Unabashed Self Promotion

Worth lingering - Spencer's, Palm Springs, California

Size doesn't matter. 
Surrounded by lush, tropical plants the Raleigh, Miami is an intimate, art deco stunner!

Promote yourself! 
If you've got it flaunt it! 
In this industry there's no shame in being a braggart. If you've got something that travelers want you should show it off - loudly and often - through every means possible. I'm always amazed at how few images there are online of the great features restaurants, hotels and attractions have to offer. These great images say far more to travelers than the your absolute best line.

There's just one rule - be able to back it up.

Up close and personal
at The Giraffe Manor,
Nairobi, Kenya

 

Vineyard view -
Allison Inn and Spa, Newberg, Oregon

Mirrored orbs in a shallow pond
surrounded by private dining gazebos -
Bartolotta at the Wynn, Las Vegas

 

360 degree views on a private oasis
Little Palm Island Resort,
Little Torch Key, FL

The Silver Lining in Travel Marketing

"By the end of 2012, one billion tourists will have traveled the globe in a single year," says the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Taleb Rifai. He further states, "Behind this impressive number lies an increasingly important engine of growth and job creation. Few realize that tourism is directly responsible for 5 percent of global GDP, that one out of every twelve people worldwide are employed in tourism or that tourism accounts for 30 percent of the world's trade in services." Furthermore, President Obama unveiled a U.S. tourism initiative to increase travel and tourism in the U.S. stating, "That’s how we’re going to rebuild an economy..." His announcement calls for a national strategy to make the United States the world’s top travel and tourism destination, as part of a comprehensive effort to spur job creation. If that's not a silver lining, I don't know what is. It's astoundingly good news, but it's up to you to claim your share! If you've been thinking the economy is killing your business you could be wrong. It's more likely your marketing.

There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.

"Houston, we have a problem." When those words were first uttered by Apollo 13's crew it wasn't a humorous way to report any problem - it was a genuine report of a life threatening fault. Panicking or throwing in the towel weren't options. It was a call to action and a request for assistance. If you're struggling in this economy you may feel like an astronaut afloat without much hope. It's time to act utilizing every resource you've got including seeking help. In other words, treat it as if your life depends on it.
For those of you already marketing on the Internet and still struggling, if your online presence mirrors your offline presence, you're not much better off than the social media and internet marketing skeptics, naysayers and laggers. Traditional marketing moved on to the Internet is also ineffective. Today's consumers are smarter than that and they will quickly turn away. I'm not suggesting you should completely abandon everything you're currently doing just that you should start to move quickly in a better direction and you might need help refocusing.

HubSpot says it well, "In traditional marketing (outbound marketing), companies focus on finding customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt people. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, spam, and trade shows.

Technology is making these techniques less effective and more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls, TiVo makes T.V. advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails, and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less effective. It's still possible to get a message out via these channels, but it costs more.
Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head.
Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own business blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that prospects contact them looking for more information.
Instead of driving their message into a crowd over and over again like a sledgehammer, they attract highly qualified customers to their business like a magnet."* 

 “We’ve got to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in!” 

“Audiences everywhere are tough. They don’t have time to be bored or brow beaten by orthodox, old-fashioned advertising. We’ve got to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in!” said the CCO of JWT the world's 4th largest Advertising Agency. If you don't start listening to and adapting to the impact of internet marketing in your industry you may just end up in the stratosphere like space junk - barely noticeable. 

Let's have a look at internet marketing in context. Scotty Monty head of social marketing for Ford Motor Co. said, "Social marketing is the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web." True, but it's more than that. Simply put Internet marketing is networking. Unlike marketing, advertising and PR aimed at consumers, Internet marketing should be about interaction with your potential customers. When you're out networking you're putting your best foot forward, seeking out individuals or groups that matter to your business, not the masses in general, and you pitch them based on what they represent to your business; a potential customer, a lead to customers and sometimes a potential partnership. Equally important, today's customers want interaction; they want a voice and they want responses, so you need to be listening and responding well. According to HubSpot quoting an eMarketer article, these days "the expectation that a company will respond increases by age cohort from 38% of 18-24 year-olds all the way up to 65% of those in the 55+ age category. And it clearly matters in terms of satisfaction." Either percentage is a powerful message that consumers want to be heard. 

Internet marketing is networking amplified. The number of people you can potentially reach on the through it is staggering. Don't let your share go to some other hotel, restaurant or attraction. If it seems overwhelming turn to the management pro's like HubSpot. And if you need inspiration look to the shining examples like Virgin America. There's an endless amount of help out there free and subscribed (many subscriptions come with free trials), but you have to make the first move.

The airline Virgin America is a great example of a company that's doing their due diligence in social media. VA utilizes every popular form of SM from Facebook to Groupon and they're very proactive; they monitor and respond quickly. Like Virgin America be ever vigilant on monitoring especially when it comes to problems or complaints. Believe it - an appropriate response to negative remarks can result in a very positive reaction from consumers. Again, consumers want to know you're listening. Domino's Pizza is another great example of this. They're looking for suggestions and feedback through social media and outwardly admitting their flaws and mistakes - addressing them very publicly. 

