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Marketing Parks and Recreation: The Need for a New Approach
by
Edward N. Mahoney
Michigan State University
INTRODUCTION
Many people hold a variety of misconceptions-as to what marketing entails and often
confuse marketing with selling, advertising7 and public relations. This confusion is very common
among persons employed in more traditional natural resources departments. Although
advertising is part of marketing, marketing involves much more, including product/service
development, location decisions, pricing, and promotion. Advertising, as will be discussed later,
is just one type of promotion. Public relations is the management function that identifies,
establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its
various publics (Cutlip, et. al.1985).
Marketing as defined by the American Marketing Association is “the process of planning
and executing the conception, pricing promotion, distribution of ideas, goods, and services to
create exchange that satisfy individual (customer) and organizational objectives. It is a
philosophy of doing business which is based on the marketing concept. According to Kotler
(1976), the marketing concept is “a customer needs orientation backed by an integrated
marketing effort aimed at satisfying customers comprising different target markets”. The
marketing concept requires that businesses and organizations: (l) design their products/services
to meet customer needs and wants, (2) focus on specific market segments rather than the entire
(mass) market and, (3) develop an integrated marketing mix strategy(s).
Effective and continuous marketing is necessary for all products, but is especially
important for parks and, recreation and hospitality industries. It is important that
recreation/tourism marketing become more efficient and effective for a number of reasons. First,
increasing competition for people’s leisure time and budgets will complicate the task of
attracting new customers/visitors and retaining existing ones. Many of the recreation activities
industries which experienced rapid and profitable growth in the 60’s and 70’s, e.g., downhill
skiing, are now leveling off and many, especially the smaller operations, are showing decreased
profits. These industries will be forced to develop new and more customer oriented marketing
strategies. As a manager of a Michigan ski resort recently put it, “Used to be whatever we did we
would grow. No more, now it’s all marketing.”
Fragmentation of once relatively homogeneous recreation markets will make market
segmentation and target marketing much more important. It is likely that recreation markets will
become more, not less heterogeneous over time. Many public parks and recreation agencies have
suffered significant budget reductions (in real money terms) over the last ten years while the
number of visitors they serve has remained constant on increased. The budget reductions along
with changing life styles and the growing diversity in recreation tastes has further complicated
the task of providing quality recreational experiences. In addition many federal, state and local
parks and recreation agencies are placing additional emphasis on attracting and serving tourists.
Also, the increased costs of marketing, especially promotion, will require that recreation
agencies and businesses design more cost effective promotional strategies with an emphasis on
education and specific information and less on promises. Park and recreation agencies and
businesses will also have to direct more attention at evaluating their marketing and promotional
strategies and expenditures. In order to evaluate, they will need to develop holistic marketing
strategies that specify target markets and include measurable objectives. It is crucial that the
marketing strategy be consistent with the mission of the organization or agency.
Despite the growth and importance of recreation and tourism, and the increased interest
in marketing recreation, in both the private and public sectors, there has been relatively little
progress toward the development of recreation marketing theories, concepts and methods.
Recreation marketing is still very much in its infancy. I believe there are a number of reasons for
this lack of progress. First, as was mentioned above, there still remains a great deal of confusion
with respect to what marketing entails. As a consequence, few businesses or agencies have
attempted to develop or implement comprehensive marketing strategies.
Another reason for the lack of progress is that many recreation industries are comprised
of small businesses many of whom mistakenly believe that they don’t have enough money, time,
information, or expertise to develop and implement a marketing strategy. Many public park and
recreation agencies interested in marketing have failed to establish adequate budgets to develop
or implement marketing strategies. As a result, their marketing is frequently haphazard, often
consisting of several advertisements and brochures updated annually to reflect fee changes.
There has also been very little effort directed at evaluating the effectiveness of various
recreational marketing strategies.” There remains a strong reluctance on the part of businesses
and agencies to set aside either the money or time for evaluation. They would rather invest in
another ad, or a thousand more brochures. This attitude is not limited to small recreation businesses or agencies. There are major companies and state tourism promotion agencies which have
not evaluated their marketing or promotional strategies. As a consequence we know relatively
little about why certain strategies succeed or fail. Progress is difficult without this information.
Finally, and most importantly, we continue to rely on theories, concepts and methods that
have been used to market manufactured goods. We continue to market recreational experiences
much the same way that we market refrigerators and television sets. Little attention has been
directed at the important difference between marketing tangible manufactured products and recreational experiences. As will be discussed throughout this paper, marketing a wilderness canoe
trip in a national park can not be marketed the same manner as a product sold in a retail store. In
addition, important concepts relating to the marketing of services have not been used to design
recreation marketing strategies. We have also, for the most part, failed to incorporate into our
marketing strategies what we have learned through research about why people recreate, how they
make recreational choices, and what contributes to quality recreational experiences.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RECREATIONAL EXPERIENCES AND PHYSICAL GOODS
Recreation and tourism marketing is different from marketing manufactured and retail
goods in a number of important respects. First, most recreational experiences, especially outdoor
recreation, must be consumed/experienced on site. Sure you can produce a spectacular movie
about a national park and show it in major cities to give people a sense of what a park experience
entails but the movie is not a park experience. The product cannot be produced, stockpiled, and
then transported to a distribution point more convenient to customers. Instead customers must
travel to the production point. Travel also frequently represents a significant portion of the time
and monetary cost of participating in recreational experiences. Often travel time and cost far
exceeds the costs at the site.
Recreation businesses and agencies need to understand that they are not marketing a
facility, program, or even a combination of facilities and programs but rather, a recreational
experience. According to Clawson (1964) recreational experiences are almost always much
broader than the activity experience at the site. Recreational experiences involve five distinct
phases including: (1) anticipation and planning, (2) travel to the recreation site, (3) on-site
experiences and activities, (4) travel back home, and (5) recollection. Too many recreation
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businesses and agencies have failed to recognize the important role marketing can play in
improving the off-site elements of the experience.
Most people participate in more than one activity and visit more than one business/location
while on recreational trips, especially ones involving considerable travel and overnight stays.
Rarely can one business provide the variety of activities and facilities people need or desire. It is
the package of facilities and programs that frequently attracts people to a recreation/tourism area.
The quality of the recreational experience can be significantly influenced by contacts visitors
have with employees of support businesses, e.g., gas stations, retail stores, and community
residents. This makes cooperative marketing between businesses and between businesses and
public recreation providers very important. Too few recreation businesses have recognized this
and instead continue to engage in costly competitive marketing and promotion. As a
consequence their marketing efforts frequently end up canceling each other out. Many businesses
also fail to recognize that parks and public recreational facilities often provide them a majority of
their customers. Instead, they view them as unfair publicly subsidized competition.
Recreation marketing also differs from the marketing of manufactured goods in that
recreational experiences share many of the same characteristics of services. Recreational
experiences, like services, are special kinds of “goods’ that are intangible. A service is an activity
that has value to a buyer as opposed to an object, thing or device (Goonroos, 1963). Recreation
and services are ephemeral and experiential in nature. They can be experienced but not
possessed; there is no transfer of ownership to the consumer/participant (Shostack, 1977).
