Epilogue: Getting to Wow (Enjoy, Experience, Engage)

1. What is a “Wow”

There are 2 types of WOW. First of which is a “wow” that is surprising when you get more than it is expected. The second “wow” is personal that is only triggered by the person experiencing it. The businesses should not neglect the change to give a “WOW” experience to its guests. Wow is an expression that many people say when they see something that is out of the box, something extraordinary and something that exceptional, brilliant, overwhelming. Once a guest see something admirable that incredibly stands out from other services, they advocate and spread the good news. Brands need to design a WOW moment, the moment of truth that is superb and worth sharing. In Marketing 4.0 we should engage the 5A’s to deliver a WOW moment

2. Enjoy, Experience, Engage: Wow!

Resort guests should enjoy the moment, experience ordinary things done extraordinarily, and spread the news to others. This is definitely the wow factor.

Enjoy – The resort customize camping and outing packages.
Experience – Feel that they are family and that they are the first priority
Engage – Feel that they can do more to contribute to society and environment’s welfare. Spread the good news and feel QUALITY WORK LIFE THAT PROMOTE DIGNITY OF LIFE. This can happen when they are engaged to even participate in reef rehabilitation activities, a winner idea that will benefit people, planet and profit.

When we prioritize our guest, be a real, put value in our work, and contribute to society’s welfare blessings will follow. When an outing becomes a life changing transformation, it is when we touch lives, reunite long lost relationship, build a family, give experience that is memorable, address all anxieties and worries, people will go back and reminisce happy moments and share it to the world.

3. Are you ready to WOW?

OOBE or out of the box experiences can “wow” the guests by experiencing distributed pleasure method. The design is to give an exquisite experience from start to finish and this should loop and be worth blogging or vblogging. This does not stop here, From the moment guest hear about the brand a positive impression should be made to the way they research about the resort all write ups should be positive, it can be an impossible 100% positive but the management can work a way to address the negative write up, all digital channels may it be offline and offline should impress the guests. Effective communication, product knowledge and human to human interaction should also be admirable. Transactions should be smooth, there should be no gap between reservation systems that will irritate the guest. This can happen when there are double booking or when they arrive earlier than check in time. Automation can also be a solution. All digital channels should alight in their own specific goals and should be monitored for improvement of the strategy. Welcoming the guest should be flawless and most of all the “MOMENT OF TRUTH” should be exceptional, all online and offline ads, what has been said in the phone should be consistent with what they will actually get. They should be given value added services, e.g. additional banana leaf etc. escorting to the bus station etc. An effective management of operation is expected. Contingency planning should also be drafted for unexpected issues. Planning, Leading, Organizing and Controlling should be executed and as everyone continues to learn from mistakes, employees should have the right mind-set. Monitoring KPI and Promoting Loyalty programs to increase advocates should also be impeccable. Maximizing success is not solely focused on 7’S or strategies it also lies in moral and culture for overall brand health. When you are selling happiness, delight in this sunshine industry, all employees should be equipped with courtesy, inner happiness and love one another and love for the brand for this will definitely show in all their actions. Yes! We are ready to “WOW” because we are family and it should be felt in every possible way by our guests. “We reunite, build long term relationships”

11 Engagement Marketing for Brand Affinity (Harnessing the Power of Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification)

The sales cycle focuses on aware and act ratio that eventually leads to act and advocacy ratio. To further amplify results Brand Affinity should be developed well. In order to increase engagements, Three (3) techniques should be mastered. First is to leverage on Apps. Second, amplify Customer Relationship Management or CRM. Lastly is the Gamification which to drive the right customer behaviour. All three combined will yield the best result.

1. Enhancing Digital Experiences with Mobile Apps

According to research, mobile users will rise by 70% by 2020. Everyone owns a smartphone. This has become the best channels to engage customer because of its mobility and people are heavily attached to their smart phones. It has become an important avenue for marketers to tap the mobile apps channel. It is not necessary for the report to have a mobile app just for the sake of being trendy. The resort can maximise the use of Google maps, Waze and other locators as of the moment. Resort App is not applicable because our resort is a camping site with strict check in time and we don’t serve food where Apps can be helpful.

2. Providing Solutions with Social CRM

Customer Relation Management build brand interaction and long term relationship. In the resorts Facebook page, we engage potential guest with enticing content and at the same time make sure that we have 95-100% because positive reviews and comments needs to be maintained. Those who have an actual positive experience can turned to advocates and this is one of the target goals of the brand. Positive engagement can be amplified by addressing the LOVE for customers and attending to the needs of the guests. Valuing their inputs and insight and making them feel that we listen to their comments, sentiments and suggestions are the key to a long lasting positive relationship.

Communications our one of our core competencies and we need to keep on improving in this area s the trend in digital interaction evolves. The resort office ours is open 6 times a week between 8-6pm and we can further leverage customer care by incorporating chat bots when there are no office staff available.

Communication is also between brand and the communities that we engage in, the groups related to travel that we join, the avid campers group, the outdoor adventurers, the beach lovers, the camp and bike club etc. The online community page that we are about to set up will discuss tips and tricks in camping, the dos and don’ts and also showcase the love for the environment.

Social media need not to be focused only on Facebook but we are also visible in Instagram (pictures of sunset), Tweeter (News about the weather), YouTube (How to’s), Blogs (Experience) and VBlogs (Video experiences). All these channels needs to be interconnected. Channel integration is an important factor to consider for them to complement each other.

Integration

FB linked to Website and Online community. Blogs linked to Website and Social Media Fan Page Social Media page lined to websites Affiliate Marketing Partners linked to Reservation form You tube linked to website and FB pages. Display Search Ads linked to landing pages and/or website. Online community linked to FB and website.

The resort do not suggest separate account @supportcasaastillero to filter the sentiments of the guests and be able to isolate issues without damaging the brands reputation mainly because we have a short list of products as of the moment and it is not practical to have a separate account yet. However this can be considered in the future. Maximizing twitter capabilities of receiving feedback is also overlooked. To be able to promote better understanding of consumer sentiments, the brand should build Sense-and-Respond Capabilities, tools like Social Mention can help in achieving better communication of consumer and the management. Upon establishing a structure then the brand should Develop and Empower Social CRM Agents who can represent the brand with high level of empathy. Sticking to the brand core values and strong product knowledge can empower not just the employees but the brand itself. The culture that should be practiced within the resorts is a culture that cultivates empowerment and collaboration. A participative leadership should be done in order to serve the guest better. The definition of a customer in this sense is the person beside you. The empowered CRM can also drive brand love within the whole team.  Leveraging Community Involvement is a way to keep a good brand reputation, having build a solid community who can actually aid in answering the questions, reactions and violent feedback is also an ultimate goal. Fostering a community that can positively speak about the brand is a challenge. For the resort the online community website can be used as a way to nourish people thorough gamification and rewards system, it can be an online community for avid campers who can “assist” others in coming up with the best camping experience, this can also be a listening tool to learn more about your market and ideas on how to further improve your brand. Though building and  online community as a strategy can be a separate website, these loyal advocates still can become critics, joiners and creators or even lurkers who can defend your brand in other forums, groups and over the entire internet world.

3. Driving Desired Behavior with Gamification

Gamification can build customer communities, the resorts loyalty program is focused on the guests who actually experienced the resort, they send a picture and it is being rewarded. Then they are given incentives and VIP ticket to the resort, prioritization in reservation especially in peak season. Point system can also be implemented and as they increase points, they also increase brand loyalty, feel like home and this is the mission of the resort, to make them feel like a family member. Generating Vbolgs and Blogs can also be a game that the guest can join, with “exciting” mechanics could engage customer to love the brand and join the online community that was created.

“CalataganBeachCamp.org”
Online community badges
1. Visitors
2. Newbie
3. Creators
4. Leaders
5. Elders

MEMBER ROUTINE for Online Community

	Visitors must fill up the application form, Read terms and conditions and house rules of the Community. They should read about the community history and must recognize the goals objectives of the community and its history
	Newbie must be able to interact and contribute to regular articles, participate in discussions and will need to share 20 articles, be online for not less than 3X a week, must be actively participating
	Create initiation rituals, conversation starters, must be able to contribute and share at least 70 articles in 1 year time. Give regular insights to make community interesting, recommend topics for discussion. They must be active in the community for 5 years.
	Leaders must share interesting experiences to newbies and members.  Impose policies and regulations; check on activities that members can engage in outside the virtual community. Encourage members to share their side of the story.
	Elders foster sustainability for the online community.  The will aid in promoting camaraderie among members. Impart their knowledge and expertise in topics. Reminds and Imparts community objectives. Implement protocols.

 4. Summary: Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification

Mobile Apps is used to increase guest’s engagement.

Social CRM aims to build a camaraderie between guests and even employees. It promotes a better communication and communication of human capital is the key success factor of all organizations.

Gamification can build guest loyalty because of the reward system and it is human nature that people are motivated by rewards, it builds stronger affinity, since privileges are attached to this, the strategy aims to touch the desire of people to achieve higher goals and rewards. Moreover, gamification can collect data and guest information that can be used in big data analytics.

A. How can mobile apps, social CRM, and gamification help you engage your customers?

Mobile apps help in locating the resort, Social CRM builds better guest relations and a tool in achieving better communication (examples are stated above). While, gamification is a tool to increase customer base and give the sense of reward to loyal advocates and a bigger community that can help in promoting the brand.  

B. What are the challenges of executing customer engagement programs in your business?

The gap lies on the building a more enticing protocol for the loyalty program, the resort can further push more enticing content, further improve speed, efficiency in answering calls and emails and other avenues where we receive inquiries. Employees should be fast and should have adept product knowledge to sound convincing and trustworthy. People wants value for their money and not just an excellent communicator but someone with love for the brand. It starts within so the culture should be revisited from time to time.  

10 Omnichannel Marketing for Brand Commitment (Integrating Traditional and Digital Media and Experiences)

1. The Rise of Omnichannel Marketing

Nowadays, consumer move from one channel to another, the combination of online marketing and offline marketing is the best combo. They complement and support each other in the sense that some people may look over the internet first before they make a purchase and then read about product reviews before they decide. The routine can go the other way around the consumer may look at the product at the store to see its physical appearance then review online then make an online purchase. The same happened to me as I have ordered a laptop online but before that I checked the physical looks of it first then ordered in Amazon. 

