Customer = Tourist
After recently traveling to Spain, I came across a connection between tourism and branding. Being a tourist is a lot like being a customer. Both get the buzz on where to spend their time and money. Both have expectations. Both form opinions based on how those expectations weighed out against their experience.
Much like each company, each country has its own brand. It is the product of a combination of things: ranging from the manufacturing of products, to local cuisine, to well-known museums, certain events in history, etc. Each of these factors builds up that country’s brand.
Experience Creates Opinion.
Secondly, each country has buzz. Travelers love to talk about places they’ve visited, foods they’ve tried, and sights they’ve seen. In a conversation, mention visiting a specific country that has been visited by one of your peers and there is instant talk and buzz about it:
Opinions Create Buzz.
- “I’ve been there.”
- “You should try … insert cultural dish or delicacy here“
- “Make sure you … insert experience that is dying to be re-lived here“
- “Steer clear of the … insert memory was marked as a time or money waster here“
Whether it is positive or negative, there is an instant generation of buzz about the country, the culture, the food, the itinerary. How does one subject get so much attention, buzz, conversation and opinion? A brand.
Buzz Creates Expectation.
Each “brand” has a top (name your number) list of places to go, things to see, and foods to try. All of this rant and rave about a country, whether it is from guidebooks, travel blogs, or friendly conversation, starts to build tourist expectations. Example: Spain = paella, Prado Art Museum, bull fighting, tapas, little white towns, sangria, naval exploration, jamón, Alhambra, etc.
Expectation vs. Experience.
That expectation battles against the actual experience. Was it talked up too much? Or not raved about enough?
Cycle of Branding
Depending on your brand’s performance vs. the expectations that arise, it is either a vicious or glorious cycle of branding: Experience creates opinion. Opinions create buzz. Buzz creates expectation. Expectation vs. Experience.
Now to be fair, I am using an example that is on a macro scale. A country is so multi-faceted and each has so much to offer it may be hard to see the connection between a country and your company. Just like your company, a country delivers a product or service to its customer. Both companies and countries deal with buzz, expectations, and either meeting, exceeding or disappointing those expectations once the customer (or tourist) has experienced a product or service.
And sometimes, everyone just wants to experience it for themselves.
Brand well and prosper.
Cyndi