How does self-reference standard affect international marketing?

First, the importance of positioning and repositioning

"Positioning is one of the most important decisions made by management decision-makers."1995 65438+In February, at the ninth seminar of provincial and municipal tourism directors held by China National Tourism Administration, American advertising expert Jane? Ms. Mars said. This is the simplest and highest evaluation of the importance of positioning that the author has come into contact with so far. The word "positioning" originated from advertising, which means "enterprises put forward marketing strategies for specific market segments in order to establish a clear positioning for their products in the minds of potential buyers"? Heh heh? With the intensification of market competition, people's understanding of the importance of positioning is becoming clearer and higher. Some foreign marketing monographs no longer take "positioning" as the content of "advertising", but discuss it with "determining the target market", such as "Simple Marketing" published by Hiam and Schewe in 1992? The two altars of Otter and Huang Fen are only 9? Many people in the industry equate "positioning" with "determining target market". This cannot be said to be a big mistake. Although strictly speaking, positioning is directly related to the image of the product; The target market refers to people, that is, potential buyers. But the two are closely related.

Now, China's cities, other tourist destinations, tourist landscapes and all tourist enterprises should seriously consider how to locate or reposition.

As a city, positioning should first consider international tourist destinations, supplemented by domestic tourist destinations, such as Suzhou; Domestic tourist destinations are still dominated by domestic tourist destinations, supplemented by international tourist destinations. For example, Wuxi (1996) received 65,438 domestic tourists and 0.2612,800 international tourists; The domestic population exceeds Nanjing and Suzhou, ranking first in Jiangsu Province. ); Or both at home and abroad, such as Hangzhou. Secondly, the positioning should be further considered: if the international tourist destination is the main destination, which countries and regions do the guests mainly come from? Is it mainly business tourism or leisure tourism? What are the needs and expectations of the guests? Where will the guests come from if they are mainly domestic tourist destinations? What is the composition of tourists? What are the needs and expectations of the guests?

Then you can design your own products according to the needs of customers in the target market, and put forward appropriate propaganda slogans and images. In the early 1970s, two groups of experts in new york put forward the image of "Big Apple" and the promotion slogan of "I love new york", which played a key role in the rapid recovery of tourism in new york.

There is also a problem of repositioning. It refers to a tourist destination, scenery or enterprise to determine a new position for its products in the minds of potential buyers. This position can be completely different from the original position, or it can be an extension or supplement of the original position. Once the decision of repositioning is made, the product strategy, pricing strategy, promotion strategy and distribution channel strategy of the enterprise will change greatly.

Take Guilin as an example, its target market can be determined as paying equal attention to international tourists and domestic tourists. But as far as the composition of tourists is concerned, most people who go to Guilin are leisure tourists, not business tourists. Accordingly, we can consider positioning ourselves as "the unique best leisure place" according to Guilin's unique tourism resources, and then determine the promotion slogan and image. If people accept this position, they will get the following understanding: it is unnecessary to build too many five-star hotels in Guilin or to open business floors in many hotels. Today, Xi 'an is also facing the same problem. )

Take Sanya as an example, its tourism development should be different from Haikou or even Hainan Island, because among all coastal cities in China, Sanya has the best conditions to become an international leisure and holiday destination. In fact, the development of Haikou and even Hainan Province in a long period of time will be mainly domestic tourism, supplemented by international tourism; Sanya can consider the opposite choice. But if Sanya is positioned as an international leisure and holiday destination, its competitors are neither Haikou nor Beihai, nor Dalian or Qingdao, but Pattaya in Thailand, Bali in Indonesia and Hawaii in the United States. On the one hand, Sanya's tourism development should meet the high standards of international tourism, on the other hand, it should have its own characteristics (natural American and Canadian cultures, that is, ethnic customs, etc. It is particularly important to have a good understanding of the image of a tourist destination. Positioning and repositioning are of great significance to tourism enterprises or landscapes, especially man-made landscapes. Tong Liansheng, deputy general manager of Hangzhou Overseas Travel Company, the fastest growing and healthiest travel agency in Zhejiang Province in recent years, said: "Positioning is really important for the development of travel agencies. If you talk to the manager of a travel agency for half an hour and he still doesn't know where his customers come from, then the travel agency will definitely fail. " In addition, looking at the artificial landscape built in recent years, successful people must have a clear target market, and unsuccessful people must not have a clear target market. Taking advantage of the psychology that most China people want to go abroad but can't, the Beijing World Park has targeted a large number of China people and achieved great success. The artificial landscapes, such as the Miniature Garden in Old Beijing and the Wax Palace in Ming Dynasty, which are open to tourists almost at the same time, are still struggling to operate despite the huge cost. The author visited the scenic spot about half a year after the opening of the miniature garden and asked the managers at that time, "Who do you want to pay for the visit?" None of the people present can give a clear answer. Two years later, not long ago, the author visited again and asked the same question. A manager replied, "We are now promoting sales in all directions." The impression is that the landscape tries to meet all the needs of all tourists, which is a marketing taboo. In the final analysis, the target market is not clear and the landscape positioning is very vague. So it is not surprising that there are so many scenic spots. By repositioning, difficult enterprises can get out of the trough and turn losses into profits. This strategy has been successful in many enterprises at home and abroad, including tourism enterprises.

