First impressions count and developing a professional brand and
image for your business will help deliver consistent first
impressions to your customers.
Make sure your marketing collateral is high quality, informative
and easy to understand, that it reflects the personality of your
business and highlights what's special about what you do. Don't
forget to include any industry accreditations such as your Qualmark
accreditation or endorsement logos.
Brand value
Most people think of a brand as the name of your product and a
logo, and sometimes a tagline or slogan. But while these are
important aspects of a brand, brands are much bigger than just a
simple logo. The value of many brands lie in the associations they
create in people's minds - the goodwill and loyalty customers have
towards a brand they know and trust.
Think about how your brand is reflected across everything you
do, not just your website and brochures. How do you greet customers
when they call to make a booking? What do customers see and
experience when they first walk into your business? How do you
dress at work? Do you and your staff manage your business and host
your customers in a way that aligns with what your brand stands
for?
Once you've created a strong brand, it's important to protect
it. Visit the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand - www.iponz.govt.nz - for information on patents,
trade marks and other advice on what intellectual property is and
how to protect it.
Spreading the word
So you've got a brand and a product you're confident will
satisfy your visitors. What now? There is a range of ways you can
market your business to customers. It's best to choose a selection,
depending on who your customers are and the way they plan and book
holidays.
We know from our Distribution Channel Research research that
travellers from different countries plan and book their holidays
differently. Check out Markets and Stats for more
information.
If your customers plan ahead and research before they arrive in
your region, then you will need a good website with enquiry and/or
booking functionality.
You'll also need to make sure your target customers can find
your website online. Listings on other travel websites (such as www.newzealand.com) or in travel guides such as
Lonely Planet and Frommers, as well as spending some time making
sure your website can be found by search engines, are key ways of
doing this.
If your target customers are likely to be more spontaneous, then
you will want to make sure the local i-SITE visitor centre has your
brochure and that you are listed on their booking database. Read
more about working with your local i-SITE.
If you want to make sure you maximise your business
opportunities it's a good idea to think about using a range of
online and offline channels. Identify how you can reach your target
customers before they leave home and once they arrive in New
Zealand and in your region, and plan a mix of communications that
will reach them at these different stages of the planning
process.
Go local
Talk to other tourism operators about how you can work together
to promote your businesses. When tourists visit a region of New
Zealand they will usually want to do, see and explore as much as
possible. If you know what's on offer in your area and what other
tourism products are available to your visitors, you'll help keep
them in the region longer.
Make sure you stay in touch with your local Regional Tourism
Organisation (RTO). Your RTO is responsible for marketing your
region both in New Zealand and internationally. They work closely
with Tourism New Zealand and other tourism organisations to promote
your region to consumers, travel agents, travel wholesalers and the
media.
Keeping your RTO up-to-date on what you're up to will help them
promote your business through the work they do. And it will help
you keep up with what's happening in your region and ensure you are
delivering the products and services that meet the needs of the
kind of visitors your RTO is working to attract to the area.
Find
contact details for your local RTO.