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. |
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
|
Wide BAR range
KEY SUCCESS FACTOR:
|
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 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.