MARKETING STRATEGIES

GETTING A PRODUCT TO MARKET

Introduction

          Getting a new product on the market is not easy. It is a long process and will need a good deal of thought and planning. Many people who come up with ideas for new products believe that others will immediately see the benefits of their product and offer financial and other support. This is unlikely - a product will not "sell itself".

Protecting your product

          Before making details of your product public you need to think about whether you intend to protect any aspects of it. Familiarize yourself with what is involved in applying for a patent, trade mark, registered design or asserting copyright protection.

          Even if you do not intend to protect what you have it is advisable to carry out some thorough searching to try to determine whether anyone else has already done so. A search may enable you to avoid infringing someone else's existing rights. Don't assume that just because a product is not on the market it has not been protected.

          In relation to this, If someone offers to carry out some searching for you (particularly for a charge) make sure that they provide you with details of what they have searched and also the strategy they have used. You should never just accept someone's word that there is nothing like your product without evidence of how they have come to this conclusion.

Confidentiality

          If you are intending to apply for a patent it is vital that you do not disclose details of your product to a potential manufacturer or investor (or make those details public in any other way) before filing your patent application. Using a confidentiality agreement (also known as a non-disclosure agreement or NDA) is one way of avoiding potentially damaging disclosures.

The Business Case

           Just because you have a patent granted on your product does not guarantee that there will be a market for it. Just because the product is new does not guarantee that anyone will want to buy it. It is often the case that if a particular product is not on the market it is because nobody wants it rather than because nobody has thought of it.

You need to determine the commercial advantage or benefit of your product. If you can show that it is faster, better or cheaper than similar products already on the market then manufacturers and retailers are more likely to be interested. Different companies will have different views on which of these features are most important. Similarly, customers tend to buy products they are familiar with. You need to give them a good reason to turn to your product.

Knowing your market

          In order to determine whether there will be a demand for your product you need to be familiar with your market and your potential customers. The more you know about them the more you can target your product at them. It's also important to be aware of any companies you will be competing with. Particularly if you are competing with large companies who have more substantial budgets than yours it will be more difficult to break into the market. The Information for Business and Starting a Business sections of our website may provide you with a starting point for your research.

          You also need to think about how you will promote the product. Image, quality and price are all part of this. In deciding on the price you will have to include the cut which you have agreed with any manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer.

Manufacturing the product yourself

          If you have the necessary skills and facilities to produce the product yourself this may be the best option particularly if the market for it is not particularly large. You are likely to have more control in this situation. However if the product sells well you may not be able to meet demand.

Approaching a manufacturer

          A manufacturer will only be interested in becoming involved in a new product if they are convinced of the product's potential. Just as importantly they will want to be sure that the creator of the product is reliable and not someone simply hoping for a big pay-off in return for some vague ideas.

          Manufacturers and retailers often prefer to deal with people they are already familiar with and inventors, in particular, often don't help their cause by making basic mistakes. The following are typical reasons for a manufacturer turning down a new product:

• The inventor has not bothered to carry out searches to try to determine if it is original.
• The product is too expensive to make.
• The product is too similar to something which has already been patented.
• The product is too similar to something already on the market.
• The inventor knows very little about the manufacturer. Awareness of how they work and what their market is would obviously be important.
• The inventor has not carried out sufficient research to show that there is actually a market for the product. Many simply ask family and friends if they like the product. This will not impress a manufacturer.
• The product does not fit into the manufacturer's market or future plans.
• The inventor is unable to show that the product works. It is unlikely that anyone be interested in an unproven idea.
• The inventor has no idea of the likely costs of production. It may cost more to make than you will get back in sales. Awareness of other costs, such as compliance testing, is also important.
• If you do reach an agreement with a company this does not necessarily mean that your product will be manufactured. It takes time to test and get into production, and in that time the market can change and the company's priorities can change.

Prototypes

          If you are hoping to attract a manufacturer or investor you will need to be able to demonstrate that your product works. A good quality working prototype is likely to be essential and it can be costly. As the company you present it to may want to spend some time testing the prototype it may be advantageous to have more than one.

