Key strategic requirements when operating a small tourism business or VIC: The why, what, how and where

As part of my business, I run a monthly ‘Ask Us Anything’ webinar.  Even in pre-covid days, I would get marketing questions about things whether to do trade shows or road shows, the value of content marketing, brochures vs. online, the future of Visitor Information Centres (VICs)* or what social media channels are best and whether you still need a website**.

Those questions have got even more pointed in the age of covid. These days I am often asked even whether or not people should be marketing at all!

I always answer these questions with the respect that the anxiety behind them deserves. Even at the best of times, it is tough for both small businesses and VICs – but right now it’s a battle for survival.

The most honest answer to these questions is often ‘it depends’.  But the real answer is actually a question: ‘Does it fit with the strategy, mission and vision for your organisation?

Then it becomes easy: If it does, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t (but make sure you keep an eye on it)!

The challenge is that many small businesses (and VICs) really don’t think strategically about their business or organisation.  They know ‘in their heads’ what their vision and mission are, but often they haven’t articulated this in any structured way.  I think some would probably put this in the category of ‘marketing fluffy words’ or argue that (especially now) that there needs to be a sole focus on tactical conversion.

In fact, clearly articulating your vision, mission and strategy are ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to ensuring that your tactical campaigns work or that you pivot in the right direction.

When I look at who is doing it well right now including who is doing the infamous ‘pivot’ I see that borne out.  Companies like Intrepid and Airbnb are doing it well.  Whilst others are struggling…

So what are the strategy ‘hacks’ that these company gets right?  Really, we need to think of it as four questions: Why, what, how and who.

The why

Firstly, successful organisations set their vision in place. A vision is “a vivid mental image of what you want your business to be”.  Or put more simply your vision is your why? It gets you

out of bed in the morning when it all feels so hard.  That’s never been important than it is now

This is written down as a vision statement that is short, simple, clear and emotive.    This is not the place for targets, but for heart strings.

The what

Your mission is the ‘what’ of your existence: what are you trying to deliver or achieve and for whom.

Your mission is usually partnered with your goals. This is where you need to have goals.  These goals are where the measurement part begins: this is how you will know you are achieving your mission.  Best of all put these out there. When I worked at the International Air Transport Association we had a small card with our vision, mission and goals printed on it.  When our first staff survey was conducted, the consultants were blown away by how deeply the staff had embedded these values in their behaviour.

The difference between the Why and the What

Many people often confuse the two so it’s sometimes easier to show the difference by example – especially when that vision has a purpose built in as does outdoor clothing brand Patagonia

Vision: A love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet.

Mission: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

So thinking about those goals Patagonia might have measurements in place for quality, wearability, carbon footprint and so on.

If you’d like to see some other examples, you can see them here https://www.clearvoice.com/blog/difference-between-mission-vision-statement-examples/

The How

You then need to ground that vision and mission in a strategy: A set of guiding principles about how people in your organization should make decisions and allocate resources in order accomplish key objectives. A good strategy provides a clear roadmap with set of guiding principles (rules) about what your priorities are (or are not) and the actions you should take (and not take) to achieve desired goals.

For every activity that goes into that strategy which requires time, money or both, successful businesses ask themselves the question ‘how does this activity help me build that vision relative to the other uses for this time/money?’

The Who

Finally you must make sure you understand the who: an understanding of how the world looks through their customers’ eyes.  Who are they? What do they want? Where and how do they get information?  Through which channels do they want to connect with me? How does this change over time?

They then apply that ruthlessly but work around the situations that arise. Right now that might mean for example:

• If your current customer base can’t or won’t travel, what types of customers are likely to be looking at what you offer?
• What does reassurance look like to your customers? How can you authentically deliver that message? (For example, an adventure travel brand might look at that differently to the staff guiding visitors in a VIC)
• If you need to pivot – what features of your business or brand are most relevant to what people are spending money on right now?

As well as your customers, your who needs to recognise the people who will help you deliver it: their skills, capacities and abilities. That’s your staff, but also your partners and suppliers.  If they can’t deliver it, nor can you.

It’s not the whole story, but it’s not a whole story without it

Don’t get me wrong – you do need to be doing tactical marketing right now. But if you don’t have that strategy then you’ll waste a lot of time, energy and money working out which ones.

So far from being ‘marketing fluff’, vision and strategy may be the most valuable time you will ever spend.

So where do I start?

Right now many businesses and VIC managers probably feel like this is the last thing they want to think about.

But when everything feels out of control doing this exercise can actually be incredibly empowering.  I know when I have done this exercise with clients they often find they emerged energised, with a new sense of purpose.

Start with the first step. Get your team together and get your vision statement written: Why are you here?  If you don’t have a team involve your customers, your suppliers, partners and friends.  Don’t be afraid to think big.

Then build each part in succession. If you had some of the later parts – like the strategy but without the vision, go back and revisit your strategy.

I’d love to hear your experiences with doing this… so please share your comments in the box below or email me at carolyn@mytravelresearch.com

*Hint: for this one see the post from Ali Uren on the Hub

** Yes you absolutely still need a website 🙂