Checking the attributes physically first then making an online purchase is called “showrooming” and checking online then going to the physical store is called “webrooming”. Indeed, the internet has shifted the way people make a purchase and make a decision. More and more people are becoming online and channel-agnostics. People move from one channel to another. Traditional marketing can be tracked and monitored in a different set of metrics and different set of goals.  Customer journey path is now considered spiral as compared to a straightforward approach. There are numerous ways on how digital can be consumed and as well as traditional before the lead converts to sales.

Omni channel Marketing has been the trend these days, it is the process of integrating the channels to work for a common objective for the brand which could either be a sale or awareness. When people has more exposure to different channels and has explored many options, it says that it yields a higher commitment to purchase.   Omni channel has 30% higher value than a single channel. Omni channel is the solution to the growing trend of e commerce and it is growing rapidly.

TREND 1 – Focusing on Mobile Commerce in the “Now” Economy

Mobile phones are the tools to easily access website and information about the resort. The mobile economy has flourished as everyone has one or more mobile phones and are heavily attached to their smartphones. The ease of making transaction online through mobile has become a fashion. People can even walk into a store nowadays and receive promo discounts or even announcements because it can track the mobile phones that are within the proximity of the store. It has become a success ingredient to include mobile channel in a digital marketing plan. Wearable’s like smart watches has also became a part of the lifestyle, this can also be used as tool to leverage on marketing strategy.

TREND 2 – Brining “Webgrooming” into Offline Channels (WALK- IN GUESTS)

Webgrooming is when people search for products online and may or may not do crowdsourcing as well, the end activity is they go to the store and purchase the product from the physical store.

Technology like NFC or RFID are used to create a communication between retailers and consumers. With the resort, creating machine to machine connections can allow the business to track where the customers are within the 12 HA beach front property. Thinking forward, the behavioural data that can be retrieved can be used to identify past purchases and other data about the guest thus allows personalization of services that can make the beach experience more worthwhile. RFID’s can be tagged in rice cookers and other inventories that are for rent.  The resort can leverage on this technique by putting a lot of effort in making product viewing more enjoyable and more strategic. Videos that are compelling and enticing. The resorts FB page can give a virtual tour video or pictures that are arranges in a way that customers can easily get a clear picture of the outing that they are availing of. Just like any other hotel or resorts, details should be complete, policies should be clear. Some guests are even from other provinces as far as Bulacan and all they can rely on is the information found in the web before they can make the purchase,

TREND 3 – Bringing “Showrooming” into Online Channels (BOOKINGS WITH RESERVATION and OCCULAR VISIT)

Showrooming is checking the attributes physically first then making an online purchase. Online channels can never replace offline channels, Offline shopping allows consumers to hear it, feel it, see it and touch it. These are concepts operations management concepts that are aligned to an efficient and effective selling. Human to human interaction is evident part of this traditional purchase method. It is less likely that they go to the report to do ocular and pay a reservation fee. Most of the time they are assisted by the reservations officers to give them a more human centric touch. Moreover, some guests are from different countries and they make reservation through FB, Viber and other chat apps. But still there are still 20% who goes to the venue to do an ocular visit first and eventually pay he reservation fee at the resort.

Optimizing Omni Channel Experience with Big Data Analytics

Rich customer data can capture customer demographics and journey patterns, browsing patterns and social media activities, product promotion and transaction records. Analytics can provide information that can clone the identity of the usual guests and this can maximize ROI. This can engage marketers to collect data for forecasting trends. This can identify the demands of the target market. Using Webgrooming and Showgrooming will give an all-inclusive Omnichannel immersion. 

2. Step-by-Step Omnichannel Marketing

Customer path analysis is the best tool to develop a good Omnichannel. If you know your target market it will be easier to do the intergration across all touch points and digital and traditional channels. It is a two (2) step process.

STEP 1 Mapping all Touch Points and Channels Across the Customer Path. By answering the 5 A’s

Aware – Learn about the resort through a friend (Calling Card)
Appeal – Visit the resort website (Visit the website)
Ask – Inquire by calling the reservations number or through FB (Contact Center)
Act –Booking and accommodation (Pay Reservation Fee through Reservation Staff)
Advocate –  Recommend the resort (Post videos in blogs or FB)

STEP 2 Identify the Most Critical Touch Points and Channels

Omnichannel enables guests to view and engage in multiple channels before the purchase and the point is to make sure that all touch points are seamless.

STEP 3 Improve and Integrate the Most Critical Touch points and Channels

Based on the touch points that has the most engagement, the marketing team should be able to determine the most used and most important areas where the company should allocate more funds to drive more conversion to the resort. Goals and budgets should be aligned and metrics as well should serve as basis of success of the online and offline campaign.

3. Summary: Integrating the Best of Online and Offline Channels

The brand should have a perfect strategy that addresses all touch points and that could answer the demands of the guests from awareness, research, purchase and even out of the box experience, this is equal to the 5A’s and the whole organization should have a unifies structure that is consistent. A process that is polished to avoid gaps. Customer behavior is relative, they can go to from one channel to another and behavior can be spiral than straightforward. The brand should prepare a customer path and journey map that will also tackle all possible activities, motivations, questions and barriers. Online and Offline strategies are best combined. No standalone strategy can survive on a long term basis.

A. What are the most important customer touch points and channels for your business?

For the resort, the most important key point is the conversation between the reservations officer. This avenue is online and over phone. The staff receives incentives in form of commission per booking and bonus when target goal is reached. However, the management practices that performance evaluation is not solely based on sales but on overall efficiency, effectively in the role, culture and ethical behavior.

B. Have you aligned the channels to support a seamless and consistent experience?

Yes, by having a customer journey path and map, we have identified all touch points and by knowing the needs of each activity we were able to decide on what is the best channel to use. Moreover, integration is the key since people’s search behavior vary from one another.

9 Content Marketing for Brand Curiosity (Initiating Conversations with Powerful Storytelling)

1. Content is the New Ad, #Hashtag is the New Tagline

Content has a big role of making a brand appealing, the content that will be posted in social media should be compelling, attractive and engaging. It should be an interesting story for people to read it and take action about it. Nowadays, hashtags are used as taglines which is the traditional format. Content marketing’s role is to bring about the truth about the brand. Since there is an advent of trust towards peers than companies, it has become a challenge to all marketers to clearly convey value proposition without the impression of hard selling. Moreover, content should be very creative and overwhelming yet a credible information.  Consumer can now has the ability to choose when, how and where to consume the content or even decide if they want to consume or not.  Advertisers faces the five-second challenge to attract the viewers of the ad in Youtube or Facebook.

There are 2 types of content, a content that delivers an information about the product with the goal of selling the products and services and the other one is a content that will address the needs of the consumers. Content nowadays should touch the emotions and the first 5 seconds should achieve a brand recall. In creating content, consumer’s definition of content should be prioritized.

With the resort, the content that we make should always be helpful, like tips and guidelines that makes sense to all who will read it not a content that will push sales. Content in a form of video or blogs should be useful and relevant to its readers or viewers.

Sample content for the resort would be.

• Travel must haves: What you should have in your camping backpack
• How to prepare for a Long Drive to the beach
• Igloo Tents vs Arbhor Screen Tents?
• 10 Best Beach Pose
• Top 5 Beach Activities that you should try
• Camping Outdoors vs. Staying in a Deluxe Room
• 10 Trendiest Beach Attires
• How to save on your summer beach outing
• Tools that you might need in your Camping getaway
• 10 Reasons why you should go camping.

2. Step-by-Step Content Marketing

Pre-production and post-distribution are essential steps in making a quality content

GOAL SETTING – This is goal setting, the exact target goal number should be identified. Goals must be very specific. Content must be distributed to the right digital channel.

2 Categories of Content

1. Sales Oriented Goals – lead generation, conversion, this has a call to action included in the content.

EXAMPLE:

• Increase occupancy rate in lean season by 50%
• To achieve 50% or 115 bookings from Facebook inquiries per month.
• To increase search engine conversion ratio by 30% and get 3,969, bookings in 3 months.
• To achieve 50 bookings from Search Ads / Google ads in 3 months.

2. Brand Related Goals – brand awareness, brand loyalty/advocacy, this should be consistent with the brand character and should build the brand image.

EXAMPLE:

• To get 10 travel bloggers talking about the resort in 3 months.
• To gain 20 affiliate partners in 3 months.
• To increase YouTube views by 50% that will achieve 12,439 views from all owned videos combined in 3 months.
• To gain 50 new members for the online community website in 3 months.

AUDIENCE MAPPING – building the brand persona or target market. This is the specific audience that will read the content. Target market and Market segment.

