Oh my God, somebody is finally talking about this. For your sake Guys only. I graduated with a Marketing Degree and I know how marketing is extremely important to any nation on the world and any organization whether it was for profit or non-for-profit ones. I might be a ghost but I'm very educated...don't go far..
I'll tell you how important marketing is...Cocoa Cola spends about one billion USD a year just for marketing. that's much more than our GDP it self. The relationship between marketing, advertising and promotion and Sales Index is positive. The more you advertise the more sales you make. but we are not talking about that type of marketing..
The Question is how can we attract tourist to our country. Some would say we, advertise on newspaper, magazine, put ads on the net or TV Channels. We did that but how smart we were in making those advertisements. To me, we wasted so much money broadcasting one ad only. The ad itself should have a very good impact on the audience which make them Remember Muscat or Salalah when ever then think about taking a vacation..The ad in addition should provide the basic information needed to be given to the audience, The date, The place and the occasion. The ad they placed for Salalh last year was so boring I myself could not watch..I'll give you an example and it's not too far.. Take Dubai for example. Have any body seen how effective and convincing their ads are. The problem is that we don't have qualified Advertising Companies in Oman. and we have almost ZERO Knowledge of the importance of Marketing in Oman...

Any other Sugestions..

The Ghost

wish u all the best in ur biz
take care

Hi guys

I would like to participate with u in this very good topic
And afraid that I can not talk deeply in this topic
And The Ghost aware with this kind of subjects more than I
But I wanna represent my won point of view
As everybody knows that our beautiful country
Oman has a lot of beautiful and amazing places, which have fascinated everybody.
But the problem is how could we advert for this beauty????????????
I think if we have good advertisement companies we will overcome this problem
Also I have some advertisement offices outside Oman it will do great job for advertising
And I think if we compare Dubai or U.A.E in general with Oman,we will find that Oman has a lot of advantages. The problem is that there isn’t enough advertising for everything in Oman.

Good-by
And hope u do will

Hi people,
mmm very interesting topic, i guess someone was desperate to see such a topic, right Ghost?

Anyway, to comment briefly on the topic as I need to rush to my other committements, as you all believe that marketing is playing a crucial role in our life and that's what the Ghost has stated. However, we keep on saying how we can advertise.

The thing is that we have to take in account many aspects and the marketing problem in Oman is really complicated not because of how advertisements are done but it is also about people. People need to be educated about certain things, when we market, we need to be very clear who we are targeting. As a result, we need to come up with more than one advertisement that hits more than one group.

I want you guys to broaden the way you think, do not think at a national level. I want you to look at it at a world wide level. As one of the brother mentioned about Coca Cola, they do really spend massive amounts of money on advertising, but look at their advertisements!! Check the internet,, ask the people in different countries specially europe, us and the pacific.

Some times I blame those who choose advertising companies that has no omanis, we as omanis we understand what we want, we need to conduct a market research, then form what a customer needs, and most important thing, never lie to your customers!!!

one of the problem could be addressed is the budget, we are not Coca Cola of course, but how much are we intending to spend to get the expected results.. People tend to make advertisements based on the employee perception when it's the opposite that should happen.

Many years ago, companies were business-focused but when they realised the important and the value of their customers, immediately they have changed their business strategy to be customer-focused.

Educational institutions should also offer more relevant courses in marketing and educate students in more depth about marketing. I remember my mother once said, if you put a group of student from the same level of thinking for example not very smart students and you put a smar student in the group, the slow learners will somehow speed up the way they learn things by learning strategies from the smart one, the smart one on the other hand will be improving slowly.

On the flip side, when you place a slow learner with smart students, that slow learner will improve a lot.. that's why i said try to compare us globally instead of nationally.. still the dubai ad's were not as attractive as other ad's that i have come across, however, it's attractive enough to visitors!!

It will take me forever to talk about marketing, so I will have to stop here and continue when I get another chance!!!

By the way bright girl, why did you choose this topic? are you working on sort of an assignment in your school??

school = college or uni (to clear misunderstandings)

Cheers

Tendreness, good you mentioned that because i missed it out..

As a matter of fact, we should look for alternatives instead of sticking to one method of marketing.. that includes, online and offline marketing..

I have read a book about marketing and there are so many things that people can do just to attract customers. But we need to keep in mind many aspects as genders, cultures, communities and many other aspects.. again an intensive market research should be done to know and understand what people need, want and expect..

I believe in Oman, people tend to advertise without any strategic planning. That's what we need to have. Planning is not the same as strategic planning, we need to have a certain strateg to work on. We need to think, where do we want to be in the next 10, 20, 30 or 50 years. The change has to begin right from the roots and the inside of any organisation.

I remember I have seen an advertisement about car wheels and it was done in UAE surprisingly. The driver is speeding, to 100, 120, 160, 200 and suddenly there is a little rabbit in the middle of the road, so the driver had to stop immediately so that he doesn't hit the rabbit, but when he stops,, there will be some red liquide on the road, the audiance will think.. oh he couldn't make it and he did hit the poor rabbit, but hey, because of the strong car wheels, the red liquide wasn't blood. it was the paint of the car that was removed!!!

