Destination Marketing: Principles, Campaigns, and Digital Tools

This document provides an in-depth analysis of destination marketing, focusing on principles of marketing planning, key elements of destination marketing campaigns, and different digital marketing tools used for promoting a specific destination. It explores the effectiveness of applying marketing principles, compares and contrasts destination marketing campaigns, and reviews the use of digital marketing tools. The document also includes a case study on the marketing of London, United Kingdom.

DESTINATION
MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1. Evaluation of how principles of marketing planning support the marketing of a destination
................................................................................................................................................1
M1. Critical Evaluation of effectiveness of applying principles of marketing planning to
market a destination................................................................................................................2
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
P2. Analysis of key elements of a range of destination marketing campaigns......................3
M2. Comparison and contrasting key elements of a range of destination marketing campaigns
................................................................................................................................................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................4
P3. Reviewing the different digital marketing tools used for promoting and advertising a
specific destination.................................................................................................................4
M3. Critical Evaluation of effectiveness of digital marketing tools in reaching different target
audiences................................................................................................................................5
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................7
P4. Examination of role and services of DMOs in marketing a destination..........................7
P5. Assessment of challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations.............................8
M4. Critical Analysis of challenges faced by DMOs in successfully meeting destination
marketing objectives...............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Destination Marketing refers to all the activities and processes which are used to
appropriate promote and market a destination within the world. The agenda of this type of
marketing is usually associated with enhancing tourism activities within the particular
destination by providing crucial information to individuals about the heritage, services or even
about the essential aspects related to the whole destination (Heeley, 2015). Hence, in regards to
this, the report below is based on Destination Marketing of London, United Kingdom, which
covers a detailed assessment of how marketing principles could be applied to support destination
growth and development, along with analysis of the key elements of destination marketing
campaign. The current report discuss about the Asheville destination which is a city within the
Western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountain. This city is known for historic architecture and
vibrant art scene which includes dome-topped Basilica of Saint Lawrence. Furthermore, the
report also includes evaluation of role of digital marketing in promoting a destination. A detailed
assessment of the role of Destination Marketing Organisations is also been involved in the whole
report, along with the challenges faced by them.
LO 1
P1. Evaluation of how principles of marketing planning support the marketing of a destination
Marketing Planning refers to the procedure of a detailed anticipation of events within the
future which further results in formation of effective strategies that are essential towards
marketing a specific destination. In addition to this, it includes various activities associated with
designing of plans which contributes towards achievement of marketing objectives. Therefore,
below is an evaluation of principles of marketing planning in context of the support they provide
to marketing of destinations: Problem or demand of consumer: The first fundamental principle of marketing is about
determining the actual demand of consumers, what kind of thing that consumer are seeking
to fulfil their demand. This in turn help in determining the actions that must be taken into
consideration to present the services in front of customers in such a manner that fulfil their
demand. Many organisation end up by marketing about their processes as well as features of
services, but fail to present about the benefit that their service will provide for which the
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consumers is seeking. So, by presenting the main advantage that people travel to Asheville
will get help in performing effective destination marketing (Avraham, 2016). Creating detailed picture of ideal buyer: For making about a destination in front of
consumers firstly it become crucial for the marketer to get total idea about its target audience
in term of their demographics, income, mean of transportation, motivation, interest etc. By
getting idea about this, it become easier to determine the area over which marketing for
particular destination must be performed. So, that right audience can be targeted for
marketing about the destination who likely to visit the Asheville.
 Demonstrating value of offerings: This is one of the most significant principle of marketing
which allow a marketer to attract more and more traveller to the destination if right value is
being demonstrated in front of consumers for whom they are seeking. For this the travelling
agents can provide their customers with some complimentary services along with their
destination package of Asheville such as free meal. This help in presenting an additional
factor to attract the travellers toward taking up services to visit the Asheville destination
(Bastiaansen and et. al., 2018).
M1. Critical Evaluation of effectiveness of applying principles of marketing planning to market a
destination
It is highly imperative that the above principles are critically evaluated to determine their
effectiveness towards marketing a destination. For instance, while product is a very crucial
element of the marketing planning, it is only viable if a destination has something unique to
offer. However, if not, then this strategy is underutilised in marketing planning by a destination.
On the other hand, price is a prominent factor which would encourage individuals to visit the
place as it would allow them to witness the tourism activities at lower rates which makes their
experience east and affordable. However, its effectiveness is limited while the same is placed as
the only principle in marketing planning and hence, it is required to be associated with a range of
services to create an appeal.
In context of place, it is comparatively a better alternative then the previous two options as
this principle is completely subjected towards highlighting the uniqueness of the place, along
with developing an interest of why individuals should visit that particular destination. Similarly,
promotion tools are effective too towards marketing a destination, as it allows the organisations
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to narrow down the target market in a prominent way which is imperative for success of the
destination marketing plan.