EXAMPLE:

	FIRST PRIORITY THE COMPANY
Name	Leini Rose Apun of Inovus
Age	33
Class	B and C
Sex	Female
Occupation	Corporate Events Personnel
Monthly Income	P50,000
Budget can allocate	600 per person per day
Identifying traits/ Attitudes	Single, Broad-minded, Communicative, Compassionate, Generous
Emotional needs	Sense of autonomy and control, Being emotionally connected to others, Unity
Core desires & Psychographics	To get foster unity in the organization and build friendship.   “I need to find an affordable place for team building that will develop camaraderie of our employees.”
Sentiments	1. Has the responsibility to maintain harmonious and amicable relationship within the company. 2. Evaluates employee’s behavior and attitude. 3. Conceptualize, develop and disseminate information to maximize HR/Admin Division budget.
Techno-graphics   Digital Usage Habits	1. Usually equipped with gadgets for online use -desktop/laptop, smartphone, and/or tablet. 2. Regularly monitors Facebook and Twitter accounts and is almost always online. 3. Has active accounts in job search sites such as JobStreet.com, JobsDB.com, LinkedIn and the likes. SOURCES & DATA: 1. 31% of population in the Philippines ages 25-34 uses the internet for research and buying products as per Comscore via rappler. 2. Internet penetration in the Philippines rose to 35% this year from 29% in 2011 from DST Sec. Louis Casambre.  This was attributed to the lowering cost of accessing the Internet and the growing accessibility to web-capable mobile phones among Filipinos. –PHILSTAR
Techno-graphics   Content Consumption Preferences	1. Checks her emails almost every hour. 2. Reads blogs almost daily about topics related to human resource and employee relations. 3. Spends 3 hours surfing the net daily, watches trending YouTube videos at the end of his/her shift. 4. Some even subscribe to newsletters related to their interests and buy online. 5. They visit news sites for current events like www.inquirer.net, ph.news.yahoo.com, www.rappler.com and ABS-CBN or GMA news FB pages. SOURCES & DATA: 1. According to a recent study by ComScore, Filipinos were found to spend 41.5% computer screen time on social networking sites versus 17.3% on services website and 19.5% on news. 2. Top 1 Facebook media page is ABS CBN and Top 4 is GMA according to Social Bakers. 3. Filipinos are second when it comes to the number of blog readers and video uploaders, a study released by Universal McCann.
Techno-graphics   Consumer Content Creation Profile	1. Express opinions and is comfortable in “speaking their mind”.  (CRITIC) 2. Also subscribes to newsletters based on their interest. (JOINERS) 3. Fond of using hash tags on Instagram and Twitter. (COLLECTORS) 4. Fond of posting OOTD and Throwback pictures on FB (CREATORS) SOURCES & DATA: 1. Most popular post on FB according to Social Bakers September 2014 is about Throwback pictures with 210K Total Interactions and 22.4% engagement from Social Bakers. 2. In research by digital audience measurement company Effective Measure, 83% of the respondents engage in the Facebook page influenced them to purchase from those businesses.
Aspirations	1. Wants to develop harmony and build self esteem among employees. 2. Prioritizes employee’s welfare and personal development. 3. Wants to cultivate teamwork within the organization. 4. Wants to deepen employee-employer relationship.

 

CONTENT IDEATION & PLANNING – Themes relevant to audience and industry brand. Content should be clear and relatable. It should address anxieties and desires. Brand image and voice should also be applied here, same with that it has to be have a very consistent brand character. A good content can cover visuals, info graphics, games, video, short film, photos. Multi-formats are the key these days. Conent should be attractive to promote curiosity that addresses the “appeal” and “ask” stages.

EXAMPLE:

Content	Purpose	Frequency
Email Content *For Brand Loyalty	To contact cancelled bookings, paid bookings and for feedback gathering that will increase guest return rate	Daily
Survey Content	To collect feedback from guest at the resort after their camp experience and to know if they will recommend to others.	Daily (After check out)
FB Post *For Branding and News Updates	To give updates about the resort, drive guests into the resorts website; increase customer awareness, engagement to FB page and traffic to the website.	Daily (MWF) at 6-9 pm and T,TH, Sat, Sun at 5-7am
FB Ads Content *Target specific market segment	To attract target market with clear CTA and entice them to experience the resort by linking the ads to the rates page and gallery that showcases what the resort can offer.	Daily for 3 months (starting March-May)
Promos and Discounts *Showcase group packages	To present package offers for a specific group number to help the guest in deciding on what amenities that will fit their budget.	Once a week (Every Wednesday)
Instagram Content *Capture real emotion	To show what beach activities can they do at the resort.  To express peoples emotion through pictures. To share what is new at the resort.	Three time a week (Tues, Thurs, Sat)
Affiliate Program Letter *X deal for added exposure	To invite and establish a link with online travel agencies and be able to add media exposure which can increase ROI.	Send invites 3 X a week for 3 months.
Press Releases / Blogs *Online Reputation	To promote the resort with use of blogs and positive press releases and improve online reputation.	Once a week
Online community Site Content *Share valuable Information to campers	To unite all campers and have a one stop resource site about camping, this will increase awareness about the resort and at the same time aid potential guests in a successful camping activity.	Once a week
You Tube content *To draw guest to visit the resort	To entice people to visit the resort, this will contain shots of happy people and amazing scenery, beauty of nature and camping how -to’s directed to the resorts website.	Once a week
Google Paid Ads *To yield higher reach of potential guests	This is to target key terms that are not used in SEO, for brand awareness, higher reach and geo-targeted locations. The ads should contain phrases which supports the big idea.	Daily for 3 months (starting March-May)
Landing Pages *To cater to a more specific need of the potential consumer	This is to address the specific interest and the precise reason why the potential consumer clicked on the Paid ads, this is to keep them glued to the page and prevent them from getting confused with other unimportant information on the page.	Once a week

 

CONTENT CREATION – Content creation itself. Marketers should act as publishers with strong writing skills and an eye of an editor. Content should be truthful and consistent. Creating content is a continuous process. Quality and appealing content should be planned and created ahead of time. Marketers can opt to hire journalists, animators, videographers. It must be compelling and inviting for the viewers to make their own version that can be shared across digital media.

EXAMPLE:

Day	Topic	Theme	Detailed Context
Sunday	Games /Trivia Quotes and Facts	“Special Sunday”	Games/Trivia’s about the beach, Quotes and facts how nature nourishes the soul, facts about the beach – nature and what It can offer. It could also contain link to published articles and owned blogs.  Posted on a Sunday to offer relaxation to everyone.
Monday	Events	“Manic Monday”	Events like Kite flying tournament, Barbecue Party, Beach Volleyball Clinic. Posted on a Monday to give guests ample time to prepare for the events.
Tuesday	Gratitude Day	“Thankful Tuesday”	Welcome and Thank you note patronizing the resort. Pictures submitted to the team and YouTube videos created will be shared on this day.  Posted on a Tuesday to acknowledge selected guests who visited the resort and those who have submitted their pictures to the management.
Wednesday	Best shots	“Wacky & Wild Wednesday”	Post pictures of people in motion and action, group barkadas best shots and couples romantic shots. Posted on a Wednesday when majority are planning for a relaxing weekend.
Thursday	All about food	“Tasty Thursday”	Food / Drinks and preparation Posted on a Thursday, to give ideas on what food to bring  for the weekend getaway
Friday	Package Rates	“Fantastic Friday”	Package Rates, Teambuilding packages, Wedding Packages, Reunion packages, Lean Season rates, Special Discounts, Promos. Posted on a Friday for last minute bookings.
Saturday	News and Updates	“Steady Saturday”	Holiday update, Weather update, meteor shower, tide updates, Staff update, policies, behind the scene updates and what’s new about the resort. Posted on a Saturday to give real time updates about what’s happening at the resort.

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION – Content distribution does not need to focus only on digital, in person events may also be a good addition to a digital marketing plan because it allows human to human interaction.  The 3 categories where content can be published is through owned, paid and earned media.

	POEM Usage
Paid	Face book Ads Display Search or Google Ads Search Engine Optimization Affiliate Marketing Paid Bloggers / Paid Press Release Email Content Survey Content
Owned	Website Face book Page and Apps that fits the business Instagram page Indoor Ads Instagram Photo Frame (studio) You Tube Channel Online Community page
Earned	Blog Posts Positive Online Reviews Shares, Likes, Status message on Facebook Likes and comments on Instagram, Regrams Positive Mentions Youtube webisode views and shares

 

SAMPLE CHANNEL MIX

CONTENT AMPLIFICATION – Content amplification strategy begins when there are audiences who becomes influencers, normally these are the people with high number of followers and can be brand advocates.  To keep a long lasting relationship with influencers, the content should be very useful that it is worth sharing and that content should also improve the influencer’s reputation. Once amplified, the marketers should continue the conversation and keep a record of these brand loyalist, there should be a program or system to retain them. Once a positive feedback or a positive press release was awarded to the resort, it is the marketer’s duty to nurture the relationship.

CONTENT MARKETING EVALUATION – This is managing metrics based on media channels that was chosen. This will establish data and identify if the content marketing plan has actually made an impact on the business. Analytics tools may be used to determine engagements like Facebook Insights. It should be able to determine if the content is effective by looking at areas of how much became curios (aware) of the brand. People was able to relate (appeal), people actually made a move to contact the resort (ask), People booked (act) and shared (advocated). In offline, KPI will be a measure of no of respondents of the survey, no if guest who will be willing to recommend the resort to their friends. No. of guest who have heard of the resort through other people or by referral. In online, Key performance indicators may be measured if your content has been passed to another, they registered on your site,  they created a their own version of your content though blogs etc., has been actively joining your contests, making votes, like, engagement  and recommendation, sharing of photos positively influencing others about your brand, positive review rating and by increased review rate. Here are some formulas that can determine KPI’sCONTENT AMPLIFICATION – Content amplification strategy begins when there are audiences who becomes influencers, normally these are the people with high number of followers and can be brand advocates.  To keep a long lasting relationship with influencers, the content should be very useful that it is worth sharing and that content should also improve the influencer’s reputation. Once amplified, the marketers should continue the conversation and keep a record of these brand loyalist, there should be a program or system to retain them. Once a positive feedback or a positive press release was awarded to the resort, it is the marketer’s duty to nurture the relationship.

EXAMPLE

ROI and Average Time on Site	Ultimate measure of success of the campaign an indicator of websites to keep track of guests	ROI = Income from investment – Cost of Investment / Total cost of investments Average Site Time = # of visitors Total time on site of all visitors
WEBSITE FOR MAIN SITE AND COMMUNITY WEBSITE CONVERSION RATIOS	1. Search Engine Conversion Ratio (SEC) 2. Client/ Guest Conversion Ratio (CCR) 3. Customer Acquisition Cost 4. Cost per Impression	SER= # sign ups /Search Engine Users CCR= #of reservation and walk-in guests/Unique Visitors CAC-Total Marketing expense/ Total # of unique visitors CPM – (Total Cost or Budget) (1000/CPM)
EMAIL MARKETING	1.Bounce Rate 2. Open Rate 3. Replied Rate 4. Unsubscribe rate	1. No of emails returned to sender = # of bounced/email sent 2. No of emails opened and read = #of emails read / Emails sent 3. No of emails with reply = # of emails opened / Total emails sent 4. No recipient unsubscribed = Unsubscribed / Total no of emails sent
SOCIAL MEDIA	Social Media ROI	SMR = Investment Return – Social Media Spend / Social Media Investment percent  LEAD GENERATION= # of leads form SM channels/total # of leads
FB ADS, GOOGLE ADS AND ENGAGEMENT SCORE	1.CONVERSION RATE 2. Engagement Score 3. Cost per Impression 4. Cost Per Acquisition 5. Cost per click	CR= Number of conversion                    # of clicks CTR=Total Points        Total Site traffic CPM = Flat rate per month      (Total Impressions / 1,000) CPA =  Ads spend     # of Impressions (CTR)(CR) CPC = Flat rate per month      Total number of click
BLOG	A new blog has been made by a client as earned media and has been spread over the web.	1. Check the quality of the blogs if it can give access to the target audieence. Celebrity or Travel advocates if possible. 2. Check back links inbound links from external bloggers 3. Blogs should come from a credible source and if the blogs has a good position in search engine results. 4. A call to acion towards FB page and webste should be visible.
INSTAGARM	Measure of follows and regrams	REACH = # of followers ENGAGEMENT RATE = # of likes + # of shares + comments / total number of posts
YOU TUBE	Measure of Videos popularity and shares	Number of likes, shares, and embeds Number of youtube documentation by guests. ENGAGEMENT RATE = # of likes + # of shares + embeds / total number of posts

CONTENT MARKETING IMPROVEMENT– Content marketing can be easily improved with a little tweak on schedule and approach or scheduling. It may be experimental in the sense that there is no right or wrong as long as the appropriate content is distributed to the right channel. It should only be consistent with the brand image, voice, character, personality and focused on company’s vision and brand’s mission.

