Samenvatting

Den Haag Marketing is the marketing and promotion organisation of the city The Hague and its seaside resorts; Scheveningen and Kijkduin. Den Haag Marketing(DHM) promotes attractions and events in The Hague that would be interesting for the intended target groups. The organisation takes care of the city’s collective marketing with the goal of creating maximum economic spin-off.
With the results of this plan DHM wishes to successfully implement WhatsApp and create an extra touchpoint. The research problem before implementing WhatsApp is: It’s not clear to DHM if WhatsApp, as a relatively new social medium, contributes to attracting more visitors to the city The Hague.
The research done to support the implementation plan consists of both desk- and field research, of which the field research has been executed using qualitative research and a benchmark research. The desk research consists of social media analyses and target groups analyses. Whereas the qualitative research was executed by interviewing tourists providing more insight into the customer journey.
Benchmark research showed how other organisations use WhatsApp as a communication channel. The benchmark partners were Delft Marketing, Nationaal Toneel and gemeente Den Haag. The organisations are all operating in different sectors. These organisations all experienced the use of WhatsApp as positive. Desk research showed that WhatsApp is the most used channel in the following target countries: The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany. In Belgium, another target country, WhatsApp is the third popular app. Other countries which are interesting for Den Haag Marketing are: The United States of America, France, Spain and Italy. In these countries WhatsApp is growing in popularity.
Field research showed that visitors of The Hague are partly enthusiastic about WhatsApp. More than half of the respondents replied that they would use WhatsApp if they have any touristic questions about The Hague. Field research also showed that a large majority of the respondents indicated that they would not use the other function of WhatsApp namely, the broadcast list.
A recent trend is that the customer journey of the target group has changed. Research showed that visitors seek information about their destination while they are in the city, whereas before the widespread use of the internet, they would gather information beforehand. Furthermore 17% of visitors in The Hague couldn’t find the information they needed during their stay. By implementing WhatsApp Den Haag Marketing creates an extra touchpoint with the visitors of The Hague. WhatsApp is a relevant channel because the target group is highly active. Creating an extra touchpoint, to serve the visitor of the city as good as possible, fits in the communication strategy of Den Haag Marketing.