Tourism Internet Marketing U

Publicity versus Advertising

Media coverage, or publicity, has a major advantage over paid advertisements. Articles written by a reporter carry more weight with the public than ads do because the media and reporters are seen as unbiased third parties. The public gives travel related articles printed in media publications more credibility than they do paid advertisements. Another advantage of distributing news releases is that it is more cost-effective than advertising. You have to pay for advertising space on a Web site or time on the radio, but the costs of writing and distributing news releases are minimal.

One of the disadvantages of news releases compared to advertising is that you don’t have control over what is published. If the editor decides to cast your company in a negative light, there is nothing you can do to stop him or her. If the writer of the piece does not like your company, for whatever reason, this might come across in the article. Basically, after your news release is distributed, you have no control over what will be written about your business.

It is important to note that when generating publicity, you might lose control over the timing of your release as well. For example, you might want an article released the day before your festival or event, but the editor could relegate it to a date the following week. There is nothing you can do about this. It is not a good idea to rely exclusively on publicity for important or newsworthy events, because if the release is not reviewed or is not considered newsworthy, you might be stuck with no promotion at all.

For more information on Maximizing Media Relations check out my webinar on CD!

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Use Professionals for a Professional Looking Site

Now that you have the storyboard done for your site it is time to get in to the nitty-gritty details of designing your site. Now you need to develop the specific content, text and graphics for each page of your site.

If you want a professional looking Web site then you must get the help of professionals. However, you know your target market  better than anyone. You know what makes them purchase, you know what packages and specials they want, you kow the buzz words for your industry far better than anyone, including your Web developer. Therefore it is important that the first draft of the text, for each page, should be developed by you.

Once you have that first draft done, you want to have it reviewed and edited by an online copywriter. Online copywriters often have a background in PR or advertising, and they know how to get the message across in as few words as possible. Online copywriters know how to grab the reader’s attention and get them to do what it is you want them to do. Internet users don’t want to read pages and pages of text,—they want to get what they’re looking for quickly. Online copywriters know that the text should be short, to the point, and written so it can be easily scanned.

Once the copywriter is done, you want to have the content reviewed and edited by an Internet marketer. Make it clear to the Internet marketer that their job is to review and edit the text and graphics making sure that the keywords are used in the appropriate places for high search engine ranking. The Internet marketer should be responsible for making sure that the keyword(s) assigned to a particular page should be used appropriately in the page title, the text throughout the page, the meta-tags for keyword and description, the headers, the Alt tags, and the comments tags. There is a real science to this so be sure to choose your Internet marketer carefully. Be sure that the Internet marketer you choose has expertise in search engines and their ranking criteria, repeat traffic generators, viral and permission marketing as well as the latest trends in online marketing like podcasts, blogs and interactive maps, etc..

Once you are satisfied with the Internet marketers work, the next step is graphic design. The graphic designer will develop the “look and feel” for your site—the navigation bar, the background, and the separator bars. The graphic designer knows that your online and offline corporate identity should be consistent.

Even though it is important to get the help of professionals, you know your objectives, target market and products and services better than anyone. That is why you must review and approve EVERYTHING. Once the copywriter is finished, review their work, once the Internet marketer is finished, review their work and same goes for the graphic designer. You want to make sure that the substance of your text has stayed the same and only the form has changed. 

Once all this is done, and everything has been reviewed and approved, you are ready for the programming to start. 

There’s still so much more to learn. Get all the right answers with my new book 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CS, HoF

The Importance of Your E-mail Subject Line

The first thing most people do when they open their e-mail program is start hitting the delete key. They have an abundance of mail in their inbox and they want to get rid of the clutter, so they delete anything that looks like spam or an ad.

How do they determine what is junk? The subject line is usually the deciding factor. It is essential that your e-mail subject line not look like ad copy.

Subject lines should be brief, with the keywords appearing first. The longer the subject line is, the more likely it will not be viewed in its entirety because different people set the viewable subject line space at various widths.

The subject line of your e-mail message is equivalent to a headline in a newspaper in terms of attracting reader attention. When you read a newspaper, you don’t really read it; generally you skim the headlines and read the articles whose headlines grabbed your attention. The same is true with e-mail. Many recipients, especially those who receive a significant number of e-mails daily, skim the subject lines and read only the articles whose subject line grabs their attention. The subject line is the most important part of your e-mail message because this phrase alone determines whether or not the reader will decide to open your e-mail or delete it - never send an e-mail message without a subject line.

Effective subject lines:

• Are brief, yet capture the reader’s interest
• Don’t look like ad copy
• Build business credibility
• Attract attention with action words
• Highlight the most important benefits
• Are always positive
• Put the most important words first.

Effective subject lines should grab the reader’s attention, isolate and qualify your best prospects, and draw your reader into the subheads and the text itself. Avoid SHOUTING! Using CAPITALS in your subject line is the same as SHOUTING AT THE READER! DON’T DO IT!! Stay away from ad copy in your subject lines - it is the kiss of death for an e-mail.

Need to know more about the e-mail advantage? Take a look at my Private Mail List Marketing webinar on CD.

- written by, Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Outbound Links and Your Tourism Web Site

As we mentioned in earlier posts, the more inbound links you have to your site, from good quality related sites, the better chance you have of getting to visit your site and get a higher search engine reanking. However, most sites will link to you only if you agree to provide a reciprocal link back to their site.

Not such a big deal, right? Well, having outbound links on your site gives your visitors the opportunity to leave your site with the click of a button. Don’t worry, there are ways to keep your visitors on your site for as long as you can even while offering outbound links.

First of all make sure you place outbound links two or three layers down in your site. Never place outbound links on your home page. You want your visitors to come into your site and see and do everything you want them to before they have the opportunity to go elsewhere.

There are two ways you can provide outbound links. The first is by providing a hypertext link, which transports the visitor from your site to someone else’s with a single click. The second and preferred method is to have each outbound link open a new browser window when clicked. This way your visitors get to see the referred Web site, but when they are finished and close that window, the original browser window with your Web site is still active. The browser window with your site should still be visible on the task bar during their visit to the referred site.

Regularly test all of the links from your site to ensure that they are “live” and are going to the intended locations. Dead links reflect poorly on your site even if they are out of your control.

Want more great tips, tools, techniques and resources? Sign up for my newsletter right here and they’ll come straight to your email!

-written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

The Fundamentals - Defining Your Objectives

Everything related to Internet marketing revolves around three very important things—objectives, target markets, and products or services. It is critically important to define these things appropriately and discuss them with your Web developer.

Today we will discuss defining your objectives.

Before you even start to create your Web site, you must clearly define your online objectives. What is the purpose of your site? Brainstorm with all parts of your organization, from the frontline staff, to marketing and sales personnel, to customer support, to banquet services, to housekeeping, to the bell desk, to the concierge and administration… you get the point – everyone has a different interaction with your customers and therefore should be included in this planning meeting.

Every element of your site should relate back to your objectives. When you decide to update, add, or change any elements on your Web site, examine how these changes relate to the primary and secondary objectives you have identified. If there is not a clear match between your objectives and your intended changes, you might want to reconsider the changes.

Some of the most common primary objectives include:

• Advertising your travel related products, services or destination
• Selling your destination, vacation packages and travel related products or services
• Providing customer service and support
• Providing destination, accommodation, product or corporate information
• Creating and establishing brand identity and brand awareness

Although setting your primary objectives is vital, it is just as important to identify your secondary objectives. By setting appropriate secondary objectives, you will be more prepared to achieve all of your online goals.

Following are some common secondary objectives for travel and tourism organizations to consider:

• Your site should be designed to be search engine friendly
• Your site should be designed to encourage repeat traffic
• Your site should have viral marketing elements that encourage visitors to recommend your destination, packages and vacation specials to others
• Your site should incorporate permission marketing, where visitors are encouraged to give you permission to send them e-mail, newsletters, e-specials, golf packages, etc., on a regular basis
• Your site should be designed to encourage customer loyalty
• Your site should incorporate stickiness, encouraging visitors to stay a while and visit many areas of the site

Whatever your objectives might be, you must carefully consider how best to incorporate elements in your Web site and your Internet marketing strategy to help you achieve them.

Successful marketing on the Web is not a simple undertaking. Before you begin to brainstorm over the objectives of your Web site, be certain you have read and studied all the information that is pertinent to the travel and tourism market. Read everything you can find, and examine the findings of industry experts.

Your Web site objectives form a critical element in your Web site design and development. Be sure to take the time to define them for your travel and tourism business.

Later we`ll discuss defining your target market. In the mean time check out my new book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site.

-Written by, Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Leverage the Power of your Affiliate Program

First of all quantity does not equal quality. Go for a few affiliates that are really good at selling your products and/or services. Then supply them with the tools they need to do the best job they can do.

 Here are a few examples of how to go above and beyond for your affiliates:

• Conduct weekly online affiliate meetings to provide affiliates with new materials on a regular basis.
• Go out of your way to help make the links stand out on yuor affiliates’ sites.
• Provide different sized icons that grab visitors’ attention and are designed with  the target market in mind. Prepare the proper HTML coding and tag line.
• Inspect your affiliates’ web sites regularly to determine whether there is anything you can do to help them add value to the links on their pages. Remember though, you dont run their web sites so be diplomatic.
• Offer more advanced tools such as a generic e-mail newsletter that they can easily download, personalize and send out to their mailing list. Remember that this newsletter should be to entice teh affiliates mail list subscribers to visit the affiliate web site and click on the affiliates program link.
• Provide a weekly e-mail to your affiliates with new material, icons, articles, banners, etc., as well as recommended actions to be taken by the affiliates for the coming week.

Of course it is up to you to decide which, if any, of these strategies works best for you and your affiliates. Remember, the goal is to provide your affiliates with the value-added services that will not only strengthen the power of your affiliate program, but also show your affiliates your commitment to seeing them succeed.