3. Summary: Creating Conversations with Content

Shifting to content marketing from the traditional advertising requires a shift in mind set, it is a totally different arena, it is easy to track the results with the analytics available, less expensive and easy to modify. However, it also require pre-production and post-distribution activities for it to be successful.

A. What is the content that you think will be valuable to your customers?

Content that is engaging, games probably or any informative details like the example mentioned above. The content should address the questions on how to have a successful beach camp, the video content must be enticing enough to be shared and replicated with their own version. They would appreciate weather reports or information. Thanking the guests would also be a good content. They should feel appreciated, tips and guide for a safe and long drive can also be a topic, same with team building games suggestions. Info graphics or a short cartoon skit about the trip in a beach would also be fun to share. Promos, rates, announcement about contests, link to blogs which features the resort is also acceptable. The ideas are endless.

B. How can the content tell a story about your brand?

The content can be a storyboard of an ordinary traveler, an adventure that is memorable, the content should also be written in a creative and narrative way. Following the 2 options as presented in this chapter, it should inform and should be consistent with the brand character and should build the brand image.

C. How do you plan to execute your content-marketing strategy?

The report should combine online and offline content, all survey content should be polished all towards building return guest and loyal advocates. FB content should include information, games, promos, packages, pictures, info graphics, blogs and links to resort videos. The content should be interlinked to each other. The content plan should be prepared ahead of time and needs to be approved by the content manager. It should be well written and that it should also showcase real people, real emotions and even behind the scene pictures of real people who works for the resort. Real life stories and content should also acknowledge those people who are trying to be a part of the company, we shall post pictures submitted to us by the guests as we aim to our guest feel that we are a family. To be able to successfully execute the plan, it should follow the step by step marketing plan as discussed above because it covers specific goal setting, building the persona, planning the content, setting up metrics o measure success, amplification and retaining advocates and evaluation of the strategy for further improvements.

8 Human-Centric Marketing for Brand Attraction

Human Centric approach deals with a style that touches the minds, hearts and spirits of the target market. Human centric marketing deals with addressing the emotional desires and core aspirations. Marketers need to leverage human centricity and embrace the world of artificial intelligence, when algorithms, AI or even programs may understand and feel the needs of the consumers. Consumers will search for something that feels real and less hard selling. Human centric is building the brand character and living up to it. Digital anthropology is used to determine the target persona’s deepest desires and worries.

1. Understanding Humans Using Digital Anthropology

Digital Anthropology is focusing on the connection or link between humans and the digital world. This can also determine how people perceive your brand or brand equity. This explains how human behaves in the digital world and how technology is being used humans to communicate to one another. Anthropology, the study of sciences and human behaviour aids in knowing he culture and social behaviour of ethnic groups, what is it for us? As digital marketer, we have to know how to tap the groups and identify the social behaviour of our desired market. Using the Social listening, Netropology and Empathic research we will be able to know how our potential guests behave and the resort needs to be visible and explore these channels.

Social Listening (IMMERSED)- Social listening is used by lurking. This is a method of observing how the guests react to our post how they communicate, what are the frequently asked questions that they ask, how they react on a certain content in Facebook page. The key work is “Social Listening” this is usually analysing big data as well to monitor conversation and purchase behaviour, identifying the potential leads. Social Customer relationship Management can be used to see how people give feedback, comments, suggestion, questions, and violent reactions. Social listening is a tool to compete with other brands using big data analytics and business intelligence. In addition, the resort can engage in social listening by offline methods, phone interviews or sentiments of the ones that are inquiring, reservation officers should keep be able to read between the lines, understand the behaviour of those guests who are calling, complaining, guest filling out the survey forms and of just for the sake of giving information. To be more efficient and effective, reservation officers should practice taking down notes on what has been discovered in online and phone conversations then bring this in the monthly general customer relations (something like fgd) meeting as the needs might change from time to time.

Netropology (MORE IMMERSED, HIGH LEVEL OF EMPATHY) – Ethnography are e tribes or online communities. The guests are being observed when they speak in communities or groups. In the resorts case, the company should observe and join Facebook ethnic groups like online communities about camping, outdoor hiking, travel communities, camp and bike for bikers, mountaineering groups. The resort engage in joining social groups related to travel. The proposal was also to build an online community for avid campers that will aid the how to’s. The community website will serve an information hub, a support for campers and futher promote camping as a trend, it will feature articles that will aid guests on how to plan a successful beach outing. It will increase awareness about the resort. Offering information to others that is of value with its members will ultimately make the business successful. Members will be abe to interact with others of similar interest – the outdoors and the beach. The community will not engage in hardselling but will focus on building a sustainable community of campers and potential guests. The community aims to educate what is in store for them in Calatagan Batangas.   It will be an avenue to know more about the business. This is also a good startegy to get closer to the members and get brand ambassadors to talk about the resort. Communities can develop close relationships, the more opportunities you will eventually have of offering them the service since profile is already stored in the database. We will create a community page named “CalataganBeachCamp.org” that will showcase different Categories related to camping that will let guest to actively participate and have them deeply engaged as active members.

Special topics will be covered like the following:

CATEGORY	SUB-CATEGORIES/TOPICS
BEACH ACTIVITIES	1.    Safety precautions when riding a Banana Boat. 2.    What to bring during fishing in salt water. 3.    How to make a perfect sand castle at the beach. 4.    Snorkeling guidelines. 5.    How to prepare for a Beach volleyball game. 6.    Beach Team Building Suggestions. 7.    How to set up a bonfire for kids. 8.    Boat ride and Island hopping essentials.
FOOD	1.   How to prepare for your favorite grilled dishes. 2.   Ideal food for your Beach camping. 3.   Quick snacks for kids during Beach Camping. 4.   Cooking pots, pans and utensils that you need      to bring during beach camping. 5.   Different types of coolers for beach camping.
SECURITY AND SAFETY	1.      Kinds of life jackets and floaters for kids. 2.      How to secure your camping tents at night. 3.      What should be in your First aid kit during camping? 4.      How to secure your belonging in a crowded camping area. 5.      How to deal with burns from camp fire during your trip.
TRAVEL	1.       What to do when it rains in your tent area. 2.       Basic camping gears. 3.       Beach-specific items to bring for recreation.
ENVIRONEMENT PROTECTION AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBIITY	1.       How to maintain a clean camping spot. 2.       How to properly dispose your garbage on your beach camping trip. 3.       How to preserve sea life and marine animals 4.       How to rehabilitate reef

Emphatic Research (PARTICIPATORY IMMERSION) – this is research method to discover the suppressed guest needs. This is in person observation, dialogue and brain storming collaboration among researchers to come up with a summarized conclusion. Emphatic research is closest to traditional ethnography, this can be done by attending the meet-ups of travelers, avid campers, beach lovers, mountaineering groups, camp and bikers to further determine their demands and wants and emotional needs.   A team may be form just like in the medical field there are multidisciplinary meetings, to discuss the approach, plans, execution, planning, leading, organizing, controlling and brainstorming for a strategic approach done by a team of experts like psychologist, product designers, marketers, beach lover, camping expert, a mystery guest that can immerse to the communities to further observe the needs and actual behavior of the market.  This will aid in coming up with a new product campaign that will aid and fulfill the mission “To provide an affordable customized beach camping experience, to give a 100% response rate in all inquiries and provide a perfect venue for reuniting friends and families. With its dedication to the environment, excellent customer service and to provide prime grade camping amenities, Casa Astillero aims to give a cherished experience that will be remembered throughout the years.“

Building the 6 Attributes of Human-Centric Brands

In order for a brand to be more attractive and be perceived as a friend that can understand the needs of their guests, it must then possess the 6 attributes of a complete human being and be a role model for its employees. This brand character will be so string that it can be easily be distinguished by one by just taking to any of its representative may be online or offline.

 BRAND CHARACTER

The beach resort offers not just camping and swimming, but also lots of activities that you can get excited about. The resort will surely give its guests endless discovery of what nature can offer.

Young, Adventurous & Romantic	It is inviting to explore nature and the outdoors; it is young at heart and willing to try new things that deepen the love and respect for nature and all of its wonder and significance.
Reasonable & Compassionate	It takes into consideration the current market rate and need of specific market segments. Price is very competitive and even low income earners and students can afford to enjoy the place.
Adaptable & Fit for all season	Sensitive of the needs of its guests, Casa Astillero adjusts he price and introduces promos for different seasons like rainy season and special occasions like Fathers day etc.   It offers different packages that cater to the specific time of the year.
Friendly  & Sociable	Its staff is easy to talk to, customer is the no 1 priority, has a great sense of humor and very approachable.
Generous & Kind	It does not hesitate to upgrade accommodation and give freebies like free bonfire, free banana leaf and use of volleyball court. It also gives discounts to guests and regular visitors for optimum beach experience.
Helpful & Reliable	It shares its expertise in outdoor activities e.g. setting up a bonfire or pitching tents. It is willing to give assistance to its guests round the clock.
Polite & Warmhearted and environmentally responsible	It treats its guest with respect and sincerity, making sure that all its needs are addressed in a timely manner. As well as all needs of the environment is being taken care of.

