Download From Howard and Crompton, Financing, Managing and Marketing

From Howard and Crompton, Financing, Managing and Marketing Recreation and Park Resources. Ch 16.
A DEFINITION
OF MARKETING
We have been talking a great deal about marketing, but up to this point we have focused on differentiating between
marketing and selling, and have not adopted a formal definition. The following definition is proposed:
Marketing is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of carefully formulated programs designed to bring about
voluntary exchanges with target markets for the purpose of achieving agency ob/ectives. It relies heavily upon designing
offerings consistent with clients’ wants, and on using effective pricing, communication and distribution to inform, motivate, and
service the markets.
This is a very comprehensive definition. We -present it because it identifies all the key marketing activities and thus
provides a framework for our discussion in this Marketing Section of the text. However, we recognize that because
it is comprehensive it is unwieldy and difficult to remember. For this reason we offer a brief working definition
which may be used as an alternate description:
Marketing is a set of activities aimed at facilitating and expediting changes.
The activities referred to in this abbreviated version are identified in the comprehensive definition, and are described
in more detail in the last section of this chapter. In the following section we explain what is meant by the exchange
process.
The Concept of Exchange
To survive and succeed, the recreation and park agency must:(1) attract sufficient resources (that is, the factors of
production, land, labor, and materials which we discussed in Chapter 1); (2) convert these resources into programs,
facilities or services; and (3) distribute those programs or services to various consuming publics.20 This system relies
upon the exchange mechanism to operate. Voluntary exchange is a central concept underlying i’ It calls for offering
something of value to someone in exchange for something else of value. Exchange requires two conditions:22
1. There are two or more parties.
2. Each has something that might be valued by the other party.
The nature of the exchange relationship may be expressed in the terms shown in Figure 16-5. The recreation and
park agency delivers want satisfying services which citizens perceive to be of value. Citizens provide support to the
agency through tax dollars, direct fees, and charges paid by participants, the travel costs incurred, and the
opportunity cost of their time, that is, the value of the benefit that is foregone by choosing one alternative rather than
another. If the recreation and park agency fails to deliver want-satisfying services, and citizens perceive that they
receive less value, then the citizens are likely to reduce their support accordingly.
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THE NOTION OF PUBLICS
While this model of the exchange process between a recreation and park agency and its citizens is a useful
generalization, it represents a substantial oversimplification, because the recreation and park agency has more than
one public to serve. A public may be defined as, “a distinct group of people and/or organizations that have an actual
or a potential interest in, or impact upon, the recreation and park agency.” 23 The agency is in fact likely to seek
support from a number of such distinct groups.
If the essence of marketing is exchange.. and the agency seeks support from one or more of its publics, then it
has to answer the question,
“What is in it for them?” If our agency wants their support, what is the agency prepared to offer that group in exchange?
This should be identified and should form the basis of any marketing strategy aimed at seeking the support of that
group. This is a key concept. It is a fundamental principle of marketing, which is just as valid in marketing an idea to
your boss (what’s in it for him?) as in marketing park and recreation services to different publics.
Nine major publics - three input publics, two output publics, and four sanctioning or enabling publics.
Input Publics
Support Publics—determine allocation of dollars for the facility. They may include:
legislators; city council; board of commissioners; foundations; individual or corporate donors; volunteer groups;
friends of the parks” groups; local financial institutions who may be prepared to support revenue bond issues for
particular facilities.
Benefits they may seek:
• the satisfaction of contributing to the quality of life in the community by allocating resources to the agency
• meeting commitments which they made to electors/constituents when they were placed in this role of resource
provider
• public relations
• increase their own personal stature in the community through having been prominently associated with the
project when it reaches fruition
Supplier Publics— contractors, sales representatives, equipment suppliers, consultants’ services, landowners,
transportation services, concessionaire operators.
Benefits they may seek:
• opportunities to sell their products I services
• contribute to an improvement in the quality of their community’s life
Employee Publics—the agency’s own employees, on whose commitment, skill, and enthusiasm the agency will
ultimately be judged.
Benefits they may seek:
• enhancement of job security
• increased job satisfaction derived from providing improved client services
Output Publics
Agent Publics—people or organizations perceived to be acting on behalf of the recreation and parks agency, for
example, individual commissioners, advisory commissions, the mass media, “friends of the parks” groups. Often the
agent publics may also serve as part of the Support Group constituency.
Benefits they may seek:
• same as those for Support Publics
Consumer Publics—those who directly benefit from the services to be delivered. They may also be termed client
publics.
Benefits they may seek:
• the services which they directly receive
Sanctioning Publics
General Public—consists of nonusers as well as users. They provide the tax support base either directly through
their vote in bond referendums (in which case they should be viewed as a Support Public) or through more indirect
influence on their elected representatives.
Benefits they may seek:
• development of amenities is evidence of the agency’s contribution to the general well-being of the community
• non users benefit indirectly from development of facilities such as parks, since they are a common good in
which all share because they lead to an upgrading in the quality of the community
• there is psychological benefit from knowing a service is available even if it is never used by an individual
Competitor Publics—the major competitor publics can be readily identified by reference to Figure 3-3 in Chapter 3.
At the local level, a program may be in direct competition with those at state and federal level, as well as with
competitors in the nonpublic, home recreation, and tourist sectors. Emphasis here is likely to be upon securing
passive acceptance rather than upon positive support.
Benefits they may seek:
• compatibility of the program with their own operation; emphasis on the complementary rather than the
competitive elements of the project
• if competitors are seeking only passive acceptance, the agency need only emphasize how it will not hurt them
rather than what benefits it will bring to them
Special Publics—examples would be special interest groups such as conservation organizations, handicapped
groups, minority groups, juvenile delinquents, impacted landowners, or residents.
Benefits they may seek: (for example, a handicapped group)
• how it will serve needs of the handicapped
• particular features incorporated to accommodate the handicapped
• opportunities for interaction with other groups in the community
Government Publics—permit or grant providing agencies; cooperating agencies, e.g., school board
Benefits they may seek:
• a superior project which the granting agency can be assured is likely to be successful
• a noncontroversial project which is unlikely to subject the cooperating agency to public criticism
• provide the agency with credits and publicity
• save expenditures by jointly sharing costs of development and operation
This generalized example is only illustrative. The particular benefits which constituents in each of the nine
publics will seek in exchange for their support will vary according to the composition of the constituent group and
the specific nature of the project for which their support is being sought.
The example has used a proposed facility for the purposes of illustration. However the framework of publics
would be equally appropriate for a program, event or service.
The publics, and indeed the constituent groups within each of the publics, may be classified in terms of the
amount of mutual interest that may exist A reciprocal public is a public that is interested in the recreation and park
agency, with the agency also interested in them (for example, client groups). A sought public is a public from which
the agency is interested in gaining support, but that is not necessarily interested in the agency (for example, donors).
An unwelcome public is a public that is interested in the agency but in whom the agency is not interested. (For
example, concessionaire operators who have a poor reputation, nude or topless bathers, political demonstrators,
horseback riders in some types of parks, or vandals).
The notion of publics again emphasizes the dynamic environment within which a recreation and park agency exists.
Relationships with various constituency groups are constantly changing, depending upon the type of program
involved. The importance of recognizing this diverse range of publics lies in the realization that lack of support by
any one of them could mean failure of the proposed program. Marketing activities should not be restricted to a client
public; they should also be applied to other publics. The agency’s task is to consider what benefits particular publics
are seeking and what the agency is able to offer in exchange for their valued resources and support. Once this has
been done, it is important to establish with those valued publics the relations which produce mutual satisfaction.
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