The experience economy of tourism experience marketing

In 1970, American futurist Alvin Toffler predicted in "Future Impact": "The next step in the service economy is to move towards the experience economy, and businesses will win by providing experience services." Currently, Experience economy has become a fashionable concept around the world, involving a variety of industries. Enterprises strive to create a stable, clear, unique and valuable experience, and use the experience to closely connect with customers at every touch point, so that consumers can be satisfied in the unique experience process and interact with the brand. Build loyalty.

The experience economy is different from the agricultural economy, industrial economy and service economy. It is a unique economic form that uses commodities as props, services as the stage, and provides experience as the main economic provider. In the era of agricultural economy, the main economic supply is agricultural products; in the era of industrial economy, the main economic supply is industrial products; in the era of service economy, the main economic supply is services; while goods and services can no longer meet people's consumption needs, they Pursue individuality and self-realization in consumption. As a result, experience has become the main economic provider after services, and mankind has entered the era of experience economy.

The experience economy abandons the traditional price competition model and scale economy competition model, and starts from life and situations to shape sensory experience and mental identity, so as to grab consumers' attention and change consumption behavior. And find new survival value and space for products. Consumers are like actors of all kinds, indulging in the "stage" of emotional experience designed by the company, playing with various "props", gaining material and spiritual satisfaction, and then willingly paying a certain amount for such a wonderful psychological experience. cost.

Compared with other economic forms, the experience economy has different characteristics:

1. The experience economy emphasizes open interaction with consumers. In the experience economy, companies must actively communicate with consumers and seek entry points to touch consumers' inner emotions and emotions. Customers are both the subject and the component of the experience. They are no longer willing to be passive recipients of products, but want to participate in the design and combination of product projects and pursue the interaction between products and themselves. They hope to purchase modular product components according to their own personality and assemble them according to their own needs, which is the so-called DIY (do it yourself). Disneyland is undoubtedly a successful example of experience economy practice. It has carefully designed a series of dazzling happy experiences through theme parks, cartoons, movies, TV programs, etc., and through the participation of tourists, they perform visual, auditory, and A complete program that interweaves various senses of touch, smell, taste, etc., allows tourists to become the "protagonists" of various entertainment projects and gain novel experiences.

2. The experience economy pursues meeting the personalized needs of consumers. Popular services will attract more consumers, but the experience is often deliberately biased towards a certain group of people, and sometimes even blocks some consumers from entering. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the service economy can be understood as satisfying consumers' social needs and respect needs, while the experience economy can satisfy consumers' self-actualization needs. Customers in the experience economy era pursue authenticity and difference, moving from escape to Self-actualization. Urbanization has led to the shrinking of personal living space and the accelerated pace of work, which has made customers' emotional needs stronger than ever before, such as family affection, neighborly affection, etc. So people began to try to realize these emotional needs through various ways , including buying hometown specialties, watching nostalgic movies, visiting relatives and traveling, etc. In order to prove the value of their lives, some tourists are willing to risk injury or even death by choosing more challenging activities such as bungee jumping and rock climbing. When they cross the limits of their psychological endurance, tourists gain a great sense of pleasure, accomplishment and pride. feel. The reason why golf is so popular is not only that it is a sport, it has become a representative of status, fashion taste, and cultural quality. Golf enthusiasts experience fairness, greenness, happiness and satisfaction in the process of playing golf.

2. Tourism experience

Tourism is essentially an activity in which people leave their usual environment to seek some kind of experience in other places. It is a natural experience activity. . When tourists invest time and money in tourism activities, what they pursue is not material results, but an exploration, a feeling, a challenge, a complete psychological relaxation, and of course, a comfortable enjoyment of leisure time. Going to farmhouses is to experience pastoral life in the form of agricultural tourism; visiting universities or factories is not only to see the beautiful scenery, but also to feel the atmosphere of the university, or to experience grandeur and creation... In Lijiang, tourists linger in the fresh scenery When I saw the air, the quiet town, and the flowing water surrounding the ancient city, I became particularly fond of the religion, writing, language and music of the Naxi people. They long to integrate into life in a foreign land and experience its mystery. A foreign tourist said: "I am fortunate to be one of them in a short period of time, rather than just a passerby. I feel that this trip is worthwhile."

According to the current situation of my country's tourism experience and The difference in the degree of participation divides the experience into superficial experience, moderate experience and deep experience. Traditional tourism remains at the superficial experience stage, focusing on sightseeing. Especially for package tours, tourists only briefly visit the natural and cultural landscapes, and rarely come into contact with the residents of the destination and local folk culture. Surface experience is highly dependent on resources. To create unforgettable experiences, it must rely on the scarcity and uniqueness of the attraction itself.

