Strategic Development And Implementation Of Tourism Marketing Plans

Introduction

Establishing a business and maintaining it are two different things. Young businesses are usually dogged with myriad of challenges which sometimes make them go under (Papadopoulos). The major reason for this predicament is that their entry into the market always comes face to face with high level competition which is posed by similar but older business enterprises. It is therefore very important for young entrepreneurs to consider such factors as competition and assess whether they are prepared to face the monster challenge before they plunge into the business world.

It is true to assert that business is a game of numbers. For any business to survive then it must not only have high number of customers but also high rate of stock turnover. And for any business to have the high number of customers and high turnover, then it must be that its products and services are quality and well known in the market. It is for this reason that numerous businesses have shifted more focus on sales and marketing to create more awareness about their products and services so as to widen their markets (Romano, 2009). Some companies have even been pushed to reduce the prices of some of their products in a bid to remain competitive in the market. Others have taken operational measures such as retrenching a number of their employees so as to cut down on expenses (March, 2009). In some cases, incentives have been given to customers so as to attract them (Kotler, 2012).

Grivellia Ridge which is a medium size business dealing in wines in the city of Victoria has also been caught in the predicament. It is also facing its equal share of competition from other wine manufactures. Having a strong establishment and loyal customers in Victoria has not been enough to keep it afloat in the market as market forces are very dynamic. In the recent past, the company has had very intensive and extensive marketing activities which were geared to consolidate their customer base and even expand it. They did not only concentrate in Victoria but also went to ther areas such as SA, QLD and NSW. Some of the marketing and sales strategies that they employed were such as offering discounts in given months and having their customers updated online on their new offers. To be certain of the impacts of the just concluded exercise, the management of Grivellia Ridge Company has decided to carry out a survey on their customers so as to be able to know their interests, characteristics and behavior. Some of the variables that were collected included the number of cases bought and geographical area where a customer came from among the four cities.

The number of cases bought by those who admitted to have received discount are high (681) according to figure 3. Those who did not receive the discount bought less number of cases.

The main aim of this research was to determine if the concluded marketing exercises had an impacted especially when it came to the sales volume of the company. An indicator of any successful marketing campaign would be measured by the resultant increase in sales volume within a particular period of time. In regard to this, it will also be arguably true to expect positive results especially in sales volume after a period of serious marketing. Fortunately the expectations of Grivellia Ridge Company were met when the results from the survey indicated that they have achieved high number of sales just a couple of months after the exercise. Figure 1, which is a compound bar graph in the results section, compares the volume of sales before and after marketing. The result is an increase. Dishing of incentives to customers also proved to be fruitful. This is because the amount of cases bought due to discount was higher compared to the number where discount was not allowed. Under discount, the company was able to sell 681 cases compared to 117 cases without discount.

Since the company has had operations in Victoria City for quite a long period, customers could just find themselves being loyal to its products without any apparent reason touching on their products or services. Another factor that may influence the difference in sales between Victoria and other cities is geographical location. This has led to low sales in far areas such as SA, QLD and NSW compared to the central city where the wine business is. Lastly, the price of the wine they produce can also be a great determiner of their sales volume. Relatively low prices will encourage more customers to buy while high prices tend to discourage customers.

Conclusion

Proper marketing strategies can always lead to positive results therefore this study would recommend that the resources channeled towards marketing should be increased because at the end of the day it is marketing the company’s products and services that will make it survive in a market full of competition. Since some areas still perform poorly in terms of product knowledge and hence poor sales volume, the company should put more effort and channel more resources to these areas.

References

Romano, C. (2009), ``Research strategies for small bausiness: a case study'', International Small Business Journal, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 35-43.

Papadopoulos, S.I. (2009), ``Strategic development and implementation of tourism marketing plans: part 2'', European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 37-47.

March, R. (2009), ``Tourism marketing myopia'', Tourism Management, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 411-15

Kotler, P. (2012), Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.