Prof. K.S Chandrasekar
India is fast emerging a digital friendly economy. Tourism is one of the most sought after avocations for people. Marketing communication has become the backbone of the effective functioning of an organisations in the information technology era. Many companies are very much dependent on the services provided by these players in the market. This is only in the nascent stages and once the technology grows, it will also grow in the same proposition. We are now talking about going “global” which means every such organisations should start looking at the basic impediment of language problems. The complexities of business increase to the maximum and hence top management of research organisations should give more importance to cross cultural communication. What is considered okay in one society may be a taboo in another one. This is where tourism products can be affected. With the advent of sophisticated technologies, it becomes easier for a manager to communicate. We are now living in the era of interactive communication. A person at Venice can easily talk with a person in Baroda through a video terminal. Technology has shaped the way communication is dealt. Expert have suggested that a person’s own travel files, as a vacation planning reference, was more popular than information sources previously reported in travel studies. These tourists considered themselves skilled and experienced travelers, were familiar with the destination, and had strong intentions of visiting the destination. From this it is clear that these tourists not only rely on their own experiences but also browse and understand the tourist spot with accurate details using Internet.
The role of integrated marketing communication in tourism was effectively presented by Yu et al wherein they embarked on the need for integrated marketing communication of heritage destinations. Yu cited public relations, advertising and direct sales promotion as the three major areas to be concentrated for communicating with the tourists.
Kevin lane Keller, the brand guru quoted that there are at least seven integrated marketing communication choices as compared to earlier times considering the impact of information technology on the market place. There are many ways of looking at how marketing communication is going to be in the near future. Earlier only one promotional tool was used but now integrated communication strategy is being increasingly adopted which heavily relies on the use of information technology with the advent of Internet. Electronics has taken a major share of the business communication and it is expected that communication possibilities, which are fast and cheap is, expected to help the business sector. Due to the increasing complexities in dealing with the trade unions and other workers associations, it is now considered that informal communication is also to be given importance. When we take into consideration the influence of domestic partners of tourism and the local dialects as well as ecotourism participants it becomes more important. Organisations in future will allow for this communication openly.Every sales people will have to be fully conversant in the case of communication and are expected to give feedback to the management.
If we take the case of J&K, of the total number of tourists visiting per year, domestic tourists account for not less than 75%. At this juncture there is a need for a hard sell in this market. All those who are part of the Travel and tourism wing have to get their act better. Hence they should continuously upgrade or changing the report formats. Letter writing style to overcome structuring and monotony and with the use of multimedia and laptop computer, there is a possibility of changes happening in the basic mindset with which they are going to be looked. Since technology has pervaded every aspect of life, new technological devices will help the sales people or ‘Tailor-made’ devices for the sales people will be introduced for effective communication. With the arrival of Internet, More organisations will start to utilise the services of ‘missionary’ sales people. This will help in developing a good information base for the company with its clients. Direct marketing will have to be strengthened in the years to come since the competition is increasing. To overcome competition, well-written communication sent by direct marketing can have a positive result in the market. We are entering an era where ‘paperless’ or ‘file less’ offices are going to be in vogue. This means that all correspondence will be undertaken via the networking of computers. The employees of the organisations need to know about these aspects.
There is escalation in the cost of media and there is a clutter of competitive activity all over the market. When more companies fight for the customers’ money, those who put across the message alone stand in getting profitability. By constantly contacting the customer and packaging the product, promoting differently each time, the actual cost of promotion comes down. Constant communication creates a building up effect. The use of a combination of marketing communication techniques with the use of information technology gives more opportunity to increase the number of times the product/brands are known to the customer. The build-ups effect of delivering the same message through several media or techniques not only increases the efficiency of the transmission of message but is the sum total of integrated marketing communication. For example, in the consumer market, Ariel detergent powder has covered a place in the minds of the customer. These communications spanning TV and cinema commercials, newspaper advertising and magazine advertising, indoor promotion and many other techniques always delivers the same core message. In integrating any campaign, proper positioning of the product in the mind of the consumer, the personality and proposition need to clearly understand.
It is a commonplace argument now about the use of information technology in the field of marketing. With the advent of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), now even retail outlets can target their customers without many problems. The Internet is going to be a boon in the communication front. The use of digital technology as like digital theatre systems have made people flock to the cinema halls which earlier were considered to be a declining industry. This gives more room for the marketer to effectively target, differentiate and position his product and services in the market place. We have already witnessed the evolution of virtual market places and it is expected that the e-commerce will provide fillip to the advertising industry to promote tourism to a large extent.
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu)
