Tourism & Hospitality Marketing
TOURISM PROMOTIONS Danilo M. Balaysoche, MBA
Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:
1. Explain the role of promotions in tourism marketing.
2. Identify the uses, advantages, and disadvantages of
advertising, direct marketing and personal selling.
3. Describe public relations and the major PR activities.
4. Define sales promotions and the factors that led to its
growth.
5. Apply the different sales promotional tools to appropriate
scenarios.
6.Explain the PR and sales promotions process.
Promotional Tools
Advertising
Direct Marketing
Personal Selling
Public Relations
Sales Promotions
What is Promotions?
Promotion has been defined as the coordination of all
seller-initiated efforts to set up channels of information
and persuasion to sell goods and services or promote an
idea. (Belch, 2008)
All marketing communications techniques seek to inform,
create awareness, attempt to persuade and reinforce
buying behavior of customers. (Shoemaker, 2007)
ADVERTISING
Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal
communication about an organization, product, service
or idea by an identified sponsor.
It is mass communication that is paid for.
Objectives of Advertising
To inform
To persuade
To remind
An advertising objective is a specific communication task
to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a
specific period of time.
Informative advertising is used when introducing a new
product or to build up primary demand for the product.
Persuasive advertising is used when competition is
stiff. To be able to keep its market share.
Reminder advertising is very important for products
that have reached the maturity stage. To maintain market
position even if they are already top of mind.
Goals of Hospitality Advertisement
Tangibilize the service element so that the reader can
mentally grasp what is offered.
Promise a benefit that can be delivered and/or provide
solutions to problems.
Differentiate the property from that of the competition.
Have positive effects on employees who must execute
the promises.
Capitalize on word of mouth.
Types of Advertising Execution
1. Slice of Life –shows how people use the products in a
normal setting.
2. Lifestyle – shows how product fits with one’s way of
life.
3. Fantasy – creates a “wonder” world around the product
or its use.
4. Mood or image – builds positive images or moods
around the product such as beauty, love, fun serenity.
5. Musical – uses simple but catchy music effectively
through product jingles or songs.
6. Personality – creates a character that represents the
product such as Jollibee, the friendly Bee.
7. Technical Expertise – reveals the company’s expertise
with the product/ service.
8. Scientific Evidence – presents research or scientific
evidence that the brand is better than competing brands.
9. Testimonial Evidence – features a highly credible
person such as a celebrity endorsing the product.
The Use of Celebrity Endorsers
Attractiveness of the celebrity to create a positive impact
on the product.
Credibility of the celebrity expressed through expertise
and trustworthiness, and
Meaning transfer between brand and celebrity which
refers to the compatibility of brand and celebrity in terms
of identity, personality, market positioning and lifestyle.
DIRECT MARKETING
Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing
that uses one or more advertising media to affect a
measurable response.
It seeks to establish continuing relationships between a
company and its regular customers.
Offers are sent to a customer
database of people who are most
able, willing and ready to buy
the product. (Kotler, 2006)
Advantages of Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing is an ideal promotional tool for products
and services that want to capture a niche market.
Precision targeting
Personalized messages
Privacy
Faster Sales
Variety of packaging options
Less competition from other media content
Immediate results
Measurability
Elements of a Direct Marketing
Campaign
The list contains all the names and contact information
of your target market.
The message is important to be customized and
personalized.
The offer should be interesting and worthy for the
prospective customer to consider making a purchase.
Measures of Success
One of the advantages of direct marketing as a promotional
tool is measurability. A properly executed direct marketing
campaign can be measured in several ways, namely:
1. The number of inquiries generated;
2. The ratio of conversions or purchases realized from
inquiries generated; and
3. Its communication impact.
PERSONAL SELLING
Personal selling can be defined as the person-to-person
communication between a salesperson and a
prospective customer in which the needs are met in
exchange for money or resources.
Primary tasks of a Sales Person
Prospecting
Targeting
Communicating
Selling
Servicing
Information Gathering
Allocating
Selecting Sales Strategies
1. Prevent erosion of key accounts
2. Grow key accounts
3. Grow selected marginal accounts
4. Eliminate selected marginal accounts
5. Retain selected marginal accounts with lower-cost sales
support
6. Obtain new business from selected prospects
Steps of the Sales Process
1. Prospecting and Qualifying Prospects
2. Pre-approach
3. Approach
4. Presentation and Demonstration
5. Negotiation and Overcoming Objections
6. Closing the Sale
7. Follow-up/ Maintenance
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations (PR) is the process of creating a
positive image and customer preference through third
party endorsement.
