DEVELOPING A TOUR MARKETING PLAN

STEPS FOR CREATING THE MARKETING PLAN

One of the fundamental procedures involved in any successful business operation is creating and implementing a marketing plan. A market is a particular group of buyers—or in the case of libraries, users or clients—who needs services. A marketing plan consists of several components, each of which is described below.

Before writing a marketing plan, it is necessary to define your target market and to understand its needs. This involves conducting market research, which Eric Lease Morgan describes as using transaction log analysis, circulation records, user surveys, focus group interviews, and information interviews to provide insight on what your customers really expect.

To write a marketing plan, follow the numbered outline below.

1. Prepare a mission statement.
   The mission statement clearly and succinctly describes the nature of the business, services offered, and markets served—usually in a few sentences. Sometimes for larger companies it’s combined with a vision statement that can be two to three paragraphs in length.
2. List and describe target or niche markets.
   In this section, list and describe potential groups of users or clients. After you create the list, identify various segments of a market. Segments can include specific types of people in a company by role—for example, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, or marketing director. Department heads are another type of market segment. For segmenting the consumer market, consider age groups. In addition, niche markets are an integral part of marketing. Within a target market of attorneys, for instance, there may be niche groups such as trial or malpractice attorneys. In some instances, targeting by firm size is an important consideration.
3. Describe your services.
   As mentioned above, it’s necessary to conduct market research to understand your market and to identify the services they require. At the same time, inventory the services you currently offer and identify new services you wish to provide. Determine what it will take to provide these services in terms of staff, expertise, and costs.
4. Spell out marketing and promotional strategies.
   Various strategies work better for different target markets and, therefore, several may be required to triumph. The key for successful marketing is understanding what makes someone want to use or buy services and what type of marketing strategy they respond to. This requires you to learn needs, problems, industry trends, and buzzwords. To get up to speed for a particular business market, read trade journals and attend professional conferences to meet prospective users or buyers in person. Become active in various groups whenever possible and form strategic alliances. Find out what works best for the markets you serve.

This is a trial-and-error process that requires testing and interaction with clients or prospective clients, although reading case studies and interviewing and consulting with libraries that have already had marketing achievements is one way to save time. To this end, I have included some references at the end of this article that contain success stories of other libraries.

Basic marketing strategies include the following:

• Network, either in person or electronically, by participating in discussion groups online where your target markets congregate.
• Direct marketing involves sending out sales letters, capability brochures, flyers, or special offers on a regular, repeated basis to the same group of prospects. Direct marketing can only work if you speak the language of your target market and contact them regularly.
• Advertise in print media or directories, often with a specific offer to reap the benefit of an immediate response or sales. Advertising lends credibility (image advertising) and, like direct marketing, must be continuous.
• Devise training programs that increase awareness about your services.
• Write articles for local media or professional journals and newsletters that describe the benefits of your services.
• Direct or personal selling is the one-on-one selling, often on site at a prospect’s office or company. Direct sales are a particularly costly form of marketing since you only reach one person at a time. However, if you present your services to a group of people at a company, such as people from a particular department or several department heads, direct sales can be beneficial.
• Send out publicity and press releases through local newspapers, radio, and television stations.
• Participate in trade shows at the local or regional level.

When a strategy works, repeat it. But if it fails, and you have done it right, drop it. The ability to develop and implement each of the strategies above requires learning and honing new skills. It will most likely be necessary to read marketing and sales books, attend courses or workshops, or hire consultants and specialists to assist you as necessary.

5. Identify and understand the competition.
   As part of the market planning process, you must learn about your competitors and how to position yourself in relation to them. Describe your strengths and what you want to emphasize. Once you identify both direct and indirect competition (for example, the Internet as indirect competition), you can determine how and why your services are special and benefit users in a particular way. You can compete based on value, price, product, or service, or some combination of these. Your unique position in the marketplace must be touted in your marketing programs and marketing literature.
6. Establish marketing goals that are quantifiable.
   Marketing goals can include setting the number of new clients you would like to acquire, the number of people you would like to reach, or the amount of income you would like to generate. Be realistic and practical in establishing your goals. Take a good look at the available skills and resources that you can commit to implement and integrate your goals into your marketing plan effectively. Study the budget requirements for the strategies you select and plan accordingly.
7. Monitor your results carefully.
   By monitoring results, you determine which of your marketing strategies are working and which are not. Identify strategies that generate leads and sales. This involves tracking and evaluating customers’ responses to each marketing strategy. Survey or interview regular users for comments about why they find a service important. As you get to know your repeat clients better, meet with them for detailed feedback and ask them for ideas and suggestions about how you can introduce your products and services to more prospects who are just like them. Client comments are invaluable for creating or enhancing your market literature, and you can also learn and incorporate terms or language common to a particular user group through this process. Just as valuable, these interviews lead to statements that can be used as testimonials (with permission of course) and in future brochures and promotional activities.

