Of late, countries across the world are aggressively marketing their cultural, social and historical assets, human resources, flora and fauna, locations, etc., with catchy phrases to woo local as well as international tourists, students, business entities, corporate honchos and even patients to come and spend their time and money. In this regard, Malaysia has been very successful by tagging itself `Truly Asia' and Australia has received ire from international community by asking them "Where the hell are you?" India's attempt to market itself as an `Incredible India' has resulted in limited success apart from being a second fastest growing Asian economy. In India, many states have jumped the marketing bandwagon to attract potential tourists. So far, Kerala has been successful with its most famous `God's Own Country' slogan to record highest number of tourists. Its neighboring state Tamil Nadu, which has more varied landscapes and climate, number of temples and quality healthcare services, has marked its entry with a tagline of "Enchanting Tamil Nadu".

Enchanting marketing is not just to attract tourists or customers but to go beyond to charm or mesmerize them. Here it means, marketing Tamil Nadu's core strengths or popular attractions including long tradition and heritage, culture, arts, spirituality and serenity. According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives." Simply stated it is creating and promoting a product (ideas, goods or services) that satisfies a customer's need or desire and is available at a desirable price and place. Earlier marketing concepts mentioned that a product can be `ideas, goods, or services.' But modern marketing concept clearly differentiates the products and services-marketing and distinguishes by terming it `services-marketing'. Since tourism is principally a service industry, the major products/services provided by tourism are leisure time experiences, sight seeing, hospitality, etc. These are intangible in nature, difficult to maintain quality, hence, it results in a gap between customers' expectations and actual experiences of the services. So, it is more difficult to market intangible products than tangible ones such as automobiles, consumer goods, etc., as tourism has many components comprising transportation, accommodation, food, beverage services, shops, entertainment, aesthetics and special events. It is difficult for one travel operators to provide a wide range of services and facilities to meet the needs or desires of tourists.

Advertising Express Magazine, Enchant Marketing, Tamil Nadu Tourism, Cultural Assets, Human Resources, International Tourists, Marketing Bandwagon, American Marketing Association, Historical Monuments, Corporate Companies, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, TTDC, Mobile Marketing, International Tourists.