Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you stand still.
Will Rogers
One of the most interesting aspects of the tourism industry is that you often partner with other attractions or DMOs to create itineraries and packages. Whether it is a packaged tour idea for a group tour operator or a marketing campaign for the consumer market, it makes sense to partner.
But I can’t think of any other industry where businesses actively partner with direct competition to bring in more business. In the case of CityPass for instance, many attractions give a discount to be promoted as an attraction to visit, knowing that they are competing against other attractions in the same city. Yet the concept works.
Partnering with a different industry
What about the idea of partnering with someone outside your industry? This blog post came from a drive my partner and
I went on last night. He had to deposit a check so we drove to a branch of his bank. I was surprised to see the signage when we pulled up. A bank and a Starbucks in the same building? Genius! I have seen many instances of food businesses such as coffee shops and ice cream sharing a building, but hadn’t seen two completely different businesses sharing a space and customers.
Think about it- when you go to a bank it is because you have money to deposit or you are getting money out. Either way, you most likely have a bit of money for impulse purchases. Starbucks makes it so easy – they are right there. In this setup, you walk by the Starbucks counter as you enter ( or exit.) The hours for this bank branch are longer than most branches. Citizens bank stays open until 7:30 to align with the Starbucks hours. And that includes Sundays! So this is a big change from the usual bank culture and hours, but making that change has allowed them to be exposed to new customers and provide existing customers more options, flexibility and a nice perk.
Restaurants and a vendor
Another example of two different businesses partnering for success occurred when I was working at a regional DMO. A historic restaurant that was popular on group tours was buying its lettuce from a local hydroponic lettuce farm. I worked with the lettuce farm to become group tour friendly. We talked about how to lead a tour, where a bus could park, how to do a ‘lettuce tasting” and how to sell some items to make additional money. We marketed this day tour with the restaurant and lettuce farm as two of the elements of the tour. Success! Two completely different businesses founded a whole new group of customers that benefitted both of them.
Taking my own advice
Partnering is so important that I have reached out to Catherine Heeg, a well known social media consultant in the tourism industry. We are both in the tourism industry but have different areas of expertise. So we are going to post on each other’s blog! We will be exposed to new readers, and we will each get to take a week off from writing a blog post.
Final words
So let’s think outside the box this week. Who could you partner with? Who has similar customers to yours but may not be coming to your attraction? How could you partner together to bring more business to both of you? Let me know what you think up and I will be happy to help you develop the steps you need to take for success!