HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

P L A N N I N G S T R AT E G Y
A N D TA C T I C S F O R
TOURISM PRODUCTS
AND SERVICES

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

At the end of this chapter, you will be able to
• Understand the linkages between organisational strategy and
marketing communications.
• Define the principles of services marketing.
• Explain a range of strategic choices available to tourism and
hospitality organisations.
• Describe the concept of the value chain and how it relates to
marketing communications strategies.
• Relate integrated marketing communications (IMCs) concepts to
organisational strategy.
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4.1 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

A well-thought-out marketing communications plan supports your
mission and the objectives laid out in your strategic plan.

It allows you to focus your marketing and communications,

making sure that all activities work together to support the big
picture.
The strategy is very important because you are building the
components of your organization brand, identity, and everything
in between.
A strategic marketing communications plan gives you the focus to
know where you’re going, what you need to say & what channels
you need to positively interact with your audiences.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD STRATEGIC
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

It is participative

It is dynamic

It is flexible

It is audience-driven

It combines the best of PR and Marketing

It contains a mix of strategy and tactics

It is doable

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4.1 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Marketing communications strategy is the strategy used by a Your message
company or individual to reach their target market through
various types of communication. (what is to be said)

Since “marketing communications strategy” is a mouthful, most people The medium

just shorten it to “Public Relations” which essentially uses online (where it is to be
channels and software to identify relevant journalists, pitch them
said)
suitable stories and earn free media coverage.

It is the processes of research, information and intelligence- The target

gathering which feeds into the development of the marketing (to whom your
strategy and planning decision making frameworks. message is reaching)

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3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY (IMC)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Customer alignment:
Follow the oldest rule in Budget alignment:
Brand alignment:
marketing – ‘be where Choose a marketing
Whatever marketing
your customers already channel that fits your
channel you choose
are’. Pick channels where budget. If you don’t have
should have the same
your consumers are a budget, getting a print
brand perception as
already active. If you’re ad in WSJ will be out of
yours. For example, if you
targeting younger your reach. But perhaps
sell luxury watches, build
millennials, advertise on you can get a free press
relationships with
social media platforms like mention on WSJ’s
journalists from TIME
Instagram, not Facebook, website by reaching out
magazine.
and certainly not day-time to the journalists.
TV!

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
Audience

STEP 1: Understand Your Target Audience Define your Unique

Selling Proposition (USP)
• Before you can create a strategic communications plan, you need
to understand your target audience.
Determine your Marketing
Communications Mix
• Any marketing communications plan has to be formulated for a
specific group of target customers.Your IMC has to define the
needs and characteristics of this target audience. Define Branding Elements

Define Success Metrics

Execution

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY(CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
Audience
STEP 2: Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
• Your USP is the foundation of your integrated marketing Define your Unique
Selling Proposition (USP)
communications plan. The USP should be reflected in every message
your brand sends out across all communication channels, whether
Determine your Marketing
it’s for PR, sales or content marketing. Communications Mix
• A clear USP will ensure that your brands messaging is clear,
consistent and recognizable. Define Branding Elements
• McDonald’s - Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value for money which
means we focus on providing our customers high quality products, served
Define Success Metrics
quickly with a smile, in a clean and pleasant environment at an affordable
price.
* USP is a factor that differentiates a product from its competitors. Execution

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY(CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
STEP 3: Determine your Marketing Communications Mix Audience

• Marketing communications mix is the combination of channels you use

Define your Unique
to reach out to potential customers. Selling Proposition (USP)

• Large corporations would have dedicated teams within their

Determine your Marketing
marketing/sales division to take care of each of these activities. Communications Mix

• However a start up or small business would have to choose only two

or three of these marketing strategies as part of their communication Define Branding Elements

process.
• Your marcom mix could include: online advertising on AdWords, Facebook, offline Define Success Metrics
advertising on print media, billboards or TV, direct marketing, personal selling, events

Execution

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY(CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
Audience
STEP 4: Define Branding Elements
• Branding is a vital part of your IMC. It broadly includes two things. Define your Unique
Selling Proposition (USP)
• At the most basic level branding is about having a consistent look and
feel across all your online and offline marketing materials. Determine your Marketing
Communications Mix
• However, at a deeper level, branding is about the core identity of your
company. It’s about what you stand for, and what you want people to
Define Branding Elements
recognize you as.
• Brand elements - name, slogan, logo, tone, character, packaging
Define Success Metrics

Execution

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY(CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
Audience
STEP 5: Define Success Metrics
• Plan the right success metrics for all communication channels to Define your Unique
Selling Proposition (USP)
determine whether you are fulfilling the key objectives of your
communications plans.
Determine your Marketing
• Here are a few metrics: Communications Mix

1. the number of mentions on different outlets and blogs,

2. number of website visits or signups from each article, Define Branding Elements

3. number of backlinks acquired,

4. website visits from social media shares, Define Success Metrics

5. the number of leads or sales that can be attributed to Public

Relations. Execution

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6 STEPS IN CREATING IMC STRATEGY(CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Understand Your Target
Audience
STEP 6: Execution
Define your Unique
Selling Proposition (USP)

Once your plan Measure your

for your Execute these success and Determine your Marketing
marketing marketing modify your Communications Mix

communication strategies approach as

process is ready necessary Define Branding Elements

Define Success Metrics

Execution

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4.2 PRODUCT FORMULATION DECISIONS &
THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

A product in tourism and hospitality Tourism product
can be defined as any services, includes the
experiences of places and use of complete experience
facilities which are offered to a from the time the
market for use or consumption to tourist leaves home
satisfy the needs and wants for to the time they
hospitality and travel. return.

