A Meta-Manual for Resort Managers

RHOT 250 Fall 2012 SROM 151 Fall 2012

By Steve Bareham
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Table of Contents

Text Introduction 12Ps and Selectivity Chapter 1: Potent marketing concepts Chapter 2: Socio-economic trends Chapter 3: Advertising Chapter 4: High Impact Menu Copy Writing Chapter 5: Creating total quality service Chapter 6: A sales system to boost sales Chapter 7: Marketing & technology Chapter 8: Marketing Research

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META TIP

Chapter 9: Media, media relations & public relations Chapter 10: Customer relations management [CRM]

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You must have mindshare before you can have market share.
Christopher M. Knight

Chapter 11: Strategic Marketing Plans Chapter 12: Marketing audits & marketing budgets

INTRODUCTION: The 12 Ps & Selectivity

ETA: later or more highly specialized form of...; change: transformation, more comprehensive, transcending..." Webster's

MARKETING: aggregate functions designed and employed by serviceand product-oriented organizations to retain and enhance the patronage of existing clients and to gain the patronage of potential future clients. Meta-marketing is a concept designed to help managers to transcend and to make more comprehensive the traditional approaches and perspectives applied to marketing. Is this necessary? Yes. A case can be made that for more than a century, marketing has been too narrowly defined, even by many marketing specialists. Most marketing definitions cover the obvious: advertising, promotion, sales, packagingthe overt glitz that were all bombarded with daily. Metamarketers also include customer service, operational policies, physical plant, staff training, telephone answering machineseven washroom cleanlinessbecause all of these directly influence guest perceptions either positively or negatively. If you havent already, you are urged throughout this text to expand your marketing attitude, to adopt a new philosophy that will systematically involve every staff member from general manager to janitor. Everyone at your company should have one over-riding purposeto meet and exceed every conceivable guest expectation. To do this, each person must be educated about meta-marketing and trained in its delivery. This text is based on another premise as well, that the best way to succeed in business is to focus unerringly on marketing. Marketing creates and retains customersand customers are the raisons d'tre of any business. Because marketing is such a dynamic undertaking, the daily priorities of a manager should be to not only market today's products and services in a superior manner, but to also constantly seek product and service innovations to ensure that what is offered in the future is distinct and better than what is being offered by the competition.

Everything you and your staff do has marketing implications. Marketing permeates your organization at every level, and not only from the perspective of staff interactions. Your physical plant also has marketing impact; remember the negative impression you last had after experiencing a dirty washroom or signage that seemed designed to get you lost.

Everything Is Marketing
Meta-marketing managers are committed to the philosophy that everything falls within the rubric of marketing. If you adopt this philosophy, you will be the exception. If you can put it into practice at your club, hotel, or resort, you, and it, will be exceptional.
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Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

The 12 Ps of marketing

arketing, as a discipline, has existed for only about a century. It grew as a result of mechanization and mass production that enabled companies to produce goods faster than society could consume them. Threatened with swollen inventories, and facing intense competition for buyers, business people began systematizing ways to appeal to customers. With a focus on systems, arose categories and these categories became the ingredients of marketing, thus the term marketing mix. was coined in the 1940s. At first the ingredients were few, initially only four: product, price, place, and promotion. By the early 1990s, a fifth P - people - was recognized as a key factor that made the difference to success or failure, profit or loss. Through the years, more Ps have been added to ensure a comprehensive approach to marketing (now at 12 and counting). For marketers, though, the whole object of marketing should always boil down to one major consideration: Is this something that customers want, and have I verified that want with valid research methodologies? This is the allimportant Proof aspect of marketing. Keeping the Ps at the tops of our marketing minds is always wise, and for that reason, they appear at the front of this bookit pays to look at them often and to do a quick audit to ensure that none are missing and that all are functioning properly: PRODUCT - What is the product or service, you offer, be you a resort course, resort, hotel, restaurant, florist, engineer, builder, naturopath, dentist, delivery person, writer, or whatever. The danger lies in not accurately defining what it is that you are equipped to sell better than your competition. Many business people err by building too many product or service lines and also ones that dilute focus. PROOF - What research have you done into your customers and your competitors to prove that your existing or proposed product/service is, in fact, needed/wanted, and that your marketing idea will produce projected results? As well, can you verify that you and your staff possess the needed knowledge, skills, experience, expertise, & distinctive competencies to ensure success? There is no such thing as too much research, in fact, the reality is that far too little is done in favour of intuition and gut instinct (neither of which have any quantifiable bases). PEOPLE - Who wants/needs your product/service, i.e. who are your target markets: baby boomers, retirees, teenagers, sports people,
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META TIP In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope.
Charles Revson

Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

campers, mechanics, teachers, nurses, high school or mature age students etc.? Have you talked to these peoplea lot? Who haven't you thought of? Have you considered the different generational perspectives and other slices of society that can be appealed to in the interest of building your revenue base? People enters the world of heterogeneity, targeting, segmentation, and ultrafine targeting to ensure that finite marketing dollars are not wasted, more on all these later. PERCEPTION- How does the audience currently judge your product and your range of services: expensive, economical, functional, excellent service, top quality, innovative, trendy etc.? Ongoing research is needed to ensure that an urge to maintain status quo isnt eclipsed by changing resort and guest demands. POSITION - Where do you want your product to be placed in the minds of guests: the best, equal to, better than, one of a kind etc.? How did you determine that position? Did you factor in biases, prejudices, gender issues? Who do you consider to be your competition that you are measuring yourself against? Do you know them? Do people you want to attract know them, and how do you stack up comparatively? Is this positioning that customers want? Have you planned and controlled your position, or has it evolved by accident? PRICE - What should a fair and competitive cost range be for your product, and is it set at a point that guests will respond favourably? Is your strategy high price, low volume, or low price, high volume, or somewhere in the middle with other competitors; each strategy has merits and negatives and all should be considered. PROBLEMS & PITFALLS - What can hinder your product acceptance? (Competition, misrepresentation, economic decline, government policy, overhype, under delivery etc.) And, once these potential problems have been identified, how will you respond to and overcome them should they occur? Use a process known as planning to fail so you can predict and prevent before crises arise. PROMOTION - Promotion keeps your products and services in the minds of customers and guests, and in so doing, helps to stimulate demand. Promotion involves pretty much everything done to boost sales, i.e. ongoing advertising, sales, media relations and public relationsall are integral parts of the promotions mix. In marketing terminology, promotions divided into two categories: above-theline and below-the-line. Overt advertising through traditional media outlets such as newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and the Internet, are all considered above-the-line promotions, while other
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Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders.
Philip Kotler

Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

The 12 Ps of marketing
marketing approaches fall into the below-the-line category. On the surface, above-the-line marketing (advertising) is the most straight forward challenge in many respects, while below-the-line has many facets: sales promotions (gifts, onsite sales reps) direct marketing (mail, Internet, etc.) competitions and contests sponsorships most public relations involvements loyalty programs point-of-sale merchandising and displays exhibitions and trade shows discounts and coupons PERSUASION - When you pursue marketing initiatives to stimulate buyer response, do you strategically apply your persuasion arsenal? There are many specific persuasion techniques and strategies that you can use individually, combine several, or use all of them: Ethos: the integrity and credibility of you, your staff, and company Pathos: the positive emotional connections you make; benefits of a product or service appeal to emotions Logos: how your marketing overtures respond to peoples logical side; features of a product or service answer the need for factual information Reciprocity: people respond in kind, good nets good Association: people can be influenced by the people they associate your company with, e.g. endorsements from famous athletes or personalities Beliefs and values: research can reveal these and they are very powerful motivators once known. Although they are commonly used together as though they are the same, beliefs differ from values very significantly and marketers should be aware of the difference. For instance, we can believe in democracy, but it is the values we ascribe to it that really impacts our lives. The key values to democracy, for example, could be cited as freedom, one person/one vote, majority rule, etc. Likewise religion, people believe in a god, but it is tenets of behaviour that articulate the values, e.g. The 10 commandments; without values, beliefs have little substance. Contrast: focusing on differences; you can influence the perception others hold by illustrating how your company is different and better (differentiation); contrast also applies to price point options: best, medium, and budget quality.
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Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