By the way, this advertisement, was one of the top 20 or 30 best advertisements in the world and they got many awards for that advertisement. so can you imagine how good it was? I prefer you search for it because i really loved it..

will be back again to add..

10derness,
There’s always a room for you to add, you run this joint and we all love you.
The basic need from advertising is to attract more traffic to a particular site or products. It’s always directed to the customers and potential customers. How do we define that?/ it always depends on your products or package you advertising for.

Angels_eyes..
We appreciate everything you can add. You don’t need to be an expert to add a thought or an idea. Thanks for your effort and support. I agree with you almost 100% that we lack having a proper advertising agencies that know and understand Oman as it’s and not from somebody else. Omani Companies will do better. The problem is in Tourism you have to go Global and think Global. We advertise to attract people from outside Oman. Then we need someone who understand those people and have the ability to convince them that Oman is a very fine place to visit.

Bright Day,
Just get my degree and go to join the workforce here in Oman. You would understand the situation very well. I don’t need to tell you more. I love my country ore than anything in the world and I’d love to pay back some of its debt back. I always was good and creating advertisements and I got so many awards for it.

eL3aJoOoZ_NaWaR
Ok guys, she’s the expert now. I guess if you have any questions for me, then you should be directed to her. I’m retiring and leaving you answers their questions. I’m glad you participated and here are my comments. Educating people is very important as well. Example, Muscat Festival, many people have doubted the festival and some of them have gone far of saying that it’s Haram. I agree with some of the activities in the festival, but the whole idea was honest. Wasn’t it? Don’t you believe so??
It attracted so many people and employed some many others. People in Oman have to start taking this idea in. and that’s essential to any success. You put your finger on the right place, MARKETING RESEARCH. I don’t see the government doing any marketing researches to evaluate how tourists love Oman for example. The things they like and the thing they don’t. I don’t see them doing marketing research about the sites and the spots that can be visited by tourtists..all these questions should be takes care. I also agree with having need for more Marketing Education and Studies. Say hi to your mother and tell her she’s 100% correct. I also noticed that one day..Thank her for me. No no no, you have to come back and share with us your lovely thoughts. You are very expert in Marketing it seems and bright day will maybe need more clarifications.

Tenderness.
Yes, there’s a different between Marketing as a general thought (bright day should know that). And advertising in specific. Marketing is a general definition involves advertising, promotion, public relations and etc. as NAWAR pointed out as well; the advertisement should have a great impact on customers mind in order to attract them. Some companies might target your money, other might target you EGO and other might target your and family and safety. There are so many methods to attract customers and it varies between the product and whom it’s targeted. Nowadays, advertisements are used as a tool for competition. Everybody know Mountain Dew, it’s a good drink and has so and so features. Why they should advertise and spend millions of dollars just to show it on the Screen. The answer is, Dew is not alone. You have Peppsi, Ice tea and other, but they all compete with one buyer ( it’s you). The one that can attract you more by his advertisement may be lucky to bring you buy it’s product.

Bright day
Advertisement is a very confusing and sophisticated study. It even play with psychology and methodology, and all logies. It’s very interesting and fun. Marketing in general is simple and easy to study and you need to be an artist to enjoy it..
Hope we helped you answering some of your questions…and I really thank everybody here who made this topic very interesting. But there is always for more and we are ready for it..

Guys, Have Fun
The Ghost.

Tenderness...

Marketing is a very broad area, again it will take us forever because things are changing everyday.. compare traditional marketing with today's marketing.. marketing has emerged from being offline to online too.

Regarding the seminars and meetings, anyway has to do with marketing we need to consider the financial aspect. Are they willing to pay this much and there has to be a report estimating the outcomes of those marketing activities. There has to be some high quality analysis for the activity to be done.

In tourism industry, I think there should be a good planning first of all. Check budget, services, resources, technologies, expectations, objectives, etc. I believe that having affiliates of being an affiliate is a very strong and effective way to promote in tourism industry. Airlines magazines and brouchers for example. I remember in one of the countries, the travel agency had a massive amount of broachers about countries. There was Africa, Asia, America, Europe, also Egypt and Dubai broacher, America and Canada, where is Oman and (...)??!!!! That's why Dubai is known world wide and all people would know it like egypt. Also TV programs can help a lot. I remember in a western country, there was a channel that broadcasts a program about countries, where is Oman? no idea, but Dubai is there certainly as well as Egypt.

Why Dubai? because many airlines pass by Dubai as a stop in the middle east in a long journy. Malaysia to London for Example. Because they allowed for many airlines to stop by for transit. Oman?!!! few airlines do pass by but I can name airlines that don't. KLM (holland), Royal Brunei, Qantas (maybe in association with British Airways), Korean airlines... etc. Probably they will in the future. but we have to have affiliates abroad. Hey, in some countries there are no omani embessies or consulates or even a cultural attache office. UAE, is almost know in all countries.

