Gruppo La Meridiana also supports many social initiatives through its work. We believe that to work in an important area like tourism, using skills and values, can lead us and our partner to achieve satisfactory results. That’s why today we want to speak about “solidarity marketing” and about how you can combine business strategy and social initiatives.

For some years now, branding through “good deeds” is spreading throughout corporations. Unfortunately, tourism has been only slightly involved in this process. Although solidarity hotel are still not enough, we believe that tourism will soon be protagonist in the field of solidarity.

Marketing 3.0.

The definition “Marketing 3.0” comes from a book written by Philip Kotler, scientist of Marketing and Society. Into his book, Kotler tried to explain marketing evolution in relation to social change. The results of his studies are as follows:

-The first form of marketing, called marketing 1.0, focused essentially on the product. The main objective was to sell to a mass market who needed physical products. Work’s efforts were centred on development and characteristics of a product.

–Marketing 2.0 rose from attention to products to the objective of to satisfy clients and to secure customer loyalty. Mass market turned in to a market of intelligent customers careful about material needs and intangible assets too. So, the work of companies changed direction towards information and differentiation.

-Today, we are officially in the age of marketing 3.0 in which business, products and customers have come together to a market based on world’s needs. The social changes have led to a new objective: to make the world a better place to live in. People needs intangible assets, they are willing to pay for them and today, entrepreneurs have to operate for values and cooperation.

Kotler thinks that three principal factors have affected the marketing 3.0:

Partecipation

The globalisation paradox

Social creativity

To summarise and to explain even better: technology, policy, culture and market evolution changed people and their needs, but also the way of investing and all business sectors.

On this basis, solidarity marketing was born and giants such as Google or TripAdvisor already implemented it. But how do you make this form of marketing? The steps to be taken are broadly 3:

-identification of the socio-cultural challenge of the present

-selection of high-profile client to turn to

-to offer solutions

Hotels, as any company, survive through consumers. It is not about to exploit problems to our own advantage, but it is a matter of to join values and strategies to improve people’s social and economic wealth. Today, creativity and solidarity can be the winning moves.

Lastly, we want to remember what are the basic and essential objectives for a company:

Respect, analysis and study of customers

Business is mainly a service

Attention and flexibility towards change

Resonable cost related the offer

Research and maintaining the quality

What your Hotel can do to show solidarity?

The list of social initiatives may be infinite. It is possible to implement initiatives both within and outside your Hotel. Your internal services can help people with psychomotor problems or you can accommodate conventions or a theme work-shop. You can also devote booking revenues for research or to support people in need. Whatever initiative you will take, your brand will be associated with important cultural issues and it will be publicized in many areas and not only in tourism. Your name and your image will be synonymous with values.

The Cooperative Gruppo La Meridiana offers outsourcing services aimed at a social and economic business growth. We consider that tourism is a powerful worldwide medium. Tourism can and must follow changes in society. In the same way, Tourism may contribute to change the world.