Recreational experiences cannot be felt, tasted or touched in the same way as physical goods.
Nor can they usually be examined, demonstrated and trial tested prior to purchase/participation.
Tangible clues to assist in evaluation and selection of recreational businesses/facilities/areas are
usually difficult to come by. This makes recreational choices inherently more risky and difficult
(Lovelock, 1983; Klaus, 1985). The intangibility which characterizes recreational experiences
and services requires a very different and expanded approach to marketing (Goonroos, 1978;
Chase, 1978). It also justifies some serious rethinking about the way in which many recreational
experiences are promoted.
Recreational experiences are also similar to services in that they are first purchased, and
then produced and consumed at the same time. Manufactured goods on the other hand are
produced, sold, and then consumed (Berry, 1960; Rathmell, 1974). They can be examined and
quality tested before they are sold to the customer. If they are defective they can be recalled and
corrected. The fact that production, delivery and consumption of recreation experiences are
simultaneous means that it is crucial that quality control is comprehensive and continuous. There
is little opportunity to recall a defective service/experience before it reaches the consumer and
negatively impacts on their satisfaction and repeat purchase decisions. Therefore, quality control
should be considered an essential recreation marketing task.
Not only are recreational experiences produced and consumed simultaneously, but also the
customer is actively involved in the production of his/her own experience (Groonroos, 1983:
Eiglier, 1977; Chase, 1978). The quality of the experience is in part dependent on their own
performance. Their skill level, selection of activities, attitude and behavior will all influence the
quality of their own experience. Because customers serve the dual role of consumer and
producer, production of recreational experiences cannot be standardized and it is difficult to
guarantee a consistent level of quality. Standardization of recreational experiences is made more
difficult because quality is influenced by weather conditions, the behavior of other visitors, and
the actions, attitudes, and behavior of employees.
The intangibility and lack of standardization which characterize recreational experiences
makes it more difficult for people to evaluate the quality of an experience before they purchase/
experience it (Booms and Bitner, 1981; Blackman, 1985; Klaus, 1985). It also makes
comparisons between recreational offerings more complex. The risk associated with decisions
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regarding repeat purchases/visits is less, but still exists. The uncertainty associated with
recreational decisions is further compounded by the fact that it is difficult and often impossible
to return a poor quality recreation experience once it has been purchased and experienced.
Special occasions, e.g., honeymoons, annual vacations, are one time experiences. Travel costs
and time constraints often prevent persons from taking advantage of money back guarantees or
free repeat visits if they are dissatisfied.
The difficulty associated with evaluating a recreational experience and the irreversibility of
a bad decision has a profound effect on the types and sources of information people utilize when
making recreation and vacation decisions. When selecting a recreation/vacation location people
rely to a greater extent on word-of-mouth promotion. They also search for tangible evidence/
information to substantiate the promises made in advertisements and promotional material.
Marketing studies conducted in Michigan consistently find that recreationists/tourists usually
consult more than one source of information and rely more heavily on word-of-mouth (Stynes
and Mahoney, 1986; Spotts and Mahoney, 1985; Mahoney, Pistis and Brunke, 1986). The
difficulty in appraising and comparing between recreational offerings also results in greater
brand loyalty. Once people find a recreational business/area, e.g. park, campground, or charter
boat, that satisfies them they are likely to return time and time again. Greater brand loyalty and
reliance on personal sources of information requires certain marketing adjustments.
Recreation experiences also differ from most physical goods in that they are
instantaneously perishable commodities (Goonroos, 1983; Levitt, 1981; Lovelock, 1983).
Recreational experiences cannot be inventoried during periods of low use to accommodate
excessive demand in other periods. Unless operated on a reservation basis only, it unlikely that
capacity will match “demand. A campsite or room not occupied is lost forever; the lost revenues
cannot be made up regardless how good the remainder of the season. Campgrounds and hotels
also forfeit revenues from persons turned away during peak demand periods. Often they also lose
potential future business from those customers or potential customers they are unable to
accommodate. Therefore, strategies for reducing peaking (irregular demand) should be major
components in recreational marketing strategies. Kotler (1975) refers to the marketing task of
trying to smooth irregular demand fluctuations as synchromarketing. Marketing strategies can
also be developed to redirect visitation away from over utilized facilities and areas to ones that
have excess capacity.
Another characteristic shared by both service businesses recreation businesses/agencies is
the difficulty in accurately determining the cost of producing units of the service/experience. It is
equally difficult to estimate demand curves or price elasticity of demand. This makes traditional
methods, e.g. break-even analysis, marginal cost, of establishing prices extremely difficult. As a
result pricing of recreational services/facilities is often done subjectively or, solely on political
criteria.
RECREATION MARKETING
In most instances the important differences between recreational experiences and physical
goods mentioned above have not been recognized or incorporated in the development of
marketing strategies of public parks and recreation agencies or, recreation businesses. These
differences require the development and application of non-traditional theories, methods and
tactics. Marketing by recreation businesses or agencies is not as narrow, or well defined, a
function as it is for manufactured products.
Marketing of physical goods is frequently carried out by marketing professionals
employed in a marketing or sales department, or outside marketing firms, e.g., advertising
agency. According to Goonroos (1983) it is a distinct function that separates production
(producers) from consumption (consumers). Most of the marketing effort is directed at
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influencing buying decisions. Considerably less attention is aimed at the consumption or post
consumption phases described by Goonroos (1963). Conversely, all employees of recreation
businesses are engaged in marketing to some extent, and should be viewed, trained and managed
as marketing representatives. The marketing and production of recreational experiences goes on
simultaneously; they are inseparable (Lovelock, 1983; Shostack, 1985). Marketing in recreation
businesses and agencies should begin with the initial promotional contact and continue
throughout the recreational experience including the initial decision stage, purchasing process,
and consumption and post consumption phases of the experience (see Figure 1). Marketing
activities should also be directed as much, if not more, at satisfying and retaining customers as it
is with attracting new ones.
To do an effective job at marketing, businesses and organizations must: (I) adopt a strong
customer orientation, (2) allocate sufficient resources and time to marketing, (3) assign formal
responsibility for marketing to one person or department, (4) regularly research and assess
customer needs, wants and attitudes and, (5) develop, evaluate, and regularly update a marketing
plan.
MARKETING PLAN
Businesses and agencies should develop a marketing plan to guide their marketing
decisions and assist them in allocating marketing resources, e.g. money, personnel time. A
marketing plan is a written document which includes: (1) overall business/agency objectives,
(2) an assessment of the market environment, (3) business community profile, (4) target markets,
(5) marketing objectives for each target market, (6) marketing mixes—traditional, interactive and
internal—or different target markets, (7) an implementation plan, (6) marketing budget and,
(9) an evaluation framework (Figure 2).
The basic framework for a marketing plan and many of the components/steps are similar
for recreational experiences and products. However, the differences between recreational
experiences and other products requires a different approach to designing the marketing mix(es).
The remainder of this paper will describe the different components of a recreation/tourism
marketing plan.
