Destination Brand Positioning - Assignment Example

Destination Brand Positioning s Destination Brand Positioning Introduction Over the past decades, the tourism industry has become one of the most competitive industry in worldwide. This has made several destinations to strive hard for their existence in the field. Most destinations focus merely on functional attributes like the sunset, beautiful sceneries, and golden beaches which has not helped them much in competing effectively with their competitors. It is thus crucial for the destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to find other aspects on which the destination could be effectively and efficiently positioned. Destination branding is critical to the tourism industry since it provides a plethora of solutions to tourists and big hotels that offer touring facilities. Destination personality is helpful in building firm destination brands and creating a unique identity. According to the self-congruity theory, it is fundamental to use the target personality as a practical symbol for building strong brands (Lubbe, 2003). It further elaborates that a high match between brand and consumers personality can yield a more promising attitudes towards the brand. The emergence of the internet has tremendously helped in meeting the information need of both actual and potential customers. This is so due to its unique features such as worldwide accessibility, low cost, and increased marketing opportunities. However, it has also altered the way of destination as a product created marketed, maintained and delivered to its customers. The Key Debates within the Area of Destination Positioning According to Lube (2003), destination positioning is the process of establishing and maintaining a distinctive place in the market for an individual or organization product offering. In order to develop a positioning strategy, there are quite a number of procedure which an organization must follow. These includes internal analysis, market analysis, and competitor analysis. A lot of debates have been there concerning the issue of destination positioning. Therefore, it is important for service managers to identify how what their concepts are, how they should satisfy the wants of the customers in different markets amongst others. The success of global competition in the tourism industry depends on the factor conditions and the drivers of competitiveness. An econometric model is very helpful in the estimation of the destination competitiveness empirical index at a micro rank (Donald & Gammack, 2007). The survey points majorly on the measure of tourist demand for each destination and identification of the factors that drive the transformation on the demand schedule in consumption. The keywords include Competitiveness, Destination competitive position, Decision process, Italian tourism market. The basic model of competitive analysis suggests that success in international competition in tourism industry depend on the factor conditions and other business related features. It also depends on human resource and infrastructure since in the tourism industry; the main factors include landscape, hotel supply, and historical heritage. The model destination broadens the results in two directions namely; focusing the role of destination organization and of convenience for winning the global competition and specifying the role of product mix as a prominent factor for tourism destinations. Furthermore, according to Italian tourist decisions in 2008, it is crucial to run statistical survey monitoring that allows the measure of positioning and aggressiveness of both foreign and local destinations in the new market. Most tourism destination competitiveness rely on brand image and attributes of the destination such as landscape, climate, and historical heritage (Tsiotsou & Goldsmith, 2012). Various approaches such as accommodation, infrastructure, product mix and recreational services paly a fundamental role in the determination of destination positioning and competitiveness of tourist destinations. This is so because it pinpoints a pattern that is suitable for quantitative analysis of the tourist decision process. Thus, it allows the measurement of the actual competitive position of each destination in the international tourism market. Modeling destination positioning There has been a tremendous growth in the tourism industry has increased the interest among researchers and policy makers for the analysis of the holiday destination competitive position. The tourism literature has built up models of destination positioning focusing on factors endowments such as scenery, image position, and climate. Previously, the distinguished role of tourism activity for economic growth has stimulated the construction of econometric models too which has then backed the estimation of destination competitiveness empirical indexes. This has allowed comparison of the tourism destinations selection process at the micro level from demand schedule to the tourism consumption decision. However, the demand schedule is a function of destination competitiveness, brand image destination positioning, and individual preferences. Nevertheless, the consumption choice do not mainly depend on demand schedule as many may insinuate but also on the data gathered by tourist in the last phase of the holiday judgment process (Keller & Aho, 2006). During this period, tourist looks for booking availability and update their destination knowledge for competitive