PR banks on the idea that if a credible person – not
related to your business – says something good about
your product or service, consumers may be more certain
that it is really good.
Maintaining good PR to both internal (employees) and
external ( guests, potential guests, media, local
community and the government) audience.
Major PR Activities
1. Press / Media Relations – the use of third party
endorsement through mass media channels to generate
publicity and awareness for huge audiences.
2. Product Publicity – involves efforts to introduce o
publicize specific products, special events, new
developments within the business.
3. Corporate Communications – covers internal and
external communications promotes understanding of
the organization.
4. Lobbying - involves dealing with legislators and
government officials who may pass bills that have an
impact – whether positive or negative – on one’s business.
5. Counselling – involves advising management about
public issues and company positions and image.
Contribution of PR to Marketing
It can help marketing in the following ways:
1. Assist in the launch of new product.
2. Assist in repositioning a mature product.
3. Build up interest in a product category.
4. Influence specific target groups.
5. Defend products that have encountered public
problems.
Public Relations Process
In planning a PR Strategy, the following steps are
recommended.
1. Understand the firm’s mission, culture, and target
market.
2. Setting of objectives.
3. Defining the target market.
4. Designing the PR message.
5. Implementing the PR plan.
6. Evaluating the PR results.
PR Tools and Audiences
Important Points to Remember
Effective public relations begins with top management.
No amount of PR can overcome a flawed product.
PR Opportunities
Based on the company’s resources and objectives, the PR
messages and activities may be built around any of the
following:
1. The Owner / Operator
2. The Location
3. The Product / Service
SALES PROMOTIONS
Sales promotions is a direct inducement that offers an
extra value or incentive for the product to the sales force,
distributors or the ultimate consumer with the primary
objective of creating an immediate sale. (Belch and
Belch, 2007)
It consists of short-term incentives to encourage the
purchase or sale of a product or service. (Kotler, 2010)
It involves a variety of
techniques that serves to
accelerate purchase of
products and services.
Growth of Sales Promotions
The growth of sales promotions was mainly due to the
changes in the marketing environment.
Growing power of retailers.
Declining brand loyalty.
Increased promotional sensitivity
Brand proliferation
Fragmentation of the consumer market
Short term focus of the consumer market
Increased accountability
Competition
Clutter
Factors to consider in setting up a sales promotional plan
1. Objectives of the campaign
2. Type of market to be tapped
3. Competition
4. Cost and effectiveness of each tool
Sales Promotional Tools
Samples
Coupons
Packages
Premiums
Patronage Rewards
Point of Purchase
Contests and Games
Samples are offers of a trial
amount of a product. Some
samples are free, others
charge a small amount to
offset its cost while inducing
product trial.
Coupons are certificates
that offer buyers savings
when they purchase specific
products. It is used to
stimulates sales of a mature
product as well as promote
trial of a new product.
Premiums are goods
offered either for free or at
low cost to provide incentive
for consumers to buy a
product.
Packages involves putting
together a set of
complementing products to
come up with one bundle at
a special price.
Point of purchase
promotion includes
displays and promotions
that take place at the point
of sale.
Patronage Rewards are
bonuses in the form of cash
or items of value that can be
redeemed for regular
purchases made.
Contests and Games give
consumers a chance to win
something such as trip or
cash upon purchase of
products and services.
Sales Promotion Process
1. Deciding whether a sales promotion is necessary.
2. Setting up of objectives for the sales promotion.
3. Selecting which promotional tools to use.
4. Develop the sales promotional program. Consideration;
a. Size of the program based on type of incentive.
b. Target Market of the program.
c. Distribution method to be used.
d. Duration of the program.
5. Implementing the program.
6. Evaluating the program.
Preparing the Promotional Plan
Below are the recommended steps marketers need to take
in coming up with a concrete, efficient and well-planned
promotional campaign.
1. Decide on what promotional tools to use.
2. Decide on which media channels to use.
3. Identify when the promotional tool will be released and
in which channel. (Timing the Media Release)
4. Evaluate the media results.
Factors to consider in Timing the Media Release.
Audience Turnover is the rate at which the target audience
changes between two periods. (If turnover is great, continuous
advertising is recommended.)
Behavior Frequency is the number of times during the year that
the target market makes the decision to purchase. (The more
frequent this is, the more advertising should be done.)
Forgetting Rate is the rate at which a message is forgotten, or
behavior change become non-evident. (The higher the forgetting
rate, the more advertising should be applied.)
References:
• Tourism Marketing
Maricel Gatcahlian-Badilla
2015 Edition
• Principles of Marketing
Pearson Education, Inc
Copyright 2010
