AN ONLINE MARKETING

TOOL
BADEN-
WRTTEMBERG
for tourism
Marketing Project MBA-IBC
Responsible team:
Anna Sukacheva
Carolina Villaseor
Hayko Voskanyan
Dharamvir Singh

A Project For:
Prof. Dr. Ron Lennon
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Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................2
1. Baden-Wrttemberg for tourism...............................................................................................3
Best Cities to visit in Baden- Wrttemberg ..............................................................................4
2. Situation analysis: Online marketing and Facebook................................................................8
2.1 Online audience and trends in Europe .............................................................................8
Use of Internet for traveling .......................................................................................................10
2.2 Facebook as online marketing tool .................................................................................11
2.3 Analysis of current situation with Facebook usage. Benchmarks..................................13
3. Marketing process in general .................................................................................................17
3.1 Target audience and target markets. .............................................................................17
3.2 Differentiation and Positioning ........................................................................................17
3.3 Baden-Wurttemberg Tourism services and offers ......................................................18
4. Facebook an online marketing tool ........................................................................................19
4.1 Facebook marketing plan ...............................................................................................19
4.2. Facebook tools to be used .................................................................................................21
4.3 Measuring effectiveness of the tools used .....................................................................22
5. Conclusions and recommendations .......................................................................................24
References.....................................................................................................................................25


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Introduction
Internet and its development brought tremendous changes i n the way busi nesses are
done, impacti ng all i ndustries and the entire world round. Based on the personal
experience, we see how it changes our behavior as customers too.
Fewer and fewer people visit offli ne travel agencies now, choosing to assemble their
own vacations by buying the different elements separately online. That helps people not
only to get the better price deals, but also read and share the reviews of vacation
experiences. That is why it is so important to carefully develop online presence and
strategy for businesses in travel sector.
For our marketing report we have chosen the topic of development of the region we
currently study in as a tourist destination. It is based from one hand on our interest in
the subject and belief that this region has high potential for further tourism development
and on the other hand on the exciting success stories of other cities and regions that
have managed to create absolutely another image and amazingly i ncrease popularity as
a tourism destination. Australia can be one of such examples.
Amazing infografics about latest online influence on the travel industry (US
research based)


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1. Baden-Wrttemberg for tourism

Baden- Wrttemberg is an i nternational state i n many respects: it has mutual, political,
economic and cultural ties to various regions i nside Europe and around the world. The
state was created in 1952 and covers an area of 35752 km2, making it the third largest
of the German states i n terms of si ze. Also takes third place in terms of population,
countries such as Austria, Finland and Ireland have a smaller population than the state
in the southwest of Germany.
Baden- Wrttemberg: map and location

The state is rich i n geographic, historical and cultural diversity. Baden-Wrttemberg
borders with the Alsace region of France, Switzerland, Austria, and the German states
of Hessen and Bavaria, its located in the heart of Europe.
The wealth of different historical traditions was lefts its mark, in palaces, churches,
cloisters, towns and villages. The southwest of Germany is characterized by a di verse
cultural density, its people, and its historical and political traditions.
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Thanks to its historically developed structure, the state has an immensely dense cultural
landscape whose richness lies in its regional diversity. State culture exists i n the forms
capitals and residencies of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe still have some important i nstitutions
as the State Theatre, State Gallery and State Art Gallery.
Support and encouragement of the cultural life is one of the constitutional duties of the
state and municipalities in Baden-Wrttemberg. Public institutions and pri vate patrons
help keep the states cultural diversity alive.
Best Cities to visit in Baden- Wrttemberg
Heidelberg
This town is characterized by their uni versity and a big romantic castle on a hill where
tourist will find world's largest wine barrel. The uni versity dates from 1712 and has a
Student's prison. The old town is Bismarckplatz tourist can walk down the pedestrian
Hauptstrasse which is the main shopping street in Heidelberg.
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Karlsruhe
The "gateway to the Black Forest" to the south is an i nteresting city to visit. Karls
magnificent palace is now home to the Badische Landesmuseum and its legendary
collection, split into 14 departments. Some of the i nteresting routes that run through the
city are the Street of Democracy, the Baden Wine Road and the Bertha-Benz Memorial
Route.