Organisations and destinations

have to be aware of the needs
and values of the customers
and really understand how
they benefit from purchase of
the product.

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PRODUCT COMPONENTS - TOURISM BUSINESSES’ VIEW

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Kotler’s three levels of products:
• Core product: the necessary part or benefit
designed to satisfy the identified needs of
target customer segments. Example: Starbucks
lifestyle
• Formal or tangible (actual) product:
stating what a customer will receive for his
money. It is a marketing interpretation that
turns the core into a specific offer. Example:
Starbucks brand, premium coffee, sandwiches
• Augmented product: is consisting of all the
forms of added value, to make them more
attractive than competitors offers to their
intended customers. Example: free wireless
internet, prepaid Starbucks card

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FACTORS THAT MUST BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION
IN PRODUCT FORMULATION DECISIONS

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Service Quality Range Brand Name Features
And Benefits

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4.3 PRODUCT STRATEGIES DECISION

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Product strategy is about imagining the future of your product
What product will it
Who will it benefit? How will it create value?
become?

The product strategy should describe

who the what the why it is
why people what the why it worthwhile for
product is would want to business
buy & to use it product is stands out your company
for goals are to invest in it

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ELEMENTS OF AN
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY (CONT.)
Market describes the Needs comprise the main
target customers and users
of your product, the people
who are likely to buy and
to use it.
HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism
Think of a product like
problem your product Trivago that solves the
solves or the primary problem of finding the best
benefit it provides. hotel price on the Internet.
Compare it to a product
like Facebook that allows
you to stay in touch with
family and friends.
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ELEMENTS OF AN
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY (CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

The key features and the differentiators Focus on the three to Example: Waze with its
are those aspects of your product that are five key aspects that focus on accuracy, safety,
crucial to address the main problem or make people buy and and simplicity.
create the primary benefit and that make use the product.
people choose it over competing offers.

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ELEMENTS OF AN
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY (CONT.)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

The business goals Being clear on the business
capture how your goals allows you to select the
product is going to right key performance
benefit your company. indicators (KPIs) and to
measure your product’s
performance.
Example: Trivago does not earn any
money from your bookings. But it allows
the company to control the way people
search for hotels online and it has reduced
our dependency on having to open few
OTAs at the same time.

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STANDARDISATION/ADAPTATION STRATEGIES
1. Straight extension

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

• Represents a global strategy, taking the same product and the same promotion and
communications strategy to a new market (e.g. Coke)
• An example of this would be the marketing of resort destinations to successive markets
as core markets wane and decline. Resorts in the advanced Mediterranean tourist
markets have successfully extended their products to new emerging markets over the
last 10–15 years as successive markets have fallen out of favour with the standardised
product offer across many country resort destinations.
2. Communication adaptation
• Represents a decision to take the same product and communicate it differently with the
aim of opening up the product to new markets segments.
• A strategy that has also been applied by the sophisticated resorts of the Mediterranean.

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STANDARDISATION/ADAPTATION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
3. Product adaptation

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

• Represents a decision to make slight changes to the product to meet local conditions or to
meet changes in market segment expectations.
4. Dual adaptation
• This strategy decision represents changes to both product and market/communication.
5. Product invention
• This strategy represents a decision to diversify completely and to develop a completely
new product with an intention to meet the needs of a new market.
• In the context of tourism and hospitality industry where new market segments are
emerging all the time, rapid changes in trends within key developed markets are identified
alongside social and cultural, lifestyle trends.

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STRATEGY FOCUS AND INFLECTION POINTS

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

• The product strategy is not a static,
fixed statement or document that you
create for a new product.
• It changes as your product grows and
matures.
• The product lifecycle have four key
events: launch, product-market fit,
rejuvenation, and end-of-life.

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 STRATEGY FOCUS AND INFLECTION POINTS
(EXAMPLE)

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

• The strategy for a new product should first help you get to launch, then achieve product-
market fit (PMF), and finally sustain the growth of your product.
• Think, for instance, of the changes Apple has made to the iPhone since its launch in 2007 to
keep it attractive and preserve its growth, from adding apps to changing the its size.
• Once the growth starts to stagnate you have reached another strategic inflection point.
• You either revitalize your product, for instance, by rejuvenating it or taking it to a new
market, or you let it mature and eventually decline and die.

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SUMMARY
• This chapter has outlined the main tools used in the development of a marketing

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

communication plan.
• It was argued that it is crucial for organisations to have a clear set of goals and
strategies for products and markets which will enable them to identity and
determine the direction and thrust of the marketing communications messages.
• These values underpin the development of core messages, ideas and ideals to be
communicated to the targeted audiences,
• Which are in turn incorporated into the process of determining the marketing
communications objectives and channel strategies.
• The marketing communications plan outlined the key process in devising a
marketing campaign.

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 THANK YOU
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HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism