Section 3.4: How To Do The Marketing?
As was commented in the previous section, only in very rare occasions specific ethnographic
products and services will constitute the main attraction for a rural tourism service
or even for a destination. On the other hand, this type of services and offers plays
an important role in the expectations (conscious and sub-conscious) of the rural
tourism visitor as a “hygiene factor”.
Marketing of our ethnographic service or product should therefore consider the following:
- Individual offers linked to accommodation or restaurant services should be clearly
visible and mentioned on promotion materials, but without being at the centre of
the message (unless really of spectacular relevance).
- Public offers should have their own promotion or information website and printed
material, at least in local language plus English, where information such as address,
location, plan (if difficult to find), GPS coordinates, and opening hours must be
included. If expositions and guides are available in English and other languages,
this should be indicated as well.
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- Such websites need to be complemented, of course, by presence in Social Media and
by CRM structures that allow for a follow-up and continuous contact with visitors
or “friends” even after their visit.
- Linking between ethnographic services and products and other tourism installations
at local or micro-destination level is very important: “play the customers”
from one to the next. For example, a local museum or exhibition should be mentioned
in the promotional material of all other local services that deal with rural tourism
visitors, and hosts should proactively facilitate a visit to their clients by recommendation,
arrangement of free visits or guided tour, etc.
- Provided that a relevant (though minority) part of the market is strongly interested
in a close experience and knowledge of the place they visit, ethnographic products
and installations should gather in regional or local portals and assure joint communication.