Overall Objectives
Businesses, agencies, and communities should develop overall objectives and regularly
monitor their accomplishment. The objectives should provide guidance for all decisions, e.g.,
finances, personnel, and marketing. It is important that the objectives are consistent with the
overall mission statement. Inconsistencies between the mission and marketing objectives need to
be identified and remedied for overall marketing effort to be successful. They should be
quantitative and measurable statements of what the business or agency wants to accomplish over
a specified period of time. It is also important that the objectives be reasonable given the market
conditions and the firm’s/organizations resources. It is better to establish a few reasonable
objectives than a long unrealistic wish list. This is especially true for businesses and agencies
which do not have much experience in marketing, or tourism development.
Business and agency objectives are often stated in terms of visitation, sales, profits, market
shares and/or, occupancy rates. Communities frequently establish objectives relating to such
things as increasing the number of tourists, developing or changing their image, facility and
activity development, cooperation among tourism related businesses and, increasing length of
stay and local expenditures. One Michigan community established an objective of increasing the
number of overnight stays 57 over two years. Park and recreation agencies should develop
similar objectives. For example, increase off-season use by 57% in three years or, increase
visitation to under utilized parks by 10%.
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The next step in developing a marketing plan is to assess the impact of changes in
demographics and lifestyles, economic climate, technology, and competition on their present and
future markets. Changes in these factors can create opportunities and problems which should be
taken into account when developing the marketing plan.
Demographics and Lifestyles
Changing demographics and lifestyles are having a major impact on recreation/tourism
participation. It is important that business and agencies identify and assess the impacts of demographic and lifestyle trends on their present and future markets.
Some of the important trends that bare watching are: (1) reduced population growth and
movement to the south and west, (2) rural communities are growing faster than metropolitan
areas, (3) more than half of adult women are employed outside the home, (4) the number of
households is growing, especially non family and single parent households, but the size of
families is decreasing, (5) an expected rise in real family income due in large part to the growth
in two wage earner households, (6) an increase in the number of retired persons with the
financial ability to travel, (7) better health to an older age and, (8) continued aging of the
population; we are becoming a middle aged society.
Economic Conditions
Overall economic conditions can have significant short—term and long term impacts; on
recreation and tourism markets. A marketing strategy that is effective during periods of low
unemployment rates may have to be significantly adjusted if unemployment increases.
Businesses and agencies should monitor and assess the likely impact of changes in economic
factors such as: unemployment rates, real family income; rate of inflation; credit availability,
terms and interest rates, and; prices of complimentary products, e.g. , travel costs, recreation
equipment.
Laws and Government Actions
Tourism/recreation is a complex industry which is significantly impacted by laws, court
rulings and actions by governmental agencies. Decisions by Travel Bureaus, Departments of
Natural Resources, and Departments of Transportation can have significant positive and negative
impacts on the marketing efforts of business and communities. It is important that
recreation/tourism businesses, agencies, and communities monitor and evaluate the likely
implications of laws and government actions on their markets and marketing strategies.
Business organizations, e.g. , Chambers/Departments of Commerce, professional
associations, and universities can provide information in monitoring and assessing government
actions. They can also provide assistance in influencing these actions.
Technology
The increasingly rapid rate of technological development requires that recreation agencies
and businesses regularly monitor and assess the impacts of new technology. Technology has, and
will continue, to impact recreation and tourism markets. Advances in both work related and
household technology have resulted in increased leisure time for many people. New recreation
products, e.g. , all-terrain vehicles, wind surfers, provide new ways for people to satisfy their
recreational preferences and, as a result, has fragmented recreation markets. New production
technologies and materials offer recreation agencies and businesses opportunities .to reduce costs
and improve the quality of their products/services. Advances in telecommunications have and
will continue to create new- promotional opportunities.
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Although technology is changing rapidly, there are indicators of future change. They
include such things as: new patents, new businesses formations, investment information, e.g.,
stocks, and articles in trade journals and magazines, e.g., Popular Science.
Competition
Businesses and agencies must identify and analyze existing and potential future
competitors. The objective of the analysis is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the
competition’s marketing strategies. The analysis of competition should include: (1)
product/service features and quality, (2) their location relative to different geographic markets,
(3) their promotional themes and messages, (4) prices and, (5) the type of customer (market
segments) they are attracting.
Information for the analysis of competition can be gathered through: (1) visiting the
business or community and asking questions of staff and customers, and/or, (2) reviewing
promotional material, e.g., brochures, ads, produced by the competition.
Business/Agency/Community Profiles
It is important that businesses and agencies have an accurate understanding of their
existing product and marketing strategy. They should develop a property profile which includes:
(1) type and quality of facilities and services they provide, (2) the image people have of the
business, (3) size and quality of the staff and, (4) customer satisfaction with the existing facilities
and services. They should also have current information on their prices and promotional strategy.
Too many communities attempt to market themselves as tourist destinations without
having an accurate up-to-date inventory of what they have to offer. An inventory should include:
recreational and entertainment facilities, cultural and historic sites, overnight accommodations,
restaurants, shopping opportunities, and, special events and activities, e.g., festivals. Without this
information, it is difficult to make other decisions in the planning process. The inventory should
also include an assessment of the quality of different facilities/areas.
Market Segmentation
Recreation businesses and park recreation agencies often make the mistake of attempting
to be all things to all people. It is difficult, and risky, to develop marketing strategies for the mass
market. Marketing strategies designed for the average customer/visitor often result in products,
prices, and promotional appeals that are not very appealing. For example, it would be difficult to
develop a campground that would be equally attractive to recreational vehicle campers and
backpack campers. It would be equally difficult to serve nature oriented cross country skiers, and
snowmobilers on the same property or, attract them with the same promotional message.
Marketing is strongly based on market segmentation and target marketing. Market
segmentation is the process of: (1) grouping existing and/or potential customer/visitors with
similar preferences into groups referred to as market segments, (2) selecting the most promising
segments as target markets and, (3) designing marketing mixes which satisfy the special needs,
desires and behavior of the target markets.
There is No One Unique or Best Way
Objectives which contribute to the accomplishment of the overall business objectives
should be established for each target market. Objectives serve a number of functions including:
(1) guidance for developing marketing mixes for different target markets, (2) information for
allocating the marketing budget between target markets, (3) a basis for objectively evaluating the
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effectiveness of the marketing mixes developed for the different target markets and, (4) a
framework for integrating the different marketing mixes into an overall marketing strategy.
The target market objectives should: (1) be expressed in quantitative terms. (2) be
measurable, (3) specify the target market and, (4) indicate the time period in which the objective
is to be accomplished. For example, increase the number of overnight stays by people from the
Chicago market by 57% over the next two years, or, increase by 107% the number of off season
visits by retired persons.
The objectives should be prioritized and carefully evaluated to ensure that they are
reasonable given the strength of the competition and resources available for marketing.
Marketing Mix(es)
A marketing mix should be viewed as a package of offerings designed to attract and serve
customers/visitors. Recreation and tourism business and communities must develop both an
external and internal marketing mixes for different target markets.
