Because of the ongoing global crisis, most tourism and hospitality brands are more than before faced with a harsh reality: they need to either adapt or die. I personally get a lot of questions and requests from students and entrepreneurs on how they can amend their business strategy in order to stay relevant in the new economy. Well there is no “one size fits all” formula to achieve this, just like there isn’t one recipe that can guarantee your success. Where one business just needs to make slight alterations, another one will need a complete strategic makeover. Here are some key steps to follow in order to improve or totally reinvent your tourism brand:
Conduct a brand audit which will allow you to determine your brand’s current position, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. It will be a crucial step to establish the new direction you need to follow to achieve success and will give you more information on your competitive landscape, audience and how to optimise your existing resources
Connect with your existing audience: In order to keep your customers happy and transform your current clients into ambassadors of your brand, you need to listen to their feedback.
Research and craft your new brand identity: With the data you have collected, identifying your unique selling points, define your new goals ( short and long terms) and put the elements of your new brand together.
Implement your new strategy: launch the new brand and be ready to amend if need be.
Once again, your customers/audience feedback will be crucial to assess the success of your renewed strategy. For instance, since Kamaroutes’ revamp in June, there’s been a 300% increase in website traffic, 80% more requests were received, compared to the months of March, April and May ( despite the covid19 crisis) and 100% of our customers with existing bookings indicated they feel more confident in our services and agreed to travel with us in the future and/or move their trips to the upcoming year instead of cancelling.
Our industry is badly impacted by the current crisis and logically, the main focus of most entrepreneurs right now is survival. However it is also crucial for brands to send the right signals if they want their customers to trust them in the future. Say hello@creativeandmoving.com and let us know how we can help your brand survive and succeed in these tumultuous times.
Very good insight! I personally like this statement ‘it is also crucial for brands to send the right signals if they want their customers to trust them in the future.’
Thanks Emy. Times are tough but we need to keep our eyes on the prize