evaluation. Mapping the tourist decision process The theoretical analysis of the tourism decision structure at the micro level sanctions the explanation of four dissimilar phases in the track going from holiday desires to the cull of a categorical holiday resort. The first phase in people demands design is an ecumenical valuation of holiday destination features by means of which potential tourist choose a cluster of destinations which renders his/her consumer needs. In the following stages tourist takes information focusing on pricing, accessibility, accommodation, booking, connection facilities, security and safety and marketing image in the chosen tourism destinations. Destination assessed may be culled for efficacious holidays on the substructure of data acquired throughout this process. This is so because other destinations are ruled out on the substructure of the same set of destination hospitality information. This process of holiday destination cull can be presented schematically by a four-phase process: When it comes to mapping, the tourist decision process, the theoretical analysis of the tourists’ decision structure is very consequential (Wang & Pizam, 2011). Positioning a Destination - Problems and Challenges Destination positioning presents a plethora of challenges to many touring firms. First and foremost, the inherent in marketing a service namely inseparability and intangibility that leads to consumer doubt. As a company is looking at destination marketing, experience is very fundamental to the destination marketer since he or she is selling travelers experiences (Egger & Maurer, 2014). However, the tourist has control over the purchase in that he or she can dictate the degree of involvement with various elements of the service, for example, destination attributes, activities and even people. Despite the rising level of consumer participation in tourism purchase, tourists will still realize an element of risks in the initial stages of the buying process. According to Bierling (2008) study, it has been hypothesized that consumers take greater risks when purchasing services than buying goods. However, it should be added that the degree of perceived risk is dependent on the price of the purchase, the benefits which the tourist expects to drive from the purchase. The marketing theory derived by Novelli (2008), it is stated that if the cost of the service is lower than the perceived risk of financial loss will also below. It has also been argued that in tourism, the cost of the purchase cannot be measured in monetary terms alone. This has been backed up by the fact that even short holidays require an expenditure of worthful leisure time. Burns (2008) supports her study of risk with two extra hypotheses: consumers assume innovations in services slower than they accept changes in goods and tourists seek and rely more on data from personal documents than from non-personal sources when assessing services prior to purchase. Tourists are naturally more careful when buying something that they cannot experience touch, test, or experiment and with which unlikely to come with a warranty. Positioning in Other Tourism Sectors Major Key players in the hospitality and tour operating sectors have pursued major repositioning and product development strategies. The outcomes of these strategies provide potential insight for the RTBs, for instance, the development of Courtyard by the Marriott hotel group initiated the use of fresh research and product growth methods. However, this process involves selection of product development team, environmental and customer analysis, competitor analysis, product refinement, idea generation, monitoring of results, and product positioning. The Key Debates within the Area of Experiential Marketing Experiential marketing is one of the innovative approaches to marketing. It is described as the experience that gives the targeted audience the chance to see a product and experience it for themselves. This marketing approach occurs face to face through personal experience or demonstration. The primary aim of experiential marketing is to tie a product to experience that is relevant to targeted audience or customers. This method includes various strategies such as giving out free product samples, offering free trial periods, and organizing functions and tours that permit consumers to use the products and services being marketed (Cai & Munar, 2009). According Bierling (2008), experiential marketing has a significant effect on adolescent than do advertisements on television or internet. The most important factors in making a live market event attractive to youth are the opportunity to test out a product or service. The primary goal of VERB campaign strategy is to heighten physical activity among tweens. This was done through campaigns and the message was made more visible through multiple channels and bringing campaign message to children in schools and homes. However, this strategy had a plethora of challenges of launching and building its brand and utilizing the principles of commercial marketing to the public health issue. The various examples of VERB experiential marketing tactics include event sponsorship. VERB was the principal sponsor of several tween centered functions countrywide. The main reason for this was to leverage the affinity that tweens have with particular brands celebrities, and sports. A better example include Nickelodeon wild and crazy kids’ tour. However, experiential marketing typically reaches fewer