Download ECO TOURISM KENYA CONFERENCE: 20

ECO TOURISM
KENYA
CONFERENCE:
21 FEB 2012
MARKETING A
TOURISM BUSINESS
ELIZABETH M
KIMOTHO
WHAT IS MARKETING?
What do you think marketing is?
• Putting advertisements in the
newspaper/radio/internet/billboards
• Printing pamphlets and t-shirts
• Event Sponsorship
• Promotions & Competitions : buy 3 nights get 1
free
Let us define what marketing is:
It is a process of:
1) IDENTIFYING,
2) ANTICIPATING
3) & SATISFYING
customer requirements PROFITABLY
MARKETING PROCESS
IDENTIFYING
• Asking - social media a good forum eg twitter,
facebook
• Industry reports – Ministry of Tourism
• The Internet: Trip advisor
• Media Reports
• Competitor reviews
ANTICIPATE
• Looking at habits, trends, social behavior, culture
• In context to tourism: honeymooners, young adults,
young family
SATISFY
• On arrival, at departure, excursions, service (nonverbal communication), décor,
ambience/environment, mode of communication
MARKETING PROCESS
IDENTIFY
ANTICIPATE
SATISFY
PROFITS
NEEDS
How leads to a profitable business:
• Repeat business – it is cheaper & easier & more
profitable to retain existing customers than it is to
recruit new ones
• Word of mouth (WOM) – This is more powerful
than talking about yourself: Kosewe’s, Olepolos,
hence marketing expenditure is contained
All the previous mentioned activities have a place in
marketing – just that they are one part of the marketing
process
WHO IS THIS CUSTOMER?
This is your “TARGET MARKET” – can liken it to a cheetah on the
hunt when it targets a particular gazelle in a herd and chases it till
it gets it
• Therefore important to know who your target market is because:
• You can accurately describe this target market
• You know where to find this target audience
• Determines what channels of communication you are
going to use that will effectively reach them when
advertising
• You can “speak their language”
• You can have conversations with them because you
now know what appeals to them & where to get them
IMPORTANCE OF IDENTIFYING A TARGET AUDIENCE
• By knowing your target audience’s needs, you can then:
• Anticipate their needs
• Time your marketing communication
• Choose suitable medium of communication that will reach
your target audience
• Develop communication material that they will pay attention
to & understand – eg a busy executive does not have time to
read a lengthy paragraph on how you can give him/her a
holiday of a lifetime
• IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOU WHO DEVELOPS THE
COMMUNICATION MATERIAL
• AIDA model - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
• Helps in relationship building: you make it easy for the client to
relate you
• Use of data bases in this is very useful eg wedding
anniversaries, birthdays, size of family, physical address of
office/home, allergies)
IT IS ALWAYS & WILL ALWAYS BE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER & NOT
ABOUT YOU
EXAMPLE – LADY GAY
INSIGHT
•
•
•
Personal care routine is
one of the most important
things that a woman
indulges in before she
starts her day
She seeks soft, smooth,
sheen skin & a subtle/nice
perfume that last
Without that she is unable
to leave the house with
confidence and win
appreciation from others
VALUES &
PERSONALITY
TARGET
•C1C2
•40 & +years
•Down to earth women
who appreciate quality
•Women who believe in
traditional values, they
are confident with
strong principles &
disciplined, seeking
quiet admiration
•They are conservative,
& accept modernity at
their own pace
•Woman looking to
enhance the natural
beauty of their skin
Only Lady Gay lotion gives me that unique sheen &
soft skin & a unique pleasant fragrance that lasts
the entire day & completes my woman-hood
•
•
•
•
•
•
Believes in
traditional
values
Mature,
Feminine/
womanly
Family
oriented
Passionate,
Practical,
Well behaved,
Principled,
Highly
disciplined
DIFFERENTIATOR
MARKETING IN THE CONTEXT OF TOURISM
• Identify the target audience:
• Families? Corporates? Young adults? Children? The elderly?
Church groups? Youth groups? Academic institutions?
• What are the needs of this audience?
• Relaxation, entertainment, spiritual, romance, education, etc
• By identifying what this needs are, you can then position yourself
as the one who can satisfy the customer’s requirements
• Wording & visuals of your communication – working
backwards from the client’s needs rather than what you think
your customer would like to hear
• You will also know where to find this target audience
• It is also very possible to serve more than one target audience
hence where segmentation comes in place
SEGMENTATION
• SEGMENTATION is grouping consumers with
similar needs
• By segmenting you can then be in a position to
analyze eg
• who brings in the most revenue
• who brings in the highest margin
• do they have seasons in the year?
• This helps in better planning in the business
• One can segment by looking at:





What types of products there are
Who Who are the users
Why they want to use the product
When they want use the product
Where they want to use the product
MARKETING PROCESS
IDENTIFY
ANTICIPATE
SATISFY
PROFITS
NEEDS
• Profits will be arise from the products & services that you
develop to satisfy the target audience’s needs
• The price set for the product should be perceived by your target
audience as value for money
• Under pricing/over pricing can be as a result of poor
understanding of your target audience
• In a community group, the product could already be existing eg
caves
• The caves are then marketed in the context of the relevant
target audience eg:
• Education excursions for academic institutions
• Romantic dining area for honeymooner/couples
• Camping for young people
MARKETING PROCESS
• The idea is to understand the principles of marketing (from the
definition) and then apply them to your organization setting
• Important to analyze the profitability of your marketing
activities.
• This forms the basis for strategies in the business eg you
could identify that you can offer customers a more
competitive price for an excursion if you owned a vehicle
rather than hiring it which could then form a long term
plan to purchase a vehicle
CONCLUSION
Marketing of a tourism enterprise is
marketing just like in any other business –
look at marketing examples in other
industries to help inspire you in being more
marketing oriented in your business.