Leeann Froese
As businesses reopen there is pent-up demand in the community from people craving to get out and have experiences, so you need to reach out and make sure people know what you have to offer. But, do you know who these people seeking travel and experiences are? Are they current customers or wine club members that need to know you are doing things differently, or are you seeking to attract brand new visitors and buyers?
You may need to adjust your marketing and your message for both legacy and new customers, and first you need to think about your offering, who it will appeal to, and if you need to adjust your offering.
Identifying Your Target Customer
Have you identified a profile for your usual customer? Have you then taken time to define it, and target to that profile accordingly? You want to take this time to think about and create a target audience profile, because this is the group of customers most likely to respond positively to your marketing promotions, products, and services. The channels, language, and information you use to connect may not be as effective with one demographic as it is with another. Finding your target audience definition will help you to create the messaging that resonates with your customer. For example, if your usual average customer is 60 years old, your marketing tactics are going to be very different from those if most of your customers are in their 30s.
Traditional audience segments are based on demographics such as geographic location, age, gender, income, relationship status etc. Instead, you may wish to market to personas. A persona is a profile of a fictitious character that is based on behavioral research and psychographics. Personas describe groups of users based on similar goals, motivations, and behavior (we have all heard about the meme persona given to a “Karen”). Personas group common elements among individuals that may span many different demographic categories, but they share patterns about motivations, aspirations, goals, activities, outcomes, and background for individuals.
Throwback to EQ
Great news for anyone offering a tourism experience seeking to identify a customer persona is that Destination Canada has done the work for you. Instead of defining people on age, income, gender, etcetera, they have looked deeper at people’s belief systems, social values, and view of the world. This approach was a major innovation when it was launched in 2013, as research uncovered that these are the factors that drive people to seek out certain types of experiences.
A leading-edge tourism marketing tool called EQ (Explorer Quotient) was created by Destination Canada and is a registered trademark of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC). When the CTC launched it, they stated “since tourism is the business of selling experiences, a psychographic tool like EQ offers the tourism sector an advantage.”
The Explorer Quotient is a marketing segmentation program based on demographic, social values, and behavioural research to identify nine traveler types; and ultimately, to help the most desirable travellers find the right products for their needs when visiting.
In Canada, there are specific EQ Profiles that apply when visiting wine country. Based on the experiences offered and which Traveler Types are influencers and spend the most on a visit, suitable EQ Profiles* may be these four:
- Cultural Explorers are defined by their love of constant travel and continuous opportunities to embrace, discover and immerse themselves in the culture, people and settings of the places they visit;
- Authentic Experiencers are typically understated travellers looking for authentic, tangible engagement with destinations they seek, with a particular interest in understanding the history of the places they visit;
- Free Spirits are highly social and open-minded. Their enthusiasm for life extends to their outlook on travel. Experimental and adventurous, they indulge in high-end experiences that are shared with others;
- Rejuvenators are family-oriented people who travel with others to escape from the stresses of everyday life to get pampered and indulge themselves.
Destination Canada has an EQ Toolkit to aid you in applying EQ to your business. A deep dive into each of these profiles will allow you to study them for an in-depth description and marketing tips, and to help you improve your positioning to meet the needs and expectations of your target types. This includes the best writing and photographic styles for each Explorer, so you can adjust your website, marketing tactics, promotional materials, and messaging to attract your target Explorer group.
There’s far too much for this one article, but you can learn about it in depth at Destinationcanada.com. Using EQ, you can work to target the right customer, with the right offer and the right message.
*profiles courtesy of Destination Canada
Leeann Froese owns Town Hall Brands – a marketing and graphic design agency that specializes in branding and promoting in the areas of agriculture, beverage alcohol, food, and hospitality. See more at townhallbrands.com or on social @townhallbrands.