Recreation businesses cannot limit their marketing to the traditional four P’s approach
(McCarthy, 1964) which characterizes most product marketing Recreation businesses, organizations, and agencies must simultaneously engage in three different but related types of marketing
— traditional marketing, interactive marketing, and internal marketing (see Figure 2). Traditional
marketing and interactive marketing are aimed primarily at customers while internal marketing is
directed at employees. All three share the same primary objective; that being to achieve
marketing objectives through customer satisfaction.
Traditional Marketing Mix—Product, Place, Price, and Promotion
Product/Service Mix
Intangibility, lack of standardization, simultaneous production, consumption and
evaluation, and role of the consumer as both consumer and producer makes the design of
recreational offerings complex. Recreation business and agencies need to generically define their
offerings based on desired customer benefits. For example, campground owners need to
recognize that they are in the recreational lodging business, not the campground business.
Recreational lodging involves much more than a campsite and toilet facilities. In the same vein,
park departments are not in the business of developing and managing parks. They are, or at least
should be, in the business of designing, managing, and marketing recreational spaces. These
recreational spaces can be on land, underground or underwater, or on rooftops. Similarly, they
should think in terms of providing outdoor dining areas and not limit themselves only to
traditional picnic areas. Customer oriented definitions of recreational offerings will usually lead
to offerings that better match customer needs and wants, and are therefore easier and less
expensive to market.
A number of articles dealing with service marketing recom0end methods which
recreation businesses and agencies can potentially utilize to better ensure that their service
offerings are more customer oriented. Shostack (1985, p~ 247) recommends service blue printing
which entails: (1) diagramming. all components of a service so they can be clearly and
objectively seen, (2) identifying points subject to inconsistency or execution problems, and
(3) setting customer oriented execution standards. Lovelock (1985) and Czepiel (1980) advocate
customer service audits consisting of: (I) research and monitoring to identify customer needs and
wants, (2) identification of elements important in determining customer satisfaction,
(3) designing service—level standards, and (4) designing technology and tasks to satisfy those
standards. Other methods will be discussed later in the section on interactive marketing.
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Place/Distribution/Location
As previously mentioned, most recreational experiences must be consumed on the site,
where they are produced, as they are produced. Recreation businesses must design and manage a
reverse distribution system instead of traditional distribution systems. Recreation marketers must
be concerned with facilitating and improving the quality of travel to and from the site/business.
Instead, many recreation businesses and agencies have chosen to ignore the fact that travel
experiences and cost often have a significant influence on repeat purchase/visit decisions. Too
many tourism businesses and communities fail to recognize their role in improving travel to and
from their areas. Instead, they focus almost exclusively on servicing the customer once they
arrive at the site/community.
The primary objective should be to make the business/facility more accessible by making
travel more pleasurable and if possible less time consuming and/or expensive. There are many
strategies businesses can implement to enhance accessibility including: (1) providing assistance
on travel arrangements, (2) including travel in package deals. (3) providing accurate directions
and maps, (4) providing estimates of travel time and distance from different market areas, (5)
recommending the most direct or most scenic routes, (6) identifying attractions along different
travel routes (7) providing information on alternative travel modes, e.g. rail, plane, boat.
Potential new businesses should carefully assess alternative locations. The assessment
should include (1) distance and accessibility to target markets, (2) location of competitors with
respect to target markets, (3) modes of travel serving the area and, (4) other attractions and
activities that might induce travel to the area.
Price
Price is one of the most important and visible elements of the marketing mix. In spite of its
importance many businesses do not give enough attention to developing their price strategies.
Some of the most common pricing mistakes include, (1) failing to establish the role of pricing in
the marketing mix, (2) setting prices without accurate information on the cost of producing,
delivering and promoting the product/service, (3) establishing prices independent of other
elements of the marketing mix, (4) basing prices solely on costs or, what the competition is
charging, (5) failing to recognize that while some people are price conscious others place greater
emphasis on factors such as quality and convenience, and (6) failing to regularly evaluate and
adjust prices.
When setting prices it is important to take into consideration all of the following,
(1) business and target market objectives, (2) the full cost of producing, delivering and
promoting the product, (3) the willingness of the target market to pay for the product or service
you provide, (4) prices charged by competitors offering a similar product/service to the same
target market(s), (5) the availability and prices of substitute products/services, e.g. ,
campgrounds, motels, Bed and Breakfast and (6) the economic climate, e.g., inflation rate.
Most recreation and tourism businesses usually sell more than one product. This further
complicates the job of setting prices. In such situations the objective should be to maximize
overall profitability by stimulating the sale of high margin (profit) products/services. For
example a full service marina may price repair services at or below cost to stimulate the sale of
boats, equipment and slip rentals.
The marginal cost of an additional recreational visitor is often very minimal. This provides
recreation businesses with a unique opportunity to differentially price their offering(s) to deal
with peaking problems and encourage visits by different market segments, e.g., older folk. When
establishing prices recreation/tourism businesses should give attention to pricing strategies which
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may encourage, (1) off season and non-peak period sales, (2) longer stays, (3) group business
and, (4) the sale of packages, e.g., room, meals, and recreational facilities.
People usual1y want to know prices before they make a commitment to buy a product or
service. Because of the intangibility of recreational experiences, people often associate price with
quality. Potential customers may not select a facility that charges and promotes prices
significantly below the “competition” because they assume it to be of lower quality. There is
both an upper and lower threshold on recreation demand curves, above and below which
segments of the market wi11 not buy the service. Given this fact, recreation businesses should
promote and provide evidence of the value of their offering, not just its prices. Recreation
businesses need to do more pricing experiments to determine which strategies are effective.
Promotion
The purpose of promotion is to provide target audiences, those persons with whom you
want to communicate, with accurate and timely information to help them decide whether to visit
your community or business. The information should be, (1) of importance and practical use to
the potential or existing visitor and, (2) accurate. Misrepresentation often leads to dissatisfied
customers and poor work of mouth advertising. Don’t make claims you can not live up to.
There are five principal types of promotion:
Personal selling: involves communicating information through personal, usually face to
face, contact between visitors and the employees or representatives of the business or
community. Residents should also be viewed as potential sales people. Community hospitality
training should be an important part of your tourism promotional strategy.
Advertising involves the dissemination of promotional messages through “paid for” mass
media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and outdoor advertising. Mass media is
well suited for quick delivery of information to widespread general audiences.
Sales promotions, are activities, other than advertising and personal selling, intended to
stimulate immediate sales. These include coupons, contests, complimentary services and
merchandise and. purchase displays. Sales promotions can be aimed at potential visitors or
intermediaries such as travel agents and tour planners.
Publicity, like advertising, uses mass media to communicate information. The difference
is that you do not pay for publicity. In order to gain publicity, the information must be
newsworthy and of potential interest to the media’s audience.
Word-of-Mouth is generated by satisfied and dissatisfied customers, persons who reside
near businesses and recreation/tourist areas, and employees of support businesses.