 

Physical – Physical brand identity involves logo and tag line. Our logo is an actual description of what to expect, native huts and kawayan. And a tag line that is human centric.  “To provide a wonderful camping experience that will unite friends and families that will be cherished and remembered though out the years.”

 

Intellectuality – The ability to innovate will be shown on how the resort can mix all digital channels and make the integration benefit one channel to another. The resort do not just focus on bench-marking as it style and strategy but it also focus on supporting leadership activities like the suggestion system of employees, a very cost effective because it also increases morale of its employees. The resort will mobilize for change not for sustainability alone.

Sociability – This pertains to verbal and non-verbal communication skills of talking to guests just like a friend or sister. Speed and urgency in answering questions are the key factors to be monitored across all media channels online or offline.

The resort should communicate and convey this brand voice in social activities.

1. Casa Astillero Beach Resort is cool, calm, and collected and can make you feel relaxed and stress free with its breath-taking sunrise and the sunset.
2. Casa Astillero is light-hearted and adventurous, adaptable to any situation.
3. It talks like a best friend or a good companion, it has dedicated and cheerful staff that shows expertise in outdoor camping and gives suggestions, beach camping tips for a picture perfect getaway.
4. It loves nature and shows empathy in preserving Mother Nature.
5. Casa Astillero Beach Resort is warm and welcoming; it treats its guest like a family member.
6. Casa Astillero Beach Resort is fun, homey and lively. It has an on-the-go attitude; it is ready to accept visitors and guests anytime 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
7. Casa Astillero Beach Resort is expressive of individuality and encourages simplicity and freedom.

Emotionality – This is connecting with the guest in an emotional level and understand the needs of its target market.  It understand the core desires of its guests which could be the following:

 

	Corporate Events Personnel	Working Professional	College student	Government Employee
Occupation	Corporate Events Personnel	Working Professional	College student	Government Employee
Emotional needs	Sense of autonomy and control, Being emotionally connected to others, Unity	Self- reliance, Self-assurance,	Independence, Confidence, Individualism	Attention, Love, Respect, Security
Core desires & Psychographics	To get foster unity in the organization and build friendship.   “I need to find an affordable place for team building that will develop camaraderie of our employees.”	To live independently, have a stable career and financial freedom.   “I need a break! I want to spend a weekend at the beach that is of good proximity to Manila.”	To live a carefree life, explore new things and establish social relationships.   “It is my birthday and I want to treat my classmates in an outing where we can camp and have an exciting bonfire party come night time.”	To give the best for their families and keep family intact.   “I need to get a reservation for a venue that could accommodate 40 people for the family’s annual holy week reunion.”
Sentiments	1. Has the responsibility to maintain harmonious and amicable relationship within the company. 2. Evaluates employee’s behaviour and attitude. 3. Conceptualize, develop and disseminate information to maximize HR/Admin Division budget.	1. Actively participates in peer/group hangouts. 2. Spends most spare time with close friends and workmates. 3. Exerts considerable effort in getting and maximizing breaks from work’s daily grind.	1. Wanting to belong in a group. 2. Wants to spend time with friends and classmates. 3. Closely watches expenses but always contributes and shares to his group especially on special occasions. 4. Wants attention from peers.	1. Needs to focus on work without sacrificing time for family and friends. 2. Needs to work longer hours to make ends meet and earn a decent income. 3. Want to keep things within budget.
Identifying traits/ Attitudes	Single, Broad-minded, Communicative, Compassionate, Generous	Married, Career Oriented, Easy-going, Optimistic, Passionate	Single, adventurous, creative, Simple, Enthusiastic, Friendly, Funny	Married, Affectionate, Considerate, Decisive, Loving, Practical

Personability – The company also can demonstrate flaws, as humans are not perfect being, this is evident in some negative reviews that we receive. We carefully digest the details of a negative comment and address it accordingly. The company takes action on guest feedback, the information is spread across the whole organization so that everyone can be aware and help in taking action of improving the product, accommodation and service. The recent issue was about flies in the area, we review trip advisor’s comment. We forward it to the management, then to the marketing department so that the team can email the person who commented, and it was also forwarded to the housekeeping department so that they can be aware of what has reached the manila office and take action about it. What is important is that the employees have learned some lessons along the way. The rule that we practice is “Whenever you fall, make sure you pick up something and stand up again”

Morality – The company practices environmental protection of marine life animals and human nature, promote conservation of water and electricity. We follow legal requirements like permits etc. E.g. paying necessary ecological fees. On the moral level, we have set standards that will promote health, safety and life. Our lifeguards are instructed to call help when someone is drowning but on an ethical personal standpoint he could leave his post and save the drowning man.  Morality is shared principles and norms that our ethics committee can impose like avoiding extra marital affairs that is socially unacceptable. Ethical values on a deeper sense is an obligation to do what the conscience dictates, it is the domain of free choice.

This is our obligation It core values are the following that guides the morale of its employees:

OUR CORE VALUES

Integrity        
Promoting an ethical practices and displaying honesty in dealing with co-workers and with guests, upholding right conduct and behavior and taking responsibility for our actions.

Respect for all
Fostering a trusting, open and inclusive workplace wherein there is no discrimination of age, sex, religion and educational attainment. Everyone has to work as a family and foster unity as it is its mission to unite family and friends that nurtures a happy environment.

Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability
Fulfilling our obligation to preserve nature by preserving natural resources, sea life and marine animals to maintain and support long term ecological balance by being responsible in garbage segregation for appropriate disposal. 

Safety
Exercising safety first, prioritizing care and security among all members of the organization and to its guest. Safeguarding lives and well being without sacrificing the enjoyment that the recreational activities can offer.

Superior Customer Service
Attracting and developing the best talent to address camping needs for excellent customer satisfaction, demonstrating a “sunny attitude”, implementing a people oriented service and promoting creative and collaborative sharing of ideas.

Loyalty
Valuing relationships and faithfulness by building a better and stronger company for the future generations, meeting the commitment to stakeholders and developing our people to further develop and grow in a harmonious environment that can keep long lasting guest relations. 

 

2. Summary: When Brands Become Humans

For a brand to be more human, it should be addressing the anxieties and desires of its market. The tools can be Social Listening where the brand should immerse or engage, Netropology, immerse and empathize and lastly, Empathic Research which requires immersion and participation. The brand should also be physically attractive, intellectually engaging, socially involved and emotionally dedicated to what it is doing.

A. What are the deepest anxieties and desires of your customers?

The mission addresses the need to reunite family and friends to foster a long lasting relationship with love ones.

•  To get foster unity in the organization and build friendship.(Head of Company Team buildings)
• To live independently, have a stable career and financial freedom. (Career driven person)
• To live a carefree life, explore new things and establish social relationships (Youth and avid camper)
• To give the best for their families and keep family intact. (Head of the family)

B. Does your brand possess human qualities? What can you do to make it more human?

Yes, we have built a brand character, voice and personality as mentioned above. The core values are guiding the organization in implementing legal, moral and ethical values.

7 Industry Archetypes and Best Practices (Channel, Brand, Sales and Service Management)

1. 4 Major industry Archetypes

Archetypes	Definition	Application in the resort
Door Knob (needs to improve affinity levels by building post-purchase engagements)	High commitment low curiosity level. Purchase is frequent and habitual. Usually the top of mind for its distinctive feature. Purchase is instant.	e.g. Consumer packed goods, e.g. Chooks to go chicken sold at the resort
Gold Fish (needs to optimize curiosity)	High curiosity level, mostly B2B. Customer frequently ask questions about the product before purchasing, collective advice is favoured.	e.g. HR looking for company team building venue e.g. Family outing (though not a b2b this is stated in the book)
Trumpet (needs to strive a perfect bow tie pattern)	Required high affinity levels, trust the quality of brands, there are advocates even if they have not experienced the brand. Strong reputation for quality	e.g. Banana boat ride and Jet Ski ( most luxurious activity)
Funnel (needs to improve commitment and affinity levels)	Most purchases are well planned, customers are highly involved. They purchase if they like what they hear from the conversation, overall customer experience matters.	e.g. Family and group outings e.g. Wedding Venue and Reception.
Bow tie (the ideal, maximize potentials)	The ideal customer-path pattern, people aware of the rand recommends the brand because of stellar reputation. Has a perfect BAR score of 1 (aware=advocate)and (appeal=act)	e.g. Repeat guests and advocates who have not even tried the resort.

2. 4 Marketing Best Practices

HIGH BAR	HIGH BAR	LOW BAR	LOW BAR
Narrow BAR range –  customers recommend Success is often determined by channel proximity and accessibility KEY SUCCESS FACTOR: Channel Management develop Omnichannel presence to drive sales	Wide BAR range customers recommend leading brands   KEY SUCCESS FACTOR: Brand Management	Wide BAR range Customers do not recommend brands Customer advocate leading brands KEY SUCCESS FACTOR: Service Management	Narrow BAR Range Tight competition Customers do not recommend Word of mouth is useless Extra effort to push the product to the market is needed. KEY SUCCESS FACTOR: Sales-force Management

Other insights:

• Keeping Brand Advocacy Ratio (BAR) high which means customers are willing to recommend your products and services.
• When median BAR is high the tendency to recommend more than one brand is high.
• Keep on building Brand Advocates that can give positive “Word of Mouth” for your brand
• Develop Social Media Marketing along with building brand advocates
• Keep building your brand reputation and achieve a high BAR
• Develop a “pull” marketing approach is best with high BAR
• Develop a “push” marketing approach with low BAR.
• Use Channel Management, success is linked to channel proximity and accessibility to target market
• Drive customers to online and offline strategies and this is always best when combined.
• Keeping customer intimacy is the key to an excellent service.
• Give recommendations to your patrons and develop an Omnichannel

3. Summary: Learning from Different Industries

Innovation disrupts almost all industries. All companies should be mobilizing for change and adapt to the shifts and changing trends of the market and its connectivity.  The 5A’s was a great eye opener and tool to analyse customer path behaviour and to identify touch points relevant to the business. The BAR and PAR are metrics that the company should look at every now and then aside from the many metrics the PAR and BAR are the most crucial these days.  Applying and understanding the 5A’s is a sure way to improve attraction, loyalty, affinity and commitment.