Scarcity: buy this now, its the last one! Education: over time, the persistent presentation of information can be very persuasive (Volvo as the safest car) Expectation and Anticipation: if you can build positive anticipation, the sale is almost made Social proof: Everyone else is doing it. Authority: most people are followers. Ego: People love to have this stroked. Consistency: Why change when youve been satisfied for years? Commitment: loyalty programs Personal gain: this is a no-brainer. PRO-ACTIVE FOLLOW-UP - What will you do to check on customer satisfaction after the sale? Follow up is a critical part of the emerging science of customer relations management (CRM). PLACE - Is your hotel and all of your facilities what guests want? What do they like in particular; what dont they like? PROCESSES - Little annoys customers more than corporate processes that stymie effectiveness and efficiency. Processes can be policies, procedures, or technology that get in the way of good service. You should check all of the following to ensure that they are customer friendly: Phone answering and message system Purchase technology (in-store and online) Registration and sign-ins Email contact Membership and subscription procedures Form completing technology Online software people need to complete Complaint procedures Twelve P's to define, analyze, research, plan for, and to implement. Do them all well, and the likelihood of success is greatly improved..

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Authentic marketing is not

Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

The psychology of selectivity

Research reveals that most of us, via newspapers, radio, TV, signage, the Internet, direct mail, telemarketing, etc. are bombarded by hundreds of advertising messages each day. Our brains determine which ads we attend to and which ones we dont, and its a good thing they do or we could literally suffer cognitive overload. However, our ability to sift, sort, prioritize, and ignore marketing messages also presents a great challenge to marketers whose job it is to break through the clutter so we buy their products and services. Significantly, consumers ability to recall brands and products following exposure to marketing communication has been shown to have a direct and correlative impact on consumer decision behavior, i.e. whether or not they buy. There is also a wealth of research supporting the contention that knowledgeable consumers remain loyal to specific brands once memory impressions are engrained. choice experience results in selective retention of brand information favoring chosen brands. This selective retention continues to favor previously chosen brands even if a previously inferior brand is improved through addition of a new attribute (Biehal and Chakravarti 19821983). Thus, marketers must also become amateur psychologists since we have to gain some understanding of how people process information. In short, people try to make the complex more simple by employing cognitive schemas. Our brains, when encountering new information, seek to establish order and to assure ourselves we are moving toward correct answers, force parallels from new information with previous knowledge and experience about situations (including products and services). This explains why it can be so difficult for a company to overcome bad first impressions, even if those impressions are made by imperfect and inaccurate inference, e.g. if a toy is made in China, the quality is poor and it may contain toxic ingredients. Conversely, positive schemas are equally powerful, thus explaining why some people favour one brand of automobile their entire lives even though objective evidence can easily be found to prove that other brands are superior in almost every way. Schema theory asserts that we are so determined to establish familiar and comfortable patterns when processing new information that we subconsciously reject much of that that does not fit; we immediately categorize it as irrelevant and thus not worth committing to our biological hard driveour brains. Our tendency to reject information is one of the
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Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

greatest challenges to marketers. Research reveals numerous psychological processes are involved, and there is extensive research in this area that serious marketers would do well to explore in more depth than can be devoted here. Consider this only the briefest introduction to: selective perception selective comprehension and distortion selective retention selective exposure

Selective perception
Selective perception occurs when we categorize and interpret incoming stimuli (sight, sound, olfactory, etc.) and decide whether or not to acknowledge it consciously. Our brains, working in a near subconscious state, are good at selecting what we want to notice or ignore. For example, when you need a new car, you start to notice car dealerships and attend (pay attention) to vehicles on the road that approximate the models you find most appealing. Likewise, new mothers notice other women with babies and are receptive to anything and everything that has to do with motherhood. And, if youre driving along a freeway strip when youre hungry, suddenly the mishmash of fast-food signs snap sharply into view whereas just a half hour before the hunger pangs hit, they were totally blocked out. . Our brains select and sort in milliseconds, so simply stated, selective perception occurs when consumers process incoming stimuli that meets their needs. That makes perception the first challenge for marketers, and it explains why many advertisers use sensory shock tactics to ensure that we notice what it is that they are trying to sell. If they cant get us to first attend (to perceive), they cant impart any of their message.

