Select ONE of the two sample papers
Abdull2004
SSRExample1-1.docMaking a Must-Visit
Starting Out Right
Given the healthy Texas economy and tourist market, your ice cream and confectionary store is certainly a timely and viable business . The question remains, how will you ensure that your store is visible and appealing to tourists? As with all small businesses, it is important to think strategically in your first years to ensure that your budgetary and marketing decisions are servicing a strong and sustainable future for your business .
After examining current literature on the subject, I have determined that the best choices for your business are guerrilla marketing and social media campaigns . These campaigns should be designed to carefully maintain your business’s image to tourists, as well as ensure the support of the local community.
Methodology
I have based my recommendations on a review of articles on the subject of small business marketing and tourism. These articles contained a variety of information on current and past small business marketing campaigns and the current condition of the tourism industry in Texas. After gathering the information, I have composed a series of potential directions to lead a marketing campaign given the current economic dynamics and popular tourism trends in Texas.
Defining Guerilla Marketing
B. Barnes from the Wall Street Journal has written on the subject of guerrilla marketing and has described the success that can be had with guerrilla marketing campaigns. He includes some cautionary words as well, and describes some of the common pitfalls that new businesses can make when they overreach or fail to plan ahead. He advises simpler tactics, such as sample distribution. Above all, he states that the most important things to remember in guerilla marketing are to keep your marketing obviously associated with your business, keep the scope manageable, and plan ahead to avoid breaking laws or creating liabilities (Barnes, 2007).
Curating Your Image
Experience is everything in the tourist industry. Tourist locations offer an escape for visitors by providing not only an ideal picture of the local environment and history, but by providing a low-pressure space for visitors to escape their everyday identities and feel connected to their true selves (Liping Cai, Shangzhi Qiu, Zhuowei Huang, & Xinran Lehto 2018). Now, how can you nurture this accepting, friendly image in a customer base of thousands? One example comes quickly to mind, and additionally, comes at a low cost. Social media is an excellent way to keep in touch with a customer base and maintain a brand’s image (Bandyopadhyay, 2016).
For a business such as yours I would recommend starting an Instagram account and regularly updating it with photos of your store and products.
Appealing to the Community
One major concern with tourist marketing efforts is the potential alienating effect that they will have upon local residents. Although some businesses may survive on tourist business alone, it is important to have the year-round business of a local customer base as well. The most compelling case that is made in this article is the efficacy of samples as a marketing tool. Barnes suggests the guerilla tactic of providing samples of products to radio hosts and other such tastemakers in order to gain new customers, (Barnes, 2007 , I advise sample distribution to local families as well. It is important that your samples reach demographics to whom you wish to market, and, surely, there is no finer customer base for a candy store than children. Fourth of July events are often anticipated community events; building a parade float and distributing small candies and custom parade items to children and families would be an excellent way to establish yourself as a local hotspot.
Another way to foster community goodwill is to support other local businesses. However, an act of community spirit needn’t be entirely without personal benefits. The hotel industry is vital to the tourism industry. After the disaster of Hurricane Harvey, the restoration of hotels was a sign of the return of the tourism in Houston (Vora, 2018). It would be wise to pursue a mutual advertising partnership with local hotels in order to establish your business as an institution in Texas tourism. Visibly supporting local businesses in this way would also be useful in establishing yourself as a community-oriented business owner.
Keeping Up With the Times
It is important to understand what modern tourists are seeking in their Texas experience. The popularity of the television show “Fixer-Upper” has brought a large influx of tourists to Texas (Loudenbeck, 2018). This has also sparked a passion for DIY and antiquing culture in tourists and Texans alike. The Texas town of Waco has been flooded with a new stream of tourists and established itself as a top tourist location nationwide. In fact, Business Insider’s website reports that the number of tourists who visit Magnolia Market annually exceeds the total population of Waco by a significant margin (Loudenbeck, 2018).
(Loudenbeck, 2018)
In order to capitalize on this passion for the Waco spirit, it would be best to ensure that your business represents this popular aesthetic. A cheap way to bring country creativity and charm to your business could be right beneath your feet.
