As the oil spill comes on shore in Louisiana consumers are feeling imbalance about planning their summer vacation along the Gulf Coast. This is evident in parts of Florida and along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, since some hotel and resort bookings are down as much as 30% in these areas.

 

However, other beach tourism officials are rearing their ugly heads to capitalize on this consumer imbalance and lure vacationers to their beach destinations. Unfortunately this has started to catch on as a way for destinations and resorts to target advertisers who live in driving distance of Gulf Coast beach destinations. I am sad to see this kind of marketing and advertising, especially online.

 

Consumers are smarter than that. They can easily research online and in the news about the beaches that are affected, and so far it is not Alabama, Florida or the Carolinas. Consumers are also smart about the fact that if business is down in these areas because travelers are worried, hotels and resorts are going to bring out the incentives and offer some of the best deals ever… including really easy cancellation policies.

 

Eileen Ogintz, a nationally syndicated reporter told me that she is learning about some great incentives on the Gulf Coast and this as a great time for families to get the best value for their vacation. Check out www.takingthekids.com .After all, almost all of the Gulf Coast has clean beautiful beaches and the water is fine. If you can book your vacation without worrying about cancellations, and you get a great deal with incentives, why wouldn’t you book it?

 

I am saddened by the way some tourism marketers are handling this situation. I wonder what will happen if the “tide turns”.

 

Till Next Time,

Leah

I was really excited to see my column in Ad Week this morning. When they asked me about engagement I wanted to have something fresh to say. We all know that everyone throws that term around, and we all know that we need to focus on consumer engagement, but what about after the fact of them being engaged? This is where some brands and agencies miss the boat... follow up.

www.adweek.com for all Ad Week cover stories

I hope you enjoy the column. Thanks for the emails requesting the mobile report. Keep them coming and I will be happy to provide these and other opinon papers to brands.

Till Next Time.

Leah

 

 

Make it Personal - - eMail Marketers planning to adopt more techniques, including advanced segmentation (42%), personalization (37%) and behavioral targeting (34%).

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007573

 

eMail Marketers, surveyed in a recent article by eMarketer, reported that they are going to start to use more advanced segmentation, personalization and behavioral targeting in 2010. 37% plan to add social sharing of their email content.

 

Why aren’t they doing this already? We have used these tactics for years and the cost is minimal and the rewards are fantastic. What was really eye opening in this report was that less than half of the marketers surveyed used re-marketing as a tactic.

 

It’s really all about making it personal. If you engage a consumer through these tactics you have done so because you connected on a personal interest. Engagement is nothing more than connection, and eMail is one of the best touch points for engagement. We use a combination of eMail, Social, Search and Media to engage. Any one of those touch points makes it personal if you are segmenting correctly and sending the right message at the right time.

 

We are hearing a great deal about the decline of email marketing at conferences and summits, but in reality it is a hard working tool that always brings great results for our clients when used in an overarching strategy and not a stand alone medium.

 

Let me know what you think,

Leah

 

10 Years Ago: “Yes We Have a Web Site”

Today: “Yes We Have a Facebook Page”

 

Ten years ago there were 350 million Internet users worldwide, today there are 350 million users on Facebook

 

…and there are more than 1.7 Billion Internet users worldwide. Ten years ago my company had already been in the digital business more than 7 years. Back then when I would ask some companies about their online or digital strategy they would remark “oh yes, we have a web site”. Obviously I would launch into a whole volume of reasons why that was not enough. I would talk about why an organization needs to leverage their web site and all other digital assets with online advertising, search marketing and customer relationship marketing. Well that was then and here we are today… sometimes when I ask the digital strategy question I get “Yes we have a Facebook page!” and they are very proud of the fact that they have one. Of course just like ten years ago, many organizations don’t do much with it or beyond that.

 

What if you could attract more than 20,000 “qualified” brand fans to your Facebook in 30 days? What if you could start a dialog with those brand fans of yours and start to listen to what they like and dislike about your brand, your service, your products, your everything? All this is very doable and actually is just the tip of the iceberg to a Facebook strategy as part of your overall digital strategy. Remember Facebook today has as many users as worldwide users on the Internet ten years ago, and the amazing fact is they doubled in one year!

