THE MARKETOUR

A MARKETING GUIDE FROM THE WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM
October - November 2000


MARKETING TO THE INFLUENTIAL FEMALE CONSUMER

Marketing research has consistently shown that women buy or influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods and that women are the main vacation planners in most households. Clearly, women are a key market for almost any tourism-related organization. So how can the tourism industry do a better job of reaching this crucial segment? Faith Popcorn, a well-known trend forecaster and adviser to many Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, McDonald's, Nabisco and Procter & Gamble, contends that marketers cannot rely on the same methods to reach both men and women. In her latest book, "EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women" she describes eight principles, three of which have particular application to the tourism industry.

1. Connecting Your Female Consumers To Each Other Connects Them To Your Brand
With this principle, Popcorn contends that women are drawn to activities that allow them to make social connections. As she states, "In this new age, brands (or businesses) will serve as connectors for women seeking links with others; brands will 'host' relationships among their consumers...women will bond over brands, find their friends through brands, form clans and clubs and communities around brands." For examples of this type of connection, think of the popularity of coffee shops such as Starbucks or the success of Oprah's Book Club. Both of these recent phenomena bring consumers, particularly women, together.

The tourism industry has a leg-up when it comes to this principle, since travel/tourism is an ideal service for connecting people in environments where they can relax, get to know each other and have fun. Businesses that offer learning vacation opportunities have a perfect vehicle for appealing to women who wish to meet others with similar recreational interests. Lodging properties can offer group gathering times, such as cookouts, breakfasts or wine-and-cheese hours, to give female visitors the chance to meet.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has incorporated this principle into their business. Realizing that female business travelers are almost three times more likely than men to bring a spouse or friend along and that they are more likely to extend their stay, Wyndham has made a conscious effort to reach female clientele. The company has created a "Women on Their Way" Web site to provide a forum for female travelers to exchange valuable tips. In addition, Wyndham has installed lounge areas with a "library" atmosphere instead of the traditional bar décor, which research showed to be uncomfortable for women traveling alone.

2. If You're Marketing To Only One Of Her Lives, You're Missing All The Others
To fully reach out to women, marketers must understand the multi-dimensionality of females' lives and when creating product/service offerings, accommodate a woman's need to juggle many roles.

How can the tourism industry apply this principle? Popcorn describes an initiative taken by the Travelodge chain of hotels. Realizing that children were brought along on about 24,000 business trips in 1996 (up from 9,100 in 1990), the hotel chain began customizing some rooms to fit the needs of working travelers with children. They installed "Sleepy Bear's Den" rooms complete with microfridges, VCRs, low-to-the-ground chairs, small drinking cups, appealing sleepy bear bedspreads and curtains, and cuddly stuffed animals. In addition, front desks were stocked with a library of children's videos, and many properties began offering to arrange daycare services for guests. In this way, Travelodge sought to show that they understood the demands on women's lives and could help make the balancing act of being both a parent and a professional easier.

3. If She Has To Ask, It's Too Late
With this principle, Popcorn asserts that if a product/service disappoints a female customer, she'll quietly choose another option - for good. "Ninety-six percent of female customers never complain," she notes. "They just never go back."

In Popcorn's opinion, the key to retaining female customers is to practice anticipatory marketing. In contrast to traditional techniques, which merely respond to consumer feedback, anticipatory marketing means understanding customers well enough to fulfill needs that they haven't yet expressed or even considered.

How can the tourism industry use anticipatory marketing practices? One way is by promoting a unique travel experience that a woman customer might not have otherwise considered, especially if she's unfamiliar with the destination. Another option is to add a "pleasant surprise" feature to a property, as the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco has successfully done. Here, guests receive a checklist when they register asking whether they'd like items such as sunscreen, a favorite magazine, computer disks or baby formula. Also, the hotel routinely provides hair dryers, soft hangers for women's clothing and a guest's choice of down or non-allergenic pillows in each room. The key is that at the Phoenix, the hotel management -- not the guest -- does the asking.


AWARENESS OF WISCONSIN TOURISM ON THE RISE IN TWIN CITIES, CHICAGO

Awareness of Wisconsin among potential travelers in Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul has increased dramatically since last winter, according to a new study done by the Department of Tourism. Combined data shows recall of Wisconsin tourism advertising increased from 12 percent in February to 22 percent in June.

"Two factors should be taken into account for this dramatic positive shift in awareness," said Department of Tourism Research Specialist David Scheler. "First, the new TV campaign has just completed its flight. Secondly, the advertising frequency during the spring/summer campaign was significantly greater than it was during the winter campaign."

The survey was conducted by phone with 1,028 people, including 522 in Chicago and 506 in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was designed as a follow-up to a similar survey in February, taken just before the launch of the Department's new "Stay A Little Bit Longer" ad campaign. Survey participants were selected from upper-demographic neighborhoods in each metro area.

