Tourism Internet Marketing U

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