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Before starting anything it is imperative that you establish what the profile of your company will be, and what your company’s policies will be. These important marketing tools should be made known to all your staff who must have a clear picture of what you want to achieve, how you intend to achieve it, and what their role will be.
It is highly recommended that the policy is discussed with all your staff. They should take part in the discussions and decisions so they feel involved and jointly committed to the common decisions taken. Company policy should involve areas such as:
- Type or size of incentives or meetings you will go after
- Presentations
- Brochure
- Marketing
- Trade shows
- What your price policy will be
- Payment schedules
- Credit to clients or not
- Who has authority to make an exception to an established policy
- Authority of staff for decision-making on routine and important matters.
Project a new corporate image
It is important to create for your company a new corporate image for the new market you’re getting ready to approach. If you are already known as ABC Travel in tourism, then ABC Events, ABC Creations, ABC Concepts, or similar names are more appropriate for your new DMC unit. These qualifiers will better reflect the services you want to propose to your new clients.
Many experts recommend against using the word “travel” in your company name if you start a new company and you want to concentrate exclusively on the MIC business.
Destination Management Companies we do not usually sell “travel arrangements” in the conventional way of transportation from point to point and package arrangements. We sell more often and creativity DMC’s provide services more related to consulting, marketing, publicity, technical and logistic support, than “travel”. Therefore justified to phase-out the “travel” and use words indicating more accurately what do for your clients.
The creation of your image is your most important step towards the new DMC adventure. The company name is not always enough to project an image for you. A small original tag line such as, “The company that makes it happen” or similar, on every company document can be very helpful in forging your image. Many companies use a tag line such as “Performance improvement”, “Motivation Masters” “Because we care” etc. It is recommended that you find an original tag line , indicating your strong points, and use it extensively.
In the next issue: Develop a three year marketing plan
© Tasso Pappas CITE
Tasso Pappas is President of the Site Greek Chapter and served as President of Site Intl. in 2000. This article is an extract from his book "To be or not to be a DMC" which he wrote in 1996 as his thesis for the certification CITE (Certified Incentive Travel Executive).
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