A. Which archetype best describes your industry?

While everyone is trying to have a Bowtie pattern, I can see that in our industry the most applicable is the ”funnel” for families and group outings and the “goldfish” for corporate team buildings B2B functions. So what is it for me then? Now I can see where I could leverage and where I should focus my effort on.

B. What are some of the key improvement opportunities for your business based on that archetype?

The FUNNEL needs to optimize curiosity while The GOLD FISH Pattern needs to optimize curiosity.  For the FUNNEL, Most purchases are well planned, people call, email and send FB inquiries to inquire, and customers are highly involved because everyone has to agree with the travel destination chosen. They purchase if they like what they hear from the conversation, they should be enticed and excited enough to book an accommodation. The overall customer experience matters a lot, they write blog about their outing, if not they give review ratings in FB, Google or in Tripadvisor.

For the GOLD FISH, Human resource personnel as one of the target persona has a very high curiosity level and do an extensive search over the net for the most affordable and practical team building venue that fits their budget and where they can make their desired team activities happen.  This is mostly B2B relationship. The Human resource officer frequently ask questions about the product before purchasing, collective advice is favoured as well and blogs also helps in leveraging in this target market.

C. What is the key success factor in your industry? How can you learn from other industries?

The key success factors include customization and human interaction via phone, a distinct brand voice and character. We treat the guests as family members and take into considerations their requests, sentiments even if it means that we need to go out of our way to serve them. Like for example, we don’t have a trike service, but if the guest request at the wee hours of the night, we can make it happen. We also value honesty and Integrity as our core culture. We make sure we hire employees has the same values. We work not as a team but as a family and treat guest as a family as well.

Other industry has a different Archetype, but I was able to connect some concepts and I have learned what a retail industry needs that it needs to improve affinity levels by building post-purchase engagements, it is high commitment low curiosity level. Purchase is frequent and habitual. Usually the top of mind for its distinctive feature. Purchase is instant and this can be applied in the resort business souvenir shop or retail shop selling basic needs. I will see how I can build post engagement with our services as well like the massage or boat rides etc.

6 Marketing Productivity Metrics (PAR Purchase Action Ratio and BAR Brand Advocacy Ratio)

1. Introducing PAR and BAR

Purchase Action Ratio (PAR) and Brand Advocacy Ratio (BAR) are the main metrics that are needs to be tracked these days. Far from the usual social media metrics and digital channel metrics, this gives a broader sense of how well companies convert in terms of Sales and Positive influence.  BAR focuses on Advocacy while PAR on purchases. There are numerous metrics like Search Engine Conversion Ratio, Social Media Engagement Score, Visitor Conversion Ratio for website, Social Media ROI, CPA, CPM, CPC, Bounce rate for emails, Unsubscribe rates and the list goes on. Thus, the most important ingredient to a success of a business is the Purchase conversion (PAR) and the No. of people actually recommending you (BAR). 

In application, in 3,336 quotations made, 801 booked and 8 recommended the brand (this is based on original data for 2016) PAR is 801/3,336 = 24 % (low) because the ideal is at least 80% and the BAR is 9/801 = 1.12% for the resort.

2. Decomposing PAR and BAR

To determine profitability of a company, ROE may be a considered metric to summarize Profitability (as measured by net profit margin), Asset Use Efficiency (as measure of asset turnover) and Financial Leverage (as measure by equity multiplier). The goal is to have a higher ROE which means high profitability, maximized assets and high leverage. However, high leverage can be narrowed down to determine over leverage and under leverage.

Breaking PAR and BAR can give additional insights that aids the company to understand better when some data may be missing. Other formulas may be, PAR = Act/Total Market Share + Aware/Total market or Customer/Total Market Share / Aware / Total market or simply Market Share/Brand Awareness.

With PAR, market Share is always half % of brand awareness and this is a determinant on how marketers should be careful in spending.

Low conversion rate	Means
aware to appeal	Poor customer attraction and low brand positioning due to poor marketing implementation. Attraction level is close to 1.
appeal to ask	Low customer curiosity, customers are not compelled to ask questions Too high means brand message is unclear. Curiosity level should not be closer to 1.
ask to act	Low commitment, people talks about the brand but do not buy, guests might find the service to be disappointing.
act to advocate	Low affinity, experience at the resort was not great and not worth sharing or recommending. Goal is to increase compassion level.

With Bar, shows the outcome, the ideal bar score is 1. The goal is to go through the entire 5A’s without dropping out.

Low conversion rate	Means
5 A’s any given stage	A bottleneck, reduces productivity of the entire customer path, determines touch points that needs improvement. Altering bottleneck improves PAR and BAR.

 

BAR = (Appeal / Awareness) ( Ask/Appeal) (Act/Ask) (Avocates/Affinity)
         

BAR	Means	LOYALTY	IMPROVE ON
APPEAL AWARENESS	Poor customer attraction and low brand positioning due to poor marketing implementation. Attraction level is close to 1.	ATTRACTION	·       Repositioning ·       Marketing Communication
ASK APPEAL	Low customer curiosity, customers are not compelled to ask questions Too high means brand message is unclear. Curiosity level should not be closer to 1.	CURIOSITY	·       Community Marketing ·       Content Marketing
ACT ASK	Low commitment, people talks about the brand but do not buy, guests might find the service to be disappointing.	COMMITMENT	·       Channel ·       Management Sales Force
ADVOCATE AFFINITY	Low affinity, experience at the resort was not great and not worth sharing or recommending. Goal is to increase compassion level.	AFFINITY	·       Loyalty ·       Program Customer Care

3. Driving Up Productivity

The driving force to increased productivity is improved awareness. Digital Channel is the latest and less costly way of driving awareness to your brand. Connectivity through social media and other digital platforms may trigger conversation and give information to those who have not heard of the product yet. People tend to listen and watch through YouTube to learn about a product, they read reviews on blogs and read comments and recommendation. It is said the previous chapters that customer tends to trust strangers posting reviews more than what the company website says or company advertisements. Leveraging on guests conversation online. Online content cannot be directly controlled by the company same with how we cannot control the sentiments that are being posted on social media Facebook page, we don’t practice deleting negative comments or harsh feedback because it is rude to the guest, we just address this and as much as possible settle things in a private chat room then if possible to request the removal of such comment. Customer conversation may reduce cost of advertising online and other costs and the challenge is to have positive advocates and positive mentions. However, this should not be the only medium to maximize companies advertising potentials, it is still best to have your own digital plan which has online and offline strategies to tap target market. Brands cannot solely rely on “outer” zone to build a good brand reputation.

To drive productivity to the resort here are the ways to leverage on a strategy.

1. Increase Attraction – Our value proposition is that we provide a pampered camping venue that is suited for all ages. Quality prime grade Kawayans and a decent restroom, we are also a good venue for team building and weddings. We have community building, we provide a camping ground as big as 4 HA, we engage in environmental activities and the list goes on and this set us apart from other camping sites. These information should be set clear to the market and communicated properly. The company also practice a culture that best fit the tourism industry, brand character and a brand voice and we stick to it as much as possible.

Sample of our brand voice is cool, calm, and collected and could make you feel relaxed and stress free; it talks like a best friend or a good companion; it is warm and welcoming; it treats its guest like a family member. It has an on-the-go attitude; it is ready to accept visitors and guests anytime 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is expressive of individuality and encourages simplicity and freedom.

Brand Character:
1. Young, Adventurous & Romantic (trendy and has respect for nature)
2. Reasonable & Compassionate (competitive pricing)
3. Adaptable & Fit for all season (can customize packages)
4. Friendly & Sociable (easy to talk to)
5. Generous & Kind (do not hesitate in giving upgrades)
6. Helpful & Reliable (give exceptional assistance and value added services to guest)
7. Polite, warm hearted & Environmental friendly (engage in environmental protection activities and rehabilitation)

The resort interact with guests like a family member and interact talk as a friend.

2. Optimize Curiosity – When guests have high expectation, it simply means that they have not researched well enough to know what the resort can offer and this also means that they have little curiosity, when expectations are not set properly, there are disappointed guests who may write a negative review. Optimizing curiosity means creating truthful content and spreading the correct information about the services and products. Content marketing in blogs, press releases, info graphics etc. plays a vital role in this part, it has to be creative, enticing and not to lengthy nor misleading. These content should also be ”searchable and shareable”

3. Increase Commitment – An efficient inventory, reservations and after sales or loyalty program system are just a few processes that can be utilized to have an efficient and effective operation. Increasing commitment means having the sense of urgency and speed in providing available rooms and answering customer requests and inquiries. Maintaining 100% response rate on FB page is a good example. We make sure that the process are streamlined to achieve a hassle free transaction from the time a guest inquires till after the outing with our after sales program system. Commitment is also maximizing the inter connectivity of all digital channels.

4. Increase Affinity –Post purchase is very important in increasing loyal advocates. At the resort aim to be a part of the family outing even at the planning stage. Reservations officers talk like they are actually with them during the outing and make it sure that the people who are trying to customize a package will arrive at a very convenient yet reasonable outing package. We also empathize with the guests when tripods get lost, cameras buried in the sand, wallets misplaced. We ship these to them and guaranty security and do the extra mile to deliver in person. We would want to remain consistent without brand character of upholding values of honesty and integrity. Gamification is also done in Instagarm contests and we reward the winners by sending them the price and a handwritten personalized note from the owner.

A. How can your business adopt the new metrics of PAR and BAR to measure marketing productivity?

It is shown in the given example in no 1. Question that we can compute for BAR and PAR, we need to continue on this because PAR is heavily linked to the financial health of the company by giving metrics that is relation to actual sales or bookings.  Both are measures of productivity of spending and brand awareness. It is logical to say that it is impossible to have bookings without awareness of the brand first. PAR is a purchase action measurement while BAR tracks advocacy that results to sales growth. 

B. How can your business trigger favourable customer conversations in order to drive awareness without increasing the marketing budget significantly?

