mrv positioning branding

Defining Your Tourism Message

What makes you….Different.Worth the trip.

You build your brandthrough the product,not marketing.

What experience are you selling?The Destination

The LURE: the experience that motivates the visitor to actually come to your destination.

DIVERSIONS: things visitors can do closer to home but will do in your destination because they are already there.

AMENITIES: Things that make the visit a comfortable one

AMBIENCE: historic buildings, public art, street entertainers, etc.

(SEE YOUR GLOSSARY)

LuresLures

5Preikestolen, Norway

What do you think the Pendleton Roundup is?

ExperiencesExperiences

11Ketchikan, Ak

12Tongass Nat’l Forest Bend, OR

13Ketchikan, Ak

14Seattle, WA

DiversionsDiversions

16Lodi, California

17 Park City, UtahBend, OR

18Juneau, AlaskaSonoma County

AmenitiesAmenities

20Snoqualmie, WA

21Lake Chelan, WA

22Juneau, Alaska

23Juneau, Alaska

24Ketchikan, Alaska

25Juneau, Alaska

Sisters, OR

What experience are you selling

Exercise:

Destination

Evaluation


“First Impressions Are Lasting Impressions”

Approaches to the town• Don’t announce the destination until they are there.• That’s what gateways are for• Connect the dots. Use kiosks and outdoor maps to direct visitors to other nearby attractions and places to spend money.

What experience are you sellingThe way-finding components

– Directional signs

– Gateways

– Kiosks

– Pole banners

– Map Stands

What experience are you sellingWayfinding Signs are not gateways

Downtown Next Exit


GDS

Milton-Freewater,OR

Gateways say “You’ve arrived”

What experience are you sellingConnect the Dots

AmbienceAmbience

39Sisters, OR

40Juneau, Alaska

41Enterprise, Oregon

42Walla Walla, WA

44Issaquah, WA

45Snoqualmie, WA

Product or Service Appeal

• Lead with the benefit (remember the visitor point of view)

• Name the company second• What are you? Lure, diversion, amenity or

ambiance.• Are you part of a larger niche or destination

brand?• Who does your product or service appeal to?

Do you understand your customer profile?

Businesses


Retail Signs


Store Fronts


Local InteractionLocal Interaction

51Ketchikan, Alaska

52Ketchikan, Alaska

53Seattle, WA

54Pike Place Market, Seattle

Discussion.What is Your

Business?

Positioning& Branding

Positioning & BrandingWhat branding IS NOT!

• A logo

• A slogan

• A marketing campaign

• Geography

Positioning & BrandingA Brand is a promise of what you are going to deliver.

Positioning is how you describe what you are selling.

Destination Branding is directed toward the outside visitor or investor. Its focus is on luring new cash into the local economy.

Community Branding is directed at reflecting the internal community’s perception of themselves. Its focus is on creating a self identity of the residents.

(A good reference book is “Destination Branding for Small Cities”by Bill Baker.)

Positioning & BrandingProduct and Services Branding

• Follow the branding principles

• Tie in with a destination brand when possible

• Become known for something special

• If the product is not unique, make the service special

Positioning & BrandingExample: Greasemonkey Bike Shop

Montreal:ServiceCool LocationEspressoAll the parts

Positioning & BrandingExample: The Bike & Trike Shop

Rock Springs:ServiceCool LocationEspressoAll the parts

Positioning & BrandingSuccessful Brands follow these rules:

1. Brands are what people thing of you – NOT what you think of yourself or what you say in the market place.

Brands are determined by your customers, so deliver what you promised, or more.

Positioning & Branding2. Branding is the art of differentiation. Setting

yourself apart from everyone else.

Be unique, or be the best.

This matters only within your intended market area.

Positioning & Branding3. Brands are specific.

The narrower the niche the better.

Stay focused.

Offering everything or many things, dilutes your brand.

Become known for ONE THING. Then add to it.