Seminars and meetings however are restricted to certain people only, and they are not promoted to the public. I know in one of the confrences I attended recently was well organisaed and the people organising it invited up to 200 people from business men, to normal employees, to unemployed people, to uni students, to high school students. They even allowed students under 18 years old and all they had to do is get a signature from their guirdians and that's it (we learn from young people too you know). They also offered breakfast, lunch, in between sessions snaks for free. They handed out materials, booklets, information sheets...etc. At the end, as a reward, they received a business organiser worth of R.O 20. Tell me, who wouldn't go for such a conference? even if it was a boring one, people will go for the goodies given out and the sort of environment of the conference. When the organisers promoted this event, people could call, or RSVP online, fax, or even in person. At the same time, they were told that they will be receiving this and that, blah blah blah.. etc. Would people in Oman ever do that? not even would think about it?!! they say oh yeah we did this and that, but what about the outcomes? well yeah not that good but we are still doing this and that.. hellooo.. i need something useful here!!

There is a nice website I liked, muscatnet.com i think, but im not sure and it's specialised in promoting muscat with all its services and facilities, it still needs improvements, but just having that is going to pose muscat on internet and in front of millions of people around the world. That website has information about hotels, restaurants and these kind of information. This is tourism and I really appreciate the people who are working on it.

Now, Our embassedors also play a big role here, they can imrpovement these industerial relationships when contacting tourism companies of the country they are at. What about the business people in Oman who are moderating travel and tourism agencies? If we omanis are not being employed in such area instead of non omanis then just submit a proposal of an idea to the head of the department and make sure you have it copyrighted i dont wanna say big NO for non omanis, because they have contributed a substantial amount of efforts to improve the country. so we still need qualified people to train or lead the omanis who will be working their way up to the same level as their supervisors.

God, i need a break and will be back some other time!!

Dear The Ghost,
first of all, the first thing I did when I read your comments is "hahahahahahahahahaaaaaay".. me expert?? not at all.. I havent even studied the marketing thing. I always learned it on my own and it's just general knowledge and being exposed to many experiences..

And I think that's what we need, look, search and find out more about what other people do in those areas. You know what we should do also? We need to use different methods for marketing. For example, when one of the gulf countries started the festival ideas as a way to attract tourists, other countries started the same thing. The difference is, country 1, says we are the first one, country 2 is a "me too" marketer.

We need to be creative, and Im pleased to know that you are doing well in your job. Another thing is that we wait for someone to do something, and that means we will wait forever, you know what I decided to do when I will be in Oman next time, it's a secret!!!!

lol.. no I decided to do a research in some area on my own expenses and keep the results for myself to do something with it.. sorry can't reveal my secret now but yeah, we need to do things on our own so that everyone starts doing the same thing.

One of my friends is a global marketer and he told me some golden words "Knowledge is power, IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT" and these words are still on my mind because I strongly believe in them. What's the point of having knowledge in marketing for example and we don't use it, we are waiting til we get a job or for any other reason, maybe depending on the "socalled" marketing departments to do what they have to do.. no, someone has to make the first step.

The festival is a good idea, no doubt but we need to be very careful how to do it because we should not ignore the fact that we are also restricted to some religious limits. Anything goes beyond limits will turn against us! So we need to balance because we are not in a western country.

The Ghost, I'm taking your words seriously, if you get me a job with your department, you will never regret having an oldie working with you So I will remember this offer til the next time I'm in Oman. and by the way, I'm expert in many other things :P, I have an old looking resume from many years, should I send it to ur HR department???

Your many thanks will be passed to my mother insha'a Allah..
One last thing, if you don't mind telling me, where do you work?

Cheers

Hi again Tenderness, never shut up when you think that it's true what you are saying

Anyway, I think that you have pointed out to something very important which is, the seasons and tourism to be narrow it down.

What I hate is immitating others in every single thing they do. For example as you said, the singers thingie, I PERSONALLY think that it's really boring and everytime I experienced the festivals, i was so bored to death.. although my friend who visited me from overseas liked it because she was not used to it. I needed something more entertaining, something different, creative, magnetic like chocolates, but unfortunately, never had that feeling.. That's my personal opinion and experience. Hey, we dont have to grab the singers and place them on stage to get tourists. There are millions of ways to market for something.. Where is the Omani women role?? I think it's vital to have the traditional part of Oman get out exposed to the crowed. Look at Syria, they always talk about el batra2.. for example!!! don't we have anything??? very few people know about Nizwa, Suhar, Other cities and towns in Oman that are so beautiful and peaceful.. Those documentary movies they have about Oman, why aren't they on papers and internet and on advertisements???

I think we have to have our own way of managing the festivals idea and associate with it something more important that brings the image of Oman to the world. Im sure that the people have had enough experience with festivals now.

Hey The Ghost mentioned a nice idea which is getting feedback from those tourist, exactly. In fact we need to do that with everything, everywhere, in shops, in companies and even with the hospitals and other industries. We need to gather as much information as possible.. The most successful companies those that have the most useful information about PEOPLE because they are going to produce the right product to them!!!

I really need to stop here and come back later.. Cheers everybody