The Importance of the Internet to Destinatoin Marketing Organizations, Hotels, Airlines and others in the travel industry is proven. Current research strongly underscores the impact and importance of the internet as the dominant marketing and sales channel for travel. The internet, and now combined with today’s mobile technology, has dramatically changed the speed, timing and scope of consumer and planner expectations, information exchange and marketing strategies. It has changed the travel business strategy more than any other single occurrence in the past 50 years.
The speed of life in the digital world is accelerating, and in order to remain competitive, and relevant, destination marketing organizations and travel suppliers must continue to adapt. But is adaptation enough? In the last 90 days, speaking at major conferences from New York to Europe, USDM.net has presented key insights for not just adapting, but for DMOs and their destination stakeholders to take the lead online. We are calling these leading organizations Revolutionary DMOs.
To varying degrees, DMOs perceive an increasingly noisy, confusing, and evolving marketplace – one in which their roles are less and less uniquely defined and less willingly acknowledged. USDM.net believes there is an opportunity for DMOs to go far beyond the relevancy issue and take the lead using web assets that a Revolutionary DMO has in their arsenal. The Revolutionary DMO takes the lead by:
- Controlling and monetizing destination content assets: web sites and micro sites, eNewsletters and other eCRM, mobile and SMS assets, online advertising channels and social marketing and media assets
- Building Consumer Engagement™ with all audiences and using social media and the “new public relations” strategy; realizing that the old way to engage public relations is dead
- Realizing that advertising as we have known it is dead; developing a new strategy for leading with digital and integrating offline for a comprehensive program
We have some compelling information that we would like to share with you if you are interested. Others in our audiences have given us some great feedback and we feel a groundswell of excitement about 2010. If you want to know more email me.
till next time,
warm holiday wishes for you and your families...
Leah
lwoolford@usdm.net