by Lionel GadouryIf you doubted the importance of the Internet in marketing and selling your travel destination before last week’s Ontario Tourism Marketing Summit, how do you feel about it now?
The Summit provided many entertaining, thought-provoking ideas and opinions. For many of you it was somewhat overwhelming and confusing. Was it because of the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, whether or not to blog or the sheer complexity of the various technologies?
You may have left thinking, how do I make sense of what I heard and how do I put it into practice to increase my business? How can I use the Internet to attract, inform and sell my vacation product?
Don’t be confused, we’ll help you wade through the jargon, tips, advice and “you shoulds…”
Comment #1: Know your customers – e-market and e-sell, and then entertain
For the majority of you, your consumer targets are couples or families – not the video-gaming, text messaging 18 – 25 year olds. Nor are you trying to “make friends”.
In general, your customers are time-poor and are buying vacations close to their travel date. For them, the Web is a fast and easy way to get information and comparison shop. As you heard, 60% believe that the Internet is extremely important to their travel plans and 73% comparison shop and purchase travel on-line. They use the Internet like a big travel library and shopping mall.
So in spite of the wonderful examples of e-marketing entertainments we saw last week – from advergaming to blogging – for the majority of your customers, they want to find a vacation to meet their needs fast. We’ve said it before, you need the right content on your site, you need to be found, you need to impress and you need to sell.
Comment #2: Concentrate on selling, not chatting
There is also a debate about the value of blogs for marketing and selling. The jury is still out as to whether blogs actually generate revenue for travel businesses. Compared to Web sites, blogs get far fewer readers. They focus on personal points of view, which are seldom helpful for a time-stretched shopper.
Blogs can be informative, educational and a lot of fun. It is in their nature to be grass-roots places to share opinions and perspectives, but not to sell (however discreetly or indirectly). They are great for sharing experiences, opinions and making e-friends with people from around the world.
But your job is to sell. So instead of investing in a blog, use your resources on a professionally developed e-marketing strategy and updated site so that when word-of-mouth drives visits to your site, the visitors turn into buyers. Your Web site is your most important employee, the means to express your individual welcoming personality and is the first place to present your “brand”.
Comment #3: If you’re not an expert, don’t do it yourself
There were some great tips on finding out how your Web site ranks with search engines and how travelers search for vacations. Some of the speakers made it sound easy and implied that you can just do it yourself.
Let’s cut to the chase. You already have plenty on your plate. You’re up against other sites done by professionals. Do you really have the time and expertise to create, program and monitor your site while you’re running your business? When the Web is so important to your business, you can’t afford a home-made amateur site.
Comment #4: Make sure you meet consumer expectations – your competitors are just a click away.
Here is one of the most important statistics of the conference – while 60% of travelers believe the Internet is extremely important in planning their vacations, only 36% were satisfied with travel sites. Consumer expectations are high but most travel marketers are not meeting them. We believe it’s because they lack the in depth e-business, creative, Web engineering, e-marketing and e-selling skills that are necessary to grow their business through the Internet.
Meet expectations, and watch your business grow.
The Tourism Marketer’s Bottom Line: Perfect the basics. Get professional help to turn your Web site into a sales machine. Other sites are doing it, yours can too.
What should you do?
If you’re serious about making sense of what you heard at the Summit and want to put those opportunities into practice, start with our offer of 3 hours of complimentary E-marketing Consulting. This is normally a $600 value. This will be three hours of practical, no-nonsense consulting about your site and 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. You’ll be able to take immediate action to start a high performance e-marketing initiative for your business. Email consulting@contextcreative.com or call 416 972-1439 and ask for Eugene Zakreski.