Finance

          Obtaining financial assistance for a new product is not easy and there is no set route by which you can do so. Depending upon your geographical location and the subject area of your product there may be grant schemes to which you could apply. Your local Business Link may be able to advise on what schemes are available.

Invention Promoters

          A number of companies offer a service whereby they promise to evaluate a new product and promote it to potential manufacturers. This can seem very attractive particularly to inventors wanting someone else to do the work for them. However you should take great care. Some companies charge large amounts of money for work which you could do yourself for little or no cost. Any claims by such a company that your product has huge potential or is likely to make significant profits should be treated very warily. If you do intend to use an invention promotion company the following points may be helpful:

• Be wary of any company wanting large amounts of money "up-front". 
• There is a lot of information available for little or no cost. Is the company offering something extra or are they charging over the odds? 
• Don't give details of how your product works without using a confidentiality agreement. 
• Before paying for a service look around and compare prices. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting before you pay for it. 
• Ask for details of their success rate and find out what you can about the company. What sort of reputation do they have? 
• If a company offers to do a search for you ask them what the coverage of the search will be (which countries and what time period) and what databases are being used. When the search is complete make sure that they provide a printout indicating clearly what search strategy was used and a list of everything which the search found. If literally nothing is found this usually indicates that there is something wrong with the search - it rarely means that there is nothing there! 

           Always remember that there is no easy way to get a new product on to the market and make it a success. It takes a lot of hard work, good advice and a bit of luck. Don't believe anyone who tells you that it's straightforward - no matter how good the product may be. Further tips and suggestions can be found on the blog of the Leeds Inventors Group.

UNNOTICED

Tourism

Wealthy people have always travelled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings, works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures, and to taste different cuisines. Long ago, at the time of the Roman Republic, places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts for the rich. The word tourist was used by 1772^[16] and tourism by 1811.^[17]

The origins of modern tourism can be traced back to what was known as the Grand Tour which was a traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, mainly from England. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage. Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar trips were made by wealthy young men of Protestant Northern European nations on the Continent, and from the second half of the 18th century some South American, U.S., and other overseas youth joined in. The tradition was extended to include more of the middle class after rail and steamship travel made the journey less of a burden, and Thomas Cook made the "Cook's Tour" a byword.

The New York Times recently described the Grand Tour in this way:

Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishmen began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of Western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills and mingled with the upper crust of the Continent.

—Gross, Matt., "Lessons From the Frugal Grand Tour." New York Times 5 September 2008.

The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, laid in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent.

Emergence of Leisure travel

Main article: Leisure travel

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2013)

Englishman in the Campagna by Carl Spitzweg (c. 1845)

Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom – the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.^[18] Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, the factory owners and the traders. These comprised the new middle class.^[18] Cox & Kings was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758.^[19]

The British origin of this new industry is reflected in many place names. In Nice, France, one of the first and best-established holiday resorts on the French Riviera, the long esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the Promenade des Anglais; in many other historic resorts in continental Europe, old, well-established palace hotels have names like the Hotel Bristol, Hotel Carlton, or Hotel Majestic – reflecting the dominance of English customers.

Panels from the Thomas Cook Building in Leicester, displaying excursions offered by Thomas Cook

A pioneer of the travel agency, Thomas Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London Road at Kibworth. With the opening of the extended Midland Counties Railway, he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street station to a rally in Loughborough, eleven miles away. On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one shilling per person that included rail tickets and food for this train journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares actually charged to the passengers, as the railway tickets, being legal contracts between company and passenger, could not have been issued at his own price. This was the first privately chartered excursion train to be advertised to the general public; Cook himself acknowledging that there had been previous, unadvertised, private excursion trains.^[20] During the following three summers he planned and conducted outings for temperance societies and Sunday-school children. In 1844 the Midland Counties Railway Company agreed to make a permanent arrangement with him provided he found the passengers. This success led him to start his own business running rail excursions for pleasure, taking a percentage of the railway tickets.

Leicester railway station - this was built between 1892 and 1894 to replace, largely on the same site, Campbell Street station, the origin for many of Cook's early tours.

Four years later, he planned his first excursion abroad, when he took a group from Leicester to Calais to coincide with the Paris Exhibition. The following year he started his 'grand circular tours' of Europe. During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and United States. Cook established 'inclusive independent travel', whereby the traveller went independently but his agency charged for travel, food and accommodation for a fixed period over any chosen route. Such was his success that the Scottish railway companies withdrew their support between 1862 and 1863 to try the excursion business for themselves.

Modern Day Tourism

Many leisure-oriented tourists travel to the tropics, both in the summer and winter. Places of such nature often visited are: Bali in Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Mexico the various Polynesian tropical islands, Queensland in Australia, Thailand, Saint-Tropez and Cannes in France, Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, in the United States, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St.Lucia Saint Maarten, St. Martin's Island in Bangladesh, Saint Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Bermuda.

In 1936, the League of Nations defined foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months.^[7]

Winter tourism

See also: List of ski areas and resorts and Winter sport

Although it is acknowledged that the Swiss were not the inventors of skiing, it is well documented that St. Moritz, Graubünden became the cradle of the developing winter tourism; since that year of 1865 in St. Moritz,^[21] when many daring hotel managers choose to risk opening their hotels in winter. It was, however, only in the 1970s when winter tourism took over the lead from summer tourism in many of the Swiss ski resorts. Even in winter, portions of up to one third of all guests (depending on the location) consist of non-skiers.^[22]

Major ski resorts are located mostly in the various European countries (e.g. Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey), Canada, the United States (e.g. Colorado, California, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire) New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Chile, and Argentina.

Mass tourism

Reisepläne (Travel plans) by Adolph Menzel (1875)

Mass tourism could only have developed with the improvements in technology, allowing the transport of large numbers of people in a short space of time to places of leisure interest, so that greater numbers of people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time.

In the United States, the first seaside resorts in the European style were at Atlantic City, New Jersey and Long Island, New York.

In Continental Europe, early resorts included: Ostend, popularised by the people of Brussels; Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) and Deauville (Calvados) for the Parisians; and Heiligendamm, founded in 1793, as the first seaside resort on the Baltic Sea.

Adjectival tourism

For a more comprehensive list, see List of adjectival tourisms.

Adjectival tourism refers to the numerous niche or specialty travel forms of tourism that have emerged over the years, each with its own adjective. Many of these have come into common use by the tourism industry and academics.^[23] Others are emerging concepts that may or may not gain popular usage. Examples of the more common niche tourism markets include:

Agritourism Birth tourism Culinary tourism Cultural tourism Extreme tourism Geotourism Heritage tourism LGBT tourism

Medical tourism Nautical tourism Pop-culture tourism Religious tourism Sex tourism Slum tourism War tourism Wildlife tourism

Recent developments

There has been an up-trend in tourism over the last few decades, especially in Europe, where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have a wide range of budgets and tastes, and a wide variety of resorts and hotels have developed to cater for them. For example, some people prefer simple beach vacations, while others want more specialised holidays, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays or niche market-targeted destination hotels.

The developments in technology and transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines and more accessible airports have made many types of tourism more affordable. On 28 April 2009 The Guardian noted that "the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time."^[24] There have also been changes in lifestyle, for example some retirement-age people sustain year round tourism. This is facilitated by internet sales of tourist services. Some sites have now started to offer dynamic packaging, in which an inclusive price is quoted for a tailor-made package requested by the customer upon impulse.

There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations, such as in Bali and several European cities. Also, on 26 December 2004, a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, hit the Asian countries on the Indian Ocean, including the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost including many tourists. This, together with the vast clean-up operations, stopped or severely hampered tourism in the area for a time.

The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a similar definition to tourism, but implies a more purposeful journey. The terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or locations visited by tourists.

Sustainable tourism

Main article: Sustainable tourism

"Sustainable tourism is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems." (World Tourism Organization)^[25]

Sustainable development implies "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)^[26]

Sustainable tourism can be seen as having regard to ecological and socio-cultural carrying capacities and includes involving the community of the destination in tourism development planning. It also involves integrating tourism to match current economic and growth policies so as to mitigate some of the negative economic and social impacts of 'mass tourism'. Murphy (1985) advocates the use of an 'ecological approach', to consider both 'plants' and 'people' when implementing the sustainable tourism development process. This is in contrast to the 'boosterism' and 'economic' approaches to tourism planning, neither of which consider the detrimental ecological or sociological impacts of tourism development to a destination.