Still hungry for more information? Check out my book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site, there is a whole chapter on affiliate marketing.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF
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Setting up Your Podcast

Podcasts take planning and commitment but with the following tips, tools and techniques you will be able to establish a professional and informative podcast:

1. Decide on Content and Frequency

Decide weather you want to record audio reports that do not require constant updating or if you want to provide the latest information on your packages, destinations or services.

2. Develop the Format

The most basic and most successful format for any podcast is to first have a great opener that grabs the readers’ attention. Then provide the content. Always make sure the content is informative, relative and useful to the listener. And last, but not least, the close. Always close with a reference to your Web site, contact information and of course a call to action.

3. Gather Your Podcasting Equipment
 
• A laptop or desktop computer with an Internet connection and a sound card.
• A microphone.
• Audio recording software. There are lots of downloadable, free and paid, audio software programs online. Be sure to pick one that will satisfy all of your needs as some of the cheaper recording software does not offer many editing options while the more expensive ones allow you to edit the audio, enhance the sound quality and even add music.
• An MP3 encoder which will convert your audio into an MP3 file. For example iTunes can convert audio content to an MP3 file, or there are a number of popular free encoders online.

4. Recording Your Podcast

Once you have your content prepared, you will plug your microphone into your computer, start your audio recording software, and record your podcast. Always record your podcast in a quiet location. Save your podcast as an MP3 file. When naming your file, consider including your important keyword phrase, where appropriate, for search engine optimization purposes.

5. Publishing Your Podcast

Once you have finished recording and editing your podcast you can upload (or FTP) the file to your Web site host and make it available online.

Interested in learning more about Podcasting? Check out my new book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site, there is a whole chapter dedicated to the subject!

Written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Planning Your Web Site: Streamlining Your Marketing

When you’re planning your travel and tourism web site, one of the goals that you should be taking into consideration is the ability to streamline your marketing efforts. Simply put, when you plan your real estate website well, you will find that:

• You are able to reach out to multiple target markets and to still provide the information they are looking for
• You are able to offer a larger variety of travel packages, knowing that each will appeal to a different group
• You are able to get more of your prospects visiting the site and finding the information they need in the process
• You are able to connect with your customers and prospects in a more effective, more interactive way

Therefore, when you are planning your travel and tourism web site, you’re going to want to be sure that you are looking at your options; you’re going to want to be sure that you are creating a “hub” where you will be able to keep your blog, gain addresses for your permission based marketing lists, to make sales and to spread the news about your business.

When you know that you will be able to streamline your marketing, when you’re able to connect with your target market more effectively, you’ll find that the time and effort that went into planning your web site will be well worth the effort.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

The different mobile marketing applications provide a variety of benefits to the travel and tourism industry:

• Mobile marketing allows direct, personal communication in real time with the opportunity for immediate, direct response.
• By building a customer profile, you can be very targeted with your vacation packages, campaigns or offerings
• Brand awareness can be increased
• Messages can be sent through this medium very cost-efficiently
• Traffic to web sites can be increased
• Customer loyalty can be enhanced
• Sales can be increased when you provide the right vacation package at the right time to the right customer
• Interactivity - the target customer is engaged using this technology
• The number of potential customers you can reach with this medium is staggering. There are over 1.8 billion consumers with access to this technology
• Two way dialogue between marketer and target market allows one-on-one marketing
• Immediate impact
• Personalized messages get a much higher response rate than generic messages.
• Sponsored messages can be provided
• Messages are delivered instantaneously
• This medium makes it easy for people to spread the word quickly and easily.

With the increase in the number of 3G devices that are becoming more mainstream and the number of marketers becoming more savvy, the mobile marketplace is significant.

Great Content Doesn’t Just Market Your Business

When you are focused on including great content on your travel and tourism related web site, it’s important to be sure that you are thinking about the big picture. Simply put, when you are looking to create great content for your web site because you want to be sure that you are marketing the travel and tourism products and services that you have to offer, you don’t want to focus exclusively on your marketing message.

Creating great content, after all, is about more than making a sales pitch. When you want to create great content, you’re going to want to focus on:

• providing the information that your prospective and current customers are already looking for
• including information about your destination or a given travel or tourism package without making it look like your only goal is to sell the reader something
• finding out what information would benefit your site

Great content is not simply developed in one setting; on many levels, creating great content is all about looking at your options, talking with your current customers, asking questions with surveys and being willing to make changes or additions from time to time. When you want to be sure that you are creating effective content for your web site, you aren’t just going to want to make a sale, you’re going to want to be sure that you are showing your prospects and customers that you care about them and that you are looking at building relationships.

Focusing on relationship building an information is often more important than your marketing message; the more that you are able to provide the information that your prospects need and that you care about them, the more that your content will help you to grow your business.

My book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site, has tons of information when it comes to building great content. It’s also now in its second edition! Get your copy today!

-Written by Susan Sweeney