 

As I attend Travelcom this week and talk to many amazing colleagues I am already excited about the innovations and the possibilities. Thanks USTA! If you are here catch my discussion on Thursday when we do a wrap of what we have heard this week and how we would take that information and make it actionable!

 

Till next time

Leah

 

 

 

So the blog stayed up way too long, but I did get many responses from DMOs and hotels letting me know that they indeed were revolutionary in their online approaches. The most interesting comments I received were from DMOs and hotels who believe that they are revolutionary by converting their total advertising and marketing budgets to Interactive, then portioning off some of that budget for offline tactics. I admit that this is a change agent that is not often discussed.

 

When an organization follows the research and data it is an important step in breaking old rules. We know that since 911 marketing and advertising plans have been changed forever… it taught us to operate with a marketing strategy and 90 day plans, plans based on research and data. We had to move quickly to lay the path for successful returns and we learned to stay nimble. Now the consumer in an uncertain mindset about spending it is even more important that we all remember to stay nimble and follow the research.

 

Kudos to those of you who are brave enough to lead with interactive and let the consumer behavior guide your strategy.

 

Till next time,

Leah

 

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:

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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

 

 

 

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How Long is This Current Economy Going to Last and How Do I Prepare a Strategic Plan for 2010? This is the question we hear most these days. Incoming calls from hotels, resorts, DMOs and many others in the travel industry are planning for next year, but not sure what they should be planning, especially online. While DMOs, airlines, hotels and suppliers in the travel industry are trying to develop a 2010 strategic plan for marketing and advertising the economic uncertainty and the upcoming shoulder season are not making it any easier. Economists forecast that lodging will see a bit of an upturn in the Q3 of this year, but occupancy levels and ADR are expected to remain below last year’s levels, maybe as much as a 16 percent decrease in room revenue per available room. DMOs experience this hit as reduced funding for their destination marketing programs, creating a vicious circle of reduced budgets meaning reduced marketing resulting in reduced business for the destination. So what advice are we giving? 1) Examine all parts of your marketing plan, both offline and online for maximum performance. Is your program truly integrated? We have expertise in both offline and online and that becomes critical when it pays to lead with online marketing but offline tactics must be aligned. 2) Be wary of working with any advertising agency or consulting group who is too small or too inexperienced to do the best job in this crisis economy. If your agency is outsourcing to freelancers, or to other companies who are fulfilling separate parts of the contract behind the scenes, you are paying too much and getting too little. 3) Listen to your team. Those people in your organization who are on the front lines know what it’s like out there…. If you are trying to sell meetings pay attention to front line business developers in your organization. Hear their problems and then ask the marketing experts to solve them for you. 4) Don’t cut marketing and advertising budget. We see vast opportunities to steal market share while your competition is afraid to spend and we have hundreds of examples of our clients spending wisely with the right strategy for great return on investment. They outperformed their competition who held back or had no real strategy. We have fine tuned the art of using online/offline advertising to put heads in beds in this economy… realizing a return measured by hotel clients of a 15 to one in terms of profit realized. Yes, it’s a tough time, but things are getting better. This economy has had some positive effects. It has made everyone work smarter. Till next time, Leah

Think about these statistics... 98% of all mobile messages are read today. 15% to 30% of mobile ad messages convert into a response.

If you are a travel marketer and not already developing and launching mobile campaigns you are way behind the curve. Mobile marketing is a cost effective way to capture and convert consumers when used in a multi-channel advertising approach. We use them very effectively for both DMOs and hospitality clients, and now we are ramping up to include them in alignment with eMail marketing. We believe that this two pronged approach to travel advertising will be the next killer ad app in the industry.

But there are some warnings before you jump in head first. The carriers have strict rules of engagement in this space and there are many many companies not playing by the rules. It takes resources and especially capital to get in the game. Many companies today are using "shared short codes" and shared services to deliver ad hoc mobile campaigns because they cannot carry the costs on their own. Dangerous way to play if you are the client, and especially if you are risk adverse.

If you want to know more, and learn how to move into mobile marketing the right way, let me know and I will send you our newest mobile reports.