However, Butler questions the exposition of the term 'sustainable' in the context of tourism, citing its ambiguity and stating that "the emerging sustainable development philosophy of the 1990s can be viewed as an extension of the broader realization that a preoccupation with economic growth without regard to its social and environmental consequences is self-defeating in the long term." Thus 'sustainable tourism development' is seldom considered as an autonomous function of economic regeneration as separate from general economic growth.

Ecotourism

Main article: Ecotourism

Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low impact and (often) small scale. It helps educate the traveler; provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities; and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.

Pro-poor tourism

Main article: Pro-poor tourism

Gregor Födransperg - Fedr (sl) in Tanzania

Pro-poor tourism, which seeks to help the poorest people in developing countries, has been receiving increasing attention by those involved in development; the issue has been addressed through small-scale projects in local communities and through attempts by Ministries of Tourism to attract large numbers of tourists. Research by the Overseas Development Institute suggests that neither is the best way to encourage tourists' money to reach the poorest as only 25% or less (far less in some cases) ever reaches the poor; successful examples of money reaching the poor include mountain-climbing in Tanzania and cultural tourism in Luang Prabang, Laos.^[27]

Recession tourism

Main article: Recession tourism

Recession tourism is a travel trend, which evolved by way of the world economic crisis. Identified by American entrepreneur Matt Landau (2007), recession tourism is defined by low-cost, high-value experiences taking place of once-popular generic retreats. Various recession tourism hotspots have seen business boom during the recession thanks to comparatively low costs of living and a slow world job market suggesting travelers are elongating trips where their money travels further.

Medical tourism

Main article: Medical tourism

When there is a significant price difference between countries for a given medical procedure, particularly in Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe and where there are different regulatory regimes, in relation to particular medical procedures (e.g. dentistry), traveling to take advantage of the price or regulatory differences is often referred to as "medical tourism".

Educational tourism

Main article: Educational tourism

Educational tourism developed, because of the growing popularity of teaching and learning of knowledge and the enhancing of technical competency outside of the classroom environment.^{[citation needed]} In educational tourism, the main focus of the tour or leisure activity includes visiting another country to learn about the culture, such as in Student Exchange Programs and Study Tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different environment, such as in the International Practicum Training Program.

Creative tourism

Friendship Force visitors from Indonesia meet their hosts in Hartwell, Georgia, USA.

Creative tourism has existed as a form of cultural tourism, since the early beginnings of tourism itself. Its European roots date back to the time of the Grand Tour, which saw the sons of aristocratic families traveling for the purpose of mostly interactive, educational experiences. More recently, creative tourism has been given its own name by Crispin Raymond and Greg Richards,^[28] who as members of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS), have directed a number of projects for the European Commission, including cultural and crafts tourism, known as sustainable tourism. They have defined "creative tourism" as tourism related to the active participation of travelers in the culture of the host community, through interactive workshops and informal learning experiences.^[28]

Meanwhile, the concept of creative tourism has been picked up by high-profile organizations such as UNESCO, who through the Creative Cities Network, have endorsed creative tourism as an engaged, authentic experience that promotes an active understanding of the specific cultural features of a place.^{[citation needed]}

More recently, creative tourism has gained popularity as a form of cultural tourism, drawing on active participation by travelers in the culture of the host communities they visit. Several countries offer examples of this type of tourism development, including the United Kingdom, Austria, France, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Spain, Italy and New Zealand.

