Marketing Plan Report Summary HighGround Adventure (HGA) is all set to start the operation of its ambitious and

unique project in March 2012 and provide adventure, sport/travel packages to the people around the world. The founder and employees of HGA are professional and passionate about the activities HGA will promote and offer. High Ground Nepal is the first company to bring the experience of zip-line in Nepal for the first time. The company will have the first mover advantage in marketing the project. Basically we will try to reach wide range of audience through efficient and effective marketing. As zip-line itself is a unique product in itself, using innovative way of marketing the product will make the product stand as unique from others. Marketing tools never used before in the country should be used to make the marketing of the product a success An opportunity for the success of HGA exists because tourism is a growing industry (4% annually) worldwide and within the industry, adventure travel is growing at 10% annually. Tourism is a vitally important economic sector for Nepal. Over half a million tourists visit Nepal every year and revenue from tourism stands at US dollar 372 million (2009) contributing 40% of foreign exchange from merchandise exports. Nepal received 602,855 visitors from outside the country in 2010, an increase of 18.2% over 2009 which is an improving sign in this sector. And more than one fourth of the total visitors came for adventure travel.

Market Demographics Adventure travel primarily falls under the leisure travel category. Adventure travel is a sub category of leisure travel and can be further broken down into hard and soft adventure travel. Both hard and soft adventures involve physical, athletic activities, and generally involve risk and require substantial athletic competence. Adventure travelers are slightly more likely to be men aged 18-35. However an increasing number of adventure travelers are women (some statistics suggest that women comprise 49% of the adventure market). The survey shows that westerners are more inclined towards the adventure activities, so they are our primary target market but the present scenario indicates that the popularity of adventure market is increasing in Asian market as well. Moreover, India and China are our biggest potential market with an outstanding growth rate of Indian and Chinese visitors in the country.
Basically the target market would be the tourists coming to Nepal. As Nepal is a growing adventure sports destination, tourists coming to Nepal are willing to try out various adventure sports in the country. With adventure sports like bungee jumping, rafting, kayaking, canoeing, paragliding already running well and fine in the country a zip-line would be an ultimate choice for the tourists visiting the country. Beside the international tourists, local tourists are also potential targets specially the youths. College going student are more willing to go for adventure sports and with the number of youngsters trying the bungee jump, rafting and other adventure sports, a zip-line would bring a new challenge for these adventure freaks. Thus, we also need to come up with a suitable package in terms of pricing and accessibility to attract these target groups.

Market Needs Tourism sector in Nepal is a growing and very important sector for the economic development. The tourism market has been providing various products and services in the country. Adventure travel is one of them and in fact the demand of adventure products is increasing. Adventure travel products are specialized products, and very good knowledge of these activities is necessary in order to effectively promote and sell them. Many potential customers are unaware of the products so they need to be well familiarized about the product and its good aspects. As an adventure service agent, HGA should provide the best experience to its customers.

SWOT Analysis Strengths Strong management Location and product Passionate team members Popularity of Adventure Travel Growing Tourism Industry

Weaknesses Start-up status Limited personnel Completely new product

Opportunities Growing market Increasing interest in adventure travel worldwide Economic rebound worldwide The product is first of its kind in the country and of international standards in terms of technology and service

Threats Political instability Insufficient marketing of tourism products and services in the international arena Economic recovery not fully underway in USA and other countries Tough competition of tourism destinations around the world Agents providing various other adventure activities so there could be some competition as well

Keys to success of the organization Effectively segment the travel market and target adventure travelers Successfully position ourselves as adventure travel specialists Communicate the differentiation and quality of our offering through personal interaction and media Develop a repeat business base of loyal customers

Marketing Mix HGA should adopt wide range of advertising, communications and promotions to achieve its marketing goals. Since this is an adventure sport and very first of its kind in the country, an introductory promotion scheme can be very effective. The people should know about the product and its thrill experience. So, definitely various means of advertising can be used to promote the product. For instance, advertisement in newspaper, an article about the product in the newspaper and various other related weekly, monthly magazines especially related to tourism. Internet can be a very effective tool to attract the mass as well as to market internationally. Various social networking sites can also be used such as facebook, linkedin, twitter etc. Co-ordination with Nepal Tourism Board is very important to market our product in the international platform.