LO 2
P2. Analysis of key elements of a range of destination marketing campaigns
Marketing campaign are characterised to action courses that are organised for promoting
and selling commodities or services (Griffin and et. al., 2017). Different marketing campaign are
organised with different objectives. In context to destination market campaign, it is a strategy
that is adopted by government of a nation to promote the location and attract more visitors
towards it. The main objective of destination marketing campaign is to attain maximum reach as
well as increase proportion of audience visit.
Asheville is a destination that offers break from every day working and embraces small
and big surprises for its customers. It explores extensive advertising plans that are specially
designed for creating awareness addition to inspiring overnight visitation. It assist its customers
to plan visits and represents tourism related businesses which attracts more than 4.5 million visits
in an annual year (Asheville advertising campaign, 2020)
The differences among key elements of destination marketing campaign among London
and Asheville are the following:
Key elements London marketing campaign Asheville marketing campaign
Uniqueness The element is all about how unique
facilities the marketing campaign
provides to its targeted audiences. In
context to London marketing campaign,
its uniqueness is clear visibility of
amenities at the destination. Its
amenities includes visitor centres, easily
navigable website and partnership with
hotels that attracts large population
towards its.
In relevance with Asheville
marketing campaign, its
uniqueness is food scene. The
destination offers various pretty
big cuisine and unites local food
along with drink establishments
which grabs attention of large
food lovers and influence
destination branding at global
level.
Audience It is second key component involved in In context to Asheville marketing
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destination marketing campaign. The
audience for London marketing
campaign was defined on the basis of
demographic factors like age and
gender that outlined the ideal clients for
the campaign.
campaign, the audience was
determined as per geographic
factors related to city or country
that stated about the potential
customers for the event.
Attractions The attraction is another key element of
London marketing campaign.
Attractions in form of natural wonders,
historical attractions and special
activities are wide in destinations which
pique interest of potential travellers.
In association to Asheville
marketing campaign, attraction
are in kind of man made cuisines,
hotels, restaurants and bars for
promoting destination food
scenes.
With the mentioned elements, destination gained huge attentions of mass population that
helped successfully meeting objectives of the both campaigns. For example, the objective of
London marketing campaign was to attract and increase visitor number. The destination achieved
the objectives through its elements. At same time, the objective of Asheville marketing campaign
is to promote the food scene that was achieved with attractions and offerings of uniqueness.
M2. Comparison and contrasting key elements of a range of destination marketing campaigns
The key elements of London marketing campaign include apparent visibility of amenities,
usage of demographic factors to target audiences and attractions in kind of historical attractions,
special activities as well as natural wonders. In contrary, the key elements of Asheville
marketing campaign involves offering of pretty big cuisines, usage of geographic factors to
attract visitors and attractions in form of bars, hotels and so on.
The similarity among London marketing campaign and Asheville marketing campaign is
destination’s branding as well as development of image of the locations that offers wide services
to visitors. It has been evaluated that all these elements are inter dependent on each other so that
objectives of campaign are met promptly.
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LO 3
P3. Reviewing the different digital marketing tools used for promoting and advertising a specific
destination
Digital Marketing means inclusion of internet, as well as online technologies which are
related to marketing a destination using several online alternatives (Gössling, Scott and Hall,
2015). There has been a substantial and evident inclination of individuals, organisations, as well
as destinations towards using online and digital channels for marketing various destinations.
Therefore, the digital marketing tools that would be analysed below are related to London,
United Kingdom, as the chosen destination. Hence, below is a prominent and effective review of
different marketing tools used to promote this destination: Content Marketing: One of the most prominent used tool for marketing destinations is
content marketing, which requires the organisations to focus on development, as well as
distribution of various content that could be subjected to the target audience (Jiang,
Ramkissoon and Mavondo, 2016). Within London, the target audience are mostly
millennials currently due to travelling being one of the key trends amongst the youth
lately. The aspect which differentiates the same from traditional marketing is that it is
relevant, as well as valuable. For instance, the content marketing for London is usually
based on its heritage, as well as over the top destinations within the city. Search Engine Optimisation: This method is associated with the procedure of acquiring
web traffic from effective search results on various platforms such as Google, as well as
Bing. This provides the organisations’ marketing to be directly associated with the
relevant searches which are made my millions of individuals worldwide. In this context,
marketing of London as a tourism destinations ensures that the content is optimally
associated with the relevant searches that have been made on travelling and tourism.
 Social Media Marketing: With effective access to digitalisation, destination marketing
has shifted onto social media as a prominent tool to market themselves. There are various
portals that have been used by these destinations to ensure effective marketing, such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. As for London, its marketing is heavily laid
on all the above portals and it uses pictures, real life experiences of patrons, information
about its heritage, as well as compelling videos, which encourages individuals to opt for
the destination (Marasco and et. al., 2018).