Till next time,
Leah Woolford
CEO, USDM.net
USDM.net

Last week I missed a speaking engagement at the annual DMAI conference in Atlanta. It is the first DMAI conference I have missed in 10 years, and I didn't want to. I had my speech prepared but the day before I left, I injured my foot and could not walk, so I did indeed miss the fun of seeing many colleagues that you see only once a year. My speech at these conferences is usually focused on the new emerging technologies and how they impact travel marketers. This year, the focus was Smart and Friendly Web Sites and what does that really mean. I want to point out that sometimes going back to basics makes a lot of sense, especially if a company is not even covering the basics within their program. This especially is true for web sites these days, where there seems to be more concern about small insignificant issues than the basics of content. A Smart and Friendly web site today has a menagerie of components that make it work as smart and friendly, but content is central to all issues. Content has to live on the web site, social sites, on the un-tethered web (mobile), in online advertising and in eCommunications of all kinds. If the content is technologically optimized for multiple channel distribution, if the content is branded in consistent and relevant ways, and if the content is optimized for multiple search distribution then the basics are covered. If you are missing one of these elements then go back to the drawing board. Data confirms that the Smart and Friendly Web Site approach generates business. As evidenced in USDM.net clients, like resort hotels reporting an 18 to 1 return in profits on their spend with USDM.net. Multi channel content distribution from a Smart and Friendly web site is key for eCommerce conversions today. Content is one small piece of Smart and Friendly Web Sites. If you would like to have the complete Report on the subject email me and let me know. Till next time… Leah lwoolford@usdm.net

I was traveling last week and recieved a really shocking email campaign from a resort hotel client. The email took me by surprise, but as I always read client emails or txt messages before any others, I started to read the email which began with: "Our spring online advertising promotion has performed fantastically well, and has returned a revenue to us of 15x our advertising spend!".  Of course the reason that I was shocked is that our goal is to deliver a 3x ROI minimum for our hospitality clients and this one really surprised me. Actually what we have been doing that is quite successful is using a proprietary formula that we devised for online campaign effectiveness.  Notice I did not say "efficiency" since that takes on a whole new meaning from the standpoint of the agency... we want the campaign to be effective no matter how much hard work goes into it.  Our previous campaign for this client returned a 8 to 1 ROI, so this campaign really shocked me... I was hoping for the 8x return : )

Good news is that the economy has caused companies to shift advertising dollars online and they are realizing the effect of the shift. The caution is that not everything works well online and today, more than ever before, it takes deep experience and constant optimization to maximum an online campaign in this economy... especially when you are measuring effectiveness against actual revenue booked from the campaign, as we do.

One more interesting thing... the recent consumer brands caught up in online social faux pas in the past couple of weeks has been interesting to watch. From a marketer's perspective these companies should not only be monitoring the blogosphere and social messaging, but they should contribute as well. Waiting till the last minute to comment can spell real trouble.  This is some interesting reading... http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-twitter20-2009apr20,0,2701874.story

till next time

Leah

 

An eMarketer survey today shows that online advertising is still growing steadily to spite the recession and the downturn in spending for traditional offline advertising. Actually the recession is probably the very reason that advertisers are spending more on digital advertising and less on offline advertising media.

We experienced phenomenal growth as a company right after 911.  Our clients had placed millions of dollars in traditional offline media that they tried to stop running because of messaging and timing. We put plans for online media together in a matter of three weeks and started running messages that we could test on the fly and modify as needed. True optimization was used to fine tune messaging appropriate to consumer response in a time of crisis management. We believe the same thing is occurring today… companies realizing how spot on the online advertising is with reaching customers by finely optimizing messages to gain better and better response. Online is being referred to as the “measurable media”.

eMarketer states: “The Internet’s share of total media ad spending is rising by at least 1 percentage point every year. Simply put: Marketers are spending more on Internet ads, while spending less on advertising in other media, such as newspapers, radio and magazines.”

 “The spending shifts predate the recession,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, US Advertising Spending: The New Reality. “But the current economy is reinforcing the new advertising models—and making them more permanent.”

“Digital marketing offers compelling benefits, especially for cash-conscious companies,” he says. “Marketers can more readily measure the results of Internet advertising than with most traditional media. This produces more-efficient advertising and higher ROI, which in turn pushes traditional media to compete with lower pricing.”

I also believe that this puts additional pressure on the offline media world to measure differently and to better measure true ROI. For example, how do you measure true response to a magazine ad versus a Google Keyword Ad? You can very specifically measure the Google Keyword Ad for impressions, click thru (response) and even conversion (eCommerce booking). And we all know that online is held to a much higher scrutiny for measurement simply because you CAN measure it.