In other words, the more unique and rare the sightseeing objects are, the deeper the impression will be on tourists and the richer the travel experience will be. Therefore, the tourist experience effect depends more on the level of tourism resource endowment. When the quality of the resources is not high, it is difficult for tourists to obtain a unique and unforgettable experience effect.

As tourists’ consumption psychology matures, they expect to have close contact with tourist attractions in multiple ways, directly participate in special activities, and experience the characteristics of scenic spots, sight, touch, taste and other aspects. The lifestyle and relaxation of the destination’s residents. This kind of experience is a moderate experience. Tourists have partial physical and mental contact and communication with tourist attractions and destination residents, and can create their own unique experience.

In-depth experience means that tourists are fully integrated into tourism products, have close contact with tourist attractions and local residents, and deeply experience the characteristics and culture of the scenic spots. Learn and conquer the natural landscape like an explorer, live like a destination resident, and experience the local culture by fully immersing yourself in the attractions and local people. In-depth experience is to transcend one's physical strength and intelligence, try another way of life, and gain a sense of accomplishment and happiness in realizing self-worth. A few travel agencies in our country have made preliminary attempts. Shenzhen International Travel Service has launched the first line of in-depth tourism, the "Along Locke's Road - The Last Shangri-La" ten-day scientific expedition expedition, accompanied by botanists, to learn about the special ecology along the way. The environment and collected specimens of beautiful alpine wild flowers were brought back. Like professional explorers, the group members had to learn camping, mountain climbing, horseback riding, rafting and survival skills, etc., and had all-round contact with tourist attractions, leaving a lifelong legacy. An unforgettable experience.

3. The model of tourism experiential marketing

In order to cater to tourists’ needs for experience, it is imperative for the tourism industry to carry out effective experiential marketing. According to the theories of Pine II and Gilmore, combined with Based on the characteristics of tourism products, the model for developing tourism experience marketing is:

(1) Determine the experience theme

Although the essential needs of tourism transcend specific products and services, tourism activities are still The process by which tourists participate in and come into contact with various specific products and services. In order for various tourism products and services to leave unforgettable memories for tourists, a certain relationship must be established between the products and services. This relationship is the experience theme.

Developing a clear theme can be said to be the first step in business experience. Theming is an effective means to create an environment, create an atmosphere, focus customers' attention, and make customers get a strong impression and deep feeling in a certain aspect. The theme is the guiding program for experience design and delivery, organically combining the company's products and services as well as every element and detail. All marketing methods of the company must support the theme of experience. Building an experience theme is the basis for tourism product development. With a theme, the development purpose of each experience project is clear and the level is clear. The projects do not conflict with each other and highlight and deepen the theme from different aspects, thus leaving a strong impression on tourists. If there is a lack of a clear theme, consumers will not be able to grasp the main theme, they will not be able to integrate all the felt experiences, and they will not be able to leave long-term memories.

The experience theme can be discovered from the characteristics of the enterprise. According to the needs of the dominant customer source market, focus on the company's unique culture and resources, and determine the theme based on differentiation and uniqueness. The experience theme must be consistent with the core capabilities of the operator. Since the core capabilities of operators such as management, operation, and organization are different, the theme selection must be consistent with their capabilities in order to be effectively developed. Otherwise, a good experience theme cannot guarantee the good development of tourism enterprises.

Tourism itself is the result of tourists' motivation to seek novelty and difference. The theme of experience must be novel in order to catch tourists' attention and stimulate their desire to try. Many tourist destinations in our country (including their constituent tourist souvenirs) lack individuality and characteristics, or "reproduce and clone" the models of other tourist destinations, or copy them mechanically, or they are patchwork and scattered, giving tourists the same impression. The root cause of this feeling lies in the lack of a unified, distinct and unique theme that penetrates all parties in the minds of planners, builders, and operators, or the theme is misplaced.

(2) Integrate multiple sensory stimulations and establish contact with customers

Theme is the basis of the design experience, but it needs to be correctly identified in the process of contact between tourism companies and tourists Therefore, tourism companies should integrate multiple sensory stimulations to create a unified experience effect in the process of contacting customers.

Berndt Schmidt believes that experiential marketing is based on five aspects: Sense, Feel, Think, Act and Relate. In terms of aspects, redefine and design the way of thinking about marketing. This way of thinking breaks through the traditional assumption of "rational consumers" and believes that consumers are both rational and emotional when consuming. The experience of consumers before, during and after consumption is the basis for studying consumer behavior and The key to corporate brand management. He calls different experience forms strategic experiential modules (SEMs) to form the goals and strategies of experiential marketing efforts.

