1. DESTINATION POSITIONING & BRANDING
DESTINATION MARKETING
SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Welcome to Digital Marketing Strategies
Session 1: Course Overview and Direction
This is Dale Fodness
DESTINATION POSITIONING & BRANDING

2. ANNOUNCEMENT: Upcoming Events
Tuesday, May 9 Midterm Exam (all materials up through Monday’s session)
Tuesday, May 9 Special Interest Tourism assignment (reports and presentation due to be submitted to MyCourses) by 23:59.
Wednesday, May 10
Special Interest Tourism Presentations and Peer Evaluations
Monday, May 15
Field Trip to Punkaharju Hotelli
8am-5pm; travel by bus; lunch and coffee provided
Tour property; meet with Saimi Hoyer; provide feedback on what we see (from the perspective of what we’ve studied)

3. DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Animations used on this page
SESSION 5
PREVIEW
DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Destinations and branding
Destination image
Destination positioning
DESTINATION MARKETING SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

4. DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Animations used on this page
SESSION 5
PREVIEW
DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Destinations and branding
DESTINATION MARKETING SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

5. Branding: What and why – a review
Brand identity
The desired image aspired to in the market place
Clear vision and values
What the brand stands for
Differentiates from rivals
Brand image The actual image of the brand held by consumers Might be quite different to that intended by the brand identity Might not exist
Brand positioning
The attempt to achieve congruence between the brand image and brand identity
Clear differentiation from rivals
Logo, slogan … and supporting marcom
Succinct and meaningful value proposition

6. Destination Branding: Why?
Does the concept of branding as it is traditionally thought of apply to destinations?
Why not?
Why?
Many destinations are “pre-branded” with their own unique names and identify. A tourism destination is a multi-faceted composite of many individual products and services each of which is typically branded. Attempting to unify this complex network of brands might be confusing for the customer.
What persuades tourists to visit one similar place over another is the emotional connection they feel towards the destination. A brand elicits emotions and feelings about a product, therefore a branding strategy would make sense for a destination to use to create these desired emotional associations.
Yes. Destination brands give visitors an assurance of quality experiences, reduce visitor search costs and offer a way for destinations to stablish a unique selling proposition (USP).

7. Destination branding is ...
… the set of marketing activities that (1) support the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that readily identifies and differentiates a destination; (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience; (3) serve to consolidate and reinforce the emotional connection between the visitor and the destination; (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk. Collectively, these activities serve to create a destination image that positively influences consumer destination choice. Blain, Levy & Ritchie (2005, p. 337)

8. Destination branding: Examples
Core promise – what we promise our destination brand will deliver to visitors
Brand personality – how our destination brand is portrayed, based on human characteristics

9. Destination branding: Helsinki
Helsinki destination branding

10. DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Animations used on this page
SESSION 5
PREVIEW
DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Detinations and branding
Destination image
DESTINATION MARKETING SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

11. The role of image in destination marketing
The images held by consumers play a significant role in travel purchase decisions
an understanding of the images held of the destination by consumers is critical
Perhaps the most important issue in destination marketing

12. Perception is reality
Images people hold of a destination dictate their decision making
The brand image might not be related to the brand identity
‘What is defined or perceived by people is real in its consequences’
(Thomas & Thomas, 1928, p. 572, in Patton, 2002)

13. The role of image in destination marketing: The marketer perspective
Intangibility and risk
Inseparability
Variability
Perishability
Substitutability

14. The role of image in destination marketing: The visitor perspective
Attitudes: 3 components
Cognition
The sum of what is known or believed about a destination, and might be organic or induced
Affect
An individual’s feelings about a destination, which may be favourable, unfavourable or neutral
Conation
Analogous to behaviour since it is the intent or action component
Intent refers to the likelihood of destination visit

15. Organic and induced images
Cognition
The sum of what is known or believed about a destination, and might be organic or induced
Organic
Developed through an individual’s everyday assimilation of information
School geography lessons
Travel experiences
Media exposure
Induced
Formed through the influence of tourism promotions directed by marketers
Advertising

16. The role of attitudes in the visitor decision making process
Need awareness
Develop alternatives
(Cognition)
Evaluate alternatives
(Affect)
Choice
(Conation)

17. Visitor decision making
Consumers aware of an almost limitless number of destinations
Decision set consists of only those brands the consumer will actually consider in the next purchase decision
Four plus or minus two destinations
Implications for those destinations not included
Importance of unaided ‘top of mind awareness’
Importance of travel context

18. Measuring destination image
Qualitative studies involving personal interviews or focus groups
Small sample, not generalizable
Interpreting the content of what people write or photograph
About their travel intentions and planning
About their actual travel experience
Emerging web-crawler technologies
Quantitative studies administering questionnaires to a large sample

19. Destination image change
Destination image change occurs only slowly over time
The larger the entity the slower the change
Implication is destination branding takes time
Consistency of message over a long period of time

20. DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Animations used on this page
SESSION 5
PREVIEW
DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Destinations and branding
Destination image
Destination positioning
DESTINATION MARKETING SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

21. Market Positioning
Market positioning is defined as the process of identifying and selecting markets or segments that represent business potential, to determine the criteria for competitive success in each
This must be based on a thorough knowledge of the needs, wants, and perceptions of the target market, along  with  the  benefits  offered  by  the destination.
To do this, a few crucial questions must be answered. These are:

22. Market Positioning Questions
What is important to the target market?
How does the target market perceive the destination?
How does the target market perceive the competition?
What should a destination emphasize to convince the target market that it is a better value than its competitors?

