Alberta Business Marketing

Media students from college or university can be a big help to tourism industry.  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.

Intern or Co-op?

Many post-secondary institutions offer students opportunities to get work experience as part of the learning experience.  Interns generally spend a few weeks working with a business at or near the end of the school term to round out their learning.  Co-op programs often offer students work placements for an entire term – sometimes longer.

This week we are delighted to be working with a video production 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?

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Tags: co-op, college, intern, internship, multimedia, partner, tourism, tourism marketing
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The internet is social.  We get that.  But it’s also mobile, meaning people want to access “current information” any time they want it.

That’s right, it’s the consumer or subscriber of the media that matters.  If travelers want current media, the tourism industry has to start thinking about the best way to produce media in an ongoing, continuous story-telling fashion.

The Conference that Never Ends

Here at Tourism Keys and at the Tourism Café we’re going to be investing a lot more time producing multimedia training material for the tourism industry using new tools that we have recently invested in.  Cameras, lights, microphones and sound editing and production facilities will make it easier for us to share live-streaming media content and archived training and learning materials to keep the tourism industry at the cutting edge of social, mobile, media-rich Web-of-Now.

I’m thinking of it as the Tourism Conference that never ends.

I hope you’ll join me.  Stay tuned.

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Tags: tourism marketing
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When Apple finally announced it’s iPad last month, it may have heralded in a new era in publishing.  The video from Adobe and Wired Magazine give a glimpse into what has been a dream for publishing – something once only portrayed in movies, a truly interactive mobile media magazine experience.

How will a touchscreen publication change the way we market travel and tourism?

In the near future, we’ll not be talking about designing Web sites or print publications, but instead, developing hybrid media experiences that put immersive travel marketing into the touch screen computer of the average person.

What sort of skills do we need to be recruiting today, in order to be effectively telling our tourism stories using new platforms tomorrow?

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Tags: tourism marketing
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All you have is stories.

Your destination marketing organization (DMO) benefits from the stories your guests tell about their experiences in your region. That’s part of what makes tech savvy travel writers and content creators of all sorts (think video, audio, photos too!) such an important part of your marketing effort.

• The good news: Travelers are beginning to tell stories. 1/3 of travelers have reported publishing feedback on the places they have visited at least once. The bad news: DMO’s and travel regions cannot control these stories.
• Stories are influential: 19% of travelers visit blogs prior to their visit, 27% check out reviews on TripAdvisor.com.
• Multimedia Matters: An incredible 42% of Travelers head over to Youtube to check out video on their chosen travel region.
• Spreading the Word: 33% of travelers use Facebook to learn more about travel options.

Travel Bloggers

Travel writers are well known advocates for the Travel Industry. Tech Savvy Travel writers (travel bloggers) tell interesting, compelling stories using a variety of online media. Travel Bloggers can strongly influence how people feel about visiting your region. Savvy DMO’s are now recruiting bloggers and giving them engaging travel experiences that the Destination Marketing Organization believes cast a positive light on their region.

Travel Bloggers are more than just a writers

Tech literate travel writers not only write stories about your region, they also:

* tell stories before, during and after their experience.
* are masters of multimedia: photograph, record audio and video.
* distribute stories across multiple Web sites and blogs.
* have followers across a variety of social media: blogs, facebook, twitter!

It’s all about getting your STORIES seen.

Last week I met with Lucy Izon, an award-winning travel writer at the Ontario Tourism Summit and we stopped for a quick chat on the value of tech savvy travel writers to grow visibility for your travel region.

Lucy is also a big fan of Twitter (@canadacool) with almost 30 000 followers! Talk about the ability to influence an audience.

Recruit a Blogger as a permanent Travel Writer for your Destination Marketing Organizaton

Bloggers are the new Travel Writers. Bloggers are multimedia specialists and are an important and underutilized asset that can quickly get your region the attention it deserves. Consider putting a blogger on the payroll of your Destination Marketing organization and set them loose in your community.

Regional Travel Blogs

• Spotted by Locals
• My Life in Leeds
• Go Visit Hawaii.com

Other Travel Blogging Posts

• Travel Bloggers: a different Breed of Media
• Blogging Networks: A great conversation about blogging networks
• Community Web presence Podcast with Darren Cronian
• Why Blogging Matters to Tourism – a conversation with Chris Brogan

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Tags: conferences & events, multimedia, tourism marketing
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If you want to feel your tourism offering hits it’s mark with your ideal client, you might be interested in learning from Seth Godin, how Tribes are creating the most powerful relationships.

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Tags: free web marketing stuff, Seth Godin, tourism marketing, tribes
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