This is a good article following the recent note about differentiation. Here SumAll outlines a continuity strategy that target Facebook ads to niche interest groups.
As search ranging continues to fail small hotels, advertising offers a viable alternative and Facebook offers the best option for target interest groups. They are not necessarily in “buy” mode like those searching the web, but they are consumers and can be influenced if you follow this advice.
In the age of BiG -Data and automation much of the marketing must be systematized and automated. In this diagram we provide key concepts under each sector of the funnel pyramid along with the tools needed at that stage.
1. Plan
Today Marketing must be a cohesive tailored system. The system dictates the content and the sequence that your prospects go through. It should define what criteria your prospects should look for in your product and lead them to buy from you and not your competitors.
Build the content based on the messaging strategy.
2. Reach – Publishing: Video, blogs, articles, SEO, social networks
2a. (Buyers) Exploration
Establish prospects triggers and messages based on what criteria prospects
should look for in a destination. Establish and Promote destination USPs. 2b. Tools
Psychological triggers
Systematized marketing
Lead magnet (consumer style reports)
3. Action – Your Site and social network, community and tools
3a. (Buyers) Decision Making
Create an interactive experience with personalized product offerings to each customer.
Encourage customers to share with social connections, expanding your reach. Build a buyers
database for extra conversion opportunities and filter serious customers from casual lookers. 3b. Tools
Tracking and artificial intelligence
Social buttons & planning tools
Interactive, visual displays
Specialized reports (lead magnets)
Client reviews
Tripwires (chargeable reports)
4. Convert – e-commerce, product, price and promotions
4a. (Buyers) Purchase
Encourage shoppers to use the booking engine to get quotes and find specials.
Make all page a buying filter. create opportunities to ask question and get
answers. Follow up 4b. Tools
e-commerce
Interactive systems
Intelligent auto-responders
automated systems
5. Engage – Advocacy
5a. (Buyers) Advocacy
Encourage & participate in social sharing, reward referrals, have a continuity
Program 5c. Tools
Social buttons
Newsletters/reports
Loyalty programs
Encourage TripAdvisor reviews
We are working on this to take account of the lates marketing tactics to add value to travellers even before they start the planning process. Its not done in Tourism Marketing but highly effective in just about every sector is is aapplied. Whatch out for our EXCLUSIVE stoty on this soon.
In the meantime; to get an idea of where it is going consider realholidys’com dynamic packaging and visual bookings technology. These are a step in the direction of value up front. In the next iteration are laed magnets and trip wires. stay tuned for more.
VisualBookingsTechnology & Tourism Marketing- Transforms BookingEngine to Travel Planning Systems – YouTube.
This video is a detailed look at the on and off-site marketing and sales funnel activities for VBT. For more on the VBT planning and reservations see VBT overview.
In this video on Visual Bookings Technology the focus is on marketing, that is, driving more traffic to the VBT site where the travel shoppers are engaged with an interactive and fun travel planning system that helps them find exactly what they are looking for and book.
This one of a kind solution, turns traditional booking sites into sales machines that close more business. The solution can be implemented on top of bookings systems used by chain hotels, tourism destination and hotel association. That means a tourism website does not have to change software or systems and instead adds the new travel planning and sales systems as graphic interface. VBT also can replace existing travel bookings system providing a turnkey solution in the cases where the portal owners wants to make a change to its systems or does not already have a booking engine. In the “all done for you” solution the Visual Travel Planning and Bookings is an integrated product using the arcRes reservations platform.
Mostly we expect that portal owners will already have the reservation component and VBT will implement the travel planning visual interface on top of any existing software.
To Get on the list to evaluate and test out this dynamic new technology – Click Here >>>
“by understanding the booking funnel in more depth hoteliers can strengthen their distribution”. So says Sascha Hausmann, CEO, Busy Rooms. She goes on to say that Knowing travellers thought process will mean more effective distribution by offering the right information to the right consumer at the right time.
Its probable common sense but it not common practice. The travel industry does NOT understand the sales funnel and does NOT apply any of the standard tactics used by conventional marketers such as Amazon and most marketing companies. Hotel industry executives have to understand that times have changed. The internet has inject the idea of instant communication and speed is now the essence.
Changes is NOT a matter of years – it takes place daily, with new ideas appearing every day and travellers like jumping on the wagon of new trends and services that help them deal with overload and confusion.
5 Psychological Triggers that Get More Sales – SocialTriggers Over the past year, Markhat blogs have covered, in varying degrees, sales funnels, hot button, buying motivators and the many Psychological triggers that drive sales and direct bookings. This article goes a bit more in depth into some of the master key and triggers. If sign up to their database, you will also get a free book. I have not the book yet read but will review bit shortly and add my comments shortly. So check back for the update as i give you my assessment on how helpful and insightful it is. Based-on on this article I expect will be helpful.
5 Keys that Motivate Buyers
The blog cover 5 keys as they say and these include everything from “how less choice leads to more sales” to “how mystery increases bookings”. A rather unusual key is “Why hate mail is good for you” As Derek Halpern founder of Socialtriggers says “When you’re running a website… a business… hate mail is evidence that you’re doing something right.” The other two keys remind us that “People actually like paying for stuff” and that “Loss aversion is a bigger trigger than gain”. This last, he says, makes no sense from a logical point of view but in reality travelers, like any other consumer, just hate to loose-out on something. This of course is why marketers add “scarcity” into their campaigns. In travel the OTAs display how many people are looking at a room and how many are rooms left, in order to indicate that they are scarce and you have to act n ow. You will often see notices on expedia and booking.com that say “Book now” or “only one room left” for example. Its a good round up of 5 triggers but of course there are many more.
Authority is perhaps the most compelling of them all.
Here are a couple of videos explaining what is authority, what it means and how you can create it. .. Ben Newman
I did mention above that if you signup you will get a downlaod ebook on Triggers- I got the book and glanced thru it, reading headlines and tit bits. Its a personal account of how he struggled to make sense of marketing and as he says “Finally, I ended up with Social Triggers, which you probably heard that I built from scratch in March 2011 to more than 125,000 subscribers just 2 years later.”
Impressive – their is lots of good advise of the sort you will not find everywhere so its worth a read. The book is really a promotion of SocialTriggers as a service so read with that in mind and make your own evaluation.
The big takeaway is that you need a personal brand and it has to be insanely specific. He will tell you all about that in the book. I don’t personally know or have any contact with Derek and I don’t get anything if you buy anything from him. My interest in writing these blogs is to provide honest reviews and helpful advice.
Yes, I can learn something for Dereks’ book. With luck I will find time to implement one or two ideas!! Like creating my new personal brand- I think I like Tourism Hot Buttons Psycho Guy! Well .. it needs some refining 🙂 And I am going to reach out to him now!! You can too at SocialTriggers
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