Promotional
work in leisure and tourism is concerned with communicating information to motivate
people to use or buy particular products, facilities or services. There are
number of communication techniques that leisure and tourism organizations can
use to inform and influence their existing potential to customers. The most
important are;
- Advertising
- Public Relation
- Sales Promotion
- Direct Marketing
- Personal Selling
Whichever
technique is chosen, it is likely to follow the attention, interest, desire and
action principles.
Advertising
The term
media is used in marketing to mean the various channels of communication, an
organization can use to advertise its products or services. It is important for
leisure and tourism organization to seek the advice of professionals before
deciding which media to choose. Smaller operators will not have the experience
to gauge which medium will be the most effective for their particular products
and may be wasting their money. As well as working within budget limits, media
selection will also depend on the target audience. All type of media will
provide detailed data on their coverage and circulation as well as detailed information
on their readers, listeners and viewers. This information is usually presented
in the form of a frequency card. An organization knows about its existing and
potential customers, the better chance it has of selecting the right choice of
media.
The principal
media used most commonly by leisure and tourism organization are;
Newspapers and Magazines: The main advantages of newspapers & magazines from the advertiser’s point of view are;
- They are relatively cheap when compared with other media
- Messages can be sent nationally, regionally or locally, depending on which publication is chosen
- Specific segments of the market can be targeted
- Readers with specialist interests can be targeted
- Reply coupons can be included in an advertisement as a way of compiling a data base or mailing list
- Advertisement can normally be placed at very short notice so giving the medium great flexibility
Trade
journals and newspapers, allow leisure and tourism organization to communicate
with their fellow professionals in the industries and to inform them of new
developments in products and services. Television is the most powerful
advertising medium. With the development in satellite technology, worldwide
audiences of hundreds of millions are easily achievable. When the leisure and
tourism organizations have the resources to be able to use TV advertising, the
advantage includes;
- Access to a large audience
- High degree of creativity possible
- Maximum impact with the use of color and sound
- The message is dynamic
- The advertisement can be repeated
Commercial Radio: It is important outlet news and events. It is also a useful advertisement medium of leisure and tourism organization that want to communities with a local audience. Travel agent will use local radio at certain times of the years to publicize their services. Local radio is an obvious choice for events such as local holiday’s shows or a sport match.
Its main
advantages are;
- It is relatively cheap when compared with other media
- The message can be repeated many times
- Audiences can be targeted geographically
- Production costs are low
- It has the advantage over printed media in that voice and sound can be used
Cinema Advertising: This has all the advantages of
commercial radio, namely the ability to promote local facilities and services
plus the impact and movement associated with the big screen but it does have
the disadvantage of high production cost. Cinema is popular in the younger age
groups, making it a particularly suitable medium for advertising products and
services.
Outdoor Advertising:
Public Relation
“The planned
and sustained effort to establish or maintain goodwill and create mutual
understanding between and organization and its public are called public
relation.”
The last word
of this definition is deliberately used in plural, since an organization
actually has to deal with many different public or only one. As a marketing
tool, PR can be far more cost effective than either advertising or direct mail.
This makes it a particularly attractive medium for leisure and tourism
organizations that have small promotional budgets. In fact, the smaller
promotional budget makes stronger the case for PR. If used effectively, PR in
leisure and tourism can;
- Assist in the launch of new products, services and facilities
- Help to reposition existing products, services and facilities
- Generate interest in an organization
- Help publicize an event
- Influence specific target group
- Defend an organization when things so wrong
- Build a favorable image
There are
some basic guidelines that will increase the chances of a press release more effective;
- Keep it crisp, factual and informative
- Write from the point of view of the journalist
- Write to suit the style of the publication
- Answer the basic question of 5W (who, what, when, where, why) as early as possible in the release, preferably in the first two paragraphs
- Get the main news point into the first paragraph
- Don’t make it any longer than it needs to be
- Give a date to the release
- Respect copy deadlines
- Include full details of a contact person at the end of the release
- Include a picture if it will help tell the story
Sales Promotion
Sales
promotion describes a range of techniques designed to encourage customers to
make a purchase. They usually support advertising, direct mail, personal
selling or public relation activity in leisure and tourism include deeds such
as;
- Price reductions: It is common for leisure and tourism organizations to offer price discounts to encourage more business. E.g. tour operators advertising cut-price holidays if booking are made before a certain time.
- Free gifts: A travel agent may provide a free item of clothing to all clients booking at holiday; a tourist attraction may give free badges and hats to all the children who visit.
