Context

How is your Web site doing?

Is it bringing you as much business as you can handle? Are visitors spending a lot of time with it, then downloading your PDFs and signing up for your newsletter?
OK, let’s ask this a different way. Could your e-marketing efforts be doing better?

This is the first in a series designed to help Ontario tourism marketers use the 5P’s – Persona, Position, Prospect, Pitch and Partnerships –to measurably improve their e-marketing efforts.

Personae This is your site’s “personality”, the words, pictures, navigation and interaction. Research shows that site visitors seek experiences and information. They want you to answer, “What’s in it for me?” every step of the way. Are your site contents exciting, relevant, and fresh? (If it’s Fall, you’re not still talking about getting ready for Summer are you? One popular Ontario tourism site is….)

1. If your site doesn’t look good, if it doesn’t function smoothly, if it’s not up to date, people assume the product isn’t up to par, and they leave. Today visitors have high expectations, and it begins with the site’s Personae.

1. Position Today 90% of travel shopping is done on the Internet, and 79% of Web visits start with a search – it’s the #1 activity on the Web today. So being found is critical. That means your site needs to rank highly for your key terms. Do you know what words travelers are searching? Have you tried searching for your site using terms that your potential visitors would use? If you haven’t done it yet, do some research at http://inventory.overture.com. You’ll be fascinated by the results, and have a new appreciation for the content on your site as it relates to search engines.
2. Prospect Prospecting is a key part of attracting customers, and that’s what your e-marketing efforts should be doing for you. Interaction on your site is critical. You can welcome visitors with sign-ups for e-newsletters or podcasts, encourage them to take surveys, enter contests (a good photo contest can draw a lot of traffic to your site) and take advantage of offers based on their interests.
   To prospect successfully, you need to break through anonymity – getting some visitor information. You need numerous calls-to-action throughout your site.
   Your site should be your best sales person, on the job 24/7/365.
3. Pitch Once you have a prospect, you can pitch. What are your offers? How do prospects receive your offers? Did you know that 30% of visitors who signed up for e-mails actually buy something as a result of the email? That’s a much better sales ratio than direct marketing, trade shows and brochure drops at tourism information centres.
   Pitching is all about converting leads into customers. It means you have to be proactive, you need to promote and package (more “p” words!). Today, people come to Web sites looking to buy – are you making it easy for them to take action?
4. Partnerships Don’t go it alone. Work with partners, your associations – in fact other associations, to create virtual products and experience packages. Combine and leverage your budgets to reach more prospects.
   If you don’t have partners, now is the time to find ones with common interests and common prospects. You’ll exponentially increase your marketing reach and scale. Experience shows that the effort it takes to create solid products and partnerships pays off with greater sales at lower costs.

The Tourism Marketer’s Bottom Line: The 5P’s are the foundation for successful e-marketing. You need a systematic, staged plan to put them into place and keep them updated so that your e-marketing efforts become a machine for lead generation and sales. Learn more about the 5P’s for marketing success at www.contextcreative.com/5p

Our Offer to You
How should you start improving your e-marketing efforts? Start with our No Obligation Offer of 3 Hours of Free E-marketing Consulting. This is normally a $600 value. This will be 3 hours of practical, no-nonsense consulting about your site, your e-marketing efforts. We understand your business is unique, so this session will be about you. You’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned immediately and successfully. Imagine if your new e-marketing efforts could increase your business by 10, 20 or 50 percent.

What would that mean to you? After the meeting we’ll follow up with a summary report with suggested next steps, so you can take immediate action. There’s no obligation, just the potential for high performance e-marketing for your business. Email consulting@contextcreative.com or call 416 972-1439 and ask for Eugene Zakreski.