The way that companies spend ad dollars is changing as consumers change their planning and buying habits. It’s all about getting in front of the consumers in the midst of their buying process. As we have proven during this economic climate, our clients are doing well because we target specific audiences and we deploy online advertising that grabs their attention.

Online is growing and forcing offline to become more accountable for results. We will never go backward toward more offline media because the consumer has led us in this direction. Marketers will follow the consumer.

Till Next Time….

Leah

 

I just returned home from a two week trip to visit some client destinations in Florida and Tennessee. In both places I was met with happy clients who are seeing great returns on their  online advertising spend. For one of our biggest resort clients we ran some early spring specials and it really paid off. The resort measured results at 8x return on the investment and are extending the promotion to gain more market share.  In Tennessee we have vacation rental companies who are realizing the advantage of using our Top Ten Tips for Marketing in this economy. We use some of the attributes that vacation rentals have over single hotel rooms and target consumers who are most likely to visit the destination and consider vacation home rental. Our key learnings in this market segment are based on the first research just released by PhoCusWright about vacation rental management in the U.S.  We were a partner in the research and gained some key information from custom questions we submitted for the survey.

Vacation rentals are becoming more appealing tas a travel option this year primarily because of the economic slide and consumers needing to budget more than ever before. As I have stated, consumers will travel and have a deservability about their vacations, t they are trying to cut back on restaurant meals and other expenditures on the trip. We market our vacation rental clients in a number of ways online, primarily in very aggressive search marketing and eMail advertising. Douglas Quinby, a friend of mine and leading analyst at PhoCusWright says "It's a whole new ballgame and a $25 billion-plus market".

The biggest return we have seen on the online advertising has been where we finely target the top ten markets for our clients and then offer compelling reasons to buy... not deep discounts, but value. It is working and man, there is nothing better than happy clients : )

till next time...

Leah

Last week I was in beautiful Florida talking to clients and holding strategic planning meetings. I was happy to learn that we are hitting the numbers with our hotel clients in booking for spring travel. In fact, we have increased our booking results over the same months last year. So how do we move the needle in this economy? Strategy of offers, promotional tactics that reach specific target audiences and a well-honed message and creative piece that hits home with consumers in the midst of their shopping and planning for spring travel. Last year's marketing plan is no good anymore. You have to be bold and flexable. You have to have a plan that is more a series of monthly promotions tested, launched, optimized, fine-tuned and measured based on what moves the needle in bookings or visitors. Most hotel clients would like a 3 to 1 return on their advertising this year. We are realizing an 8 to 1 return online... and that is where the budget should go... where it is the most effective and where you can measure the actual return on investment.

This week I am in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. I am looking foreward to great meetings and Totally Tourism, which is Pigeon Forge's annual meeting for all tourism businesses here. Some companies I talk to are doing pretty well... others not so well. And so it is all over the country, and the world, really. As travel marketers try to find the right "magic" to attract business it is becoming very evident that research, test, launch, optimize and measure, relaunch, is the word of the day....

I will predict that many companies will do well during this uncertain economy to spite predictons or surveys. There is less share in the marketplace, but smart marketers don't fear that. We know that we can get our share and that we will take brand share from others to meet our goals. It is a challenging first quarter but man it feels great to have our clients be the winners!

Till next time...

Leah

P.S. thanks for all the emails. I enjoy the sharing of those ideas.

In a February 23rd article in USA Today it was reported that some families will cut back on or cut out some of their summer vacations. Prediction is that overall spending will be down 10% this summer. This is obviously bad news when you consider that hotels are already feeling the sting of lowered occupancy, ADR and RevPAR.  Consultants D.K. Shifflet & Associates and IHS Global Insight report that Americans may spend 9.7% less on leisure travel in April, May and June, and 9% less in July, August and September than in 2008.  So this was the bad news of my day...

After anxiously awaiting the weekly pace reports on our clients, studying the booking pace overlayed with online marketing and advertising campaigns I realized that we were hitting the mark and we were affecting bookings. In fact, the good news is that according to STR report we are actually increasing occupancy, ADR and RevPAR, and most importantly we are beating our competitive sets in all of our destinations.  For the month of January that is not bad.  February is strong and March looks really good.  So why am I surprised?  I am not really.  Although there is a 10% drop in travel, that still leaves 90% of the pie in tact. I also beleive that this is one of the best opportunities we could ever have to take brand share away from competitors. In our destination clients we are doing just that.