people, and this result in a higher cost per ratio compared to traditional mass media efforts. Nevertheless, this method is valuable in the behavioral change due to its intensity and depth by which it convey campaign messages (Burns & Novelli, 2008). Destinations Positioning Strategies Destination positioning strategies entails image creation in an area or region. This is crucial since it assist tourists to distinguish various destinations especially the similar ones. This form of communication has assisted many visitors in choosing the most attractive destinations. The positioning strategy creates a distinctive place in tourists’ mind which is imperative in preventing a lot of pitfalls to the visitors. Donald (2007) identifies several generic strategies as the foundation of firms. The most common destination positioning strategies used entails: These could be best illustrated in the diagram presented below. Figure 1: Generic Strategies Leadership cost This is one of the strategies that most tourist destination position rely on. Destinations that far are likely to face a lot of challenges since most tourist would like to spend a little but visit a lot of places of interest. Far destinations mean the traveling costs incurred will be high compared to the nearby destinations. This strategy is more convenient to destinations that are near since they have the cost advantage in the primary tourism generating market world. For instance, the cost of accessing South Africa from such markets is higher as compared to Spanish. Generic strategy Key strategy elements Resource and organizational requirements Leadership cost Investment in scale-efficient plant, design of products for ease of manufacture, voidance of marginal customer accounts. Capital access, frequent reports, tight cost control and structured organization and responsibilities Image Differentiation Stress on branding and brand, design, advertising, service and quality. Marketing qualities; product engineering skills; creativity; ability in basic research; subjective rather than quantitative measurement and incentives; strong inter-functional co-ordination. Figure 2: General features of cost leadership and differentiation strategies Positioning in accordance to targeted users In most cases, for instance, Japanese visitors may feel like visiting destinations where other Japanese are. Therefore, this strategy is most appropriate to Japanese as the operator can use it to win tourist from one nation easily. This can be done by creative campaigns and even other persuasive facts like many Japanese visited grand canyon and were impressed by the nature and features present there. Guerilla or mobile marketing This strategy involves face to face communication with the tourists. In this case, the service provider has to interact with the customer in an impulsive way so as to convince. However, this method may not work for many DMOs due to the advancement of technology and the internet. Nowadays, tourist can have a general knowledge of the attractive regions without being told. According to VERB, mobile marketing involves going out to popular areas like parks and malls. It entails attending these community events, for instance, minor league basketball games, fairs, and parades. On the other hand, Guerrilla Marketing comprises of unconventional methods of doing promotional activities with minimal resources, for example, in mobile marketing, VERB’s national mobile tour was established in June 2004. Seven accustomed trucks, colorfully designed, traveled the nation, reaching children at delight parks, community organizations, summer camps, and events such as the Gravity Games (Bierling et al ….2008). Destination positioning with regards to product This strategy is frequently used to relate a destination with experiences that are extraordinary, for instance, in Israel, the tourists are positioned as a holy city. In most cases, this strategy is limited to Image differentiation The performance of tourism products may seem difficult to determine during purchase because tourism packages are highly experiential and dependent upon image differentiation. However, a firm should identify ways of creating uniqueness on the demand side. This involves understanding the customers’ needs and preferences. Suggestions to the Destinations Brands as to How Can Incorporate Better Experiential Marketing Ideas Destination branding process begins by evaluating what a destination qualities are and points on how to present these to each other customer group. This process should be virtuous with the first stage where the brand is monitored. This is important because the information helps in refining the way in which the brand is presented in future and alerting the brand manager as to when the brand might need to be completely refreshed. The emergence of social media, destination branding can be easily done in at other avenues. However, future studies may comprise a more pervasive online content (Bierling et al, .2008). Destination branding operates best whereby the slipstream destinations are added to the attack destinations marketing materials. This will enable the slipstream destinations to penetrate markets on the back attack brand that may have been impossible. However, if this is performed adequately, the values related to the attacking brand can wear off on to the slipstream destinations by relation with the attack destination. Nevertheless, destination branding can sometimes seem esoteric and thus relevant to stakeholders. It