Chalkboards are a common feature in Texas interior decorating, and good chalk calligraphy is highly valued artistically. An offbeat and eye-catching way to display chalk calligraphy is to write a chalk menu on the sidewalk in front of your store to display your daily specials and new candy arrivals. Hicks suggests that detailed pieces of art appeal more to families than graffiti-style advertisements (Hicks, 2009). A low-cost way to widely distribute chalk art associated with your business would be to host chalk art contests on social media. Barnes warns about the danger of keeping your marketing efforts too far from your brand and thus diluting your advertising’s effect (Barnes, 2007). To ensure that your contest will remain strongly related to your business, bring candy to the forefront of the contests. Make the design prompts for the contests candy themed, and offer prizes of candy baskets or ice cream vouchers in lieu of cash.
To ensure that these contests maximize the advertising potential for your business, require contest entries to be publicly posted on social media, and ask that entries include your hashtag or username written in chalk by the art to be submitted. This has the added benefit of appealing to children and families.
For chalk displays in front of your business, be aware that chalk pictures in front of businesses are not legal in every location and may in some regions conflict with vandalism laws (Hicks, 2009). It is important to check your local laws beforehand to ensure that no fines will be incurred by your publicity efforts.
Next Steps
Establishing yourself as a tourist location can be difficult. But, if you keep your marketing scope manageable, your image current, your social media presence well-planned and curated, you will be able to spread the word far and wide that your shop is the place to go for an atmosphere of light-hearted fun and true Texas heart. If you can also show strong support for and presence in your local community, it will help you capture the spirit of Texas and make you a must-visit location in the Lone Star State.
Sources:
Bandyopadhyay, S. (2016). How a Cost-Effective Social Media Plan Can Make a Difference for Small Businesses. Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences, 19, 1–12. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=126033093&scope=site
Barnes, B. (2007, Apr 30). Small business (A special report); it seemed like a good idea... guerrilla marketing is a great way for a small business to get attention; but it's a tactic that can easily backfire. Wall Street Journal Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2165/docview/398994030?accountid=7113
Hicks, M. (2009). Horizontal billboards: The commercialization of the pavement. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 23(6), 765–780. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304310903294788
Liping Cai, Shangzhi Qiu, Zhuowei Huang, & Xinran Lehto. (2018). Back-to-trueself as an Identity Element of Indiana Rural Tourism. Journal of Rural & Community Development, 13(3), 78–91. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=132405501&scope=site
Loudenback, T. (2018, April 03). Millions of tourists are flocking to Waco, Texas, to see 'Fixer Upper' stars Chip and Joanna Gaines' small hometown - here are all the best things to do there. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/hgtv-chip-and-joanna-gaines-made-waco-texas-top-travel-destination-2018-1#on-the-magnolia-market-website-there-are-tips-for-making-the-most-of-your-visit-to-the-silos-tip-no-1-the-silos-are-busiest-during-lunch-hours-so-come-early-or-late-in-the-day-the-market-is-open-from-9-am-to-6-pm-and-closed-sundays-3
Vora, Shivani. (2018, September 9). Tourism Making a Comeback in Houston. The New York Times Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2136/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=News&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE|A553491854&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE|A553491854&searchId=R1&userGroupName=txshracd2679&inPS=true#
4180 Review
This article seems to address all of the criteria for the assignment. It is very well organized and easy to follow, and it presents mostly helpful graphics. The author did a good job siting sources and backing up his claims. The purpose was not made very clear at the beginning, but that is my only real criticism.
Will the campaign be effective?
�Good way of mentioning the intended audience
�This paragraph kind of mentions the purpose but it’s still not very clear.
�The phrasing of this makes me think I should already know what they are.
�I think a different graphic would be easier to understand
�This is a good graphic
1
_1605978405.xls
Chart1
| Local Population of Waco |
| Annual Tourist Count At Magnolia Market |
Sheet1
| Local Population of Waco | 134,400 | |
| Annual Tourist Count At Magnolia Market | 1,600,000 |