So the bad news is that 2009 will be harder to make the numbers than 2008, but then 2008 was a banner year.  The good news... it can be done.

till next time

Leah

BTW, please give me some time to answer your emails.... I am swamped and know that I am behind a bit. I do like hearing from you all. : )

As we have always preached to our clients and in our numerous speaking engagements around the world, Search Marketing (SEOM) is a critical component of your online marketing. Today it has become the foundation of tourism online marketing. Case in point is that around 80% of consumers use search engines to find a web site. With that said, consider that Google is now testing a new wiki that customizes search for consumers so that they can delete key word ads or rearrange organic listings according to their preference. Google debuted SearchWiki, which enables users to actually move search results either up or down... a great feature for consumers, but marketers who have not been focused on search must pay attention.

Google searchwiki might be used to audit a users modifications or reordering of search results, resulting in a community sharing of this informatin with other users of the same interest. Already Twitter users share news about new apps, new links to view, etc. It makes sense that consumers with like interests would want to share.

As I talk to hundreds of travel and tourism marketing executives I stress the importance of the SEOM tactics and the ongoing Strategy for their Search program. Search is very likely the best way to generate qualified web traffic to your site and your eCommerce during this uncertain economy. Organic and paid; a balance of both. If you are tracking which key words (organic or paid) are actually responsable for booking conversions you know if your budget spend is on target. Or you need to continue to fine tune your approach to gain better and better results with conversions. 

This new accouncement/wiki from Google will be interesting to watch. They get it right.

till next time...

Leah

Next week I have a speaking contract in Northwest Florida, one of the most beautiful beach destinations in this country. My two hour session focuses on the absolute ways that hotels, vacation rental companies and others in the travel industry can really move the needle and harness new business in this economy. Yes, that's right, HARNESS NEW BUSINESS. I am not going to talk about saving your budget for better times, or cutting staff or decreasing your advertising. I am going to explain why, at this very time in the economy, there is MORE opportunity than ever to grow your company and your market share.

It works like this. Companies who have not been managed responsably or whose balance sheet is shaky will have to cut back on marketing and advertising. They will be forced to lay off good people and start to cut back their efforts to grow their organization. That will create a cleaner playing field for all of us who have run our organizations responsably and have a healthy bottom line. We are the stronger companies who have the capabilities to continue to grow and to market and to build the company in this economic time of crisis.

I know our economic crisis will subside. I know that what D.C. is doing to straighten out the problem will work. If you were in business in the early eighties as I was you remember what I am talking about. It was hard, but the economy came back stronger than ever and really boomed afterward. This too shall pass.

So what are your plans to leverage the situation? What is your marketing strategy? Have you made a shift in your online strategy or are you hunkering down and hoping for the best? Hope is not a strategy.

If you are in the area next week, the Walton County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a very good conference that will be enlightening to all. If you can, register to attend. I will be there and would love to have you in my audience.

Go to http://www.waltonareachamber.com/ind_travel_event.php to register.

Until next time...

Leah Woolford

Founder and CEO, USDM.net

Walton County Chamber hosts guest speaker, Leah Woolford, Founder and CEO of USDM.net to talk about 10 Tactics to Move the Needle on Travel eCommerce

What are consumers going to do about their summer travel plans? The answer to that is varied, depending on what destination you are, what lodging company you are who your target market is. 

The high income traveler, or luxury traveler, will probably not do anything differently this year.

Our research shows us that many mid income consumers are going to travel but they are booking closer to their trip date and they are making careful decisions about the value of that vacation. Value this summer will mean choosing a value vacation where they still have fun, lots to do and is closer to home than last year. They will also probably shorten their trip by a night to make up the difference in gas prices.

What does this mean for travel marketers?  Look for ways to offer bonus value. Add something to the package when they book with you, focus on the bang for the buck they get when they stay in your destination. Be prepared to offer limited time specials. Don't discount across the board because that sends the message that the accommodations can be priced at those levels next year also.  Test your specials and track the data on what works and what doesn't.

