+ online course in responsible tourism development Stefano Andreotti Destinatio n marketing
Dec 16, 2014
+
online course in responsible tourism development
Stefano Andreotti
Destination marketing
2+Agenda
1. What is destination marketing?
2. Why destination marketing?
3. How to do destination marketing?
+What is destination marketing?
3
Product Promotion
Placement Price
+What is destination marketing?
4
Destination Marketing is a crucial activity for making the
destination competitive on the tourism market.
Destination Marketing has two main goals:
Improve the attractiveness of the destination;
Position the destination or the tourism products on the market place;
+Destination Marketing, what for?
Promote and sell tourism products related to tourists motivations
“Organize a combination of resources/products/services able to provide a real value for selected target of demands,motivate to buy and satisfy the customers expectations.
James Makens et al., Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism
Not only promotion!
+ 6Destination marketing vs. mass products marketing
Destination marketing differs because:
In the tourism sector - diffrently from others sectors, in which the distribution channels deliver the products to the consumers - the consumers move to the destinations;
The tourism product is made up by different components (resources) managed by different stakeholders;
Decisions do not belong to one person/manager;
The image of the destinations can be influenced by external factors that can not be managed;
Vs.
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What influences competitivity
Attractions •Natural, cultural, artificial resources, events;
Accessibility •Roads, trains, airports;
Recreation •Commercial activities, other services etc.
Accommodation •Accommodation facilities (hotels, B&B, lodge, CBT etc.
Activities •All activities: adventure, sports, culture etc.
Commercial accessibility
•Packages and offer available on the market.
+Why destination marketing?
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DEMAND OFFER
+Why destination marketing?
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WHY?
Excess of offer
Higher competition
New motivations
Change in consumers’
behaviorProduct specializati
on
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How has the market change?
The long tail theory and the product specialization
Tourism product demand has moved towards niche products able to satisfy specific expectations of a limited number of people
+Why destination marketing?
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The success of a destination depends highly on the level of efficiency of the destination marketing strategy and its activities aimed at:
Understand the activities and processes for connetting buyers (tourists) and sellers (local tourism offer);
Respond to the demand needs positioning the destination on the market;
Coordinate the activities and the offers of the destination, working for distribution;
Assume a meta level position in relation to: tourism product, brand, price, segmentation, promotion and distribution.
+Why destination marketing?
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Normally the implementation of a destination marketing strategy is competence of a Destination Management Organization
The task of this organization are:
Creation of tourism products;
Definition of a pricing strategy of the destination (positioning)
Implementation of promotion and marketing strategies;
Favor the distribution, through different channels (tour operator, online destination portals, exhibitions etc.), of the tourism products;
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New Approach to destination marketing
Product
Price
Promotion
Position
Classic approach
Product
Personalization
Price
Position
Promotion
Partnership
People
Planning
New approach
+How to do destination marketing?
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Product It is the first and foremost key for a successful destination
marketing strategy: people go to a destination because “they want to do something there”;
It is therefore important for destinations to move from a logic of “destination” to a on of “motivation”
MOTIVATION (“REASON WHY”)
DESTINATION
+How to do destination marketing?
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Personalization Nowadays is the customer that lloks and find what he
wants, we can only try to influence their choice; Tourists are becoming more independent and conscious
about what they want to do and where they want to go: the tourism product becomes one of the most influencing factor when deciding where to go/what to do;
It is necessary to understand the expectations, the needs and wants of toursits in order to be able to respond adequately to them;
The destination itself looses its importance and what becomes determinant are the tourism products that the destination can offer.
+How to do destination marketing?
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Price The price of a tourism product should be decided taking
into account quality and fariness; in fact what people look for most of the time is a product with good quality for an accessible price;
Quality, in this sense should take into consideration not only its functional components but also its emotionals ones;
The pricing policy should consider the following indicators: Maximization of the profit; Competitor’s pricing policy; Market segmentation;
+How to do destination marketing?
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Distribution Accessibility is another key factor for success because
being the market so competitive if products are readily available for purchase makes it easier to win the competition;
Multi channel distribution strategy: tour operators, travel agencies, on line distribution;
The distribution strategy needs to take into consideration the selected targets and markets;
+How to do destination marketing?
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Position Identify the competitive context in which the destination is
located; Identify which are the destinations that directly compete with
ours; Identify which are the motivations and the needs and wants
that tourist look for before arriving at the destinations (expectations);
Identify motivations,, needs and wants for tourist chosing a competitor destination;
Identify strengths and weaknesses of the offer, opportunities and threats for developing further the destination offer;
Develop a new positioning starting from the opportunities individuated;
+How to do destination marketing?
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Promotion Promotion can be very expensive both in terms of time and
money; it is therefore important to selects channels and tools that are more appropriate for promoting the offer;
Some criteria for choosing the most suitable toots for promotion: Audience: number of people that can be reached by that
mean of communication; Opportunity to see: the chance that a person interested
in our product see the message
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Media strategy
Media strategy refers to the identification and planning of the different media that will be used for promoting the product; the criteria used for determining the strategy should be:
Target groups;
Budget;
Goal of the promotion campaign (ex: brand awareness or sell?
Timing;
+How to do destination marketing?
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Partnership Nowadays is necessary to move from
competition to coopetition; Bundling: it means to promote different
products in unique offer so to present a varied range of coherent opportunities to the customer enhancing the chances of him buying them and enriching its consuming experience while maximizing profit;
+How to do destination marketing?
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People Nowadays we talk of word of mouse vs. word of
mouth; still people are the main protagonist of the holiday experience and are those that most certainly can convince someone to follow their step;
Therefore it is important to ENGAGE with customers and potential customer in order to favor the word of mouse;
A positive comment on the destination said by a visitors is definitely more effective than one said by a DMO;
Be careful, people can also criticize… it is necessary to learn how to face criticism and how to respond to it.
+How to do destination marketing?
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Planning
Develop a strategic marketing plan (every 3 years) in which identify goals and targets for the next operative period;
In order to be effective the strategic marketing plan should be followed by an operative marketing plan identifying the detailed operative steps to be done for reaching the determined goals
Monitor results and adapt the operative strategy when it shows to be ineffective;
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Steps to successful destination marketing
Identify markets and target
• For example: domestic vs. international;• For example: Family, DINKs, teen agers, honeymooners, adventurers, active holidaymakers, etc.
Identify customer needs and wants
• What do people with that holiday motivation from their holiday?
Match tourism resources and products with the selected targets and markets
• The products chosen are coherent with the target we want to attract?
Study the competitors
• What are others destinations doing on the same products/targets? • What are my direct competitors doing? Which products are they developing?
Develop tourism products coherent with the selected targets of demand
• How can I make my products more appealing for my targeted customers? What can be innovated in order to beat my competitors?
Develop and implement a marketing strategy
• Develop a marketing plan identifying goals, timing and budget
Monitor results
• Am I reaching the goals I established in the marketing plan? If not, how can I modify my strategy?