Case Example: Target marketing for the Xairu Blue Crane Route
The Xairu Blue Crane Route is located in the Western Cape and has the Blue Crane as its flagship feature. If the route wants to target people that will be interested in seeing the Blue Crane in its natural environment, they will have to do target marketing.
Market segmentation:
Start asking questions about who would potentially be interested in seeing Blue Cranes and list their characteristics. The point of departure here would be that these people are most likely to be bird watchers or nature lovers. By doing a quick internet search for “bird watchers market profile” the following was extracted:
International Tourist Profile:
Age: the international markets are generally older, but include a general broader range of ages than the domestic bird watching markets
Occupation: As with the Australian market, international markets tend to be educated and affluent, however, as with age, there is a broader range of occupations and incomes than the Australian market. Almost 75% of USA birdwatchers had achieved degree levels education or greater
This already provides some useful information to start building a profile of the type of visitors you want to target. We now know that these people tend to be older, are educated, members of bird clubs and the major markets are the UK, Europe and the US
The next step would be to start thinking of how these people can be targeted. Brainstorm this in a Route Forum meeting. Here are some ideas:
1. Target bird clubs in South Africa and the other source markets mentioned
Once again, an internet search for “bird clubs” can provide some good results. The following was extracted from a document found on the internet
A. Birdlife South Africa branches(as at June 2007)
Name Chairman Contact Tel E-mail
EASTERN CAPE
Birdlife Border Ian Field (043)7404211 margieandian@mweb.co.za
Birdlife Eastern Cape Ken Munro (041)3973201 jenken@agnet.co.za
This is useful information, as you already have names and contact details of people from the contact list that can help to market the Blue Crane Route. Now is the time to contact people we need to start communicating with.
2. Write a press release or route summary
To create interest among the members of these bird clubs, we need to compile a document that tells them about the route and how they can find more information (See Annexure F for steps in writing a press release). Important information to include in this document are:
- Location
- Contact details (include the link to the route on the Open Africa website i.e. http://www.openafrica.org/route/xairu-blue-crane-route
- Accessibility (Can the area be visited at all times of the year? Can you only see the Blue Cranes a certain time of year?
Ask the main contact of each of the bird clubs to distribute the information to their members
3. Follow up
3. Follow up
Now that you have made contact and sent out the relevant information, make sure to follow up by contacting the relevant person to find out if they received the document and if there are any questions relating to it. If people contact you about the document start compiling a database with their names and contact details. This can be used later to send them updates or newsletters on the route’s activities. These steps can be followed for other groups you would like to target. As can be seen from the example above, this is an effective way to start communicating with potential visitors on your route.