We hear from our clients that their web bookings have increased over last year... some as much as 42% year to date. This increase is a result of aggressive planning and strategy and rolling out online promotions early, fine tuning them with actionable data and delivering the right product offering to the right audience.

Let me know how you are stimulating your summer program?

I always like to hear from you.

Leah

 

DID YOU KNOW:

36 million women actively blog every week (publish, read or comment) 

43% of Women stated in a recent survey that they would give up reading newspapers and magazines to continue blogg reading or blog psoting

Regarding the shift from traditional media to online; 22% of women surveyed say we watch less television and read fewer magazines and newspapers because we're blogging because we're blogging

The statistics are compelling for blogging and the need for marketers to embrace it as a part of the UGC of their program. But more and more women are reporting that blogging is a big deal in their lives and their decision-making process about what and when to buy.  More than half of women online consider blogs to be one of their reliable sources for advice and information and say that blogs influence their purchasing decisions, especially about travel. 

We have been developing Web 2.0, digital convergence elements and Social Networking into virtual communities for clients for a couple of years now. While it might have been trend-setting to do it back then, today it is a necessity for marketing travel and many other products and services. It is especially important for those that depend on women as the primary decision maker about purchases.

Developing these elements into your web site and Internet marketing program can be a complex undertaking. There are many decisions to be made and many options to consider.  This is an exciting time in online marketing and blogs, social networking and deploying these empowering technologies for women buyers is exciting also.  Don't ignore the research. Move your program toward a more Web 2.0 offering. Your web visitors who are women will especially appreciate it.

Till next time....

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan.

Leah Woolford

CEO, www.usdm.net

 

 

 

What new opportunities with 2008 hold for Internet marketers? My predictions are as follows:

 

1. Web 2.0 users will push back as advertisers try to turn their personal and social commentary into bait to lure online buyers. If your organization is keen on making the most of social networking and community you MUST obey the rules or risk getting called out and vilified online.

 

2. Subscriptions will replace display advertising in some sites… Subscriptions could take the place of advertising where users are charged a periodic -- daily, monthly or annual -- fee to subscribe to a service. Sites might combine free content with "premium" (i.e., subscriber- or member-only) content. Content is still king.

 

3. Collaboration is cutting edge… Companies are developing online products “on the fly”. Dell’s Brainstorm http://www.ideastorm.com/  is a very creative way to let consumers develop your next product line for you. Way to go, Michael. Imagine how cool it would be to have consumers help you brainstorm about new ideas for a great winter festival in your destination, or a great new reason to visit!

 

4. Life Imitates Art… www.secondlife.com, www.vmtv.com and more… if you think this is not a place to explore branding, just talk to some of the highly educated professionals that hang out in these sites. Besides the virtual worlds for entertainment there are other companies developing 3D meeting rooms where avatars take the place of the humans to interact in business or training.

 

5. Finally Internet TV… way back in the day (1990s) when I consulted with some of the largest Telecoms in the country we all talked about the “set top box”… the way that Internet and TV would finally become one. Back then it was a dream of convergence but in 2008 I predict it will finally be a reality. We all used to say that someday people won’t even have to know how to use a computer to get online : )

 

I would love to hear your comments …

See ya next time…

 

Leah

lwoolford@usdm.net

www.usdm.net

 

1. More Travel Marketing Budgets Will Be Allotted to Interactive Marketing
Larger shares of traditional advertising media (broadcast, print) budgets will migrate online in 2006 as marketers look for (and find online) more competitive advantages, accountability and ROI from their marketing dollars. A minimum of 20 percent of marketing and advertising budgets will become the average budget allocation for interactive. Budgets will go to Web site enhancements and optimization, tracking analysis, eCRM, search engine optimization strategies and alliance marketing --- more so to online marketing strategies than to online media.

2. Online Travel Booking Will Continue Explosive Growth
Travel consumers are booking online in increasingly greater numbers. Today, 43 percent of all travelers and 75 percent of online travel planners are booking or making travel reservations online (TIA). For the first time this year, the number of hotel bookings online exceeded those made through the GDS (Global Distribution System). Online booking is expected to hit $9.1 billion in sales in 2009, and for many travel suppliers, is already their leading channel.

