As a marketer, any time I travel I make sure to check what the marketing landscape looks like for products and brands within that country. I just came back from Greece for my honeymoon and compared to my Paris trip last year, Greece doesn’t do nearly a great job of marketing products – nor does it have a great marketing presence. There are a number of reasons why, but here’s what I think.
With countries like Greece, well known for their beauty but not so much their consumerism, it all comes down to what people already know. As I walked the streets, I saw the same products on multiple islands without any competitor brands. This reminded me of the advertising landscape in Bangladesh. Most of the consumers in Bangladesh use things they already know, usually passed down from family members via word of mouth and so competitors have a tough time breaking in.
In Greece, the most popular soft drinks are Sprite, Coca Cola and Coca Cola Light (there’s no such thing as Diet Coke and are all Coke products). There wasn’t a competitor in sight. The same goes for travel reviews. There’s no such thing as Yelp and everyone uses TripAdvisor as the only form of validation. Hotels and shops even display TripAdvisor certificates on their windows.
There also isn’t a big social media presence, which I think is a huge gap for brands, especially the boutique hotels in the Greek islands. In our stay in Paros, the hotel (Akrotiri Hotel) was absolutely amazing, with a gorgeous view, close to the beaches with many restaurant options nearby. If that hotel utilized Facebook or Twitter to reach out to potential customers who have questions or share images of the beaches, it would make it easier to attract customers and also differentiate themselves from their competitors, who aren’t doing anything. They have a book with testimonials but they need to make it digital or at least type it out themselves for others to read and share via social channels. Think about the SEO value if they could share those reviews via a Google+ page!
Some of the bigger chain hotels like Westin and Marriott have a presence but that’s only in Athens, not the Greek Islands.
I had a great time in Greece but during my entire trip, I couldn’t help but wonder how much hotels, shops and brands are leaving on the table by not incorporating social media or working with competition to create better business opportunities.
Do you check the way brands market in foreign countries when traveling? What’s the most prominent brand you’ve seen so far?
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