2. A little bit about me..
• 18 years in travel industry
• From rep/resort manager
• Late 90s > web development
& online marketing manager
• Tour ops, OTAs, aggregators
• Personal voluntourism
• FGASA ranger qualified
• Charity challenge/ project
marketing & trip guide
• Organise #RTUnite
• MSc Responsible Tourism
Management
• MSc Thesis: Marketing
Responsible Volunteer
Tourism Online
2
3. Marketing is…
“the science and art of
exploring, creating,
and delivering value
to satisfy the needs of
a target market at a
profit…” (Kotler, 2012)
...focused on
volunteer & financial
satisfaction
3
4. Organisations can too easily ignore…
•
•
•
•
•
•
Destination needs
Project requirements
Stakeholder governance
Financial accountability
Impacts on the environment and culture
Enhancing society well-being
…Unless the target market demand it
4
5. Especially with no clear regulation
http://xkcd.com/927
The target market needs to be SMARTER!
5
6. The 5 Stages of Travel: 1 Dreaming
...Volunteers need to be SMARTER in each
stage
6
7. The 5 Stages of Travel: 2 Planning
Starting at source with the Internet
7
8. Be Smarter with Search
Common Keywords Used
•Like much marketing:
•Vague, undifferentiated
•Focus on CV, financial,
destinations
•Responsible or sustainable
key phrases rarely figure
•Use them to find operators
who claim to be so!
Keyword
volunteer abroad
volunteering abroad
projects abroad
original volunteers
gap year programs
teach english abroad
teaching english abroad
volunteer abroad for free
charity work abroad
working holidays
gap years
volunteer work abroad
voluntary work abroad
internships abroad
volunteer africa
volunteer jobs
voluntary organisations
volunteering jobs
free volunteering abroad
volunteering abroad for free
voluntary service overseas
voluntary jobs
volunteer holidays
responsible volunteering
sustainable volunteering
8
Avg. monthly searches
9900
6600
4400
4400
2900
2400
2400
1300
1300
1300
1300
1000
1000
1000
880
880
880
720
590
590
590
590
590
10
10
9. Be sMarter about Motivations…
• Vacation-, educationand/or volunteer-minded
Volunteer needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
↓ based on
• Destination needs
Volunteers genuinely
want/need to positively
contribute & help, for
own higher needs
…so not be disappointed
9
10. The 5 Stages of Travel: 3 Booking
Compare for project transparency & value…
10
12. Be smArter Assessing responsibility
• Appraise project objectives
vs. your real motivations
• Assess skills required vs.
skills offered
• Assess project content
against the RT policy
• Audit what’s included vs.
what’s not
• Assess price levels between
organisations
• Ask what’s not evident
• Make organisations
answerable to gaps
• Hold organisations
accountable for claims
• Own skills assessed
• Seek appropriate
match
…assume nothing!
12
13. The 5 Stages of Travel: 4 Experiencing
More informed & collaborative travel expected
13
16. Be smartEr – review the Evidence
•No mention of skills, costs,
objectives, impacts, time...
•No evidence of claims
Scrutinise & ask HOW???
16
17. The 5 Stages of Travel: 5 Sharing
Review your own trips to inspire and inform
17
18. Be smarteR with Reviews
• Read Reviews when • Give back! Write return reviews
dreaming & planning • Blog, Facebook, Twitter
• Operator & review sites
…hold operators accountable!
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19. Volunteers - be SMARTER with
Searching
Motivations
Assessing
Relationships
Transparency
Evidence
Reviews
“As volunteers, we need to be
“As volunteers, we need to be
smarter. We need to dig deeper.
smarter. We need to dig deeper.
We need to hold ourselves, the
We need to hold ourselves, the
volunteer organizations and the
volunteer organizations and the
orphanages at which we’re
orphanages at which we’re
placed accountable. Otherwise,
placed accountable. Otherwise,
we readily become part of the
we readily become part of the
problem rather than part of the
problem rather than part of the
solution. We doom the very
solution. We doom the very
people we came to nurture.”
people we came to nurture.”
Lela Barker, Lucky Break Consulting
Lela Barker, Lucky Break Consulting
God’s Grace Orphanage in Uganda, Part 44
God’s Grace Orphanage in Uganda, Part
19
There’s been immense growth of volunteer tourism demand and organisations since I first volunteered abroad in the mid 90s.
How do potential volunteers tell the difference between responsible organisations and those who are not when all the marketing copy appears to same very similar things?
My MSc dissertation addressed this question, creating an analysis tool to differentiate responsible content and measuring results of a variety of NGOs, commercial businesses and social enterprises against each other.
Today, I’m going to talk about that a little from the potential volunteer’s perspective, and the user journey they should follow for bringing more responsibility into volunteer tourism.
Marketing is key to Responsible Tourism as it influences perceptions, expectations and experiences of tourists and hosts alike.
Organisations have responsibility to market and set expectations correctly. But this is too infrequently happening.