Selective Comprehension and Distortion

Getting our attention isnt nearly enough, though, because even noticed incoming stimuli isnt always interpreted the way marketers want it to be. Selective comprehension and distortion describe the tendency for consumers to interpret information they have perceived in ways that support existing knowledge, attitudes and past experiences. As such, we enter the arena of beliefs, values, and biases. When marketers enter such deeply seated regions of human psyches, we begin to better appreciate why positive perceptions are so important for advertisers to foster.
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Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

Because we comprehend and distort information so it fits with our preconceptions, we tend to accept or reject many products and services to be consistent with beliefs we have about brands and brand associations. Consider people who will drink nothing but Coke, or drive nothing but a Toyota, contending that competitors are just not good enough. Research, however, has shown that comprehension and distortion are highly evident in blind marketing tests where consumers are unable to distinguish between their favourite brands and competitor products. Still, in marketing perception is reality, and this explains why it is so important for companies to never turn customers off. Turning them back on again can be a very, very difficult process thanks to our commitment to comprehend and distort in concert with what we choose to believe.

Selective Retention
Suppose, with your marketing message, that youve managed to achieve perception and havent been derailed by comprehension or distortion. Is the sale made? Not necessarily. People still fail to register and retain much of the incoming stimuli because memory is an active process, much like hitting the save key on your computer; if there is no deliberate energy expended to save, information can come into our brains but be forgotten scant seconds later because weve moved on to something else. Selective retention is strengthened by repeated positive experiences and by repeated marketing exposure. This is why Mcdonalds keeps advertising even though its difficult to believe anyone could ever forget the company exists. This to say, we retain memory about products or services when we have strong needs, memorable experiences, and when we can easily connect to dominant brands through prolonged exposure.

Rule of thumb for advertising

Create what you believe is a totally comprehensive plan for each advertising initiative. Now, do three times that much to get the 20 impressions detailed at right. Most people under estimate ad impacts and stop short. More on this in the chapter that deals with advertising.

Selective Exposure
Finally, we have selective exposure, whereby consumers deliberately select which marketing channels they willingly expose themselves to. Consider that people tend to read only magazines that interest them and not those that dont. We aggressively mute television ads, or choose those times to leave the room. And, of course, theres even technology that screens advertisements out of television programming. These are just a few examples of how people control marketing messages before perception can even occur. As the range of products and services constantly expands globally, we can expect more people to get even more aggressive about selective exposure. Another challenge for marketers.
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Marketing: The Meta -Manual for Resort Managers

Be aware of psychological selectivity

hen you place an ad, you likely go in active search to see or hear it. People we target, however, arent so emotionally invested. In fact, as the previous pages reveal, we deliberately seek to filter out anything we deem as irrelevant. It means you need to advertise and promote often enough to be there when customers wants and needs converge in your favour. Nineteenthcentury marketer Thomas Smith knew this, as evidenced by advice he gave to advertisers in 1885. It applies more than ever today: 1. The first time people look at any given ad, they don't even see it. 2. The second time, they don't notice it. 3. The third time, they are aware that it is there. 4. The fourth rime, they have a fleeting sense that they've seen it somewhere before. 5. The fifth time, they actually read the ad. 6. The sixth time, they thumb their nose at it. 7. The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it. 8. The eighth time, they start to think, "Here's that confounded ad again." 9. The ninth time, they start to wonder if they may be missing out on something. 10. The tenth time, they ask friends and neighbours if they've tried it. . 11. The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads. 12. The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product. 13. The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value. 14. The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time. 15. The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can't afford to buy it. 16. The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future. 17. The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product. 18. The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product. 19. The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully. 20. The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offered.
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