Dark tourism

Main article: Dark tourism

One emerging area of special interest has been identified by Lennon and Foley (2000)^[29][30] as "dark" tourism. This type of tourism involves visits to "dark" sites, such as battlegrounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide, for example: concentration camps. Dark tourism remains a small niche market, driven by varied motivations, such as mourning, remembrance, education, macabre curiosity or even entertainment. Its early origins are rooted in fairgrounds and medieval fairs.^[31]

Doom tourism

Amalia Glacier, South Patagonia, Chile

Also known as "Tourism of Doom," or "Last Chance Tourism" this emerging trend involves traveling to places that are environmentally or otherwise threatened (the ice caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, the melting glaciers of Patagonia, The coral of the Great Barrier Reef) before it is too late. Identified by travel trade magazine Travel Age West^[32] editor-in-chief Kenneth Shapiro in 2007 and later explored in The New York Times,^[33] this type of tourism is believed to be on the rise. Some see the trend as related to sustainable tourism or ecotourism due to the fact that a number of these tourist destinations are considered threatened by environmental factors such as global warming, over population or climate change. Others worry that travel to many of these threatened locations increases an individual’s carbon footprint and only hastens problems threatened locations are already facing.

Growth

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4%.^[34] With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products have become one of the most traded items on the internet.^{[citation needed]} Tourism products and services have been made available through intermediaries, although tourism providers (hotels, airlines, etc.) can sell their services directly. This has put pressure on intermediaries from both on-line and traditional shops.

It has been suggested there is a strong correlation between tourism expenditure per capita and the degree to which countries play in the global context.^[35] Not only as a result of the important economic contribution of the tourism industry, but also as an indicator of the degree of confidence with which global citizens leverage the resources of the globe for the benefit of their local economies. This is why any projections of growth in tourism may serve as an indication of the relative influence that each country will exercise in the future.

Space tourism is expected to "take off" in the first quarter of the 21st century, although compared with traditional destinations the number of tourists in orbit will remain low until technologies such as a space elevator make space travel cheap.^{[citation needed]}

Technological improvement is likely to make possible air-ship hotels, based either on solar-powered airplanes or large dirigibles.^{[citation needed]} Underwater hotels, such as Hydropolis, expected to open in Dubai in 2009, will be built. On the ocean, tourists will be welcomed by ever larger cruise ships and perhaps floating cities.^{[citation needed]}

Sports tourism

Main article: Sports tourism

Since the late 1980s, sports tourism has become increasingly popular. Events such as rugby, Olympics, Commonwealth games, Asian Games and football World Cups have enabled specialist travel companies to gain official ticket allocation and then sell them in packages that include flights, hotels and excursions.

The focus on sport and spreading knowledge on the subject, especially more so recently, lead to the increase in the sport tourism. Most notably, the international event such as the Olympics caused a shift in focus in the audience who now realize the variety of sports that exist in the world. In the United States, one of the most popular sports that usually are focused on was Football. This popularity was increased through major events like the World Cups. In Asian countries, the numerous football events also increased the popularity of football. But, it was the Olympics that brought together the different sports that lead to the increase in sport tourism. The drastic interest increase in sports in general and not just one sport caught the attention of travel companies, who then began to sell flights in packages. Due to the low number of people who actually purchase these packages than predicted, the cost of these packages plummeted initially. As the number start to rise slightly the packages increased to regain the lost profits. With the certain economic state, the number of purchases decreased once again. The fluctuation in the number of packages sold was solely dependent on the economic situation, therefore, most travel companies were forced to set aside the plan to execute the marketing of any new package features.

Latest trends

As a result of the late-2000s recession, international arrivals suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008. Growth from 2007 to 2008 was only 3.7% during the first eight months of 2008. This slowdown on international tourism demand was also reflected in the air transport industry, with a negative growth in September 2008 and a 3.3% growth in passenger traffic through September. The hotel industry also reported a slowdown, with room occupancy declining. In 2009 worldwide tourism arrivals decreased by 3.8%.^[36] By the first quarter of 2009, real travel demand in the United States had fallen 6% over six quarters. While this is considerably milder than what occurred after the 9/11 attacks, the decline was at twice the rate as real GDP has fallen.^[37][38]

However, evidence suggests that tourism as a global phenomena shows no signs of substantially abating in the long term. Much literature, especially that following the Mobilities paradigm, suggests that travel is necessary in order to maintain relationships, as social life is increasingly networked and conducted at a distance.^[39] For many vacations and travel are increasingly being viewed as a necessity rather than a luxury, and this is reflected in tourist numbers recovering some 6.6% globally over 2009, with growth up to 8% in emerging economies.^[36]