Ultimately because volunteer tourism is a business, and not a charity
as such, commercial marketing is employed
Most definitions focus on customer need and satisfaction for profit, such as those from Kotler above.
Seemingly altruistic marketing messages mask commercial operations
This creates Unrealistic demand-led, organisation-profit-based marketing
largely inconsiderate of host community environmental and social costs,
Creates dissatisfaction and negative consequences – for volunteers and destinations alike.
it’s up to VOLUNTEERS themselves to take responsibility!
It is volunteers who create the demand which shapes the product.
First responsibility is being responsible in consumer behaviour & choice!
Without the regulation in the industry, organisations can take advantage
There are a number of voluntary guidelines in the voluntourism market,
Volunteers may be more confused by competing standards
which do they follow?
Volunteers (or parents!) need to understand for themselves to make SMARTER choices.
Research from Google shows 5 stages of travel
Volunteers need to be smarter in each and every stage
1) Travellers start with the dream
And go on to planning:
85% of leisure travellers consider the Internet their main source for planning travel
For volunteer tourism, I would suggest this is even higher, 95-100%
voluntourism has grown and developed mainly in Internet days
brochures and travel agent sales channels thus never developed
1st, consumers need to be Smarter about their searches,
where Dreaming and planning usually starts, most often google.
More commercially-focused organisations have resources for SEM and are achieving higher ranks in search engine results, thus traffic & demand, their undfferentiated content responding to user searches.
The volume of key phrases such as “responsible volunteer” and “sustainable volunteer” are a mere drop in the ocean compared to generic search key phrases used by potential volunteers.
Volunteers need to be aware and take responsibility for how they search
use defined key phrases which search out responsible operations
2ndly, Consumers need to be smarter about the motivationsUnderstanding what motivates tourists to volunteer is key to their product and brand choices. They may be:
Vacation-minded: adventure, explore; mental escape, re-vitalisation; friends
Education-minded: personal or professional development, cultural
Volunteer-minded: genuinely have a positive impact , be useful
Volunteers need to be honest about their own motivations to find the right project match and not be disappointed.
3rdly, travellers are increasingly booking via the Internet, which offers greater transparency.
If consumers shop around extensively for holidays:
With volunteer tourism, why are people less discerning?
Is it because it appears “charitable” so you can’t question motives & value?
Is it unethical to ask about the actual delivery of marketing promises?
Shouldn’t you have consumer rights over mis-selling or fraudulent claims?
Volunteer apathy is what is letting many organisations take advantage.
Caveat Emptor is a legal concept that says “let the buyer beware” ;
that the buyer buys at his/her own risk and therefore should examine a product himself/herself for obvious defects and imperfections.
in many other areas, modern consumer protection laws have minimised the importance of this
The lack of regulation of voluntourism means it is imperative to protect yourself as a volunteer.
Volunteers must not let themselves be bitten on the bum!
Shopping around is not just about price, but the VALUE of the potential placement - for everybody involved.
Potential volunteers therefore need to be much smarter in assessing how responsible an organisation is.
It’s not easy, but it is possible.
Volunteers: it’s your expectations, your money, your experience, your responsibility to assess and accept a suitable partner, project and place.
4thly, travellers expect a more informed and collaborative travel experience
Volunteers’ pre-placement information and training is part of the experience, of a brand, product, the project and the place too.
The one thing that all marketing is about is relationships
It’s about messaging and connecting multiple stakeholders to achieve a mutually beneficial result
Every volunteer touch point has ability to cultivate or damage relationships.
The sending agency is like a dating agency; match-making projects & volunteers
They are the important first impression, introduction and support.
Those who are responsible volunteers will take time to court,
focus on sincere intent, spend quality time together to establish a true meaningful connection, compatibility and partnership
based on true motivations and mutual benefit for the sustainable long term.
(or realise they’re wrong for each other)
Volunteers who don’t take any personal responsibility inputting for the right match are heading out on a blind date,.
They may be lucky, but with the number of organisations in the marketplace vs the number of responsible ones, more than likely they may not;
- Relationships are bound to fail if not built on trust.
- Trust requires honesty.
Honesty is transparent, clear, specific, unquestionable, factual, consistent , congruent, aligned (policies, products and placements)
- Realistic expectations can be set about what each party will bring to the relationship & the difference it will make, so no one is let down, disillusioned
- So trust builds longer term reputation and relationships (CRM!)
- Organisations can gain sustainable competitive advantage for potential repeat business & testimonials for new business
Transparency will offer supporting evidence
If an operator makes a claim, is there evidence?
If there’s a claim, potential volunteers need to question HOW?
5th Stage of travel from Google is Sharing.
Social Media offers the current travel marketplace great opportunities
for inspiring and informing
through reviewing and sharing
This is great marketing for specialist responsible tourism businesses to reach their target markets.
Volunteers needs to be smarter with reviews, both reading and writing.
Social media sharing holds organisations to account!
Voluntourism is a business which responds to demand
- It’s up to volunteers to demand responsibility.
Volunteers thus need to choose wisely.
To make SMARTER choices….
As this blog post says…