3. Consumers Will Plan More Experience-based Travel in 2006
Because we are taking more frequent but shorter getaways, we are always interested in "what to do" when we travel. I predict that consumers will plan more short get-aways that center around an event, activity, or experience and use that as an excuse for getting away. This means that travel marketers need to tie promotions to activities and dates and prompts for booking around those dates. I believe that consumers will respond to offers that give them reasons to "get out of town" and "experience" something interesting they want to tell their friends about, such as the "Rat Pack Weekend" in Palm Springs, "Doing Miami like a Rock Star," or "Exploring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail."

4. Consumers Will Start to Develop Loyalty to Their Favorite Travel Sites
Traditionally, online travelers will search at least three to five sites for information and booking. We see evidence that they are starting to choose favorites... for research and for booking. Since the growth of new people coming online has stabilized, the online marketer cannot depend on growth of the Internet to fuel market share. Instead, marketers must develop strategies to retain online customers and to give them a reason for returning to their site for a "soup to nuts" experience. With so many sites offering the same services and the same information, if you are not on a favorites list it is likely you will be forgotten in the coming 24 months.

5. Hotels Will Develop More Online Strategies to Increase Market Share
Consumers are finding the best deals at hotel sites, but more importantly they are finding their loyalty points, credibility of the brand name, and customer service if there is a problem. Hotels taking back inventory and controlling third party rates started the ball rolling. Now they need to develop the online strategies that other travel marketers use to build loyalty. They need to add more services and products to make their Web sites a favorite. In the future, consumers may look at hotel web sites more in the planning and decision stages and not just in the booking phase of their online experience.

6. Online Travel Marketers Will Adopt More and Better Behavioral Tracking
Knowing who your online visitors are, how they react to offers, and what their booking patterns are is critical in 2006. If marketers are not actively tracking and analyzing their online marketing and advertising efforts, they are merely guessing. Better technology tracking and analysis will build the case for more advertising revenue and provide assumptions for web site modifications and additions. Online media, getting more and more expensive, can be fine-tuned to its most effective components and result in proven ROI.

7. Paid Search Engine Marketing Will Be King but Become Much More Expensive
Because consumers love using search engines, paid search marketing will continue to grow. Search marketing has already gone beyond the "do it yourself" days. With today's bidding technologies, tracking technologies and monitoring software, the Pay-Per-Click market is exploding. As the search engines add more revenue models and different ways to buy search, the online marketer is trying to keep up and manage budgets effectively. Unfortunately relying solely on Pay-Per-Click or the newer PPC models is a faulty strategy, as the majority of search referrals come from organic or natural listings. Paid Search may continue to dominate budgets but Organic search will dominate results.

8. Organic Search Engine Marketing Will Grow More Popular
Because advanced tracking has allowed savvy marketers to see that their search traffic comes more from organic listings, they will increase budgets to deploy a solid strategy of search engine marketing and optimization. The payoff is huge because the investment delivers ongoing returns. The real trick is finding and working with a Search Engine Marketing company that knows online travel. Longevity is the key. If a marketing company has not been deploying travel marketing search strategies successfully for at least the past five years they may not be in the game in 2007. Expensive Pay-Per-Click will be used more for additional push in short-term campaigns or other specialty situations.

9. Destination Marketers May Be Poised for Greatness
Some city, state, regional, and even national destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism departments -- hampered in the past by budget cuts and slow acceptance of the Internet's dramatic technology and consumer behavior advancements - are poised for greatness. The more they understand their preeminent position (as owners of the "destination brand") in the online travel planning search process, the more budget allotment they will commit to technology, interactive marketing and direct booking alliances with their hotel and attraction partners. Hoteliers will rediscover these online marketing partners as valuable booking channels.

10. Emergency Response Contingency Planning Will Receive More Attention
The huge impact of this year's natural disasters and the continued concern for preparing effective recovery plans for possible future disruptions from terrorist attacks or flu epidemics will motivate many in the travel industry to sit down with their consultants to plan and budget for possible short-term but significant disruptions. Many resourceful and successful response marketing campaigns evolved from this year's hurricanes, and the speedy and triumphant return of New Orleans in 2006 will inspire many in the travel industry.

Posted at 04:53 PM

This week, the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) and USDM.net are jointly issuing the travel industry's most insightful research survey about how travel consumers use the Internet. The report, Travelers' Use of the Internet 2005, shows that the Internet continues to rapidly grow as a dominant channel for both reaching and transacting with today's travel consumers.