If you are not completely convinced to get started today with your Internet marketing campaign, it's not likely you ever will be. If you are, here are some resources I recommend to help you get started, including our amazing marketing website travelvision.com - a showcase for lodging, restaurants and attractions. Travelvision is turning up the volume on marketing. The Internet is ever evolving and you need to keep up with new and innovative opportunities. If you truly want your full share of the silver lining you need to be on travelvision.com - we're travel marketing amplified! 

HubSpot Blog *(full article)

Flowtown - A blog about small business marketing strategies, tools and tactics.

Cheat Sheet Link

There are also helpful links in prior posts.

Overhauling Travel Marketing - Part 1

Time to get real about YOUR marketing!
Let's face it I've been blogging for a while now. Blogs are available on almost every subject and if one doesn't hold your interest you simply move on to the next. I'm one of a multitude of travel related bloggers out there and if you combined all our efforts we've worked extensively on the subject of travel. Blogs are immensely popular, yet even if we've specifically mentioned your hotel, restaurant or attraction you've probably only benefited minimally from our efforts no matter how massive the amount of information we've put out. That being said getting mentioned in a blog post is still important, but we need to address the whole travel marketing picture. If anything, most blogs serve the user (guest) and really great destinations don't get equal billing nearly enough. I'm here to change that to mutually benefit both you and potential guests.

To avoid being overly wordy we're putting hotels/lodging, restaurants and attractions (theme parks, museums, etc.) together under one term-destinations. After all, you are a destination and from a marketing perspective if you're not thinking of your place as such you should be!


Beginning at the beginning -

There are three basic challenges inherent in any destination marketing campaign:

1. They (potential guests) have to find you

2. You have to convince them to try you

3. You have to convince them to come back

The easiest marketing campaign challenge to address is #3. To get guests to come back you must provide them with an acceptable value for their money and their time; you must perform to a reasonable expectation. Do that and they will return. Don't do it and they won't. Perform above expectations and they'll SHARE. Perform below or mislead them and they will likely SHARE negatively, sometimes very negatively. Misleading guest is a huge mistake! Surprisingly this practice is still fairly common and it hurts everyone in the travel industry. Consequently there is now a website that exposes places that mislead guests. 

Performing above and beyond guests expectations, fulfilling their desires can get you a viral response and that's pure GOLD! Let's face it, positive word of mouth from your guests is the absolute best marketing and you can't buy it you have to earn it. If you are already doing this, that's fantastic! You are the destination guests are searching for. The good news is you don't have to be outrageously expensive or exotic to be that destination. Yesterday I happily tweeted, and it wasn't the first time, about an attraction just outside of Yosemite we visited a few years ago because it's such a great memory! I haven't been back to that area (six hour plane trip) but I happily tell others about Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad - GREAT family fun! So if you didn't know about it already or stumble upon it by chance on the internet, like here, how likely are you to find them? How do potential guests find you? For this, #1on the marketing campaign list, there is help. 

Of course, traditional methods of marketing (television, radio, print and direct mail) are still available but, only minimally effective. I could spend considerable time on this subject, but for now let me just say this, These methods are akin to playing roulette; plunking your money down, picking a slot then spinning a wheel and rolling a ball hoping luck lands it in your slot. They're too unpredictable at too high a cost. Ask yourself this, When you do get lucky and get your ad in front of your potential guest  are they really paying attention? 

Fast forward to the Internet - the worldwide web. Your potential guests are using it. They are out there. Great! Right? Considering how vast the Internet is we might as well be saying, aliens do exist - they are out there - somewhere. What you want to know is, How do I communicate with them?  How do our potential guests find us? The internet is suddenly your best friend and your worst enemy. I've heard it all - lack of time, fear, frustration. It's frankly overwhelming! Help is here and I'll take you through the steps over the course of this series of posts.

So here's the first thing you should do, not the number one thing just the first thing we're going to tackle, possibly the easiest thing. Create a Twitter account and begin tweeting. It amazes me how many of my favorite places don't have twitter accounts when you can literally do this in 15 minutes! Do it! Then tweet daily for 15 minutes and you WILL increase your visibility guaranteed! Don't tell me you don't have 15 minutes, find it! If you do this I will follow you. Just copy the following in a tweet:
Hey @travelvisions I'm on #twitter now-follow me.
If you're already tweeting - awesome! Send me the same tweet from above and I'll follow you if I'm not already doing so. If you are ahead of the curve and already tweeting please don't think this series of posts isn't for you. I promise you we will improve your marketing methods in the coming weeks if you stick with me. Coming up next post I'll delve further into the simple social marketing things you MUST do! Until then, I look forward to your tweet!