11. Marketing
11.4. Marketing Strategies
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11.3. Distribution Channels
v Direct Sales at the Company’s website v Cruise directors and Agents
v Tour operators
v Local Hotel Representatives
11.4. Marketing Strategies
Strategy one: Collaborate with local Ministry of Tourism and St. Kitts Tourism Authority Apart of the Ministry of Tourism and the St. Kitts Tourism Authority’s mandate is to assist and encourage new entrepreneur to create new and unique tours to increase the Tourism product. In return, both entities:
v Approval of company offering once it meets criteria and operational standards created by both entities
v Assist with certification of the company and offer advice on improving the company v Offers basic customer service and etiquette training and certification of staff
v Assistance through promotion and advertising of the product to gain visibility and traction in the source markets, at tradeshows, via the destination website and social media pages
Both entities view new viable and sustainable Tourism products/ attractions as an opportunity to:
v Increase the product offering
v Attract more cruise ships and stay over visitors
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v Diversify the product offering
v A new and fresh product to promote and advertise
Strategy two: Collaborate with Cruise lines to promote and sell the tour.
Cruise lines are more attracted to destinations that offer a large number and variety of tours to their passengers. This is so because:
v Variation and quantity plays a role in customer’s route selection, as they become more popular and attractive
v Helps to improve their guest experience while on shore, v Ensure satisfied and happy customers
v Provide positive feedback from customers about their overall cruise experience, v Gain repeat customers and attract potential new customers
v Cruise lines has the opportunity to generate income by receiving commission for selling these tours on-board.
To achieve this collaboration, the manager with support and assistance from the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, will attend the two major annual Cruise Tradeshows,(Sea Trade and the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association) to meet with cruise executives to discuss and creates contracts to add the tour to their on-board tour offerings..
Strategy Three: Collaborate with Accommodation properties, restaurants and Local Destination Management Companies (DMC)
The Manager will host breakfast meetings on both islands and invite hotel and other accommodation managers, their sales and marketing representatives and DMC reps to attend.
At these breakfast meetings, the manager will present the overall concept of the Tea House
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promoting the Tea House at their property through the concierge service, front desk and display of brochures. They will be encouraged to view Tea House as new add on product for their guest to experience because as tourism stakeholders it is our mandate to ensure that the visitors receive the best of what the island has to offer. Ensuring they receive a positive lasting experience, which will result in them making positive recommendations and wanting to come back for more. If requested all partners will receive a commission for promoting and selling the tour.The local media houses will also be invited to this event and will be contracted to broadcast and publish the event.
Strategy Four: Collaborate with Taxi Operators
Taxi Operators are some of the most important and influential stakeholders in the tourism industry. In many cases, they are the first point of contact for the guest as they are the ones who transport them from the airport to the hotels. Therefore, it is essential to get the taxi operators to buy into our Tea House tour. We plan to achieve this by hosting the taxi operators as our first set of guest at the Tea House, offering them a complimentary experience, giving them the knowledge and expertise to sell and recommend our tour to their guest. We will also create a program where the taxi operator will receive US$1 per guest they transport to the Tea House.
Strategy Five: Embracing and engaging with the general public
After the Taxi Operators visit, the local public will be invited to experience the Tea House. A social media (Facebook and Instagram) campaign will be created, offering complimentary tours to all locals on the weekends during the first month the Tea House opens. A fun filled
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atmosphere will be created to attract families. The locals will receive the full experience like paying customers and in addition engage in activities where they can win prizes for solving trivia and promoting the Tea House on their individual social media pages. In addition, Tea House experience will be offered to all schools on the island encouraging the teachers to schedule visits at the Tea House with the students as a part of their History and Social Studies lessons.
Strategy Six: Crowdsourcing
The internet and technology has afforded companies the opportunity to market and promote their companies at a very affordable cost, this is mainly done via social media pages such as facebook, Instagram and twitter just to name a few. However, another very effective way of promotion and creating awareness of one’s company is via crowdsourcing. This term
“crowdsourcing” has been around for nearly a decade it is defined as the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people. In other words, businesses tap into the “power of the crowd” rather than carrying out tasks themselves. This platform creates major exposure to a company and its brand if the act is carried out properly.
At the Tea House, we will use crowdsourcing to create a marketing campaign; This will be opened to visitors and potential visitor of the Tea House. Both groups will be asked to create short video, visitors will create a video that summarizes their experience and why it was worth visiting the Tea House, then post it on their social media pages, both Facebook and Instagram.
Our potential visitors on the other hand will need to have at least one hundred thousand followers and will be asked to view our video clip of the Tea House experience from our website and social media page, then submit and post on their social media pages a short video
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summarizing why themselves and others should visit the Tea House. This attempt will create awareness and exposure for the Tea House and the destination on a whole to a wider audience.
The winner of the contest will receive an all-expenses paid vacation for two for one week in St.
Kitts. They will be invited to visit during the Annual Music Festival week at the end of June, will receive VIP tickets for each night or visit in December during our annual St. Kitts Sugar Mass Carnival celebration, and will receive tickets to attend the different shows and to take part in the different activities. It is quite likely that our winners will document the trip, giving their viewers a sneak peek into all that St. Kitts and the Tea House has to offer.
In an effort to reduce cost for the Tea House, this initiative can be a joint venture between tourism stakeholders, as many entities can benefit from this type of exposure. For instance, free or discounted accommodation, dinners and activities can be solicited in exchange for free exposure on the winner’s social media pages. The return on this investment can be very high if executed properly.
The promotional mix will contain the following component:
v Destination website v Company’s website
v Social media including, but not limited to facebook, twitter, Instagram v Familiarisation trips for tourism and hospitality personnel
v Membership in historical, ecotourism and heritage societies v Ads in travel trade publications.
v Ads in airline Magazines (LIAT, AA, BA) etc v Sales blitz.
v Trade, Travel and Cruise shows
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Various strategies including direct advertising will be employed to increase the consumer demand for the project while at the same time offering the incentives to intermediaries to sell the product.
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