A big hotel/casino in Las Wiggers, USA, originally aimed at big gamblers, suffered losses year after year. The board of directors put on a new management team, doing market research first, then repositioning, no longer staring at big gamblers, and turning losses into profits after one year. If Beijing Huang Ming Wax Museum wants to get out of the trough, it also faces the problem of repositioning: What kind of image does Wax Museum use for marketing? As a history museum or an art museum? For many travel agencies, hotels and travel companies that lack vitality and have difficulties in operation, repositioning may be the only way to save their enterprises from death. For the tourism development of many provinces and cities, repositioning means that at the critical moment of tourism development, decision makers have a sober and prudent reflection on the past and an equally sober and prudent grasp of the future.

Second, how to locate and reposition.

Positioning or repositioning is not easy. They are not something that entrepreneurs, experts and scholars can do by experience and feeling in the office or study. "Successful positioning requires a correct understanding of the market, competition, competitors and tourists' views". ? What happened? Lack of market concept, unwillingness to make efforts in market research, and determination of target market only by experience and feeling are the fundamental reasons for the failure of many artificial landscapes and enterprises. How to locate or reposition? To sum up, it can be divided into the following four steps:

(1) Market research

Through careful investigation, it is the main purpose of market research to understand the actual and potential customer needs, interests, hobbies and changes in these aspects. Market research is well done. The following four questions should be answered clearly and specifically: 1. Double reading can be seen. What burden is this? What is important? How does the target market view tourist destinations (or specific tourism enterprises)? 3. What does the target market think of competitors? 4. What characteristics (or attributes) should a tourist destination (or a specific tourism enterprise) use to make full use of its limited resources and make itself beneficial to others? ? What's the matter with you? For example, American Express Travel Yearbook (1992) published a survey by Mr. Bailey, which showed that Japanese tourists visiting the United States would take the following ten important activities (in order of importance): (1) city sightseeing; (2) shopping; (3) Eating out (the above three items are the most important); (four) accompanied by a tour guide; (5) Visit important buildings and historic sites; (6) photography; (7) Beach activities; (8) Visit theme parks; (9) swimming; (10) Visit the art museum. ? Hey?

Mr. Bailey's investigation will not end there. In his investigation, he found that Japanese tourists to the United States generally did not have a specific destination at first; The determination of the destination often has the following considerations: (1) Others have been there; (2) the price is reasonable; (3) The more places you can go on a trip, the better; (4) contact with local people as little as possible; (5) Perfect Japanese service; (6) food; (7) Absolute freedom. Combining the above seven considerations with the above ten activities, we can roughly predict the tourist destinations and activities that ordinary Japanese tourists are really interested in. Another important content of market research is to analyze competitors. This is especially important for China's tourist destinations and tourism enterprises, because the arrogance brought by isolation often makes us hear such boasting: "Our beaches (or whatever) are the best in the world." Undoubtedly, this attitude is not conducive to correct positioning. "Know yourself and know yourself, and you will win every battle." This sentence of the ancients is of great significance to decision makers and marketers. "Know yourself" here is the three "correct understandings" mentioned above. Coupled with serious and realistic self-analysis, we may find the uniqueness of our products. "One of the first principles of effective positioning is uniqueness." ? Hey?