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M3. Critical Evaluation of effectiveness of digital marketing tools in reaching different target
audiences
As mentioned above London is currently targeting younger generation for its tourism
activities and are focusing on the same while developing its marketing strategies. In context of
the same, it becomes necessary that the above marketing tools are evaluated in context of
reaching to different target customers. Therefore, this evaluation is performed below:
 Content Marketing:
This is known to be one of the most valuable tools to be used by destinations to approach its
target market with. In context of this destination, a major favourable aspect related to the same is
that it is quite appropriately subjected on the relevant target market due to its narrow nature
(Séraphin and et. al., 2016). Therefore, the marketers in London first anticipate the aspects that
are in trends of their target market and effectively channelize the content they wish to market.
However, its effectiveness could be lowered while changes in the anticipated trend, such as
reduction of rigid and costly tour packages with upcoming customised packages for tourists.
Therefore, its effectiveness is slightly lower towards approaching this target market due to
accurate and consistent anticipation of trends, which is quite complex.
 Search Engine Optimisation:
One particular factor which contributes towards effectiveness of the same is that it allows
gaining trust of individuals and ensuring customers’ arrival to the destination. The reason for the
same is that effective SEO allows the destination to be shown at the top position of every
relevant search, which ensures high inclination of customers towards the same. In addition to
this, millennials tend to take review of places before visiting, within which ranking through SEO
could play a prominent role. However, this method is only reliable when the marketing
organisations ensure selection of competitive keywords which allows them to acquire accurate
results each time. Irrespective of the same, this method in today’s digitalised era is highly
effective towards attracting the millennials towards a destination.
 Social Media Marketing:
Social Media is perhaps the most important tool which is used by the organisations in regards
to market the destinations effectively out of all the methods mentioned above, it is the most
effective one in targeting the millennials towards London. The fact which governs the same is
that there are a range of different and appropriate portals which could help the organisations in
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diversifying the ways in which it could market the destination, hence, using every possible way
to enhance the interest of customers towards the destination (Kladou and Mavragani, 2015).
However, a downfall in adopting this method towards attracting the millennials is that it might
lead to spread of false information which might be disadvantageous for the destination.
However, the same could be controlled by responsible marketing operations.
LO 4
P4. Examination of role and services of DMOs in marketing a destination
A Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) is an enterprise that is responsible and
directed towards promoting and marketing a destination within the market (Line and Runyan,
2014). Along with this, they are associated with increasing the awareness, as well as appeal for
the destination,
There are several roles and services of DMOs towards marketing a destination that is
explored below in context of London:
 Development of Tourism Facilities:
One of the most crucial roles which DMOs are required to play within a destination is
development of tourism facilities. It is their prime responsibility that they set up certain activities
which enhances the appeal for the destination in tourism perspective. As an example, there is
immense popularity of several destinations in London such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and
so forth. DMOs then provide services towards arranging activities such as sightseeing of these
places, along with even setting up tourism activities such as making tourists witness changing of
the guards at the palace.
 Marketing Planning and Coordination:
Another prominent service which is provided by the DMOs within London is that they are
involved in development of marketing planning, as well as coordination. For example, these
organisations play a role of market research, which allow them to anticipate the current and
future trends that are related to the destination. The next step regarding this is development of the
plans, target markets, choosing methods, employing individuals and so forth. For instance,
London is a tourist hub with most of the tourists belonging to the millennial age group and
hence, DMOs within the city allows to fix certain methods, such as SEO and Social Media
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Marketing which would then be directed on the target market through effective planning (Li,
Robinson and Oriade, 2017).
 Visitor Information Management:
This role is again a very crucial one which requires DMOs to manage and maintain the
visitor information that are taking, as well as have taken a tour of the city in the past. This is
performed due to safety reasons, as well as ensuring better services to these customers next time
they visit the city.
P5. Assessment of challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations
As mentioned above, Destination Marketing Organisations play crucial role within
destination marketing (Yang, Pan and Song, 2014). However, during the course they face certain
challenges as well, which are elaborated and assessed as under:
 Coping Up with Technologies:
One of the most inevitable changes which DMOs while marketing destinations face is
coping up with the changes in technologies. For instance, right from when Oculus VR came into
being in the starting of this decade, the trend of tourism was completely transformed due to the
fact that individuals now just require that gadget in context of experiencing the tourist activities
without being physically present at the destination. Despite this technology came into being
years ago, still, there are various DMOs in global destinations like Spain which are yet to acquire
these technologies completely. Moreover, it takes a huge investment to market and track the
changes associated with technologies which is not a viable option for DMOs.