Stuttgart
The city's tourism slogan is "Stuttgart offers more". Residence of the counts of
Wrttemberg in the 15th century, but rapid moderni zation after WWI and restoration
after WWII made it a technological and economic giant in Germany. St uttgart is home to
five of the eleven state museums. The foremost of these is the Old State Gallery which
holds art dating from the 14th to 19
th
, but the state also offers the famous Porsche and
Mercedes-Benz museums.
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Freiburg

Wine town founded i n 1120. Old Synagogue Square is one of the more important
squares i n the city worth to visit, in addition, Freiburg Mi nster cathedral has been name
the most beautiful tower of Christianity.


Offenburg
This beautiful city is surrounded by vineyards and situated at the ri ver Kinzig. Is near to
interesti ng places for excursions nearby such as Europe-City Strasbourg, wine route in
Baden, Black Forest open air museum and Europa-Park.



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Additionally to this in Baden- Wrttemberg one can find:
The largest lake in Germany (Bodensee or Lake Constance)
The most popular family leisure park Europa-Park
Second largest October Fest celebration held in Stuttgart
Amazing skiing resorts in the Southern part of the region
Wineries with the best German wines
Carnival held annually in the February is less by size only compares to Kologne
Well-known spa resorts of Baden-Baden
Tourism Figures
To support the decision of promoti ng Baden-Wrttemberg i n Germany as a tourism
destination, there is several data that should be considered. Baden-Wrttemberg as a
choice of a tourism desti nation has i ncreased by more than 40% i n the past three
decades. In 1980, total visitors comi ng from other regions of Germany were counted to
7,343 million people; however i n 2010 this number i ncreased to 13,178 million people.
The number of visitors comi ng to Baden-Wrttemberg from other European countries
rose from 1285 to 2892 million people. However, the most remarkable i ncrease was in
tourists coming from Asia, which boosted from 70 to 247, almost 300%.
Incoming tourism
(thousands)
1980 2000 2010
Total 9005 13399 16708
Germany 7343 11011 13178
Europe 1285 1676 2892
Asia 70 261 247
America 264 377 315

The comparison of prices between Germany and other European countries also gives
Germany a competiti ve advantage and a good option for value seekers: hotel prices in
Germany are relatively less expensive than in most other cities i n Europe. The
average price per night i n a hotel in the European Union is 104 Euros, in constrast with
Germany which is 94 Euros in average.
Hotel prices rates in Europe (2012)
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Source of Market: incoming tourism in Germany, top 10 countries (2012)

Main sources of i ncoming tourism in Germany are other European countries, as well as
USA and UK.
2. Situation analysis: Online marketing and Facebook
2.1 Online audience and trends in Europe
There are 2.5 billion internet users i n the world currently. There will be 3.6 billion global
Internet users by 2017. Over 40% of global i nternet users are now based i n Asia
Pacific, the second place in internet users is located i n Europe with 21%. There are over
634 million websites worldwide and 2.2 billion email users worldwide.
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It is important to mention that the three top languages used on the i nternet in websites,
blogs and social media by users are English with 536.6 million users, Chinese with
444.9 million users and Spanish with 153.3 million users. However for our case we
suggest concentrating on the languages spoken in the top countries, which are sources
of incoming tourism for Germany: German and English.
Global Social Media Statistics
Nearly 1 out of 4 people worldwide used social networks in 2013. Facebook has over
60% penetration of all internet users globally with YouTube at around 44%, Google+
(43%) and Twitter at 35%. Facebook will account for 13% of worldwide mobile ad
revenue in 2013.

Internet Facebook usage in Europe
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Population
(2012 Est. )
Pop. %
of
World
Int-t Users,
30-June-12
Int-t
Penetration
(% Pop.)
Internet
% World
Facebook
31-Dec-12
Europe 820,918,446 11.7 % 518,512,109 63.2 % 21.6 % 250,934,000

Use of Internet for traveling
The internet plays a vital and growing role i n the European travel sector. In fact, online
content is now a primary source of travel information, exceeding all other forms of
traditional media and marketing in Europe. Travel businesses are now connecti ng with
consumers through online marketi ng, social media and travel apps. Travel booking
among the incoming tourists to Germany is in 75% done using internet.