While this year's results show that the number of Americans using the Internet (120 million adults) appears to have reached a plateau, those who plan and book trips or vacations online continues to climb rapidly. A majority of online travelers (78 percent of respondents, or 79 million Americans) turned to the Internet for travel or destination information in 2005 - much higher than the 65 percent of online travelers in 2004.

Survey findings also indicate that online travelers are booking more online.
- 82% (64.8 million) of online travelers book online
- 78% of online travel bookers do at least half of all their travel booking online
- 34% of online travel bookers make all of their travel purchases online

With so many Americans planning and booking their travel online, TIA and USDM.net expanded a survey category in this year's research to better gauge how consumers respond to the various forms of Internet-based marketing communications.

Of particular interest to marketers is the section of the report that shows that the most effective online marketing techniques that trigger a consumer response are not the often ballyhooed "paid media" channels (such as pay-per-click search listings, banner ads, pop-ups and email), but rather the "interactive marketing" communications such as unsponsored search engine results (36 percent); e-mail recommendations by friends or colleagues (34 percent); links on Web sites (26 percent); and opt-in e-mails or e-newsletters (21 percent). The top four most response-effective communications are all strategic tactics that savvy online marketers practice daily.

Other trends and data to emerge from the Travelers' Use of the Internet 2005:

- More than nine out of 10 online travelers said they used the Internet to plan a personal trip last year, and a quarter of trips planned online were related to business travel;

- Almost half of online travel planners also use destination Web sites - such as those maintained by convention and visitor bureaus - to plan trips. In addition, one in three online travel planners checks one or more Web sites and then calls a toll-free number for more information;

- Today, 34 percent of online travel bookers claim to make all of their travel purchases online. Importantly, nearly eight in ten online bookers (78%) use the Internet to do at least half of all their travel booking.

USDM.net is pleased to co-sponsor and contribute to this year's TIA research report and recommends that all online travel markets purchase and study this report. For more information or to purchase the full results of the Travelers' Use of the Internet 2005, visit the TIA.org web page at http://www.tia.org/pubs/pubs.asp?PublicationID=57.

Posted at 06:06 PM

"In the U.S., some $66 billion, or 58%, of leisure and unmanaged business travel will be purchased online in 2005, according to PhoCusWright projections. And that figure climbs to $78.5 billion, or 66%, in 2006."¹ These numbers are not surprising to me, having watched this growth since 1993.

But what does surprise me is that many marketers still don't get it - they don't understand the total impact the Internet has on their business plan. It's amazing to see the numbers of travel marketing executives at hotels, attractions and destination marketing organizations that allocate so little of their budgets to the Internet. And they still want to measure every click, every impression, every little detail to compare it to traditional marketing and advertising -- where you can't measure much at all.

I have always been about measuring all of it. At USDM.net, we benchmark and we measure year over year. In fact, we are strategic partners with three of the top travel organizations in the nation, and our purpose is to help define the metrics that count for the industry.

These metrics are important when executives decide to invest in marketing. I read recently that, this year, more than 50 percent of respondents to a survey of travel marketers said they intended to have a larger online budget in 2005 than they did in 2004 and the number of respondents spending 20 percent or more on Internet marketing has doubled. ² That number increased significantly from last year. In reality, I believe you need online and traditional marketing, advertising, public relations and all forms of the marketing mix that fits your target audiences. But why wouldn't you allocate budget according to the results? Why wouldn't you hold the traditional side of the budget to the same stringent standards you hold the Internet side of the budget to every day? I believe it's because you really cannot measure traditional and you can easily measure so much online.

Some of our clients spend significantly more than 20 percent of their marketing and advertising budget online. Some spend about 20 percent. But whatever they spend, we measure everything about the results -- every click, every impression, every behavior, every conversion, and every search. Of course, we always keep tabs on ROI.

So I have to ask: What is so hard to understand about Internet marketing in the travel industry, and why have so many otherwise smart marketers decided to allocate pennies of the dollar to one of the most effective, measurable accountable mediums for travel marketing?

¹ TravelWeekly.com, "Travel spending surges on the Web, researchers say," May 6, 2005
² Online Marketing Strategies in the Travel Industry: A Survey of Travel Marketers by New York University And PhoCusWright Inc. Joint Research - 2005