Month: February 2012

These new people are confusing

Taura Khuluma Say it!!Leave a comment

This week I have been teaching undergraduate and post graduate students about marketing, the use of research and how it helps businesses to idenfity, anticipate and satisfy customer demand. Doing some reading around the topic in preparation for these sessions I have come across evidence of a changing consumer and an unchanging supplier or retailer.

The best example is how the music industry despite all best efforts has failed to kill online downloads to protect the sale of CDs, DVDs and Vinyl products while also failing to capitalise what is clear a change in consumer behaviour within thier target market. What music retailers like HMV have failed to realise is that physical music product such as CDs, DVDs, and Vinyl are not compatible with their main customers’ lifestyles, just ask people aged between 16 and 35. The people also known as the dotcom generation prefer to have it all in a palm size box, by all I mean 10000 songs in an ipod or whichever other brand gives them that capability. As long as the music industry doesn’t accept this and offer free music while creating other means to make money through that provision of free music or other music related acrtivities like live shows, there will always fight a loosing battle with their customers.

Free music?! yes free music, it is already free to most of the consumers anyway so there is no need to pretend that it is a new concept because it is not. Their marketing teams must now work out how to make money giving consumers free products and services, GOOGLE already do this so it is also not a new concept but it requires new thinking.

Next to be hit by this new consumer behaviour of free online consumption is TV, Satelite and Cable. Already, research has found that within the 16-35 age group fewer and fewer customers are signing up to TV content contracts with companies like SKY, Virgin and Cable and Wireless. The same goes for the American and Canadian markets, the new business is drying up fast from these consumer who can now watch pretty much any programm they like online for free. The question here is how do they avoid the pit that music fell into? Is it viable for TV programme providers to make money of free provision of thier products and services? Probably not because the nature of the product is that there are few alternative for the consumption of the product unlike music which has the capability to offer better exprience as a live performance compared to the MP3 version. Comedies could offer live recording and charge people to sit in on the live recording but films are doomed.

It might take 12 years like it has for music but the end will come as long as technology continues to develop fast internet accessiblity, greater variety of access points and technology.

Calling processes by clever names will not improve Zimbabwe Tourism, Mr Mzembi!

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The right honorable Minister of Tourism in Zimbabwe thinks the solution to revitalising the tourism industry and re-establishing Zimbabwe’s presence in the international tourism market is “Tourism Engineering” Really? He goes on to define this process as follows “Tourism engineering takes a broad, long-term perspective, while focusing on details and identifying the potential that the country has,”

I wish we would stop inventing new names for a critical process that must be carried out urgently, it is simply a matter of asking ourselves three questions as far as Zimbabwe Tourism is concerned “Where are we positioned in minds of the customer as a tourist destination?, Where do we want to be positioned? and how do we get there?” I worked 5 years in Zimbabwean Tourism during its glory days of the late 90s, there was pride and excitement in working in the industry, we kept at pace with developments in customer service, marketing and promotion as well as our international competitors. We won recognition and awards from our peers but more importantly we had a recognisable brand.

Sadly today I personally feel we were left behind in the first part of the last decade. I have regularly attended international tourism  marketing events and the state of tourism marketing in Zimbabwe  at the these events gives a worrying insight into the state of the industry at home. There is no excitement and belief in the product they are selling. The stand itself is a reflection of a lack of ambition especially if presentation is considered against our immediate rivals and those further afield. Year on year we turn up at the World Travel Market (WTM) underprepared and without conviction of what we want to achieve. I personally feel the companies that attend do so out of formality, the tourism attache to the UK also contributeS to this sorry state of affairs by pretending that the market is excited by what she and the exhibitors are doing. Numbers don’t lie, show us the direct impact of participating at WTM  through an increase in tourist arrivals or future bookings.

The solutions is not Tourism Engineering RHM Mzembi, it is being honest about what needs to be done and putting together a strategy to do so, the tourism industry was one of the hardest hit in terms of  the post 2000 brain drain  that decimated Zimbabwe because we had transferrable skills to work anywhere in the world, we had the right training, enthusiasm and belief in our contribution to tourism which made us employeable around the world. So first off, what has been done to replace these skills, Mr Mzembi? Tourism training must take place, bring back exprienced practinioners into the planning process so they can contribute to the development of up to date training that equips those working on the tourism frontline with skills to serve today’s customer in facilities that meet the expectations of today’s customer. Invest in training, bring in exhiled tourism practitioners to foster a new belief and excitement in Zimbabwe Tourism

Secondly, do we really know how the market feels about Zimbabwe, Mr Mzembi? While we train tourism workers, let us go into the markets and ask the customers, agents, wholesalers et al., what do they think of when when they here about Zimbabwe and going there on holiday, what do they know about Zimbabwe? Do their perceptions match with what we would like our customers think about us? Only when we are able to answer these question will we be able to start marketing to the world because we will be able to bridge the gap between expectation and reality on both sides. We will be in a position to speak a language our market understands in formats that are accessible to all of them. Only then can we start to constructiely build a brand that represents us in the way we would like the market to feel about us because through expansive market research we would have collected information that help to bridge the gap between perception and reality. Regardless of how we feel internally about Zimbabwe, tourism thrives on the arrivals of tourist from foreign markets and it is how “THEY” feel about us that determines whether they come or not, which is why knowing their feelings, worries and expectations must form the base of all our tourism strategiec planning.

Lastly, some food for thought, “What is Zimbabwe’s brand image, how has it evolved and is it up to the time, today’s time?”

Here is the article that inspired my thoughts today –

It’s a numbers game!

Taura Khuluma Say it!!, , , , , , , Leave a comment

This week like many in the past few months has been all about people using numbers to support or justify lack of support for various issues in business and elsewhere. The worry I have about numbers is that a lot of the time the numbers that are being thown about are all historical and not a reflection of the current situation. Today the Obama governement put out numbers to show that a quarter of a million people a back in work reducing the unemployement figure to 8.1%, while the numbers are useful for those that know how to use them there is another purpose to them, 2013 elections! Here in the UK, the energy companies anounced that they have cut their prices by 6%, hooray but hang on, considering inflation and the fact that last time the prices went up by 15% there is no real benefit in the prices being reduced. So they want to appear as though they care, again there is always an ulterior motive in many of these statistics.

Some sad numbers coming out of Egypt and again someone or some groups have jumped to the numbers of an unfortunate incident and started spining the truth to suit their own motives, some say it politics, some say it is revenge but noone stops to think about the dead or their relatives. How callous is it to try and gain political mileage from such a sad situation. Shame on them

Elsewhere the numbers show that times are hard, the transfer period in football has just ended and not a single palyer sold or bought in England for over £10 million, going back 3 years this same window had clubs spending £400 million in January. Last year was crazy as well,  Fernando Torres went for £50 million, and how that has flopped! maybe that’s why teams are not spending money in January anymore. They don’t want to buy another Fernando or Caroll who cost £35 million!

1 point out of a possible 12 for my beloved Gunners in 4 games is numbers that put a damper on things but it’s all real! hopefully tomorrow will bring 3 points because things can’t carry on like this. Still, looking aound the premiership things aren’t all lost yet.

Here is to a great weekend,off to have 1 or 2 cognac and rebulls, hope you do too.

Stay safe!