Booking channels used by incoming tourists in Germany, 2012

In addition, when travelers are taking the decision of their place of desti nation, the use
of social media is considered an important source.
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Nowadays the power of the customer has increased and businesses must advocate for
the consumer, especially now with promotion of online community members rate
reviews containi ng reviewer identity information more positi vely. Social media allows
greater sharing of personal travel experiences online, i ncluding images and descriptions
of places and experiences.
This way of i nterchange information between people facilitates the sharing of opi nions
and recommendations amongst friends and relatives. 52% of Facebook users stated
that seeing friends vacation pictures i nspired them to book a trip to that particular place
according to a 2011 survey by Skyscanner. 34% of European travelers reported that
their travel decision was influenced by the opinion of someone they only know online.
2.2 Facebook as online marketing tool
Social media has changed the way organi zations do busi ness online from 2000 to now;
companies are now creating departments separated from traditional marketing
department in order to develop this emerging area. Social media is becoming
increasingly accepted mode of communication for the Internet audience; the most
visited social network is Facebook, founded i n 2004 and with over 600 million users and
presence in over 70 countries (Carlson, 2011; Techtree News Staff, 2008).
Facebook users can bui ld their own profile and write anything they want on, user appear
in the news-feed status, and every si ngle friend is able to see them. Facebook
communities are the most relevant for marketers, through these communities,
marketers are able to identify consumer tastes and likes, which is essential for create
market segmentation and targeting and positioning strategies.
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Marketers can gain valuable information on community members profiles and from the
news feed statements that users post on their walls and pages (Casteleyn, Mottart, &
Rutten, 2009).
Popular Facebook tools via which marketing objectives can be achieved are:
Facebook profile: A strong profile of the organization can be established on Facebook
with its vision and mission statement stated and clearly defined.
Facebook groups: The following are the most important aspects that can be used to
attract consumers: the name of the group, the group topic and image of the group.
Business/Fan pages: Fans will receive updates from the company as new information
is posted. The organization can regularly post i nformation on the business/fan page on
upcoming events, articles, games, blogs, podcasts, videos and links.
Sharing events: The organization can advertise its upcoming events on Facebook.
Social ads and polls: Social ads can be placed on Facebook according to the age,
sex, location, workplaces and education level of the users. Polls can also be organized
on Facebook to obtain valuable feedback from users.
The main benefit of Facebook is the lower marketing costs i n terms of financial and
workforce; social networki ng sites are a way for companies to market their businesses
and reduce their costs.
Moreover, the emergence of Facebook as a marketing platform has ushered a new era
of personalized and directed advertising. Facebook advertising has consequently grown
in popularity, Facebook offers a thorough and competitive tariff system, charging
advertisers for a per-click or a per-impression model.
Facebook is an excellent direct-response marketi ng platform, which can provide
immediate and direct answers to marketi ng questions and problems withi n the least
time period.
Through the interaction with customers, organi zations can gain valuable insights and
feedback about existing and potential products and services.
While utili zing Facebook as a marketi ng tool will take extra effort, the payoff wi ll prove
its worth. The interaction will be one-on-one, and the network wont be built overnight.
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2.3 Analysis of current situation with Facebook usage.
Benchmarks.

Analyzi ng market and benchmarki ng can give us better idea of where are we currently
with our online marketing strategy.
Current situation for the Baden-Wrttemberg Tourism is as follows:
Web-site for Baden-Wrttemberg Tourism http://www.tourism-bw.com/ has
Facebook Follow icons, which are already good visible. However this is only for
the German version of the web-site. In English version the icon also exists, but it
transfers you to the German language Facebook page
Facebook page itself. Wir si nd Sueden - Baden-Wrttemberg (We are South
Baden-Wrttemberg). Page has the same branding, uses Facebook built-in apps
At the same time the page of our chosen region has only 5,7 K likes and only 97
people talking about it
There is no version of the page in other language except German



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The Facebook Place connected to the page is Baden-Wrttemberg Tourism
company physical address in Stuttgart which is the reason of such low number of
people been there (49 only)
Low level of likes and shares, no custom applications used.
Benchmarks
We chose several key benchmarks for comparison.
Dein Bayern Your Bavaria.
Bavaria is the largest and neighbori ng region to Baden-Wrttemberg. Climate and
recreation possibilities are also very wide. Munich is the main city of the region, while
the most famous attraction is October Fest held annually i n Munich in September-
October.
As we can see, page has 155 K likes and about 3,5 K people talking about it, holding
one of the top positions in German Facebook statistics by places.



