Techniques
Bristol Zoo is not only targeting local people but people from further away as well. They do this well with the techniques that they use for advertising the zoo. Customers start off coming from Bristol and it expands to Avon and Somerset to an even wider range.
Advertising
Bristol Zoo uses press releases for advertising new events going on at the zoo and new animals that may have been added. They have a website, leaflets and the most common form of advertisement for them is word of mouth.
Around the Bristol area there are also Bristol Zoo billboards that even people just passing through the area or tourists will see.
Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of promotion. It involves sending or giving promotional material directly you individual customers that are already on the database. This can be done by post, over the telephone or door-to-door. If you sign up to the newsletter on the Bristol Zoo website they send you emails of events coming up.
As Bristol Zoo covers a wide range of customers they have to market in fast and cheap ways so email and leaflets in B&Bs and local towns helps.
Personal Selling
Personal selling is when places sell their own products directly to the customers when they come in. Bristol Zoo has the gift shop and the online shop. Some of the things they are selling do not promote Bristol Zoo but there are things such as mugs, books, CDs and an annual membership.
Sponsorship
Bristol Zoo doesn’t get sponsorship from any other companies and it doesn’t sponsor anything except some endangered animals but maybe they should sponsor the animal adoption that they are encouraging at the zoo.
Sales Promotion
These are short-term offers to encourage new and old customers to come to the Zoo more often or the caf� or buy something from the gift shop depending on what the offer might be.
Materials
Bristol Zoo have a website designer so they can target the right people. They need bright colours and pictures to attract children and even adults, as they may not want to read too much. There is also a list on the side of the page so it is easy to find what you’re looking for, such as: shop, about us, visiting the zoo, news etc. They have lots of zoo and jungle pictures to set the scene and give people and idea of the zoo. They also have designers for their other advertisements so they will attract people.
Advertisements
There are lots of different types of advertisements such as:
* Newspapers
* Magazines
* Radio
* Television
* Internet
* Billboards
* Leaflets
Bristol Zoo uses billboards, sometimes adverts in newspapers the internet and leaflets because they see this as being the easiest way of alerting a lot of people about the zoo.
Brochures and leaflets
Brochures and leaflets are one of the most widely used forms of promotional materials. Bristol Zoo prints a lot of leaflets and asks pubs, cafes, hotels and B&Bs to have them in their business available for the public to take them. One of their leaflets is the main one all around the country introducing you to Bristol Zoo and the rest are those that you find in the zoo, like the map, and explaining about different things around the zoo. T he leaflets that Bristol Zoo have are ones for before you visit the zoo to learn about it and ones that you can pick up in the zoo which have information about the different enclosures.
Videos
Videos are ways for customers so see what happens in the Zoo before they go in. Bristol Zoo doesn’t do this because there is no point as it is so big and there is so much going on. They could make educational videos about the zoo with workers from the zoo speaking on it for school groups that visit the zoo. The school groups could order a video for the school to watch before the visit or could see a video when they visit the zoo before they explore the zoo. Small children may also appreciate videos about the zoo so there could be videos about the animals that you could order off the website to watch at home.
Internet Sites
* The public, to find out information without having to phone or go to the organisation use this. Bristol Zoo has a website of their own which is www.bristolzoo.org.uk. Internet sites are very popular and many different organisations use them. The Bristol Zoo website is set out really well and is easy to use. They have lots of different sections for the different topics covered by the sites, these are:-
* Home
* About us
* Kids
* Visiting the Zoo
* NWCP
* Get Involved
* News
* Learning Zone
* Conservation and Research
* Shop
* Links
* Private and Corporate Events
The techniques used by Bristol Zoo work very well. They use the right advertisements and techniques for the size of the organisation and get through to people easily. Bristol Zoo get more and more customers due to the techniques they use and the materials they produce and lots of publicity from sending out emails, leaflets, word-of-mouth and advertising their organisation. Bristol Zoo use most promotional techniques as they can afford it. They also have TV advertisements and the zoo is sign posted all around Bristol which the council doesn’t pay for so the zoo has to. To help Bristol Zoo’s promotions they could offer one that gives discount for families OAPs, children or parties.
Alnwick gardens
Leaflets
The leaflets used by Alnwick gardens are more sophisticated. They are different to the ones used by Bristol Zoo. They use darker autumn colours and small print suggesting that the leaflets are aimed at adults.
Website
The Alnwick gardens website is similar to the Bristol Zoo one in the way that it gives different sections so it is easier to find your way around the site. The website is www.alnwickgarden.com.