Alberta Business Marketing

In designing marketing materials it’s best to think like the prospect your business wants to be marketing to; anticipate their needs and deliver benefits which match them.

In the case of producing digital marketing materials it’s helpful to know the size and type of screen your content is being viewed on.  It’s equally important to consider where your prospect is when they are accessing your message.  A third consideration is not only knowing how far away the prospect is geographically, but understanding the time frame that exists between the prospect viewing your content and making a purchase.

As little as a few years ago the time span between online inquiry and purchasing a travel experience averaged five weeks and numerous Internet searches.  The time between purchase and actually going on the trip was a few more weeks still.

Today, with the advent of handheld devices and 3G access to the Internet many travelers are waiting until they arrive at their destination before making a commitment with a service provider, shortening both the geographic distance and the time frame between being a prospect and making a purchase.

How does the graphic above change the way you promote and market your business?  As with traditional Web based marketing, focus on the four basics and practice getting your message accross in as few words as possible.

• headline
• great image or short video
• bulleted list of benefits you offer your ideal guest
• call to action

Social Media can provide Local Leads

Finally, be an actively engaged listener, paying attention to what travelers are asking and talking about on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.  For example, listen in on conversations using Twitter Search.  Be ready to engage with the last minute traveler who is walking around your city and you may be able to get them to enjoy your bed, your restaurant, or your travel experience.

How are you adapting to meet last minute, in-market travelers’ needs?

Tags: mobile web, tourism marketing, Twitter
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Mary Meeker once again wowed the audience at the Web2Summit in SanFrancisco this week with her overview of trends in tech.  One of the biggest surprises was the revelation that Social Media advertising offers the biggest bang for the buck for advertisers.

Facebook, with it’s social profile advertising advantage – advertisers can target users across a variety of interests, ages and other demographic considerations, is a steal compared to other advertising buys on the Web.  Although it’s not clear where Google Adwords and other Keyword Search advertising would fit in this chart because it only refers to display advertising, Facebook advertising looks like a steal.

Do you advertise on Facebook?  What’s your take on the value proposition?

Tags: Facebook, tourism marketing
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Here is the mantra every tourism business should deliver on in the age of internet marketing and social and mobile media:

We provide benefits that meet or exceed your needs and provide value for money, you can count on it.

Understanding the pieces:
“Benefits” – can you anchor the services you provide as benefits that your ideal client is seeking?
“Meeting or exceeding needs” – Do you know what matters to your ideal guest. Are you primed on delivering the goods every day.
“Value” – good economy, bad economy, luxury item, commodity…. whatever you sell, your purchaser is going to use price as a determining factor in determining whether or not to purchase from you. Your competitors may have a role to play in providing an option for your ideal client.
“You can count on it” – credibility, it’s measured every day, not by what you say, but by what your clients say about you. Are you listening? Are your clients engaged? If not, it’s almost as bad as having them say negative things about you. The majority of people will look for what others are saying about you. If no one is reviewing your business, your prospect may be concerned that your business has no track record of success.

I think about getting bums in beds a lot.
After all, I’m in the business of satisfying customers just like hoteliers, attractions and restaurants….. at Northern Edge Algonquin, we’re a bit of all of these. When I think about the role of video, social media, facebook and other Internet Marketing avenues I use the mantra above to check that the content we produce is focused on the right outcome.

Then we do everything we can on the ground, to make sure we are delivering on the promise.

What mantra drives your business?

Tags: mantra, public relations, reputation management, tourism marketing
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TripAdvisor is now the largest travel website in the world with 35,382,000 unique visitors. The next largest travel website in the world is former number one and parent company of TripAdvisor, online travel agent – Expedia with over 33 million uniques.

Since four in five travelers read reviews on social media and the vast majority (95%!!) of travelers who’ve read them said such reviews were influential on the decision making process (PhoCusWright 2009), isn’t it time to reconsider earning travel reviews on TripAdvisor from your guests.

Here’s a quick review on how to do TripAdvisor well, with a comment from TripAdvisor head honcho Steve Kaufer confirming the strategies.

ps. it doesn’t require tourism industry to purchase business listings from TA.

Tags: tourism marketing, tripadvisor
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It’s the end of another school term and that means its time to reach out to your local community college to get the skills you need to improve your team.

This week we are delighted to be working with an intern for a 100 hour placement with our tourism business.  A current graduating student from the local college with expertise in producing video is getting hands on experience producing media with us.  It is not costing us a penny.

What could your region or business do if you had a college trained multimedia intern for 100 hours?

Although I feel quite competent at producing media and distributing it online, I called the local college media studies department and talked with them about the media learning opportunities we could provide.  In our case it meant talking with the broadcasting radio and broadcasting television and video programs department of Canadore College. Within hours we had an applicant who was eager to put their skills of directing, producing, shooting and editing video that tells our stories.

As a result, we are working with a student who can teach us a lot, as well as provide us with professionally produced media content that we can post to the Web.  There are many benefits of working with your local college multimedia department.

• getting access to current best practices
• putting idle cameras and audio recording equipment to use
• learning from students who know how to use state of the art media production tools
• producing high quality media content that tells our story
• getting access to skilled workforce who will be looking for summer employment at the end of their intern placement.

What skills can your business or region recruit from the local college?

Start by making a wish list of all the projects you hope to accomplish and then having a gander at your local post secondary institution programs that involve a work placement.  Too often in tourism we restrict our recruitment to students in the Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts programs.  Match your search for talent with your needs.   And don’t neglect the local high schools either.  We’ve already made contact with the local high school to engage a media enthused student for a full-time co-op work placement next school term.

Have you had success working with students in your tourism business?  How?

Tags: co-op, college, intern, parntership, tourism marketing
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