Heidelberg 4 you
Heidelberg is an old, but rather small city in the North of Baden-Wrttemberg region.
The most important tourist attraction is the Heidelberg castle.
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The page of just one small city has 66K likes, has application for events, is connected to
the Place page.


Tirol Herz der Alpen. Tirol the heart of Alps.
Tirol is the federal land i n the Western part of Austria, one of the key tourism regions in
Austria.
Page has 145 K likes and more than 4K people talki ng about it. It is also withi n the top
places according the German Facebook statistics.
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Considering all the attractions that it has to offer we are quite sure that Baden-
Wrttemberg is not usi ng the possibilities of Facebook as marketing tool sufficiently. So
in the next chapter of our report we will talk about possible ways to improve this
situation.

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3. Marketing process in general
3.1 Target audience and target markets.
Market segments for tourism industry are based on socio-demographic (age, income,
family status), geographical (country of origin) factors and behavior (reasons for
travelling).
We can define our target audience as follows:
Geographical origin: Germany, European Union, US and UK
Age: 30-45
Family status: families with and without children
Income: medium income
So our target audience can be defi ned as families or small groups of travelers aged 30+
with medium income coming both from Germany, other EU countries and US. The
reason of choosing this target audience is on the one hand the statistical data from the
tourism industry of Germany and from another hand the specifics of the tourism
attractions of the region (medium price, many quiet, family oriented attractions, green
tourism).

3.2 Differentiation and Positioning
To differentiate our products we have to choose certai n unique characteristics that we
can offer to our customers. Those characteristics from another hand have to be required
by our customers.
Currently web-page positions Baden-Wrttemberg as The sunny side of Germany.
After careful analysis of the regional specifics we can suggest to use following
differentiating points for the region tourism development:
Location. Region is located i n the heart of Europe, bordering with France,
Switzerland, Austria. Easily reachable, it has excellent transport connection,
wonderful nature, good weather conditions
Reasonable price. Region offers excellent value for money ratio: according to
the statistical data for tourism the level of service and customer satisfaction are
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one the highest positions for Germany, while price level is considerably lower
compared especially with the neighboring countries like France and Switzerland
Variety of attractions. As we already described in the first chapter, region has
amazi ng variety of attractions to offer. Analyzi ng them, we can discover that they
are especially suitable for our target audience.
So we can position the region i n terms of tourism as the best way to discover Germany
based on variety of touristic attractions, reasonable price and excellent location.
3.3 Baden-Wurttemberg Tourism services and offers
Detailed information about cities, places, services and activities offered by the
region
Possibility to book hotels, buy services and tickets for the events directly from the
web-site
Direct contacts of service providers from the web-site
Special offers available only directly from the web-site (i n cooperation with
service providers)
Help and advisory services regarding tourist possibilities in Baden-Wurttemberg
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4. Facebook an online marketing tool
4.1 Facebook marketing plan
After figuri ng out our target audience and analyzi ng our market position and
benchmarks we have to set up the goals for the Facebook marketi ng and create our
Facebook strategy.
It is very important to set all the goals i n SMART format, so that they will be specific,
measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bounded. In our case, however we dont
have all the inputs available to do that. That is why we will mention the key goals
without exact figures, while we understand that i n reality it is very crucial for future
measurement of the results of our actions.
Goals:
Increase number of pages fans (likes)
Increase engagement of users
Increase reach
Increase WEB page visits conversion/sales
Strategy:
Multilanguage page content
100% answered feedbacks, questions and suggestions
Increase popularity of posts (in terms of likes, comments and shares) by posting
interesting and relevant content
Custom application: to attract new groups of customers and interact better with
existing ones
Cooperation with related communities, pages and businesses in Facebook
Targeted Facebook advertising: Side bar and News feed ads

