Category Archives: Marketing

Trip Advisor – Like taxes; you don’t have a choice

Posted by on 4 April 2012 No comments

So we have all heard and read the articles about the recent UK lawsuit which resulted with Trip Advisor no longer being able to claim that their reviews are ‘real.’ This was a big blow for the online tourism review site but it does not stop travelers from reading and depending on the site to help make travel purchase decisions.

Trip Advisor is brilliant and simultaneously annoying – we live in a time when the consumer holds the power to help your business or tarnish it.

Take solace in knowing that even the world’s most exclusive 5 Star hotels receive silly complaints about inane things like – “the banana’s in our fruit basket had bruises.” People reading the comments can usually identify the ‘never happy’ guests.

Travel purchase is an emotional and often large purchase decision so people will often turn – right or wrong – to Trip Advisor.

Whether you participate with Trip Advisor by commenting on both your guests’ good and bad reviews is your choice but like it or not, the travelling public is posting about you so like taxes, you best participate.

For a giggle on how ridiculous Trip Advisor can be see:

Using Pinterest for Tourism Marketing

Posted by on 1 March 2012 No comments

There’s a new kid on the block of Social Media which lets you connect with your audiences in the most visual way yet.  

When marketing a tourism business, when it comes to piquing the interest of a potential guest or customer, the visual will always work better than the verbal.  This is why the new Social Media site, Pinterest, should be of interest to you.

With Pinterest, you can organise images on your own online inspiration board, or pinboard – then engage with your social networks, link back to your website and let people share your images with the world.

Pinterest offers many creative marketing opportunities for your Tourism Business. You can showcase the various details or experiences your accommodation or activity offers in a visually arresting way. Using photos  share the details of your business –  like the freshly harvested veggies from your garden for your signature dish or create an album highlighting the anticipate of your guests prior to your adventure activity.

For users, Pinterest is like the travel scrapbook of decades past – letting users organise travel boards of inspiration and share them with their networks.

Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history. (Source TechCrunch).  At that rate, it’s going to get huge – so go for it and start sharing and grow your tourism business through this great marketing opportunity!

Read more about Social Media Marketing for Your Tourism Business here

Tomahawk and TradeMe team up for Charity

Posted by on 9 February 2012 No comments
SPCA's CEO Christine Kalin, Gina Paladini and Tom Steward (Tomahawk)

SPCA's CEO Christine Kalin, Gina Paladini and Tom Steward from Tomahawk

In December 2012, Tomahawk auctioned a website and marketing package as a donation to the Auckland SPCA.

Using TradeMe to connect with the generosity of New Zealand businesses, Tomahawk was able to raise $6500 through the auction to help the Auckland SPCA during the time of year they need support most.

Although the auction closed at $6130.00, in the spirit of giving, the winner of the auction offered to increase his donation by nearly another $500 – to the auto bid that they had set before the auction closed.

TradeMe was so impressed with Tomahawk’s creative fundraiser and the generosity of their donation that they too helped by waiving their auction fee to assist in the cause to help the Auckland SPCA.

SPCA Marketing Manager Rona Booth expresses her gratitude for the generosity of the donation – “Our work rescuing, rehabilitating and preventing cruelty to animals is made possible through the support of the community and businesses that believe in what we do.  When Tomahawk came to us with their idea we were overwhelmed by their creativity and compassion – their generosity will make a huge difference.”

And the winner of the auction? He has asked to remain anonymous “I am just a shy bloke who wanted to support your auction and help the animals”.

Get more exposure for your tourism business with Mobile Marketing

Posted by on 8 February 2012 No comments

With the win/win smart phone app for travellers and tourism operators

Grow your tourism business with this smart phone appKiwis do it again; they have invented a clever new app that allows travellers to use their smart phone to find coupon deals within a radius of their position.

The same company that brought us coupons on the back of our grocery receipts have developed Ezypeezy – a clever new smart phone app that lets user view coupon offers by category, location and business name and even use GPS to locate offers nearby!  Coupon offers are a tried and true way of motivating people to try your product, activity or accommodation through a great offer that, unlike the popular one-day vouchers, requires no prior spend or commitment.

These “coupons on the run” are perfectly suited for people travelling in New Zealand, and for Tourism Businesses this is a great way to get your business in front of potential customers and visitors to your area.

Ezypeezy is free to download and gives users direct access to coupons through their iPhone or Android phone.  For businesses, a subscription cost is required to post coupons on the app.

To take couponing to an even higher level, Ezypeezy are soon to bring video to the app – businesses will be able to upload video and showcase their offering in a way that engages with technology savvy travelers of today.

Find out more: http://www.ezypeezy.com/

The Little Techno Trick …that helps your customers and helps your bank account

Posted by on 4 December 2011 No comments

Affiliate programs are a great way to add value to your website and added revenue to your bank account.

Although Affiliate programs have been around for a long time, many people don’t understand how easy they are to set up so they are missing out on helping their guests with an added serve and capturing that little bit of extra revenue we can all use.

An affiliate program or affiliate marketing is when you use your website to promote other suppliers services or products that compliment your own. For example, an accommodation provider can offer an affiliate program that allows visitors to their website to book activities in their region or a tour operator can offer a way to search and book accommodation in their area on their website.

Joining a tourism affiliate program is a techno trick that can help you and your customers – it adds value to your website through offering an additional service that your customers might need which you cannot provide and generates revenue that goes straight to your bank-account.

Two super affiliate programs that are easy to start, and earn you 5% on every booking made through your site are:

1. Travelbug’s affiliate program allows visitors to your website to browse and book accommodations and activities via the Bookit booking engine www.travelbug.co.nz/affiliate/register

2. Great Sights affiliate program which allows visitors to your website to book an Inner City coach and their sight-seeing activities all over the country. www.greatsights.co.nz/affiliate

 

So go ahead and check them out – your customers and bank account will thank you.

Little Techno Tricks…

Posted by on 4 November 2011 No comments


…that make a big difference to your marketing

 

Trip Advisor – For around USD600.00, a B&B can get a business account with Trip Advisor that not only lets you list contact details and your website, but lets you add a special offer to the front page for the region when searched.  Even better –  travellers can receive your specials by email for each region they will be visiting
www.tripadvisor.com

Newsletters - When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys – but not with MailChimp! It’s free if you have less than 2000 contacts, and offers a slew of templates, or lets you design your own email newsletters. You can share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results.
See some of our tourism marketing newsletter designas or head to www.mailchimp.com and get started!

Google Places – Fast track yourself to the top of Google by signing up to Google places, and make sure you verify your listing.  You can even add a description, photos, and video and add keywords for your tourism product and really increase your exposure on Google.
Find ways to increase your exposure on search engines here

Dropbox – Sick of wasting time sending large files one by one, or worse the dreaded post? Drop Box is a program that creates a Drop Box on your own computer, where you can add files and simply invite the person you would like to share with to access them.  With all that saved time, think of all the extra marketing you can do!
www.dropbox.com

Facebook – Once you get 25 or more Likes on your Facebook business page, quickly register your page’s name with FaceBook so someone else can’t start a page with the same business’s name.  Ask your friends and family to like you and secure your name before someone else does!
Read more about social media for Tourism here

A/V Clip – Having an audio visual clip on your home page and next to your book now button increases clicks through to your booking now button by 30% … and at fraction the cost of video.   Then, when you get it on Youtube or Vimeo you can add keyword tags to help promote yourself, and let the power of social media do the rest.
Read more about AV Clips to help market your tourism busines.