Leaving a positive impression from the beginning, from the time they called to inquire would be an advantage, not to sales pitch but to make them feel at home. Talking like you are a member of the family or group of friends is a way on how they can spread good news about your company. They would say that you are approachable, nice, helpful and friendly is a good trait that not all customer service representative has. Not sounding like robots or information hub. This is what I always remind my staff. Be a part of the outing. Be there when they need ideas, be there, meet the person behind the phone, meet and greet everyone, make them feel important, give additional perks that they did not expect. Have the initiative to reach out and picture the scenario based on expectation and reality without exaggeration. Telling the truth and the downside of some things is also practicing honesty and customer will appreciate it. The awareness will be from “word of mouth” and this is free.

5 The New Customer Path

Understanding customer path is imperative for all industries. What is important is to build quality touch points and it has to be quality versus quantity.  Touch points is the way you connect to your customers, critical areas that the customer values.  Mapping customer path or journey is a tool to strengthen channel presence. By knowing how to create awareness, how they research, what motivates the guest and what can be the out of the box experience of guests at the resort would help modify a strong differentiator. In order to leverage on communication, there has to be a peer to per communication, the resort should consider building a better mind share, heart share and market share that will build brand loyalist. This will maximize operations efficiency and effectively, addressing the needs at the resort by attending to the immediate requests of the guests that will create a good story that will be shared to his/her direct network of friends and families. Stories worth sharing like, how they were able to recover a lost key or cell phone after an outing/camping.

Understanding How People Buy (from 4As to 5As)

In keeping the resort relevant, there is a need to track customer behavior and this is possible by following the 4 A’s frame work. As suggested it stands for Aware, Attitude, Act and Act Again. It was formerly an AIDA customer path concept that is modified to track post purchase customer behavior as well. At the resort Awareness starts with learning about the resort from friends. Attitude will address the like or dislike of a potential guest. The questions below research may help them decide if they will like it or not. Act is the new purchase. The questions below are decision factors in buying or booking a reservation. Act again is the out of the box experience, a determinant if they will recommend it to others or will they go back and visit the resort once again to share the experience to those who have not tried it or even to the same people because they liked the service.

The 4 A’s frame work also discusses the funnel and the conversion ratio from awareness to repeat guests. A certain percentage for example who are aware will be drilled down to those who will research or show interest, then down to a smaller percentage who will purchase or book and then act again is relatively lower than those who are likely to come back from the first visit. Once the resort is recommended or a guest came back then loyal advocates are earned. In Shift 1, a customer path must adapt to issues in connectivity and increased influence of social media FB page and Ads.  This may be represented into a sample marketing funnel like in website as digital channel like the figure below:

Shift 2, the new customer path should be aligned to building guest who are willing to be brand advocates and not just focused on building a repeat or loyal guests, they should be satisfied enough to spread the word. Moreover, the new customer path should take into account connectivity among customers through forums or beach related FB groups to deepen their awareness via direct communication. A positive communication is very important to deepen relationship of the resort to its potential guests.

The Shifting Customer Path in a Connected World

In shift 3, guests at the resort connect to travel advocates and travel bloggers and heavily read reviews online. Guests nowadays are willing to share their experience online from the time they have researched, experience customer service or reservation experience down to the treatment of resort staff. The conversation with the brand and its representative can challenge how the business do things the normal way, it may weaken and strengthen the brands image as well.

The 5 A’s on the other hand added “Advocate” at the last column. Aware is where they resort guests have been exposed to the brands name, have heard it somewhere or from someone. The brand is recognized in the field of tourism, resorts and beach camping.  Appeal is amplifying the short term memory, this is where response is seen as they take some necessary steps to know more about the product, and the more curious the more effective is the brand appeal. Researching due to curiosity is the Ask factor driven by curiosity, they call friends for feedback, crowd sourcing in FB, read online reviews or even call the reservations office for more info and inquire for package rates. A combination of offline and online strategies will help guests to make decision based on others suggestions and comments. Act in this new shift is not limited to purchasing, it is also the holistic experience from the time they call to inquire down to going to the resort. The guests are keen observer of how the brand character is portrayed by the employees, how their thoughts are being addressed and needs being delivered. Advocate is retention, repeat guest visits and making them love the service that they will go back and become evangelists, the offline strategy of sending out a simple questionnaires after the outing of asking “if they will recommend, why and why not?” could be a good strategy to build more brand ambassadors.

However, the path in 5A’s is not traditional straight forward flow, some guest that we may consider brand advocates may not necessarily experienced the resort, these can be our distant relatives or even family loyalist who may also spread positive brand image.  It may also be spiral in the sense that not all who have inquired will book or those who have experienced will try other resorts. Return guests does not necessarily need to go from awareness stage and will just loop to the feedback and act and book again. This non-traditional flow may be an avenue to discover rooms for improvement.

1. Driving from Awareness to Advocacy (the Ozone 3)

Marketing 4.0 focuses on Owned, Other, Outer as referred to the Ozone 3. In old marketing concept this is the Owned, Paid and Earned Media concepts respectively. The most important of all is getting brand advocates through “the outer” concept which is created by a good brand appeal. Maximize “the other” which refers to channels which creates curiosity that makes potential guest ask and inquire and create awareness through “the owned.”

In application, the resort could have the ff own, other and outer to drive advocacy.

OTHER	Face book Ads Display Search or Google Ads Search Engine Optimization Affiliate Marketing Paid Bloggers / Paid Press Release Email Content Survey Content
OWNED	Website Face book Page and Apps that fits the business Instagram page Indoor Ads Instagram Photo Frame (studio) You Tube Channel Online Community page
OUTER	Blog Posts Positive Online Reviews Shares, Likes, Status message on Facebook Likes and comments on Instagram, Regrams Positive Mentions Youtube (vblogs)
Messaging	Tailored Email for Affiliate partners Follow-up emails about promos offered
Integration	FB linked to Website and Online community. Blogs linked to Website and Social Media Fan Page Social Media page linked to websites Affiliate Marketing Partners linked to Reservation form You tube linked to website and FB pages. Display Search Ads linked to landing pages and/or website. Online community linked to FB and website.

2. Summary: Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act and Advocate

The 5A’s is designed to determine the ways on how the guests can reach you, how you can tap the interest and desires of your target market. This also can help you improve your conversion rate once you have identifies critical patterns that might hinder them in booking at the resort. This would also tell you the importance of having loyal advocates and not just stopping at the end sale but on how to amplify word of mouth by getting others to recommend you. This is a critical concept in making a marketing plan and business strategy. This could also identify problems and complaints of guests by combining online and offline platforms. This is a good tool to raise awareness and curiosity and further improve brand image. The 5 A’s aids in developing connectivity among potential guests from awareness to advocacy. Gaining advocacy is the identifier of a successful marketing campaign. Reaching out and gaining earned media who will speak highly of your product or services.

A. How can your brand identify and leverage the most critical touch points in the customer path?

The resort can maximize and leverage on tapping the customer buying patterns or the frequently asked questions, the barriers and other issues should be addressed to boost the resort’s full potential, this can help in creating more advocates by leveraging on channels which are means of communication between the brand and its guests. It can also be used in competitor analysis to develop a better brand differentiator.

B. How can your business improve brand favourability and optimize marketing efforts by evaluating the three main sources of influence across the customer path?

The three (3) influences can be used in integrating the zones that will benefit from one another. “Owned” linked to “Other” zone will drive page view that will boost search engine rankings in your owned website, owned FB page that is maximized using boost ads can drive engagement and conversion. “Other” zone like blogs, paid email in return can create additional awareness to support your “owned” zone like website FB page, Twitter, Instagam by having a link from the blogs. Blogs normally are the basis for product reviews and it is a great help to leverage on this, the links going to the “owned” will greatly benefit since “owned” are avenues to showcase your brand. However, the greatest favour is by designing owned zone to guide “outer” zone and by setting a good story board, pictures or example to the public through “owned” YouTube channel. This may increase vblogs which could come from the “outer” zone. In addition to that integrating you tube links to emails when customers’ requests for quotes will increase awareness and page views, this videos can set expectations and could entice them to create their own version.  Zone integration and better customer path analysis will drive more leads and value to the company. All zones complement each other, and it is crucial to have all three.

4 Marketing 4.0 in the Digital Economy (When Online Meets Offline, Style Meets Substance and Machine-to-Machine Meets Human-to-Human)

1. Moving from Traditional to Digital

The first step in going digital is to segment your market for a more targeted audience, this is where we take into consideration the segmentation based on geographic locations, demographic, behavioral profiles and the psyche of the brand persona. Segmentation is a brand strategy to shape positioning in the market.  More often than not segmentation is made without the consent of the customers. As marketers, we decide on what areas to cover in your market segmentation, how we analyse the market, its core aspirations and behavior. In this day and age, communities are the newest segments, this may be in a form of online organizations or FB groups. The down side is they are prone to spamming but there are administrators to maintain the page’s exclusivity.

Brand Positioning and Differentiation to Brand Clarification of Character and codes

Traditionally, brand positioning can be characterized by a brand name, logo and tagline to distinguish the brand from its competition.  The brand equity as the overall perception of the brand may help in creating a strategy to reach the market. Moreover it may be linked to brand positioning which aims to make the brand the top of mind product or service to its consumers. Brand positioning makes that promise and it needs to be fulfilled by the brand to keep customer loyalty.

In digital, customers are empowered to affect brand equity and brand positioning. Social media has its share of influencing the target market. These days everything is so transparent that the effect of a certain brand can be posted online straight from the consumer’s mouth. Exaggeration of ads and false advertisements are now a thing of the past.

In conclusion, traditional marketing is no longer enough. With so much things happening on the internet and how things are disrupted  by technology, a brand need to innovate and adapt to the changing trend in the market and go digital as well. Logo’s and taglines are not enough, there has to be a solid brand character, voice and preposition that you need to project to the public for your image to be more distinct to be able to compete in the digital space.

From Selling the 4 P’s to Commercializing the 4 C’s

The traditional 4 P’s or product positioning, placing, promotion and price has evolved to 4 C’s which now takes into consideration the co-creation, currency, communal activation and conversation about a brand.