Steps to reach the goals and fulfill the strategy:
1. Create pages in two languages - German and English based on target
audience preferences
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2. Analyze previously posted content as well as benchmarks and market in terms of
engagement and popularity. Based on this, we can decide, what kind of content
is most appealing for our customers and most suitable to reach our goals
3. Assign a person responsible for i nteraction with customers: answering questions,
reacting on feedbacks
4. Assign a person responsible for page content. The person should create a plan
and calendar for content updates, benchmark and brai nstorm possible content
options and ideas to choose the right and best ones; decide how often and i n
what form the page content should be updated
5. Organi ze regular contests and recognize top contributor fans in order to i ncrease
fans activity and interaction
6. Gather customer opinions and preferences by creating polls
7. Provide discounts for services to customers, who contribute to the Facebook
page
8. Award on a regular basis the most active users or those givi ng high evaluations
and recommendations on the Facebook page
9. Use the Timeline feature of Facebook to tell about the history of the region
10. Merge the Facebook page itself with the Place Page. Currently our page in terms
of place uses the physical address of Baden-Wurttemberg Tourism company,
whi le we suggest using the Baden-Wurttemberg region Place page, which has
already about 15 K likes and more than 19K visits.
11. Create Facebook Custom application to enable people do booking hotels, tickets,
trips and other services; to notify them about coming events in the region
12. Search and choose the related communities, groups, and busi ness pages in
Facebook to cooperate with. Examples of communities are travelers i nterested i n
family and green tourism in Europe; examples of business pages are tourist
pages of cities in Baden-Wurttemberg or Europa Park. Mutual likes, exchange of
information and content posti ng can help all sides achieve the goals and make
more business. Liking and commenti ng related pages also increases visibility of
the brand and business in Facebook.
13. Targeted advertising in Facebook. Having decided our target audience we can
create the targeted Ads and make it visible only within our target group.
Considering our goals and budget limitations we will be able to decide which
types of Facebook ads to use: Side bar ads are better to create brand awareness
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and cheaper, while News Feed ads are more effecti ve to increase customer
interaction and cost more
14. Use the Facebook Ad Exchange option with the aim to increase the Likes and
total interaction with our page


4.2. Facebook tools to be used
1. FacebookSearch to find people, groups, places and Pages that share same
interests and might be interested in our services or in partnerships with us. It is
possible to joi n the groups and pages, that are related to our company, product.
Presence there can help to attract new people to our page.
2. Facebook Ads. With Facebook we can specifically target certain locations and
audiences to promote our busi ness. Currently it is possible to target ads by
customer locations, demographics, interests and behaviors.
3. Facebook Places. A location based functionality of Facebook: visiting certain
place user can check-i n from his or her mobile device there, while all of his/her
friends will see this activity, which can serve as a promotion of this place.
4. Facebook Apps. Custom Application is a tool that enables additional features and
possibilities. In our case one of the interesting options that can be enabled via
this tool is hotels or services booki ng. Apps are also convenient for mobile users,
which increase in quantity each day.
5. Facebook Questions and Polls to create short customer questionnaires and
polls, which will help us to get customer feedback, opinions, preferences and
increase engagement.
6. Facebook Contests
7. Facebook Events
8. Facebook Communities
9. Facebook Insights. Using statistical i nformation offered by this tool we can
understand our current audience better, which will help first to set and then to
accurately modify if needed our Facebook marketi ng plan. The tool will be also
used to measure the results of our efforts.