is significant in demonstrating how stakeholders can enforce the destinations brands quantities in their marketing communications. The impact of all the stakeholders should therefore be greater than the sum of their individual efforts (Donald & Gammack, 2007). The other limitation of destination branding is that there is a high possibility that the respondent may have been influenced by prior knowledge about the destinations considered for the study. Attack and slipstream branding is a technique that links less well-known sub-national destinations with stronger destinations. Regions commonly undertake it than nations in weaker sub-regional destinations leverage. The more uncertain destinations are pulled along in the slipstream of the attacking brand. Experiential marketing can be used in building long-term customer relationships. Apart from that, it also generates sales and leads in the short term, increases awareness of the product, drives word of mouth and can align the internal audience with the business. It can be used in raising awareness, increasing loyalty that is very fundamental to the tourism industry, establishing relevance and creating product desire. Other than the mentioned, experimental marketing has a plethora of uses, especially in the tourism industry. The brand utilizes several marketing strategies in order to achieve an emotional connection with their customers. Brands employ this method in enhancing and complementing a traditional advertisement campaign or to stand out at a famous event or conference (Tsiotsou & Goldsmith, 2012). Nevertheless, many brands have begun to execute experiential marketing campaigns that exist on their own. A good example of experiential marketing is one that was recently achieved by Milka. The chocolate brand made the attempt to manufacture 9 million bars. Chocolate addicts then realized that the one piece had been reserved for them to choose whether they would wish to send it back to them or mailed, with an individualized message, to a friend and loved ones. This campaign helped the brand not only form an emotional bonding with its customers, but also to whoever the consumers resolve to send the single piece of chocolate too. Conclusion In a nutshell, destination brand positioning is very important to the tourism industry worldwide. However, destination positioning may present a plethora of challenges and difficulties to tourist organizations. It is thus important to the destination marketer since he or she is selling tourists experiences. According Burns (2008), experiential marketing has a significant effect on adolescent than do advertisements on television or internet. Some of the factors that make these markets live to adolescent are the opportunity to test out a product or service. VERB campaign strategy also helps in heightening physical activity among tweens. This was done through campaigns and the message was made more visible through multiple channels and bringing campaign message to children in schools and homes. In order to meet the necessities of promoting national tourist destinations, an organization should do a lot of work in the implementation of promotion, public relations activities, and advertising. These activities have a tremendous role in increasing awareness pertaining destinations and tourist products through personalities that have national and international credit in various fields such as science, sports amongst others. Destination positioning strategies are imperative because they assist tourists in distinguishing different destinations especially the similar ones. The positioning strategy creates a distinctive place in tourists’ mind which is very important in preventing a lot of pitfalls to the visitors. Goldsmith (2012), several generic strategies can be used for instance Leadership cost, Positioning in accordance to targeted users, Guerilla or mobile marketing, Destination positioning with regards to the product, and Image differentiation. Implementation of these strategies depends on many factors that every firm should keenly scrutinize and consider. For instance, in cost leadership strategy, it heavily depends on the traveling expense that are dependent on the distance. Destinations that far are likely to face a lot of challenges since most tourist would like to spend a little but visit a lot of places of interest. Far destinations mean the traveling costs incurred will be high compared to the nearby destinations. This strategy is more convenient to destinations that are near since they have the cost advantage in the primary tourism generating market world. References Lubbe, B. (2003). Tourism management in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Pearson Education. Donald, S., & Gammack, J. G. (2007). Tourism and the branded city: Film and identity on the Pacific Rim. Aldershot [u.a.: Ashgate. Tsiotsou, R. H., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2012). Strategic marketing in tourism services. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Keller, P., & Aho, S. (2006). Marketing efficiency in tourism: Coping with volatile demand. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. Wang, Y., & Pizam, A. (2011). Destination Marketing and Management: Theories and Applications. Wallington, Oxfordshire, UK: CABI. Keller, P., Bieger, T., Bieger, T., Go, F. M., Gotti, M., Gyekye, A. B., Job, H.... International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism. 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