- Exhibitions: These are good way of showing both the general public and trade what’s new in leisure and tourism. They are also a good PR activity, helping staff to new relationship and make new contact.
- Competitions: Some organizations run competitions to encourage the public to buy the product and services. The prizes on offer may include holidays, short breaks or leisure/sports activities.
- Extra product: This is when a customer is given additional benefits without having to pay any more. For example, a hotel may provide free newspapers for all guests, a leisure center may offer vouchers for a free beauty treatment to ladies who attend their aerobics classes.
- Passport or loyalty schemes: Some leisure and tourism organizations offer loyalty schemes to encourage people to stay with them and use their services in the future. Visitor’s attractions sometimes offer a passport which can give free or discounted entry to the site.
- Point of sale material: These ranges from windows displays, posters and merchandising unit to brochure rack, hanging cards and special demonstration.
The essential
feature of sales promotion is that it is short term inducements encourage
customers to react quickly. Many sales promotions are undertaken in response to
the activities of competitors to ensure that an organization retains its share
of the market. Although the examples of sales promotion given above are targeted
at the consumer, sales promotion techniques can also be aimed at staff working
in leisure and tourism in order to persuade them to sell or recommend the
products or services of a particular company.
Direct Marketing
One of the
disadvantages leveled at advertising in the printed and broadcast media is that
it is not always effective in reaching its intended audience. Direct marketing
however is rarely criticized for failing to reach its target audience. In fact,
some people even go as far as likening the precision of direct marketing to a
rifle while the imprecise nature of advertising can be thought of as a shotgun.
Direct marketing is the term used to describe the various techniques that an
organization can use out the need for an intermediary. The most common direct
marketing methods used in leisure and tourism are;
Telemarketing: It is growing in importance in leisure and tourism, particularly in the business to business sector where one company will provide services and facilities for another. Its use in the consumer sector of the industry is restricted to such products as timeshare and the sale of leisure products.
Door to Door Distribution: Door to door distribution is popular in hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities that want to capture a local market. A certain amount of market segmentation is possible with particular areas being targeted in terms of social class.
Direct Response Marketing: Direct response advertising is widely used by leisure and tourism organizations that want to create a mailing list at the same time as distributing brochures and other promotional materials. Any advertisement whether it is on the television, on local radio, in a newspapers, in a magazine or on a billboard, that ask the customers to respond in some ways falls within the category of direct response.
Direct Mail: Direct mail is by far the most important method of direct marketing which used by leisure and tourism organization. It can be very cost effective when compared to advertising. It is very flexible in terms of timing, budgets and targeting. A direct mail campaign can be effective very quickly and aimed at particular target markets. Its uses in leisure and tourism are many and varied, including;
- A sea side hotel that sends all its past guests a holiday card
- A tennis club which mails to its members with details of a tournament sponsored by a local car dealers
- A newly opened sports shops that use the membership list of a local walking club to send out a brochure or discount voucher
- A top tourist attraction that mails details of group rates and facilities to the major coach companies in the every year
The basic
steps needed for a successful direct mail campaigns are;
- Decide the objectives of the campaign or promote your tour packages to overseas travel agent
- Determine the budget
- Put time scale for the promotion
- Create the mailing list
- Devise the direct mail packages (carry out the mailing, do a follow-up mailing, evaluate the results)
A typical direct
mail package will consist of;
- An envelope may be overprinted according to letterhead
- A reply device, free post address or free phone number
- An insert, usually be a brochure or discount voucher
It takes
considerable skill and experience to produce an effective direct mail letter
which will both inform and persuade the reader to buy or use the product and
service on offer.
Personal Selling
Many staff
employed in leisure and tourism are constantly involved in some form of
personal selling activity. Personal selling involves persuasive communication
between two parties, the buyer and seller. It is important to remember that the
buyer does not always part with cash in order to enjoy the facilities on offer.
Some leisure and tourism facilities provided by local authorities will be
provided force of charge, financed from local and national sources.
In the same
way that we have the five Ps (preparation, prospecting, pre approach,
presentation, post-sale support which detail are as bellow;
- Preparation: staff should be adequately trained and familiar with the product, customer, competition or market for the leisure and tourism.
- Prospecting: this is the name given to identifying prospective customers before selling take place.
- Pre approach: this is concerned with learning about the prospective customers.
- Presentation: this involves active selling skills and will be based around the principle.
- Post-sale support: following up the sale to make sure that the customer is happy, helps to create repeat business.
In
the leisure and tourism selling is all about helping people to buy
rather than selling them something they don't really want. Selling
doesn't always come naturally to people so training in selling skills is
vital for all sales staff in leisure and tourism.