You have learnt that promotion is an element of the marketing mix. All communication from the marketer to the environment regarding the marketing organization or regarding the product is a promotional activity.
The purpose of promotion is to create awareness and then make the
environment favorably inclined to the organization.
Only when the environment is favorably
inclined to the organization, will:
• Customers buy its products,
• Employees prefer to work for it,
• Suppliers be happy to provide raw
materials, and
• Financiers offer finance for capital and
operations
Promotional Events
In promotion, an organization, is talking
about itself and its products (whether goods or services). Promotion however is
not the same as propaganda. In propaganda, there is a connotation of falsehood,
trying to misinform. Promotion, however, as a marketing activity is based on
respects for the customers and does not seek to misinform. Any misinformation
in promotion is considered unethical and with the growing consumer protection
awareness campaigns can lead to legal action also.
Promotion refers to the set of activities
that communicate about the product to the prospective and existing customers.
Promotion aims to:
• Inform prospective customers about product
or producer,
• Inform existing customers about changes in
products,
• Generate interest in the offer,
• Persuade prospective customers to try the
product (first purchase), and
• Persuade existing customers to continue
the use of product (repeat purchase)
If A is the total market, B is the portion
that is aware of the product, C is portion that has tried the product and D is
the portion that has tried and is satisfied, promotion tires to improve the
ratios B/A, CB and D/C.
There are also various ways to communicate:
1. Advertisement
2. Publicity,
3. Public
Relations (PR),
4. Personal
Selling, and
5. Sales
Promotion
The products in tourism, they are many and
are offered by different organizations.
These may not connect to each other except
through the common customer i.e. the tourist. Each of these organizations may
do its own promotion or some may join together.
The promotion may be of a:
• Country as a whole,
• Specific destinations and locations,
• Specific activities or services,
• Tour packages
• Accommodation/food etc
The main decisions to make in promotion planning are:
1. Objectives of promotion,
2. Choice of mix,
3. Selection of media,
4. Formulating the messages, and
5. Timing and intensity of the campaign.
TYPES OF EVENTS
Events take place in normal course or are organized specially
to highlight some of the unique aspects of a country, area or people. These
events could be of interest to people outside the country or area. Such events
could attract tourists if they become aware of them and can become promotional
events.
1. Advertising
Advertisements are paid non-personal forms of presentation.
Messages are presented through media viz. newspapers, magazines, journals,
radio, television, posters, hoardings, cinema slide, yellow pages, stickers,
exhibitions, stalls, direct mail, giveaways etc.
Advertisements:
• Reach homes, (T. V. Press) or are stationary (Hoardings):
• Are transitory (T. V. Radios) or could be referred back
(Magazines)
Advertisements arouse curiosity and interest. They improve
receptivity, but rarely lead to purchases without further promotional efforts.
The decisions to be
taken regarding advertisements are:
a. What is the objective?
b. What is the target audience?
c. Over what period should the campaign last?
d. Scope i.e. National, regional, International.
e. Whether separate ads for different regions or audience
segments?
f. Media to be used, copy, theme and images
g. What is the best timing and frequency?
h. Cost effectiveness.
While preparing message the following guidelines may be kept in mind by you:
• Give clear unambiguous messages
• Convey range, depth, quality and level of service
• Emphasis benefits, not technical details. Only promise what
can be delivered.
• Develop continuity through symbols, image, format, theme,
etc.
Messages should emphasis the key benefits
that the target market must perceive and will value. Messages must be credible,
likeable, and attractive. Appeals may evoke sense of pleasantness, moods,
luxury, distinctiveness, fantasy.
Advertising techniques may have:
• Domination - having big impact,
• Concentration - one clear appeal, and
• Repetition - impact through repletion
A tourism destination has a visual appeal. Colour, movement and sound that may convey the atmosphere add to effectiveness. If any special event is to be advocated, it has to be done sufficiently early keeping in mind that decisions to ravel are not taken in a hurry. There is a certain gestation period of decisions, planning and buying in tourism. For example if one wants to go to the hills in summer the selection of the destination, planning and booking have to be done much earlier, may be in February or March.
In case of international tourism, tour packages are offered
even a year or two in advance. The target audience can be determined taking
into account tourist segments by place or origin and flows. If the intentions
are to generate tourist flow from new territories or flow from other
destinations, perhaps intensive campaigns may be necessary.
Preparing an ad copy is a highly specialized
task, needing visualizing and creativity.
The advertisers will have to work in close
consultation with the copy writer, feeding him with ideas to be translated into
works and visuals to produce the commercial impact.
2. Publicity
Publicity is unpaid for communication,
usually impersonal and appearing to emanate from source other than the
marketer. Publicity takes place when media, on subtle persuasion or otherwise,
carries an article or news items about the marketer or the good/services
offered. Publicity is more credible than advertisements when it is seen as
originating from the medium or some other person, not the marketer.
Kinds of Publicity in Media
The tolls of publicity are:
• Press releases
• Press conferences
• Conducted visits (familiarsing/FAM trips)
• Presentations
• Informal briefings
• Sponsored articles
In the case of a hotel/resort, news may relate to the
facilities and conveniences in the property; events like marriages, seminars,
exhibitions, inaugurals or sports that may take place in the property and
important persons who may visit the property.
Publicity will be carried by the media if the activities and
messages are:
• Interesting,
• Timely,
• Accurate, and
• Newsworthy
Sponsoring is excellent publicity. A leading hotel group (Sheraton hotel & Towers etc) might sponsor a cricket match or a TV serial and gain publicity. International tourism promotion depends heavily on Publicity. A new airline route is an occasion for publicity. So is a report in the news paper regarding an event of package? For example "Argungu Fishing Festival" is being remodeled. This was news in the news papers. The impact was much more than any advertisement could have. This news was carried also by the T. V. the details and the descriptions create image of a unique experience and tourists thinking of going to Nigeria would "desire" to savor the same.
Malaysia is planning to welcome 20million tourists by the
year 2000. They expect seven million tourists in 1994, which is being promoted
as the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY). As part of this promotion, Indian newspapers
carried special supplements with articles, advertisement, interviews and
photographs. The entire space in the supplement may have been paid for in which
case it is strictly "advertisement". Yet the matter will be gone
through as if there is news, the format of presentation being the same as the
editorial pages of the publication.
Kind of Publicity in Oral
Word of mouth publicity is very effective. It is said that
sources of information are credible according to a hierarchy. In descending
order of credibility are:
• Intimate family,
• Personal friends,
• Professional colleagues,
• Retailer's representatives and
• Producer's representatives.
Word of mouth is more effective than advertisements, an
endorsement by one who has used the services more reliability and impact than
an advertisement. You ask about the destination from your friends and tell them
the one you have "experienced. In most cases, you search for a person who
has experienced the services to seek information like where did you stay? Was
the stay comfortable? Or how was the bed tea?
Therefore, it is a good strategy to encourage customers to
talk of satisfaction. Develop materials that customers can pass on. Cultivate
opinion leaders and emphasize on conveniences. Any customer who perceives
special value, not commonly available elsewhere, is a potential medium for word
of mouth publicity.
Contacts with customers can be maintained through:
• Bulletins, mentioning new facilities or up-gradate ion of
existing ones,
• Greetings, gifts or souvenirs, and
• Invitation to revisit offering special items/services.
In the case of tourism, the travel agencies, hoteliers, airlines
etc. are part of the services and also part of the promotion.
The personnel in these organizations provide service. They
are also depended upon by tourists for information and advice. They are a
useful `word of mouth' media. Such personnel may be taken to the facilities and
destinations and made to experience the services and attractions. Word of mouth
publicity happens when people talk about satisfying experiences. Satisfaction
is the difference between actual experience and
the expectation prior to the experience. Robert Galvin,
Chairman of the Executive Committee of Motorola Inc. says that there are four
levels of acceptable service-`Good', 'Very good', 'Near Perfect', and `WOW'.
John Humble, the management consultant from the UK, uses the word `Delight' for
'WOW. Both WOW and Delight occurs when the experience is far beyond all
expectations. That is a level which is least forgotten. It is always talked
about.
When actual experience falls short of expectation, there is
dissatisfaction. This is also noticed and remembered. When actual experience
matches expectation, there is neither dissatisfaction nor satisfaction. When
actual experience exceeds expectation, there is significant satisfaction, but
may not be strong enough to be noticed and remembered. But the satisfaction
becomes a WOW or Delight, when the actual experience exceeds by a wide margin.
Only a WOW experience is remembered positively.
One expects courtesy and attention in a hotel. If it is
missing there is dissatisfaction. But there is no significant satisfaction when
courtesy is noticed. If the manager of the hotel calls you up as soon as you
enter your room and ask how you are-that is beyond expectation. That may be
remembered but still not a WOW, but if that evening, the band plays a birthday
song because it is your birthday that is WOW.
To be told that one does not have a reservation (in a hotel
or airlines) is bad, to be welcomed as if they are waiting for you, instead of
next is good. To be received as soon as you reach the lobby with your favorite
drink may be a WOW. To be left hanging on the telephone, without knowing
whether the person you are calling for is available or not, is bad. To be told
that the particular person is not available and that you could leave a message
is better. When the M. D. of a company gives you his personal number and tells
his secretary to give your calls top priority it is good. To be handed over a
new book in library because the librarian knows your taste is WOW.
3. Public Relations
Public Relation (PR) is the deliberate, planned and sustained
efforts to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an
organization and public. It comes from recognition that without the active
support from the public, the organization will have difficulty to carry on and
grow. Shareholders, suppliers, customers, agents, employees-all have stakes in
an organization. In the case of tourism, the trade and commerce within the
vicinity of the destination and the local people also have a stake. The
environments are affected by the influx of tourists. Tourists being visitors
from a different culture and society (even if within Nigeria) may be accustomed
to behaviors different from the locals. There could be a fear that the younger
generation may be `spoilt' by mixing with tourists. The increased activity
accompanying tourists' growth may bring in undesirable persons, thus affecting
the sense of security. If the local people start reacting to these
'encroachments' into their ways, their behavior may significantly affect the
pleasure of the tourists. PR is essential to ensure that the relationships are
conducive to the growth of tourism.
Better understanding between tourists and the hosts/residents
at and around the destination can make them feel favorably inclined to each
other. This can be possible through contracts and interaction. It is part of PR
activity to make such contracts contribute towards a better understanding. The
contracts become more useful if expectations of both are known and each is
aware of the do's and don'ts.
The tools of Public
Relation are the same as for publicity plus:
• Journals/Newsletters,
• Sponsored visits,
• Sponsorship of activities,
• Special drives, and
• Interest group meetings, etc.
PR efforts are aimed
at key personnel and seek to shift the people towards:
• Sympathy from Hostility,
• Acceptance from Prejudice,
• Interest from Apathy, and
• Knowledge from Ignorance.
PR efforts have to be credible but they are difficult to
evaluate for effectiveness. PR is the business of everybody in the
organization. The top management may lay down the policy. But what others in
the organization do also conveys messages to the public. This affects their
relationship with the organization. Training and education of staff at all
levels on how to deal with customers/people-with courtesy and consideration-has
to be a part of the PR effort. As a tourist professional you have to be
extremely cautious of this aspect. Leading organizations have PR departments
and many others have at least a PR Officer. But many tend to ignore this. .This
may have adverse effects in the long term or may be in the short term itself.
4. Personal Selling
Personal selling is a part of promotion. Advertisements and
other non-personal communication are not adequate to persuade customers to make
choices. The information required to make choices are more than those available
at awareness levels. The gap can be reduced via personal interaction. Even then
the quality of service and integrity of producers are difficult to know.