Co creation is the new age of product development strategy where customers are involved in the formulation of ideas and concepts because they have the opportunity to personalize products and services. Currency is the new pricing scheme. Analytics plays an important role of understating the spending pattern of consumer then customizes the price based on historical purchase pattern, proximity to store to be able to convert more customers. Communal activation is the placing and distribution in the old 4 P’s method. Products are now made available in a peer to peer concept maximizing technologies like 3D and online portals where customers can access products anytime and it can be delivered to your doorstep unlike the conventional shopping. Promotion is the old Conversation in the 4C’s. In today’s generation, the evolution is from TV promotion to reviews or word of mouth in any social media platform. Traditional customers are passive objects of selling techniques while in digital, it is commercial value plus engaged customers.

 From Customer Service Processes to Collaborative Customer Care

Far from the usual approach if treating customers as kings after they have purchased a product, companies now view customers as equals after shifting to the customer care approach. Serving the customer after the sale is no longer enough. At this digital age, the brand needs to listen, interact, react and take action to customer insights, comments, suggestion, feedback and violent reaction about their brands.

2. Integrating Traditional and Digital

Traditional and digital should co-exist. Traditional marketing has the main focus on creating awareness and interest while digital’s role is to drive action and advocacy. Digital is more result driven as you can easily track and measure the effect of digital efforts as compared to traditional. It is not just cheaper but it is also a much reliable tool to understand the target consumer better since customer interact with brand. 

3. Summary: Redefining Marketing in the Digital Economy

Building advocacy and engagement is what we need in our time in order to have a successful business. We have to leverage in meeting the standards of the guests, customers and consumers. This can be made possible by understanding the 4C’s and how it should be applied in our businesses. Marketing 4.0 is a combination of online and offline marketing, putting style adding brand voice and character to be used in keeping in touch with your customer base. It should maximize the benefits of internet of things, machine to machine connectivity, human to human connectivity to improve engagement that leads to a higher conversion rate and achieving its goal to acquire brand advocates.

A. How can your brand develop a powerful differential based on human-to-human touch in the digital world.

The brand can maximize human interaction by building a solid customer loyalty program, every after group outing our reservations officer are tasked to contact the guests and as on how did their outing go. The resort asks for feedback and pictures of their best shots. Aside from acknowledging their visit, we feature then in our FB wall. The team makes sure that there are after sale service and we talk to the guest directly via FB messenger and email. Their pictures are also added to the website gallery, not just to have fresh content but to make them feel that they are a part of the family and how thankful we are for having them at the resort. The resort monitors tweets, Instagram posts and answers all mobile inquiries. Our team is ready to respond via text to assist to their needs. Mobile and Facebook has served as a front desk support as well. It is not used only to close deals but to monitor the guests during the day of their outing, assisting them when they get lost along the way and checking up on them after the experience. The company would not go below 95% response rate on answering FB messages. Speend and urgency are qualities that we leverage to give exceptional customer service.

B. How can your business transition from the traditional 4Ps to the digital 4Cs by adopting co-creation, taking advantage of currency-like pricing, engaging in communal activation and driving conversation.

The resort let the customers customize their products and outing packages that makes them co-creators to personalize their needs and wants. They are co-creators because they start to suggest things for improvement and we take this seriously by improving our facilities to the extent of providing the suggested team building props for company outings.

On currency, we suggest a package to our guests and they can freely add or remove some items to fit their budget and preference. Based on our record since 2014 we were able to analyse the trends of the peak season and lean season based on the sales report and this serves a tool for marketing promotion on high season and lowering package rates on lean months. Data on page views are also available to see how much web traffic is there and is the visitor conversion ratio is high enough. We also use benchmarking and porters 5 analysis of new entrants to justify pricing and improve on value proposition.

Communal activation is the placing and distribution in the old 4 P’s method. We maximize the use of google maps and waze, these apps and technologies makes it easier for the guest to locate the resort. Maps are also uploaded in the website and should also be downloadable.

Promotion is the old Conversation in the 4C’s. The resort uses digital channels like, website position for the right key terms, Facebook messenger, Viber for engagement and human interaction, email marketing for contacting old guests and informing them of their loyalty guest privileges and discounts after the first visit. Instagram contest, online community website to increase environmental advocacy, Google paid ads to further increase awareness in a more targeted audience, and the most powerful media earned media by motivating guests to create their own vbolgs by setting a good storyboard that is uploaded in the resorts YouTube channel.

Offline strategies are still being kept, road signs, calling cards, and feedback survey sheet to ask the most important question, “Will you recommend us to others? Why and why not?” This will show love, empathy, focus and care for the guests.

C. What are the fundamental changes required in your customer-service strategy to embrace collaborative customer care?

Our collaborative customer care strategies is leaving no comments, questions and reactions unanswered. The resort makes sure that “No one is left behind” We guide and address the needs of the guests may it be on site or in our reservations office. We take action on customer ratings on Tripadvisor, Fb and Google. The resort also email guests with negative reviews, we try to reach them in whatever way possible, not just to build a good online reputation but to maintain a good guest relation service. Customer is king but the broader scale of customer care is treating the employees or the person beside you as the customer as well, in this way the team will be able to have a unified culture valuing teamwork and positive mind-set that will define the brand purpose, mission and its vision.

3 The Influential Digital Subcultures .

1. Youth: Acquiring the Mindshare

The youth usually are the trendsetters. They can influence the older generation in terms of the latest trends in fashion, music, food, sports and technology. Tapping the youth who are usually the ones eager to try new things in the market could reach the conventional market positively. They are creators in the techno graphic ladder and could be creators of YouTube videos and Vblogs.

They are potential customers as they will eventually work and earn, then spend for a brand that they believe in. They are also considered as the most profitable customers because of their capacity to buy in the near future. The goal is to influence their minds that your product is cool and worth trying e.g. I pods, Netflix etc. They have a digital lifestyle that takes into account the possibility of hitting a pool of followers. Youth also can adapt to changing technology and trends, if this happens they are the best brand ambassadors for any time of business because they are considered as “game changers.”

2. Women: Growing the Market Share

Women, especially the stay at home moms and housewives have the time to do research over the internet compared to men who are usually preoccupied with work. They have the final say in purchasing decisions. They lurk “lurkers” over the net for the best products and services for their families. They are also considered as spectators.

Women can multi task and as information collectors, their behavior spending habits are relatively different compared to men, they make sure that they have researched well. Let say for example the way a woman do grocery, they go to every isle back and forth to compare products. This is also how they research over the net. As a result their counterparts, friends and relatives trust their instincts and decision when purchasing something because of their attention to detail.

3. Netizens: Expanding the Heart Share

Netizens are the internet savvy potential brand keepers and ambassadors, they are critics and joiners or groups and communities. They are highly influential because they can blog, create info graphics, videos to express their thoughts about a product or services. They are “creators, collectors and critics” in the techno graphic ladder because they put action and consume whatever they find online. Their desire to always be connected is what companies can take advantage of. They are social connectors and evangelist and are usually online and chatting to people in Facebook messenger, Viber, Whatsapp and other app where they can voice their opinion by commenting, voting, liking sharing posts. They have almost all social media apps like Instagram, Pinterest etc. They can be potentially lovers or haters of your brand and this can affect your online engagement.  

4. Summary: Youth, Women and Netizens

Youth, Women and Netizens are the most influential people in this digital age. They are considered as minorities in the society. However, they give the biggest impact in social media, mainly because they are the ones that are heavily attached to social networks and could affect mainstream culture. They can create a huge impact in your business because of their large network of friends and family. YMN when impressed can contribute to good engagement to promote your brand.

A. How can your business acquire greater mind share by leveraging youth’s roles of early adopters and trendsetters.

Beach Camping is the new trend and majority of guests who are booking for an accommodation are newly grads working for the call center industry. They can be the new set of trend setters and as we introduce Glamping as the latest trend in camping, we can take advantage of their abilities to influence others as soon as they have tried our new service. They have the eagerness and willingness to try new things and they can simply create videos, blogs and vbogs about their adventure. Older generations are not as carefree and thrill seeking. The youth can simply invite their families and older generation if they envision a positive and memorable experience that can be cherished and treasured with their love ones. Youth in their late teens also may be brand advocates when they see pictures of the beach, beach activities, thrilling boat rides and banana boat rides. They can convince their parents to visit the resort and no one can resist a young adult when parents and grandparents would want to enjoy a bonding activity them. Moreover, Student campers are enthusiastic, friendly and funny, these are the traits of the youth population, and they would like to experience independence and confidence. Their core desire is to live a carefree life, explore new things and establish social relationships. They are usually equipped with a tablet or mobile phones. By understanding this, the resort can use mobile channels.

B. How can your business grow market share by leveraging the household influence of women?

Mothers with young kids who would like to introduce their children to the sand and water is another target persona, they have this ability to search and research the web for the most affordable yet safest beach camp sites. Casa Astillero also have air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned rooms that we call “Kabanas” that is even suitable for pregnant women. The resort can leverage on its decent and clean camping restrooms that sets us apart from other resorts. Housewives and Mothers are decision makers when it comes to recreational activities for the family. Mothers and housewives are affectionate, loving and practical. They need love, attention, respect and security. Their core desire is to give the best for their families and keep the family intact. The resort should understand that they want to keep things within budget and so we should make rates reasonable. They usually have laptops or desktops at home and is heavily attached to their smartphones to get in touch with their husbands and relatives.

C. How can your business identify and utilize Netizens to win greater heart share?

Netizens who are frequently online and has been spending more than 5-10 hours online per day can be tapped by being visible in almost all social media channels especially on Facebook. They are fond of joining groups and organizations that best fit their interest. An avid camper for example joins organization and FB groups that involves outdoors, hiking, snorkeling, fishing, camping, travel, mountaineering etc. The company can leverage in group tour packages in order to tap the Netizens who has this interest. Netizens who are creators, collectors and critics can be reached through posting ads on various FB groups in relation to travel. Netizens are optimistic and passionate about building their social circle. They share posts, engage, constantly likes posts and comments. Their core desire is to freely express their thoughts and feelings, very much active online and actively participates in peer/group online hangouts. The resort may also come up with a community website to cater the needs of avid campers, this community page will discuss reef rehabilitation, safety measures during camping, recommended beach activities that will eventually touch the hearts of the passionate avid campers who would like to make a difference and are very much engaged in online activities.