Wisconsin advertising did particularly well in the Twin Cities market, where it more than doubled from 9.9 percent in February to 21.5 percent in June, placing it second only to Florida. Wisconsin was the third most-mentioned state in the Chicago study, where its 21.8 percent recall level ranked just behind California (24.1 percent).

The survey also asked participants where they saw/heard travel advertising and how they preferred to get travel planning information. The Chicago Tribune was the most frequently mentioned advertising medium in the Chicago market. It was mentioned by 36.5 percent of the respondents, followed by the Sun-Times and the Internet with 8.8 percent, and two television stations, WLS and WMAQ, each with 8.2 percent. WBBM-TV also had a significant presence at 7.9 percent. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune was the most frequently mentioned medium in the Twin Cities, noted 25.9 percent of the time. Also strong were the Internet (10 percent); WCCO-TV with 7.4 percent; the St. Paul Pioneer Press and KARE-TV with 6.2 and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Responses to queries regarding vacation planning underscored the importance of word-of-mouth and good publicity. When asked which sources of information they used in planning a vacation, 42.6 percent mentioned friends and relatives, while publicity placements (articles) in newspapers and magazines were second with 15.2 percent. Other sources mentioned include the Internet (14.1 percent); general advertisement and AAA, both 6.7 percent; the state's toll-free number (5.8 percent); and local Internet sites (5.5 percent).

Respondents that had vacationed in Wisconsin during the past three years provided information on their most memorable vacation activities. Boating and swimming were the most popular summer activities. Snowmobiling and downhill skiing topped the list for winter. Top fall activities were sightseeing and fishing, and top spring activities were sightseeing and boating. Among the respondents planning to vacation in the state over the next year, more than two-thirds were planning to visit in summer, 44 percent were planning to come in fall and about 20 percent each in winter and spring.

For more information on this study and other Department of Tourism research, contact David Scheler at 608/261-8187 or dscheler@tourism.state.wi.us.


10-SECOND WRITING CLINIC

Using Hyphens With Compound Modifiers Before Nouns

When two or more words that express a single concept precede a noun, use hyphens to join the words in the compound and avoid confusion.

Examples: She took a full-time job at the museum. Our first-rate accommodations were the highlight of the trip.

Exception: Don't use a hyphen with adverbs ending in "-ly" or with the adverb "very," since readers can logically expect such words to modify the word that follows.

Examples: We chose the easily accessible trail. They had a very good time on vacation.

Remember that your goal is to prevent readers from having to back up mentally and make a compound connection on their own; hyphens can help make a phrase clear the first time it's read.


P.R.'s GREATEST HITS

This summer's weather helped to heat up the coverage of many of Wisconsin's top destinations and events. Madison's Rhythm and Booms and Milwaukee's Big Bang, Firstar and Festa Italiana fireworks exploded onto the pages of Home & Away magazine in June in an article listing the top fireworks displays in the Midwest.

Midwest Living readers hopped aboard the Great Circus train to get an inside look at the history of the train and it's annual commute from Baraboo to Milwaukee for the Great Circus Parade.

Wisconsin Dells was the hot topic in the summer edition of Mobil Auto Club Members' Mobil Motorist magazine. The four-page feature included highlights on the area's top attractions and accommodations.


QUICK TIPS

MEDIA LEADS
Family travel is hot on the minds of travel writers across the country this month. Lisa Matte is looking for information and press kits about family vacation destinations for a family travel column she writes for the Boston Herald. Her interests include family- friendly cities, resorts, museums, attractions and events. Any information can be sent to Lisa Matte, 42 Sycamore Road, South Weymouth, MA 02190 or e-mailed to her at LisaMatte@aol.com.

Travel America, a bi-monthly magazine focusing on affordable travel within the United States, is looking for information on family vacations. Information on attractions, resorts, campgrounds, events and festivals can be sent to Randy Mink, 990 Grove Street, Evanston, IL 60201.


WEB TIPS: ONE-ON-ONE MARKETING ON THE WEB

The Internet is changing the way potential visitors are planning vacations. More people are turning to the Web to research vacation options every day. How many? Nearly 50,000 more per day, according to Travel Industries Association of America. Most see it as an easy way to quickly get information on vacation opportunities, but when it comes to making plans, most people still prefer to talk with someone one-on-one. The question then rises about how to make the Web unobtrusive without losing the first person contact.

The easiest, but most often overlooked element in creating that easy avenue for potential customers is making contact information simple to find. Far too often people have to plod through link after link to find a phone number or address, and what good is a hotline number if no one can find it. Contact information should be clearly placed on the home page of any Web site so it can be found quickly by visitors.

Recent developments in the Web have created a number of new ways to reach out and make that personal contact consumers are looking for. First found on retail sites like Landsend.com, live, interactive operators allow people to chat online with a travel consultant and get answers to their questions while surfing a Web site. Online Web phone services have also made it possible for Web visitors to click a 1-800 number link and talk via microphone and speakers to a travel operator while still on the Web.

As technology pushes further and faster, always keep in mind how to best use the Internet to simplify travel research while keeping that first person contact feeling the majority of surfers want.