Positioning & Branding4. Brands are built on products or services, not

marketing. Marketing is use for positioning.

Many businesses and destinations fashion a new marketing campaign, logo or slogan and wonder why it did not work. Because brands are a promise, they only become valuable if the product or service delivers.

Focus on a superior product and your marketing becomes easier.

Positioning & Branding5. Brands are earned through performance. You

don’t roll out a brand like it’s a campaign.

Creating a successful brand takes a long time. The value of the brand grows with positive experiences of the visitors.

Positioning & Branding6. Tourism brands must be experiential. That means

activities, not things to look at.

Location-based branding is dead, unless you are Mt. Rushmore or the Grand Canyon. Visitors choose what they want to do, THEN where to do it.

History is not a good basis for a brand because it is difficult to make experiential.

Positioning & BrandingThe exception to rule #6.

Positioning & Branding7. Position your brand through public relations.

Word of mouth and third party testimony is essential. Use advertising to maintain your position.

Remember, your brand is not what you say it is, so advertising does not build brands.

More than ever, because of the internet, travelers can get third party opinions about your product or destination.

Positioning & Branding8. Build your destination brand on feasibility, not

sentiment or public consensus.

Successful destination brands must lure visitors and investors. Publicly developed brands usually fail when they focus on things that are not important to the visitor, but rather to the resident. They often are not specific enough, different from other towns, or experiential.

Positioning & Branding9. Build your destination brand from the grassroots.

Destination branding efforts that are forced from the top down by municipal governments or DMO’s don’t succeed as often as those developed by a handful of local “champions” and “doers” who work tirelessly to engage all the many participants necessary to make a brand pervasive throughout a community.

Positioning & Branding10. Even if you do nothing, you still have a brand. It

just may not be the one you want.

Because consumers decide what your brand is, your product, service or destination has a brand.

Do you really know what your brand is?

Are you managing your brand?

Positioning & BrandingThe brand feasibility test

1. Are you specific enough to be noticed?

2. Is it something your market will not find closer to home?

3. Will you have wide enough appeal to attract the number of customers you need to be successful?

4. Do you offer an experience (even if you are selling a product)?

5. Can you afford it?

Positioning & BrandingThe brand feasibility test - continued

6. Will it work year round?

7. Does it have legs? (is it possible to extend the core brand once it is developed?

8. Will the community buy into it? (for destinations)

9. Can it be shown through the whole community? (for destinations)

Positioning & BrandingA word about Logos & slogans

Logos & slogans have value when they:

- reinforce what someone already knows about your brand.

- communicate what your product or service is.

Positioning & BrandingLogos & slogans

Positioning & Branding

Case Study – Angels Camp, CA

Positioning & BrandingCase Study – Angels Camp, CA

• Historic Gold Rush town – population 3,400

• In Calaveras County, foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains

• Adjacent to Stanislaus National Forest

• Abundant outdoor recreation year-round


• Made famous by Mark Twain – “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

• Annual Jumping Frog Jubilee

• Frogs, frogs, frogs


Primary Markets:

• Sacramento

• Stockton

• San Jose

• Greater Bay Area


Brands Considered:

• Gold rush/western theme

• Antiques/art

• Mountain sports

• Golf

• Culinary/wine


Brand Statement:

Angels Camp is the capital of and place to be based for mountain sports in the Sierra Nevada.

LURE: The one place where visitors can find a concentration of support services for their mountain sports experience, from outfitters, specialized retailers, lodging, dining and after hours entertainment.

DIVERSIONS: Experiences in the downtown that the visitor might find closer to home.


Keys to Success:

• Local commitment and enthusiasm

• Already has the accommodations – motels, b&bs, etc.

• Needs to recruit outfitters, specialized retail, restaurants, pubs to downtown core.

• Create amenities and ambiance.

• Branded product development and marketing.

• MOST IMPORTANT: Deliver on the promise.


Tagline: “Redefining the Rush”

mrv positioning branding

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