For example, Sanya's holiday tourism is in its infancy, and it is not comparable to Hawaii, Pattaya or Bali in many aspects, but the proximity of Hong Kong is Sanya's advantage and uniqueness. Sanya should make full use of this situation when selling to Hong Kong and Macao. I discovered the uniqueness of my products and publicized them deliberately, thus making tourists interested in the products and willing to buy them. If the expectations after consumption are met, the product will establish a clear position in the eyes of tourists. Tourists identify with products, praise them and become loyal customers. This is the whole meaning of positioning.

(2) Self-analysis

Self-analysis refers to the SWOT analysis of tourism destinations or tourism enterprises, that is, the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In my opinion, in SWOT analysis, advantages and opportunities are particularly noteworthy, because if a tourist destination or enterprise can concentrate its advantages on opportunities that have just appeared on the horizon of opportunities and have not been perceived by everyone, their success is inevitable. Some people regard advantages and opportunities as two wheels of economic development. ? Bad news?

They are also two wheels to promote the success of tourist destinations or enterprises. Although SWOT analysis is carried out by decision makers and marketers of tourist destinations or enterprises themselves, they must put themselves in the position of customers, that is, tourists, anytime and anywhere. In other words, advantages should not only be regarded as advantages by decision makers or marketers; Only what tourists think is an advantage is a real advantage. Opportunities should not only be regarded as opportunities by decision makers or marketers; Only a large number of tourists rush to buy a new product or service is the real opportunity. This is the meaning of "correctly understanding the views of tourists". Take a simple example: In the early years, it was quite difficult for cars to get in and out of Wang Fu Hotel due to poor traffic management. At that time, although Wang Fu Hotel advertised its advantage as "the hotel is located in the city center with convenient transportation", many tourists who stayed in the hotel did not think so in the past few years; In fact, they think that the inconvenient transportation is a disadvantage of Wang Fu Hotel. This situation has not changed until recent years.

(3) Determine the target market

After analyzing the whole market, it is possible for enterprises to find the most suitable buyers for their products and services, in other words, to find the customers who can best serve them. What is important here is that an enterprise should not try to meet all the needs of all buyers, but should try to meet the various needs of some buyers (sometimes even a small number of people). Therefore, it has been pointed out that determining the target market is a focused process; The essence of positioning is to give up. We might as well compare some travel agencies in China and America. A big difference between the two is that travel agencies in China often take (or want to take) all the tourists, while many travel agencies in the United States, such as the director of the Los Angeles office of the National Tourism Administration, who has worked in the United States for many years, have their own target markets. As we all know, enterprises in the United States and the Pacific are team-oriented; Gateway focuses on the price and team of small packages to Tibet; Elderhostel is just an elderly tourist; MTS is only for explorers.

(4) Determine the positioning mode

Determining the positioning mode refers to enhancing the most prominent advantages of a tourist destination or enterprise through audio-visual or text after discovering the uniqueness of the product, and transmitting information (usually called advertising information) in simple language (often just one sentence) to let customers know the benefits they can get after purchasing the product or service. Good advertising information is not only the result of correct positioning, but also can improve the positioning effect of products and services. Specifically, the positioning mode can be emphasized by reference:

1 product features. For example, Wuxi's tourism slogan "Wuxi, full of warmth and water" not only highlights the hospitality of Wuxi people, but also emphasizes the characteristics of the city's water town.

2 price/value. For example, Malaysia declared "MalaysiagivesmorenaturaLValue", which not only highlighted the value for money, but also emphasized the natural scenery.

3 uses. For example, Singapore Airlines said in an advertisement in China that "Singapore is your gateway to the world".

Users, such as Hong Kong, promote and reward the tourism market with the slogan "Reach the top and send it to the top". "

5 product category. This method is most suitable for my unique or my unique product. For example, Hainan Airlines declared that "flying is free, flexible and comfortable (we can send you to any corner of China) when promoting the luxurious six-seat chartered flight and emergency flights. Focus, flexibility and comfort. " )

6 for competitors. This method is rarely used in tourism to avoid touching the sore spot and angering competitors.