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4.3 Measuring effectiveness of the tools used
Measuri ng effecti veness and results of our efforts is absolutely important to understand
whether we are on track with our plans, is invested time and money gi ving us the
desired results, which tools are worki ng and which are not. And based on this continue
or correct certain activities in business.
Facebook Insights is a Facebook analytical dashboard. With the means of Facebook
Insights you can track the activity on your page, number of comments, which posts are
working the best. With the possibility to di ve deeper i n the statistical data we can also
find out which of the posts or activities have the highest results specifically for our target
audience. Accordingly, Facebook Insights will be one of the first and most important
measurement tools for us.
Likes. Increase of likes was one of the goals set withi n the marketing plan. Number of
page likes is easily done by Facebook Insights, however it is important also to analyze
which of our actions created better results in terms of Likes increase and which did not
work good. For example if certain type of content like videos attracts more likes, it is the
sign to post more content of this type and vice versa.
Engagement measuring. As we already decided increase of engagement will be one
the goals for the Facebook marketi ng plan. Engagement means acti vity of users
towards our page i n terms of writing to the Timeline, commenting, shari ng, uploading
photos or videos, mentioni ng our page. To understand our progress towards the goal
we should measure how the interaction of our customers with our Facebook page
develops over the time. This will include such important indicator as People talking
about This. Engagement can be measured using Facebook Insights.
Total number of Likes and People Talki ng About This are the only metrics that are
visible to any user coming to our page and thus are the indicators of how popular and
successful the page is. That is why it is extremely important to track them.
Reach. Total reach is the number of unique people who have seen any content
associated with your page during certain period of time. The development of total reach
over the time can be also tracked via Facebook Insights.
Link-tracking. This tool will help us understand which of the links work better and lead
more traffic to the web-site and impact the sales.
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Demographics. Using Facebook Insights you can understand the demographical
breakdown of your audience by age, gender, country and city of origin, etc. Based on
this data you can understand whether your chosen target audience is the one who
actually visits, likes and interacts with your page. If it not the same it is the sign to
correct your previous decisions.
FacebookAd measurement: click activity. You can monitor how effecti ve your ad
campaign is and make further advertising decisions based on it using Facebook Ad
reports. For the paid Facebook advertisements we would suggest the cost per click
payment


Monitoring
Besides measuri ng the results of the efforts we do it is highly important to constantly do
social media monitoring. It is about listening to the conversations, identifyi ng their tones
of voice, reacti ng in the proper way. It is important both to hear our supporters that can
spread positive word of mouth about us, and detractors those can easily endanger all
our actions with spreading negative opinions.
Monitori ng is also about responding to customer needs, jumping i nto conversations in
the most proper way. Hearing your customer will results i n knowi ng and understanding
your customer better, be on track of the latest trends.
Monitori ng can be reali zed in many different ways: it can be done manually, using
keywords, tags, as well as with the help of special paid software.






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5. Conclusions and recommendations
Facebook is really powerful and crucially important tool for majority of businesses
nowadays. It has big amount of tools and possibilities, however it is a very dynamic and
constantly changing i nstrument. For a busi ness it means that it is not enough to ensure
presence i n Facebook creati ng a page, profile or community, but also to constantly, on
a daily basis support, develop and control its performance. Without support and
development it can bring more harm than value, while accurate, thoughtful approach
can help to achieve fantastic results, especially compared with the amount of
investments.
Based on the example we covered i n this report, we can see how even havi ng created a
good Facebook page means nothing until you put significant efforts in getting to know
your audience and their needs better, constantly listen to it, which in onli ne world
means 24/7. Together with this, there is a need of permanent monitoring and making
use of latest possibilities, new tools and trends, which can be valuable for your market.
All of this requires significant efforts, however is definitely worth doi ng, because as we
saw i n the beginning of the report social media and first of all Facebook are already
playi ng one of the key roles in consumer decision making process. So there is no other
option for busi ness i n travelli ng sector else than to use this tool and if the business
wants to succeed it has to do it effectively.
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References

1. Lennon, Ron. Marketi ng Management MBA-IBC. University of Applied Science
Offenburg, Germany. Lectures December 2013 and May 2014
2. Amy Porterfield, Phyllis Khare, Andrea Vahl. Facebook Marketing All i n One, 2
nd

Edition
3. Internet world stats: Usage and population statistics. (2012). Internet users i n the
world: Distribution by world regions. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm;
accessed 30th May 2014
4. Skyscanner Travel Trends Report 2012
6. German National Tourist Board, Incoming Tourism Germany, Edition 2013
7. Facebook pages in Germany rating http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-
statistics/germany
8. Facebook tools for tourism: http://www.travelagewest.com/Travel-News/Travel-
Agent-Tools/Social-Media-Tools-for-Travel-Agents/#.U3OAfsXEZ8M
9. Offenburg city: http://www.offenburg.de/?langid=2
10. Freiburg city http://www.freiburg.de/pb/,Len/225923.html
11. Karlsruhe city http://www.karlsruhe-tourismus.de/
12. Stuttgart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart#Landmarks.2C_sights_and_culture
13. Heidelberg http://www.e-heidelberg.com/attractions/
14. Australia as tourism destination http://www.tnooz.com/article/in-a-qa-tourism-
australia-reveals-the-secrets-of-its-facebook-dominance/