Hints and Tips for Beginners

• Concentrate your efforts on finding customers who provide you with ongoing or repeat business.
• Create a customer profile based on interviews as a way to understand existing clients. When you know why a customer comes back, you will be able to identify more of the same.
• Stay focused on your target markets.
• Don’t scatter your efforts. This is especially important for directing a particular marketing strategy to a specific group.
• Be persistent. Marketing projects are the sorts of things that often need to be repeated over and over before permanent change is achieved.
• Be prepared to revise your plan as you learn what works and what doesn’t.
• Don’t be afraid of failure. When a strategy fails, view it as part of trial-and-error that you can learn from, and as a natural part of the process.

MARKETING STRATEGY

A marketing strategy is essentially an overarching plan to achieve one’s marketing goals and objectives. In plain terms, it is a plan which guarantees that your marketing tactics are constantly contributing to your business goals.

MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR TRAVEL AND TOURISM COMPANY

1. Understand your customers
2. Create your website
3. Create attractive graphics
4. Advertisement on social platforms
5. Drip email campaign
6. Make videos on your tours
7. Share your knowledge via blogs
8. Web applications
9. Live to stream
10. Chatbots
11. Understand your customers

How can you start your business if you don’t know about your customers?

Customer is at the top in every business because he is the one who can help in running your business. You have to do a proper search about them what motivates them or which kind of customers you want, So that you can only target them. Examine the needs of customer and then you have to move on for further procedures.

2. Create your website

Now time to create an effective website which can attract the customers. A website should be easy to understand and mobile friendly. Your website should be clearly defined about your business. And it should be compulsory that there is a room which covers user experience column. Your website should be well designed.

3. Create attractive graphics

Yes, you have to create attractive graphics which can draw the customer’s attention. Colours and combinations should be perfect. Graphics should be well designed and easily explained the concept. With the perfect graphs you can easily draw the attention of peoples.

4. Advertisement on social platforms

Website created and graphics are done. Now time to advertise it on social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram is very popular nowadays for advertisement. But the competition level is very high. So your content and graphics should be very perfect so that they can easily draw the attention of people’s. You can post short videos related to your products and services on social platform so that people can show their interest in your services.

5. Drip email campaign

Start drip email campaigns. Drip emails are pre-written emails or message. With the help of drip emails, you can take some time to solve the queries of your customers. But make sure you are not send too much emails to the user because if they receive too much emails the chances of unsubscription is increases.

6. Make videos on your tours

Make short videos about your recent tours which can help the other users to know about your business. Making video can be really a very effective way of promoting any business. You have to make the video of your real tours and trips so that you can build the trust of users.

7. Share your knowledge via blogs

Write a blog related to tours and trips to spread awareness among the users. Blogs can be a really effective way to de]raw the attention of users. Make sure your content should be fresh. Add videos and pictures in your content to make it more attractive.

8. Web applications

Make sure your website is mobile friendly because travellers mostly use the mobile application. It can develop the network through phones.

9. Live streaming

Live streaming more effective than videos. On live streaming, a lot of people get connected with you. You can use social media like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube for live streaming. You can show your work experiences to the users through live streaming, it can help to attract new customers in you business.

10. Chatbots

It is good that you can use chatbots for solving the issues of your customers. A chatbot can help you to link with the new users. With this people are satisfied with your services. Chatbots are the effective way to draw the attention of users.

Final words

Inbound marketing services help travel and tourism company to get better conversation rate by giving them the new ways go marketing. It can help to attract new customers in business. There are various techniques and strategies which can help in getting the better results. It can give the new idea to the company that how they improve their results.