23. The reality is that if the target market doesn't perceive the value, the value does not exist. 

24. Market Positioning & Destination Image
Market  positioning  research  also requires an evaluation of the image that customers have of a tourism destination.
This can be used to identify the attributes which comprise the benefits.  
The beauty of a destination, the architecture of a palace, and the historic artifacts in a museum are examples of attributes that may produce a benefit, or may be a tangible representation of an intangible benefit, but are not themselves the benefit.

25. Perceived Benefits
The benefit itself is what the attributes do for the visitor, for example, perceived benefits of Punkaharju Hotelli might include…
Benefits, like positioning, exist in the mind of the customer and are determined only by asking the customer.  
Only after this information is obtained, can a destination match its strengths to the visitors' needs and the benefits sought

26. Psychological Positioning
Psychological  positioning  is  a  strategy employed to create a unique product image with the objective of creating interest and attracting visitors.
Since it exists solely in the mind of the visitor, it can occur automatically without any effort on the part of the marketer and any kind of positioning may result.
There are two kinds of psychological positioning in marketing: objective positioning and subjective positioning. Each has its appropriate place and usage.

27. Objective Positioning
Objective positioning is concerned, almost entirely,  with the objective attributes of the physical product.
It means creating an image about the destination that reflects its physical characteristics and functional features. 
It is usually concerned with what actually is, what exists.
For example…

28. The “Unique” Factor
Objective  positioning  can  be  very important and is often used in the tourism industry.  If a destination has some unique feature, that feature may be used to objectively position the destination, to create an image, and to differentiate it from the competition
Less successful objective positioning occurs when the feature is not unique. This is why many destination promotions with pictures of beaches fail to create a distinct image or successfully differentiate the product.
Other unsuccessful approaches may include a picture of two people looking at a mountain that looks like any other mountain or lying on a beach that looks like any other beach.
One of the first rules of effective positioning is uniqueness

29. Where in the world are we?

30. Where in the world are we?

31. Where in the world are we?

32. Which hotel are we in?

33. Which of these is Punkaharju Hotelli?
If you can’t tell the difference, how can you
expect potential customers to do so?

34. Subjective Positioning
Subjective positioning is the image, not of the physical aspects of the destination, but other attributes perceived by the tourist, (i.e., they do not necessarily belong to the destination but to the  tourist's  mental  perception of the experience).

35. What the marketer hopes is that the people in the target market will agree on a favorable image whether or not the image is true. This is the test of effective subjective positioning.

37. Market Positioning Approaches
While  psychological positioning creates an image, market positioning attempts to influence the picture, using visual and words, to reinforce what the destination does best and what benefits are offered.
Tourism marketers may decide to select the most appropriate of the following approaches, depending on the information gathered during market and psychological positioning.
Positioning by attribute, feature, or customer benefit. For this strategy, emphasis is placed on the benefits of the particular features or attributes of the destination. 

38. For example, Thailand promotes the friendliness of its people with the statement "The world meets in the land of smiles."

39. Positioning by Price Value
International  destinations  are  not  usually positioned on the basis of price because lower prices may be perceived as connoting lower quality.
However, value offered to visitors can be effectively  used. For example:
"Malaysia gives more natural value." With this positioning statement Malaysia is appealing not only to the sense of value (more for the money) but also to its natural attractions.

40. Positioning with respect to use or application
Here a destination is positioned based on the reasons for visiting it.
Bermuda positions itself to  the  American  MICE market  with "Sometimes you have to leave the country to get any work done" which promises productive meetings in a relaxed environment. 
Cancun, Mexico is positioned as "The meeting place for sun worshipers."

41. Positioning according to users or class of users
In this case, positioning features the people who should visit the destination.
Hong Kong appeals to the incentive travel market with the statement 'When they've reached the top, send them to the peak," referring to Victoria Peak, a major tourist site in Hong Kong

42. Positioning with respect to a product class
This technique is often used to associate a destination   with  experiences  that  are extraordinary and / or unique.
For example, the Principality of Monaco is positioned as "The fairy tale that does not end at midnight," or
Holding a convention in Thailand is "Smooth as silk where the sky's the limit, or
"If your looking for an ideal meeting place, here's one that's close to heaven" for Israel.

43. Positioning vis-a-vis the competition
This approach is not used frequently in international tourism destination marketing since it may involve negative statements about another country or region.
However…

44. Consider these questions
What position does Punkaharju Hotelli own now? (In the mind of the target market.)
 What position does Punkaharju Hotelli want to own? (Look for positions or holes in the marketplace.)
 Who must Punkaharju Hotelli out position? (Manipulate what's already in the mind.)
How can it be done? (Select the best approach that will work for the target market.)

45. DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Animations used on this page
SESSION 4
PREVIEW
DESTINATION POSITIONING AND BRANDING
Destinations and branding
Destination image
Destination positioning
DESTINATION MARKETING SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

46. DESTINATION POSITIONING & BRANDING
DESTINATION MARKETING
SESSION 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Welcome to Digital Marketing Strategies
Session 1: Course Overview and Direction
This is Dale Fodness
DESTINATION POSITIONING & BRANDING