Developing a promotional campaign is not a science with hard fast rules, but if businesses
and communities follow a logical process, and do the necessary research than chances for
success will be improved. It is necessary to make decisions regarding:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
The target audience you want to aim at;
The image of your community or business that you want to create or reinforce;
The objectives of the promotional campaign;
Budget - the amount o-F money to be allocated for promotion;
Timing - when and how often should your promotions appear;
What media will most effectively and efficiently communicate your message to the target
audience and:
(7) How can the effectiveness of the promotional campaign be evaluated
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Recreational experiences, like services, are difficult to evaluate and promote because of
their intangibility and lack of standardization. According to Shostack (1985) services are already
abstract and difficult to assess. The same is true of recreational experiences. It is not always
obvious to potential customers what a recreational experience will entail or what benefits they
will realize. This has its greatest effects in the process of trying to get new customers.
Difficulty in evaluation forces consumers to rely on different clues and processes when
evaluating services (Zeithamal, 1961). Effective service promotion involves making the service
less abstract and more tangible. According to George (1977) services should be made to appear
as tangible as possible. Levitt (1981) contends that intangible promotional promises must be
“tangibilized.” Other authors (Shostack, 1965; Goonroos, 1983) insist that credible
representation of intangibles is a function of establishing non-abstract manifestations of them.
Promotion of manufactured goods often places emphasis on creating abstract associations.
Recreation businesses, agencies, and organizations should place greater emphasis on making
their offerings more tangible and easier to evaluate by providing specific information which
supports claims made in their promotion. The key is not only to provide specific information but
also link it to customer benefits. For example, if a campground wishes to segment markets.
Customers can be grouped on: (1) location of residence, e.g., instate vs. out of state, (2)
demographics, e.g., age, income, family status, (3) equipment ownership/use, e.g., RWs,
sailboats, (4) purchase behavior, e.g., high volume vs. low volume users and, (5) attributes
important in a product, e.g.,, price conscious, quality conscious segments. To be useful, the
segmentation should result in: (I) at least one segment large enough to justify specialized
marketing strategies, (2) segments that suggest marketing strategies that will be effective in
attracting them.
After segments have been formulated and profiled, the businesses or agency must select
those segments they will attempt to attract. These segments are referred to as target markets.
Segments should be evaluated to determine which offer the greatest opportunity. The assessment
should include: (1) existing and future sales/visitation potential of each segment, (2) the amount
and strength of competition within each segment, (3) the businesses and agencies ability to offer
a marketing mix that will be successful in attracting different segments, (4) the cost of servicing
different segments and, (5) whether, and how much, serving different segments will contribute to
the accomplishment of overall business/agency objectives. It is often wiser to target smaller
segments that are presently not being served, or are being served inadequately, than to go after
larger segments for which there is a great deal of competition promote itself on the basis of
security, it should include specific in-formation, e.g., on-site manager, around the clock patrols,
to substantiate these promises. Unfortunately, recreation businesses often spend considerable
money hiring graphic artists and copy writers who make their product more abstract and
intangible.
A number of authors have written about the importance of pre— purchase perceptions on
customer evaluation and satisfaction with services (Thomas, 1978; Goonroos,1983; Lovelock,
1983). Satisfaction with recreational experiences is heavily influenced by the difference between
their perceptions of what they would experience and what they actually experience. The larger
the discrepancy between expectation and what they experienced, or perceived than experienced,
the greater their dissatisfaction (Berry, 1980). Recognizing this, recreation/tourism promotion
should communicate favorable but realistic impressions of what customers can expect. The
quickest way for a recreation business to produce a dissatisfied customer is to make promotional
promises that are impossible to honor. A customer who thinks he/she has been tricked into
traveling 500 miles to stay in a luxurious recreational resort only to find a few rustic cabins, a
pond, and a leaky row boat is unlikely to be satisfied. His/her complaining is also 1ikel y to
negatively impact on the experiences of other customers and the morale and productivity of
contact employees who must deal with the complaints.
14
One of the principal objectives of promotion is to differentiate a business and its offerings
from the competition on attributes/characteristics important to potential customers. A key to
effective recreation marketing is to create and communicate to customers, a differential
advantage. The difficulty associated with comparing recreational offerings makes this especially
important. There is a significant lack of innovativeness in recreation and tourism promotion. Too
much of the recreation promotion imitates the style and messages of the competitors rather than
being unique. As a consequence it provides little information on which customers can compare
different offerings and businesses. Recreational businesses need to concentrate on developing
promotional themes and messages built on attributes or characteristics on which they are
different than the competition, and are also important to their target markets.
Word-of-mouth promotion is by far the most important source of customers for most
recreation businesses, especially small businesses. Customers often place greater reliance on
word-of- mouth communication than on advertisements. Although customers secure in-formation
about recreation businesses/facilities from both non-personal and personal sources, studies in
Michigan consistently find that recommendations and comments of other persons generate a
significant percent of visitors for many recreation businesses and areas (Stynes and Mahoney,
1986; Mahoney, Pistis and Brunke 1986).
Recreation businesses should develop and implement strategies designed to stimulate
word-of-mouth promotion by satisfied customers. This should be an important part of their
overall promotional strategy. They should take a more active role in managing word-of-mouth
promotion by customers. The surest way to generate positive word-of-mouth is to deliver a
consistently high quality experience. In addition, recreation businesses should take greater
advantage of peoples eagerness to talk to anyone who will listen about their recreational
experience, e.g., fishing trip. Satisfied customers should be encouraged to tell friends and
acquaintances about the business or facility. As an example, one charter boat operator in
Michigan sends each customer a short videotape of their fishing experience to show to their
fishing friends and at club meetings. Another supplies a master angler cap, with the name of his
boat on it, to persons who successfully land a fish. A number of recreation businesses in
Michigan offer cash bonuses, or price reductions, to customers who successfully attract other
customers to their businesses. Several businesses have been so successful at stimulating wordof-mouth promotion that they have significantly reduced expenditures on non-personal
promotion.
Recreation businesses also need to work at generating word-of-mouth promotion by
persons who reside nearby and the employees of supporting businesses, e.g., gas stations, retail
stores. To accomplish this requires that they market themselves within their own communities.
One of the objectives of hospitality seminars in Michigan is to acquaint local residents and
employees of support businesses with what recreation facilities/businesses have to offer. Some
seminars have included visits to the different facilities. A number of Bed and Breakfasts in
Michigan have sponsored open houses to better acquaint residents and businesses with their
establishments.
Point of purchase displays/signage and in-formation are important, but frequently
overlooked, components of a recreation business promotion. Recreation businesses often spend a
considerable portion of their promotional budgets to attract visitors but little on marketing to
customers once they have arrived. Effective and aesthetically pleasing on—site promotion, e.g.
signs, displays, can promote additional on—site purchases and influence consumer behavior. It
can also enhance customer satisfaction by assisting customers in making better use of their time,
avoiding mistakes, and selecting those activities which will maximize their on—site experience.
It can also increase employee productivity by reducing the amount of time they spend answering
repetitive questions. Recognizing the importance of point—of—purchase promotion is not
15
enough. A point-of-purchase strategy should be an integral part of the overall promotional
strategy.