Sales person's Duties
Salespersons (boy or girl) have to call on people to sell.
Ideally a sales person has to:
• Find prospects: that is, get names of people who are likely
to buy.
• Qualify the prospects, finding enough data on th e prospect
to decide whether there is need and capacity to buy.
• Approach the qualified prospect by fixing up appointments
for presentation.
• Make the presentation during which the salesman will
explain what the product can do to the prospect and get him sufficiently
interested to try the product.
• Close the sale, that is, make the customer buy.
• Provide after sales service that is to ensure th at the
experience with the product is the same or better than what was promised during
sale and the customer has no complaints.
A service, being intangible, presents a lot of uncertainties
to the prospect. The salesman/girl of a service, if perceived as
non-professional, or not credible, increases those uncertainties, they should
be seen as reliable, friendly and meaning well. They should emphasize
conveniences but not ignore to mention precautions necessary in usage.
Effective salespersons understand and empathizes with the customers and are more
acceptable to the customers. They also demand services from the organization on
behalf of their customers.
Other Purposes of Sales person
In practice, all sales calls are not for affecting sales. The
other purposes served through such calls are:
• Data collection and updating prospects list,
• As a PR effort, to tell about new products and achievements
of the organization,
• As a service to check on customer's experience and
satisfaction levels with what they have bought, leading to feedback for product
development, and
• Intensive sale campaigns in specific areas from time to
time.
A salesperson must be sensitive to the reality of the
situation they are in at any particular time and adjust their normal styles and
presentations accordingly. Or else they might be embarrassed. For example, if
the salesman of a vacuum cleaner, who , to demonstrate the effectiveness of his
product, scattered a lot of rubbish on the costly carpet in the prospect's
living room, later found that there would be no electricity for the next four
hours.
Generally (subject to exceptions always) people like to:
• Think for themselves and understand the product at their
pace. They do not like to be hustled.
• Have second opinions and look at options before buying,
particularly if the commitment is heavy. In services the commitment is usually
irreversible.
• Be respected for their views. Experienced salesp ersons do
not contradict or deny directly the prospect's statements. They avoid an
argument. They agree with a `yes' and then express an alternative view with a
'but'.
While buying goods, the buyer takes home what he has bought
and uses it there. A post sales call is necessary to know the experience. In
the service business, the production and consumption occur simultaneously as an
interaction between the consumer and the representative of the producer. This
representative is usually not the salesperson. In the case of many services,
the feedback can be had during the service transaction itself, examples being
cinema, entertainment, beauty clinic, laundry etc. in many other services the
feedback is delayed. Examples of this are medical treatment or repair services.
In the case of insurance the service is delivered (at the time of claims) long
after the purchase is made. During the intervening period, nothing should
happen to nullify the arrangement made. Ensuring all this is post sales
service.
Tourist destinations are sold personally to intending travelers
by travel agents, hoteliers, cruise operators and other intermediaries. Post
sales calls help to check whether experience was consistent with expectations
and promises. Such feedback obtained during post sales calls helps improve the
tourism product and eliminate dissatisfying elements.
5. Merchandising
Activities that take place within the unit are called
Merchandising. The objectives of Merchandising are to make customers within the
premises:
• Aware of facilities or offers available,
• Want to avail of those facilities or offers on impulse, and
• Have a memorable experience.
Merchandising relies on displays of materials and skills. Utilization
of facilities within a hotel by resident guests can be improved through
Merchandising. A provider of tourism services has considerable opportunity for
Merchandising, i.e. to make the customer who is in contract buy additional
services which he may not have originally planned to buy. May be he did not know
of the availability of the services or did not know enough to evaluate its true
worth. If the additional service on offer is unique and exclusive to that
location, the additional costs would seem to be negligible compared to the
opportunity-he may not visit the place, at least for quite some time.
If Merchandising is done before the tour commences, the
tourist will be ready for it. Otherwise, depending on the availability of money
and time resources, there could be disappointment.
0 Comments