Successful brand development ideas for a start-up company in a tourism industry.

Abstract

This thesis has been conducted in the category of an analytical product-oriented thesis and researches brands, brand development, and social media marketing in the context of the tourism industry. The main objective is to answer the ‘’What are the most successful brand-ing strategies for a tech tourism start-up?’’ question. With the use of the theoretical con-cepts, analysis of the market and professional input, a set of branding and marketing rec-ommendation for a local start-up company Wowanders was made.

The case company is a tourism oriented start-up, trying to push through to the market with their travel diary application. The guiding research question is how to build a strong, easily recognizable brand for such product. The objective of this study is to create a set of guidelines for their branding and marketing efforts. The theoretical part is the fundament of the further reasearch and discusses brands having its own identity, as well as being a part of a marketing plan.

The research approach of this thesis is a case study. Literature review is used as a base in the theoretical framework. The empirical part develops the thesis product by analyzing and evaluating external and internal secondary information, benchmarking use of social media by different startup companies, four semi-structured interviews with industry professionals, and a workshop with potential product users.

The outcome of this thesis is presented to the commissioner in a form of guidelines and ideas to develop their branding and marketing strategies. The presentation focuses on the branding through social media with selected channels being Facebook and Instagram.