One of the inherent differences between services and recreational experiences, and most
goods, is that there is no transfer of ownership. Customers often don’t have anything tangible to
bring home to remind them of their experience and maintain a tangible link between them and
the business. Also customers often have difficulty evaluating or con-firming the quality of
services and recreational experiences even after they have experienced them.
Post-purchase promotion/communication, e.g.. thank you letters, newsletters, holiday
greetings, is often an effective way to develop and maintain ongoing relationships with
customers and by doing so create greater brand loyalty. Post-purchase communication can also
positively reinforce the quality of the experience. Positive reinforcement can be important in
influencing repeat purchase decisions. Post-purchase promotion can also be used to
stimulate/enlist feedback from satisfied and dissatisfied customers which can useful in
continuously improving the companies offering. Presently, at least in Michigan, the majority of
recreation businesses direct virtually all their promotion at attracting new customers and little, if
any, at maintaining lasting customer relations. A significant number don’t even maintain up todate mailing lists of their customers.
Interactive Marketing
As previously stated, marketing services such as recreation and tourism differs from
marketing tangible products. Recreation and tourism businesses must direct as much attention at
marketing to customers on site as they do to attracting them. Interactive marketing is important
because dissatisfied customers and poor word of mouth advertising can effectively cancel out an
otherwise effective marketing strategy.
Eigler and Langeard (1977) developed a model of a service business which identifies three
primary interactions which are important in determining customer satisfaction with services.
They include: customer-employee interactions; customer interactions with the environment
where the service is produced and delivered, and customer interactions with other customers.
The model is also a valid representation of the interactions which influence the quality of
recreational experiences. Since people seldom confine their trip activities exclusively to one
recreation businesses/site recreation businesses must also be concerned with customer
interactions with community residents and employees of support businesses. Eigler’s and
Langeards model has been adapted in Figure 3 to show the important interactions associated with
a camping experience.
Managing these customer interactions to achieve marketing objectives is an important
marketing task. Resources that have an impact on the quality of customer interactions should be
viewed and managed as are marketing resources. Goonroos (1963) and others (Eigler and
Langeard, 1977) refer to the management of these interactions as interactive marketing.
According to Goonroos, interactive marketing is approximately the same as planning,
motivating, and managing the buyer seller interactions.
Interactive marketing is based heavily on the recognition that resources involved in
customer interactions are, because of their effect on customer satisfaction and repeat purchase
decisions, revenue as well as cost generating resources. Successful interactive marketing is
dependent on the firms/agencies ability to identify crucial interactions and manage those
interactions-to maximize customer satisfaction. Too often recreation businesses manage the
resources that effect customer interactions based on traditional efficiency criteria alone.
16
Customers — Employee Interactions
There are numerous references in the service marketing literature concerning the
importance of the dual marketing and production roles played by customer contact employees in
service firms (Berry, 1980; Brundage and Marshall, 1960; Bowen, 1965). Employees are many
times the key to a quality recreational experience. Frequently, the recreational experience is
judged in part on the appearance and behavior of the employees they come in contact with. So
much so, that customers often cannot distinguish between the experience and the employees who
produce and deliver it (Shostack, 1985). A number of marketing studies conducted for different
recreation industries in Michigan consistently find that hospitality is a primary concern of
recreation customers (Stynes and Mahoney, 1986; Mahoney, Pistis and Brunke, 1986).
Although several articles have dealt with industrialization of services (Levitt, 1976) and
moving more towards high technology—low customer contact recreation, most authors agree
that employees will remain an important ingredient in service/recreation offering. Sasser and
Arbeit have said that people are, and will continue to be, an essential part of most services for the
relevant future (Sasser and Arbeit, 1976).
Management of the customer—employee interface is an important marketing task
(Nyquist. al., 1985; Booms and Brundage, 1981). Employees of recreation businesses and
agencies that come in contact with visitors serve multiple functions. They bear the responsibility
of producing, delivering and marketing the service desired by the customer. According to Bell
(1961), service technicians perform the basic service task, educate the customer as to the
behavior that will maximize user satisfaction, receive and react to consumption feedback, and
modify the offering to meet special needs or requests. To accomplish this employees must be
sensitive to and able to read customer needs/wants; technically able to modify the product, and;
be given a certain degree of flexibility by management to do so (Bell, 1981; George and Barks—
dale, 1974; Berry 1981). Berry contends that the communication interface between employees
and customers is one of the most crucial elements of service marketing. It is important that
employees of recreation/tourism businesses and agencies are customer conscious and sales
minded as well as being technically competent. Despite this fact, few recreation businesses have
placed enough emphasis on maximizing the marketing role played by employees. A majority of
recreation businesses continue to view, manage and train their employees- as production workers
and fail to recognize their important role as marketing representatives. This is again due in large
part to the fact that traditional product marketing concepts and approaches continue to be utilized
to market recreational experiences.
Customer-Environment Interactions
Most recreational experiences must, as stated several times previously, be consumed on the
site where they are produced. This means that environment plays a crucial role in determining
customer perceptions and satisfaction with a recreational experience. Often recreation businesses
fail to recognize the important marketing implications of design. According to Upah and Fulton
(1966), the external appearance of a hotel or restaurant has as much or more to do with a
decision to use the service as any other marketing factors. A recent survey of charter boat
customers found that eleven percent of the customers made a decision as to what boat to charter
based on the boats appearance (Mahoney, Pistis and Brunke, 1986).
The physical environment can play a major role in influencing the reality of services in the
customers mind (Shostack, 1985). Appearance and design features can also create a positive
impression which will improve customer attitudes toward employees and other customers
(Zeithamal, 1981; Wener, 1986). Design features can also help reassure customers that their
choice of a recreation business/area was a good one. Although design and maintenance is not
usually considered to be a marketing task, Shostack (1965) argues that management and design
17
of the environment should be one of a service marketers highest priorities. According to
Zeithamal (1981) given the importance of physical facilities as indicators of quality, the marketer
should manipulate these cues to his/her own advantage.
Design features also have a major impact on the quality of customer interactions. Poor
design can negatively effect both customer satisfaction and employee productivity. Poor design
can cause customer disorientation and amelioration (Wener, 1985). It can also reduce employees
productivity by making it more difficult to perform their technical tasks and by increasing the
amount of time spent dealing with confused and/or dissatisfied customers (Shostack, 1966).
Design features can improve customer interactions by enhancing accessibility and convenience,
reducing contact between incompatible activities and visitors, facilitating important customeremployee and customer-customer interactions, and reducing real or perceived congestion.
Design of recreational environments should be based as much on marketing objectives as it
is on engineering and physical criteria. Creation of the environment should not be left
exclusively in the hands of architects, landscape architects, or interior designers. Design
professionals should be informed before they begin their work: about the business marketing
objectives and target markets, the imagine the firm wants to communicate, critical customer
interaction points and desired outcome of these interactions, and how the business wants
customers to feel and behave (Upah and Fulton, 1985; Shostack, 1985; Wener, 1985). This
means that recreation businesses and agencies must have a marketing strategy developed before
the design phase can begin.
