Marketing strategies vital for business ventures

'Provide customers a service beyond their expectations' :

Marketeers should be unique and creative in their marketing strategies as marketing strategies are indispensable for the success of any business venture.

Due to the global economic downturn, many companies had to reduce their marketing campaigns to be cost effective, but marketeers took up the challenge in promoting their business ventures, said Galadari Hotel, Assistant Director-Sales, Trudy Corea.

Here are her down-to-earth views.

Q: What inspired you to select marketing as your career?

A: I am a person who likes to dream, create and say this could work. Marketing is a creative area of business and since I have creative tendencies, I knew I should channel these talents for the benefit of a business organization and moreover, it suited my personality, such as building strong relationships, taking up challenges and adapting to changes which are vital for a true marketeer.

Q. Being a frontliner of the company, what are the challenges you face in the field of marketing?

A: Being a frontliner in the hospitality and service industry, one of the biggest challenges I faced was the service distinctiveness and its intangibility. Since customers face a higher risk when purchasing services when compared to tangible products the lack of physical evidence makes it difficult for customers to evaluate services before purchase. Therefore, we have a responsibility of providing our customers a service beyond their expectations.

Q: What is the impact of the current economic crisis on your organization?

A: The global downturn affected the Travel and Tourism Industry since 2009 and as a result the travel and tourism industry had to go through a tough time.

It was a challenge to increase the number of tourist arrivals and apart from this business travel was also scaled down while Leisure Travel too was affected.

This made travellers spend less on travel as the demand for luxury hotels decreased while the demand for low cost accommodation became the trend. Thus, trading down to secure the market share created a price war amongst hoteliers, which of course had a negative effect on overall profitability.

Q: In many companies we often see that marketeers are not represented at boardroom meetings. What is your view?

A: I beg to differ. At the Galadari Hotel it is a boardroom rule that marketeers are represented at boardroom meetings at all times as we understand that marketing is absolutely fundamental to the organization.

Q: What are the advertising strategies that you employ in your organization?

A: As a marketeer, I believe in the importance of advertising as it informs, attracts attention, creates a need and facilitates brand retention.

Q. What are the challenges you see when it comes to global branding?

A: The biggest challenge in global branding is that you may create a great strategy for your brand in the local market, but globally your Brand may not create a strong relationship with consumers in many countries.

Q: What do you think about local marketeers?

A: Marketeers should be unique and creative in their marketing strategies as great marketing strategies are absolutely essential for the success of any business venture. Due to the global economic downturn, many companies had to reduce their marketing campaigns to be cost effective, but the marketeers took up the challenge in promoting their business ventures.

As a result even during difficult times, marketeers helped companies to reap profits with their creative marketing strategies.