 Terrorism:
Another major threat is associated with Terrorism. This could include high intensity of
crime rate within a place. For example, Turkey is considered to be one of the prime tourism
destinations. Yet, the crime rate in that destination is high, which makes it challenging for DMOs
to market this destination effectively to individuals due to terrorist and crime threats hovering
within the city, making it almost impossible for marketers to convince individuals towards
visiting the same.
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M4. Critical Analysis of challenges faced by DMOs in successfully meeting destination
marketing objectives
The above mentioned challenges are necessary to be critically evaluated to evaluate how
serious these barriers are in terms of successfully meeting the destination marketing objectives.
Hence, below is a critical evaluation of both the challenges mentioned above: Coping Up with Technologies:
In terms of intensity, it is a very serious challenge which requires DMOs to ensure that they
indulge in rigorous and continuous market research to keep up with the new advancements and
mould their operations with respect to the same (Mariani, Di Felice and Mura, 2016). However,
it is a highly costly task, which makes it a prominent threat towards achievement of marketing
objectives. However, to limit the same, DMOs could ensure that their marketing methods
includes way more content and appealing information which urges customers to visit the same
despite of them not using the latest technologies. Another option is related to adopting those
technologies which would help them boasting the achievement of marketing objectives, such as
customised package selection, self check ins, bookings, checkouts and so forth (Pike, 2015).
 Terrorism:
In comparison to the above challenge, this threat is quite severe in becoming a barrier for
DMOs to ensure accomplishment of their marketing objective. The reason for this is that people
demand security over anything else if they are visiting a foreign land. Therefore, all the
marketing efforts of the companies would fail if the nation does not control its terrorism and
criminal activities effectively. However, the same could be done by approaching influencing
government officials to persuading them into taking effective actions towards this element (Pike
and Page, 2014).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it could be concluded from the information above, that destination marketing is
highly necessary to ensure that various destinations are appropriately and effectively marketed
and promoted for better and enhanced tourism activities within the same. There is a range of
ways in which the principles of marketing planning support the marketing of destination, yet it is
imperative to critically evaluate the same to analyse the effectiveness of these principles.
Moreover, it is necessary to analyse key elements of marketing campaigns and compare it with
others to evaluate the degree of inter-dependency of these factors in meeting the objectives of the
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campaign. In addition to this, there are various tools of digital marketing that are very much
effective towards ensuring promotion of a destination in an effective manner, along with
reaching different target audiences. Lastly, examining role, services and challenges faced by
DMOs within marketing destinations is highly imperative to analyse their situation and
determine how best they could be dealing with the same.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Avraham, E., 2016. Destination marketing and image repair during tourism crises: The case of
Egypt. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 28. pp.41-48.
Bastiaansen, M., and et. al., 2018. My destination in your brain: A novel neuromarketing
approach for evaluating the effectiveness of destination marketing. Journal of destination
marketing & management. 7. pp.76-88.
Gössling, S., Scott, D. and Hall, C.M., 2015. Inter-market variability in CO2 emission-intensities
in tourism: Implications for destination marketing and carbon management. Tourism
Management. 46. pp.203-212.
Griffin, T., and et. al., 2017. Virtual reality and implications for destination marketing.
Heeley, J., 2015. Urban destination marketing in contemporary Europe: uniting theory and
practice (Vol. 66). Channel View Publications.
Jiang, Y., Ramkissoon, H. and Mavondo, F., 2016. Destination marketing and visitor
experiences: The development of a conceptual framework. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management. 25(6). pp.653-675.
Kladou, S. and Mavragani, E., 2015. Assessing destination image: An online marketing approach
and the case of TripAdvisor. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 4(3).
pp.187-193.
Li, S.C., Robinson, P. and Oriade, A., 2017. Destination marketing: The use of technology since
the millennium. Journal of destination marketing & management. 6(2). pp.95-102.
Line, N.D. and Runyan, R.C., 2014. Destination marketing and the service-dominant logic: A
resource-based operationalization of strategic marketing assets. Tourism
Management. 43. pp.91-102.
Marasco, A., and et. al., 2018. Exploring the role of next-generation virtual technologies in
destination marketing. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 9. pp.138-148.
Mariani, M.M., Di Felice, M. and Mura, M., 2016. Facebook as a destination marketing tool:
Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations. Tourism
management. 54. pp.321-343.
Pike, S. and Page, S.J., 2014. Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A
narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism management. 41. pp.202-227.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination marketing: essentials. Routledge.
Séraphin, H., and et. al., 2016. A marketing research tool for destination marketing
organizations' logo design. Journal of Business Research. 69(11). pp.5022-5027.
Yang, Y., Pan, B. and Song, H., 2014. Predicting hotel demand using destination marketing
organization’s web traffic data. Journal of Travel Research. 53(4). pp.433-447.
Online:
Asheville marketing campaign. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.ashevillecvb.com/advertising-campaigns/>
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