Customer—Customer Interactions
Recreationists and tourists not only have a significant role in determining the quality of
their own experiences, but their attitude and actions can also impact on employee morale and
productivity, and the quality of the experiences of other visitors. Noisy, discourteous or
constantly complaining customers can cause delays, negatively impact on employee attitudes,
and disturb other customers. Therefore, the mix and behavior of customers is an important
determinant of customer satisfaction and should be a primary marketing concern (Goonroos,
1973). Attracting a compatible and complimentary mix of customers can significantly improve
the experiences of customers and the attractiveness of the business/area.
Attracting the desired mix of customers means that market segmentation and identification
of target markets is especially important in recreation marketing. Poorly designed ambiguous
promotion which makes a general appeal to all tourists, skiers, or campers, rather than being
aimed at specific target markets, often attracts persons who will not be satisfied with the
facilities, or may conflict with the majority of customers. Promotional material should provide
information which clearly communicates what businesses and areas have to offer. Pricing
strategies can also be designed to discourage visits by persons who might conflict with the target
market segments.
Recreation businesses must manage the conduct of customers toward other customers,
facilities, and employees. This includes developing and enforcing rules which specify procedures
for interaction with other customers and with employees. Customers should be informed about
what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior through the use of signs, printed material
and through contact employees. Emphasis should be placed on education rather than
enforcement. E4usinesses should market compliance by making customers aware of the reasons
and benefits to them, e.g., reduced delays, safer experiences, associated with various procedures
and rules.
18
Customer-Community Interactions
It is rare when recreational visitors do not come into contact with the employees of other
businesses or persons residing in the community near where the recreation business/area is
located. The attitude and hospitality these persons demonstrate toward visitors can have a
significant impact on the overall quality of the visitor’s recreational experience Inhospitable
treatment by residents or employees of other businesses can detract from a high quality on-site
experience. Community attitudes toward toLirism and tourists can also impact on decisions
regarding zoning, support for grant applications, and community investment in infrastructure
important in attracting and servicing visitors.
Recognizing the importance of marketing tourism and themselves to their communities,
many recreation businesses in Michigan are actively supporting and participating in community
wide hospitality training programs. These programs are intended to inform community residents
about the positive economic impact and quality of life significance of tourism/recreation, the
special needs of tourists and how to treat tourists more hospitably.
Quality Control
Managing the quality of customer interactions is an important element in interactive
marketing. Recreation businesses must be concerned with controlling both technical and
functional quality. According to Goonroos (1983) technical quality deals with what the customer
gets, whereas functional quality deals with how the customer gets it. Functional quality, which is
much more difficult to manage and evaluate, is as important, if not more important, than
technical quality. A number of authors claim that good technical quality is not sufficient alone
(Bell, 1981; George and Barksdale, 1974; Klaus, 1985). They contend that offering a high level
of functional quality can make up some technical deficiencies.
Developing a reputation for consistent quality will not only increase satisfaction but it will
also reduce the perceived risk caused by the intangibility and lack of standardization of
recreation experiences (George et. al., 1985). Because production and consumption is
simultaneous, and recreation experiences cannot be recalled or problems identified before they
impact customers, quality control in recreation businesses must be continuous.
Evaluating quality of recreation experiences and the customer interactions that determine
the quality of these experiences is difficult at best. As a result quality control in recreation and
hospitality businesses has focused almost exclusively on technical aspects of the service/
experience. A number of authors (Betterman, 1976; Shostack, 1985; Klaus, 1985) have stated
that the greater degree of customer involvement the better the evaluation. Controlling and
enhancing the quality of service encounters requires: (1) management commitment and support
of consistent quality, (2) identification of important quality generating interactions and the
resources/elements that determine the quality of these interactions, (3) developing customer
oriented satisfaction measures to define and evaluate quality, (4) conducting surveys to monitor
customer satisfaction, (5) careful and continuous analysis of all customer complaints especially
those directed at customer-employee interactions and (6) incorporating customer feedback to
continually adjust service offerings (Lovelock. 1925; Klaus, 1965).
Because of the lack of standardization associated with recreational experiences there are
still likely to be complaints and problems even with effective customer oriented quality control.
Customers often evaluate a business on how they deal with their complaints and how far they
will go to make them right. Customers who have problems that are resolved are often as satisfied
as people who do not encounter problems (Fiebekorn, 1985; Schneider, 1980) Employees who
are trained, and are given the flexibility to handle problems without involving management or
other employees are often viewed by customers as being more proficient and customer
19
conscious. It is therefore important that recreation marketing strategies include the design of a
system to deal with customer complaints with efficiently and with empathy.
Internal Marketing
Employees that are trained and motivated to provide quality service are essential elements
in recreation marketing (Berry, 1981). Internal marketing is directed at employees not customers
(Bowen, 1985). Sasser and Arbeit (1976) contend that the successful service company must first
market the job to employees before it can market its service to customers. Chase (1985) argues
that to serve the needs of the customers, the firm must first serve the needs of its internal
employee market. Goonroos (1983) contends that low motivation and unfavorable attitudes
toward customers cannot be dealt with by administrative actions alone. He recommends instead a
market-oriented approach to motivate employees to customer consciousness.
The primary aim of internal marketing is to develop a customer oriented organizational
environment which develops supports and rewards customer conscious and sales-minded
employees. According to Berry (1980) the objectives of internal marketing are to 1) employ and
retain the best possible employees and, 2) develop an organizational system and philosophy so
they can do the best possible work (Berry, 1980). Others including George (1977) contends that
the objective of internal marketing is satisfied public contact employees who see logic and
payoff of courteous and empathetic behavior when dealing with customers.
An effective internal marketing strategy includes 1) customer oriented managers and
environment 2) effective organizational communication 3) training and, 4) personnel policies and
incentives that support and motivate customer oriented employees.
Customer Oriented Management
In order to develop a customer-oriented environment all levels of management must
exhibit and openly demonstrate a real concern for customers. Too many managers are guilty of a
do as I say not what I do” policy when it comes to customer relations. They expect their
employees to be customer oriented when their own attitude’ and actions fail to demonstrate a
similar orientation. Developing customer conscious employees is easier if there is a customer
orientation throughout the organization. According to Bowen (1985) if management is not
customer oriented it will cause increased stress among employees who are trying to meet
conflicting demands from customers and management; customer orientation must begin from the
top down. Employees must be convinced that owners and managers encourage and support
efforts to satisfy the needs and wants of customers (Berry,1981). For example in Michigan we
have found that hospitality training for employees is much more effective when management
creates and maintains a supportive environment for employees who go through the training.
Managers of recreation businesses and agencies also need to recognize that highly
standardized operating procedures and centralized decision making will often negatively impact
on the quality of customer service. Employees who regularly interact with customers must be
given a certain degree of flexibility to respond to special customer needs and requests. In order to
give employees the necessary flexibility management has to hire customer oriented employees
and provide them with training and constructive feedback on their decisions and actions.
