understanding by knowing the consumer s psyche and behavior as it
eventually understands the consumer being the person he or she is and his or her
attitudes as to what actually drives him or her to be motivated enough to be ne
edful of such service or goods necessary for that person. It analyzes the consu
mer inward and outward and finally identifies the consumer through market resear
ch and the systematic collection of ideas and preferences of the consumers servi
ng as somewhat the persona or actually the voice of the consumer by identifying
potential products and services catered to their needs.
Topic 7
Differentiating and giving examples to tangible and intangible
Tangible products are products that take up space and perceived by the five sens
es. They can be touched, tasted and smelled, seen, heard and they are made of e
xisting materials that are physical and thus exist in space. They have ingredie
nts too that also takes up space like when you make a cuisine onboard a cruise l
ine then you prepare their ingredients and then you cook them then you can taste
if it is right, or smell it if it is overcooked, and in some cases feel it with
your hands wearing sanitize gloves if it is already tender and try to hear the
fizzle of the wine as you add it up being part of the ingredients and see to it
that the ingredients are thoroughly readied before proceeding to the next step a
s you look as other tangible products being prepared by other cook or personnel
under the steward s department such as the chief cook who is renowned in preparing
grilled lobsters, grilled shrimps, grilled steak, grilled baby back ribs and ev
en grilled horse meat and perhaps grilled bear meat. Other examples are Filet M
ignon, Hand Rolled Potato Gnocchi to the more familiar mama legacies like Arroz
con Pollo, Chicken A La Orange, Chicken Carbonara and Blue Salmon Quesadillas an
d a Blue Booby. All of these tangible things onboard a cruise ship are improved
by hardwork and innovation giving them intangible properties like health benefi
ts and off course the price too and at times the possible risk of heightening on
e s libido.
Intangible products are products that do not have a physical nature and they per
ceived indirectly. Usually they are in the form of services as opposed to goods
. Like promos, massage qualifications, other freebies, discounts, rewards and p
oints incentives, and those benefits and some hidden charges present onboard a s
hip such as a cruise line. Other examples are advantages of boarding nice quali
ty cruise ships such as feasibility, accessibility to technology, premium insura
nce, comfortable and relaxed travel, additional freight charges and the likes.

Intangible products are rather abstract with abstract adjectives that cannot be
directly felt by the five senses however can be felt emotionally such as gratuit
ously pirating an intangible content online just to get a pdf copy of how to be
the best Food and Beverage Manager in 10 easy steps.
Topic 8
10 Items that is potentially negotiable in Cruise Line
1.
Cruise line or cruise ship price
this can be negotiable depending on a d
iscount and privilege such as a lesser price for students and seniors and some a
pplicable club, credit and advantage cards. Prices also tend to be discounted d
epending on the season and months traveled, whether peak season or not. Group p
ackage size and previously recorded trips can also promote discounts.
2.
Free Airfare Ticket
there are some cruise lines that give discounts or e
ven free airfare ticket to a specific destination accordingly if that ticket is
booked through the cruise line.
3.
Onboard Functions negotiable depending on the kind of function involved
and the number of participants.
4.
Free Cruise some cruise lines give a free cruise that may or may not exc
lude other tax and hidden charges depending on the number of grouped persons lik
e a 15 person passenger or 20 person passenger or fewer so that one free cruise
is given to a lucky passenger.
5.
Insurance insurance is often times negotiable depending on the kind of i
nsurance agreement and the item or person being insured and what are the stakes
involved.
6.
Shore Excursions considered to be an intangible product, shore excursion
s are picnics and getaways designed by cruise lines corporations to boost profit
s. They are free to give adventures and to give passengers a nice experience in
cluded as an extra package.
7.
Promotional Support
freebies and promos such as novelty items are also g
iven and even a free participation to historical experiences and some useful inf
ormation and souvenirs are also given for free depending on the cruise lines.
8.
Free Food or negotiable discounted food
some cruise lines offer these de
pending on the amount purchased and with some discount cards.
9.
Special Onboard Amenities prices like onboard sauna, spa, recreational f
acilities, massages and the like can also be negotiable depending on such circum
stances regarding a specific cruiseline.
10.
Pre- or post cruise packages they can also be negotiable as the price di
ffers depending on the package and the travel and tours agency and the hotel pri
ces in some places or countries.