Marketing Strategies 1. Branding: The present business scenario shows that branding is the most important factor for the success of any company. The brand identifies the product and its maker. The very good example can be The Ace travels which came up with huge advertising campaign and were very effective and thus its evident that Ace Travels is a brand in the travel business at present and doing quite good business. So, HGA can create value in the market as the product is first of its kind. 2. Target markets: Its very important that HGA need to know who its customer is. As far as our product is concerned, its a daring sport, so most of our clients would be the age group of 18-35. Besides, an adventure sports is very popular among the westerners so they could be our target market. The growing economy like China and India can be our huge market. In addition, the survey shows that the participation of domestic clients is also increasing in adventure activities. For instance, lot of local people is participating in bungee jumping and paragliding. 3. Attractive packages and product differentiation: In the context of Nepal, most travel agencies are offering similar kind of products and packages so if HGA could offer some different products and packages, then we can have advantage over other agencies. The fundamental of marketing is a good appearance. If HGA comes up with attractive packages, it can definitely help in the business. Besides, a unique brand name, a distinct logos and slogans, attractive color themes, attractive souvenirs and gifts can definitely add in creating wonderful package. 4. Pricing: Pricing is one of the most important factors for the success of the product. Thus, the pricing should be determined considering the capability of the clients depending upon the category such as foreigner, Saarc and local clients. HGA should make every effort to make a competitive pricing policy. 5. Networks and agents: HGA need to do business with some of the efficient and reputed domestic and international agencies and operators to increase its sales of the products and packages. 6. Communication and promotion: There should be proper communication and promotion of the product. Most importantly people should know about the product and its features and the answers to the question like why they should go for this particular product. 7. Relationship Marketing: Basically tourism is a service industry so relationship marketing can be very effective. HGA should maintain good relation and communication with its business partners as well as the clients so that everything goes smooth. In fact if we are able to maintain good relation with the clients they can become our loyal clients and could become one of the means for the promotion of our product.

Advertisements and promotions No matter how good the product is, until and unless we adopt the promotional strategies, the product is not going to sell. Thus, the product should be introduced and promoted in the market through various advertising tools and techniques. 1. Newspapers and magazines: In the context of Nepal, newspaper is a very effective medium to introduce and promote the product in the domestic market especially. Newspaper ads on national dailies will be published on the launch to let people know about HIGH GROUND NEPAL. As our target market is not the local people giving newspaper ads wont be very much effective. Few ads will do the job for the company. As The Himalayan Times and Kantipur are the more preferred newspaper in the valley, giving a half page ads on both the news paper will be effective. Besides we can also put up articles and advertisements in the popular magazines especially travel related magazines like ECS Nepal, Travel and Living, Nepal Traveler etc. Thus, we need to select some popular newspapers and magazines to put up our advertisements for quick and good response. 2. Publicity and promotion: At the initial stage, its very important that maximum people get to know about the product. So, publicity through, media, newspapers, internet can be very positive. There should be inauguration program at good level. Approaching some popular and respected personality for the inauguration could lead to maximum publicity and media coverage. 3. Brochures, billboards, posters and flyers: Its evident that billboards are also an effective advertising tool which can be seen by thousands of people on daily basis. Brochures, flyers and posters are effective means of communication. a. They persuade, inform and educate b. They attract, hold an audiences attention c. They are their own delivery systems Brochures and flyers should be easily accessible to the target and potential clients. They can be made available in the TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport) where the tourists and visitors can get it easily. Besides, we can tie up with the travel agencies to keep our brochures and flyers and give away to the visitors. And also we can distribute it through various tourist points or places.

4. Promotion via internet: Internet is a very effective and economical means to reach the mass. Especially its very effective to market the product in both domestic and international platform. Online advertising can be in the form of e-mail advertising, search engine advertising, and website advertising and advertising through written articles. Social media sites like facebook, twitter, linkedin have become common and very effective platform to market the products because of its mass appeal. Indeed, advertising in facebook is worthwhile because of its maximum users worldwide.
5. merchandising i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. T-shirts/sweatshirts Caps Hand Bands Calendar Mouse Pads Pens Clocks Mugs/Cups Zip-line Certificates(YOU ARE CERTIFIED AS REAL DAREDEVIL FOR COMPLETING THE WORLDS STEEPEST ZIP-LINE)

6. TV Show There is couple of TV shows in a local channel which promotes the adventure sports in the country. They cover the event and broadcast it. So, we can promote our product through such TV show as well. Basically such shows are an hour show and there is a lot we can cover. The show is quite famous in the country as a lot of people watch it. Let us get in touch with the crew of the show and take an advantage for marketing the brand.

