Week 5 - Katrina Shi

5. How would you best promote your product domestically and internationally?

Assuming by promoting domestically we are referring to our target nation (in my group’s case, Bhutan), I would do my best to work with governmental agencies and local travel agencies to recruit locals into our business, given that it does not seem to make sense to advertise tourism of their own country to the locals. The goal domestically so to speak is to improve tourism service in Bhutan and maximize the advantages tourism can bring to the Bhutanese people. As more locals participate in our business and see the benefits in promoting or partaking in our startup, we will be able to expand our app to cover not only major cities in Bhutan but eventually be able to broaden our business to the rest of the country.

Internationally speaking, I believe it would be wise to sell an idea or label rather than simply selling tourism. Through the example of the Danish furniture industry we see how idea development specialization is crucial to the success of the industry, as it allows the companies to focus on developing new innovative designs while outsourcing the remaining activity to other countries. Our app can take a similar approach, where we team up with international travelling agencies to advertise to our target audience, while our startup would be allowed to focus on how we will achieve our presentation of Bhutan as an ecological friendly and culturally unique quiet getaway destination.  

Question: What are some challenges that startups may encounter during promoting domestically, especially those that target tourism or culturally specific areas? 

Sources:
Lars Hedemann, and Mogens Rostgaard Nissen. "The Internationalization of Danish Furniture. A Value Chain Perspective." (n.d.): 16-32. 2013.
"Bhutan Sacred Valley Adventure." National Geographic Expeditions. National Geography, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2017.