Organizational Communication
Employees should be kept regularly informed about the marketing strategies and
objectives of the business or agency for which they work. If employees of a ski area are aware
that one of the firm's objectives is to increase off-season visits they can promote off-season
opportunities during interactions with skiers. Similarly if the firm is attempting to increase non-
20
peak period skiing, and the employees are aware that this is an objective, they can promote the
benefits, e.g., reduced crowding and prices, associated with off-peak-period skiing.
Employees should also be supplied with up-to-date information about new programs and
offerings. They should be provided with this information before persons outside the businesses.
According to Chase (1978) in order for customers to be informed and persuaded about the firm's
offerings all customer contact personnel must first be informed and persuaded. It is impossible
for an employee to help market a new cross-country ski trail, snack bar, or new customer service
if they don’t know anything about it. Nor can they effectively communicate the reasons for fee
increases unless they are kept informed by management.
Employees that come into contact with customers are potentially valuable sources of
marketing information. However, management often does not receive the benefit of important
customer comments and criticisms because employees are not encouraged to obtain customer
input, or communicate it to management. According to Brundage and Marshall (1980) the key
elements in obtaining customer feedback lie partly in skill and partly in motivation. Management
must actively promote the importance of collecting and communicating to them customer
relevant information.
Employee Training
Too often employee training in recreation businesses and agencies, if conducted at all,
focuses almost exclusively on technical aspects of the job and little on customer relations.
Training seminars and manuals frequently go into great detail on how to perform technical
functions but gloss over how to deal with customers. A number of authors argue that training
designed to increase customer concern should get much if not more concern in service businesses
(Klaus, 1965; Brundage and Marshall, 1960; Berry, 1960). Training in customer relation skills,
e.g., dealing constructively with angry customers, is even more essential if, as often is the case,
the recreation business or agency hires a large number of young people or persons who have not
worked previously in high customer contact positions.
Employees that come in contact with customers require communication competencies
(Nyquist et. al. 1965). Customer contact employees should receive continuous training to
improve their communication skills. Employees need to be made aware that customers
communicate in many ways, both verbally and nonverbally. They should also be trained in
effective listening skills. Since, customer contact employees function is marketing
representatives they should also receive training in sales techniques.
Personnel Policies and Incentives
Personnel policies and incentives that motivate employees to be customer minded are
essential components in an internal marketing strategy (Berry, 1980; Goonroos, 1983; Rathmell,
1974). According to Nyquist et. al. (1985), selection and motivation of contact employees are as
critical to a service organization as material inputs are to manufacturing firms. Employees who
come in contact with customers must be both technically proficient and customer oriented.
Recreation businesses and agencies need to make a special effort to recruit and retain customer
contact employees who possess the right personality, mannerisms and communication skills.
Compensation strategies should reward customer oriented employees who are effective at
solving customer problems (Bell, 1981). It is somewhat ironic, but often times true, that
recreation businesses are willing to spend considerable sums of money on promotion but
continually loose quality employees rather than provide raises over minimum wage. Ironic in the
sense that as previously stated many recreation businesses attract a higher percent of customers
from the recommendations of satisfied customers and employees play a crucial role in creating
21
customer satisfaction. Ironic also in that the investment in higher wages will often be offset by
increased productivity and customer satisfaction and lower employees turnover costs. Other nonmonetary forms of incentives, e.g.,. awards, promotions, should also be used to motivate
employees to be more customer conscious.
Marketing Budget
Successful marketing requires that sufficient money and personnel time be made available
to implement activities comprising the marketing strategy. A marketing budget is a financial plan
which shows the total amount to be spent on marketing and, how it is to be allocated among
alternative activities, and different times of the year.
When developing a first marketing budget it is important to keep in mind the following
points. The primary determinant in deciding how much to allocate to marketing should be the job
that needs to be done as defined by the objectives. Basina marketing budgets on some percent of
sales or, what the competition spends usually leads to over spending or under spending. Second,
marketing activities if successful will generate additional revenues. These revenues can be
estimated from the marketing objectives, e.g., increase off-season stay 5X. Decisions as to how
much to budget for marketing should be based on projected revenues, cost and profitability of
different activities, not just cost. Third, although budgets should be viewed as flexible plans
every effort should be made to adhere to them. Revisions in the budget should only be made after
careful consideration of the likely impact of the change on the marketing mix and accomplishment of your objectives.
Separate marketing budgets should be developed for each marketing mix strategy. The
separate budgets should then be aggregated to develop an overall marketing budget. If the total
amount is too great it will be necessary to: (1) Modify overall objective and target market
objectives, (2) Narrow down or drop target markets, (3) Adjust marketing mixes. The final
budget should be realistic given your objectives.
Implementation
Many well-designed marketing plans fail because they are poorly executed. Businesses,
agencies, and communities can increase the likelihood of successful implementation if they: (1)
Provide employees with information on-the marketing plan, e.g., rationale, objectives, strategies,
(2) Identify specific tasks which must be accomplished, (3) Assign people or departments specific responsibility for different tasks, (4) Develop time lines and deadlines. (5) Adhere as much
as possible to the budget and (6) Regularly monitor and evaluate progress.
Evaluation
Evaluation is an essential but often overlooked element of a marketing plan. The purpose
of evaluation is to improve the effectiveness of marketing strategies by, (1) identifying differences between actual results and expected performance, e.g., sales, and (2) determining likely
reasons for the success or failure to realize objectives. It is important that marketing mix
strategies be continually evaluated rather than waiting for a crisis. Sufficient money and time
should be budgeted for evaluation.
A framework for evaluating marketing strategies would include:
22
(1) Determining which elements of the marketing strategy mixes are most important to
evaluate. It is rarely possible or cost effective to evaluate all elements of the marketing strategy.
(2) Establishing performance standards to compare against actual results. Marketing
objectives, if properly formulated, should serve as performance standards.
(3) Development of formal and informal methods for collecting data on actual results. There are
many ways different elements a-f the marketing strategy can be evaluated. For example,
promotions can be evaluated with money off coupons; special information forms, telephone
numbers or post office box numbers, also formal and informal surveys to determine the
promotional material the customer used to arrive at their decision (Mahoney, 1966)
(4) Comparison of results with performance criteria.
(5) Determination of needed change(s).
CONCLUSION
Recreation marketing has progressed relatively little compared to the growth in
participation and economic importance of recreation. Much of the reason for this lack of progress
is the continued and, almost complete reliance on traditional product marketing concepts and
approaches. Many of the businesses and agencies engaged in recreational marketing fail to
recognize the significant differences between recreational experiences and manufactured goods.
At the same time the similarities between marketing recreational experiences and services have
gone essentially unnoticed. This has resulted in a very narrow view of recreation marketing and
an over emphasis on promotion and advertising.
The important differences between recreational experiences and manufactured goods
requires a new approach to recreation marketing. Recreation businesses and agencies need to
develop marketing strategies which incorporate traditional, interactive, and internal marketing.
Their marketing should be directed as much at satisfying and retaining existing customers as it is
at attracting new ones. They also need to market to their employees and the communities near
where they are located.
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