Target, target & target
If you have planned correctly, you will have done your market research early in the business to determine which market/s respond best to your product offer. As you progress in business life you should become better attuned to the needs of the marketplace.
The use of customer surveys and simply talking regularly to customers will enable you to become much more focussed on their needs and wants. Remember that social and economic trends alter people’s expectations all the time, so customer research needs to be an ongoing part of your operation. For example, who would have thought a decade ago that the ‘green’ credentials of a tourism business would have such consumer significance these days.
Apart from being able to better match your product to your target market, another side benefit is the ability to become more specific and cost-effective about where you place your advertising dollar. Many new tourism operators spend vast amounts of money on advertising during the first few years. Few businesses can ever stop advertising, but those who really know their customer base are much better able to direct their expenditure to exactly where they know it will work.
Remember that there is a vast amount of research material available to tourism operators. See Module 1 in this series for a comprehensive run-down.
Case study (95kb): A tourism business operator who has managed to redevelop its product to attract new markets and increase customer yields.