7. Vehicles Branding Greenline buses are the market leaders in tourist bus service providers. Buses run on the route to and from Kathamandu, Pokhara and Chitwan. As a lot of tourists use Greenline Buses to travel to various places, the buses can be used as a fine marketing tool. The reason you see so many vehicles emblazoned with advertising is that it works; vehicle advertising is very visible. The best option would be to apply custom graphics or stickers on the vehicles of the company itself so that the vehicle is used for the purpose of carrying our clients and for other activities and the promotion is also done.

8. Agent Branding: HGA can go for agent branding through tie ups with the various travel agencies which cater various tourism products to the clients. We can sell and promote our products through such agents providing certain commission to them. Besides, we can also tie up with selected or popular cafs and restaurants and place our brochures and posters in the restaurants for promotions 9. Highway hoardings: HGA can plan to set up hoardings on the highways from Kathmandu to Pokhara, so that its visible and readable and attract people passing through that way. 10. Public relation (PR): Public relation is very important to remain and do good business in the market. Especially, in Tourism sector where we need to sale the product without client getting to know about its quality most of the time, we must maintain good relation to grab the customer. We need to establish good PR among the clients, business partners and the locals as well for the smooth functioning and growth of the business. And also its important to retain the customers by providing quality service.

11. Coordination with Nepal Tourism Board (NTB): Nepal Tourism Board is a national organization established in 1998 by an act of parliament in the form of partnership between Government of Nepal, and private sector tourism industries of Nepal to develop and market Nepal as an attractive tourist destination. The Board provides platform for vision-drawn leadership for Nepal's tourism section by integrating government commitment with the dynamism of private sector tourism industries. NTB is a platform where international as well as domestic tourists or visitors can get any information regarding the tourism sector of Nepal. Thus, HGA in cooperation with NTB can also market its products in the domestic and international platform. NTB participates in international and domestic fair time and again to promote the products and services of the tourism industry in Nepal. 12. Nepal Tourism Year 2011(NTY 2011): Nepal is celebrating Tourism Year 2011 with slogan Naturally Nepal, Once is not enough. NTB is very actively participating in various international and domestic promotion strategies to make it successful. Thus, this can be a wonderful opportunity to launch and market our product as lot of tourists is expected to come to Nepal this year and the following years. In fact, record breaking number of tourists is visiting the country leading to increase in demand for the tourism products and services. Thus, in this scenario, it would be very effective if HGA is able to come with new and attractive packages. 10 .Ongoing research: We must carry on going research throughout to know the target markets and prepare tailor made packages. For instance, we can attract student group by targeting them during the time when they are having vacations after exams or other occasions. Every year, a group of students completes Bachelor or any other level and they have leisure time, so we can attract these particular groups through our special offers or other packages. The market trend shows that there are maximum numbers of students who are willing to go for adventure sports. Thus, we need to identify such opportunities and market our product.

Launch of the product Launching of the product is an initial but very important for a new product entering in the market. Basically, it helps to introduce the product in the market and lot of people gets to know about it. Since, first impression is the last impression, launching should be grand in the sense it gets lot of media coverage, appealing to the mass, and should deliver maximum information about the product to the mass. Strategies for the launch of the product We should use various means of pre launch marketing strategies so that there is curiosity and talk about in the market about the market The brochures, leaflets, websites and other marketing materials should be very attractive and appealing to create hype in the market. Since our product is an adventure sports, we need to familiar our product with various travel agencies since, we need to tie up and market our product through them. We need to cooperate with NTB since it is the authorized body to market the tourism products and services worldwide We need to approach respected and very popular face for the inauguration of the program to get the high media coverage. We need to organize an event which can include musical concerts, dance programs to bring in maximum crowd and media coverage so that there is much exposure. Personalities like Nima Rumba, Former Miss Nepal Malvika Subba, Indian Idol Prashant Tamang are quite popular among the celebrities of Nepal, so we can approach them during the launching time which shall attract more attention of media and general public as well.

Reasons for the best time to launch the product Political scenario is comparatively sound Tourism industry is growing worldwide Number of tourists is growing rapidly in the country The craze for adventure sports is growing worldwide Nepal Tourism Year 2011 is effective NTB is working hard to promote Nepal as the best adventure destination in the world Economic recovery in progress China and India, our biggest potential market are having high economic growth

The tourism sector is the very prospective and high return sector