Experiences are usually not spontaneous but induced. Of course, induction does not mean that customers are passive, but it means that marketers must use experience media.

We can start from the internal factors that affect consumer behavior, convey product information and create experiences through multiple methods of vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch.

Tourism companies and tourism consumers are related through multiple contact points or surfaces to exchange information, services and products. Each touch point is an opportunity to connect with customers, delight customers, provide them with correct information and enrich their lives. The contact process can improve or degrade the customer experience established through brand experience. In the interactive project launched by Hilton Hotel Group in 2002, it first identified 17 main touch points before and after product purchase, including reservations, brand communication, sales and customer management communication, arrival and check-in, wake-up and message, concierge service, guest room Food delivery, business center and more. Based on touch points, personalize services, bring brands into life, and cultivate customer loyalty.

(3) Strengthen the phased inspection of experience effects

Since each consumer’s experience is different, what consumers may feel in the activities designed by the enterprise is: It is difficult for companies to completely predict or completely control consumers' thoughts if the experience is not exactly the same as what the company originally envisioned. Therefore, companies must test the experience effect after a period of time.

To examine consumer experience, on the one hand, we must investigate whether consumers have negative experiences during the consumption process that are completely contrary to the experience originally designed by the company; on the other hand, we must investigate consumers’ self-innovation during the consumption process. , that is, new experience methods and content that the company did not think of at the beginning, which are very beneficial to the future development of the company. In response to negative experiences, companies need to adjust the design of experience activities, or use consumer feedback activities to guide consumers' thoughts and educate consumers to think and act in a positive direction. Regarding consumers' self-innovation in the experience process, this is an opportunity for enterprises to evaluate. It may be a pre-reflection of changes in consumer values ??and ideologies. If you want to keep the experience fresh for a long time, you must understand the changes in consumers' thoughts and guide them.

(4) Carry out internal marketing

Staff service is an important source of intimacy and pride for tourists. Excellent waiters are not only providers and undertakers of services, but also emotional Communicator and deliverer. In the service process, on the one hand, employees can convey the company's emotions, values, and concepts to customers; on the other hand, they can feed back customer satisfaction, friendship, and feelings to the company. This kind of mutual communication can sublimate services and continuously enter new realms. The service industry pays special attention to the management of the real moment (The Moment of Truth) where employees and tourists come into face-to-face contact in service situations, all in order to give tourists a happy experience.

Happy people can create happiness and manage happiness. Therefore, before making consumers happy, we must first make employees energetic and happy. In the process of experiential marketing, tourism companies must first conduct internal marketing. Such as guiding employees to change their thinking and accept and realize the conscious implementation of experiential marketing; designing an organizational platform that is conducive to the implementation of experiential marketing; conducting effective employee training to fully integrate employees into the enterprise, and achieve a high level of success before providing customers with satisfactory services and experiences. High corporate loyalty and satisfaction.

(5) Develop tourist souvenirs

Tourism companies should make full use of tourist souvenirs to create experiences. Although the price of souvenirs is much higher than the same products without commemorative value, because they have memorable experiences value, so consumers are still willing to buy it. Postcards from the resort will remind people of the beautiful scenery, and popular concert sweatshirts with the time and place will remind people of the grand occasion of attending the concert. If tourism companies design exquisite experiential products through the process of formulating clear themes, emphasizing participation, etc., consumers will definitely be willing to spend money on souvenirs to savor the experience.

Tourist souvenirs are an indispensable part of tourists' complete experience and a new force in the development of tourism. Its development must carry the local historical and cultural connotation, have certain artistic value, and represent a certain nation, Folk custom characteristics. Tourism companies can develop online game experience projects with the help of other carriers, such as network technology. The cooperation between Hangzhou Songcheng and Shanda is a good example.

Although Chinese tourism companies have realized the importance of experiential marketing and have begun to explore the design, planning and implementation of experiential marketing activities, they generally lack in-depth thinking and practical experience in tourism experiential marketing. First of all, the theme of the tourism experience is unclear, resulting in similar tourism experience products; secondly, it fails to fully integrate multiple sensory stimulations and establish contact with tourists, which is not conducive to guiding tourists’ experience; in addition, there is a lack of feedback on tourists’ experience. There is no understanding of the real experience of tourists; finally, the employees who create the tourist experience have backward concepts, which seriously affects the tourist experience. Our country's tourism enterprises must understand the nature and significance of experiential marketing from a strategic perspective. They must follow the trend of the times, seize opportunities, and combine experiential marketing models to effectively carry out experiential marketing to create new value for enterprises and tourists. , achieve a win-win situation.