I want to start a discussion this month on RFPs and in my view, how the system is broken in many ways. OK, I know this is going to be controversial but I still want to get a conversation started. I hope that I get feedback on this and that we can open a dialog that will share information and help make the process better. For the past 18 years we have been a digital marketing and advertising company we have responded to RFPs. Some of them are very well written and some simply cause more questions than clarity. Lately, however, we see a trend in destinations sending out RFPs that seem to look exactly alike. Its almost like there is a “template” RFP out there that has the same programs, same parameters, same goals. The trouble with this is that no destination is like another and each has a unique set of problems and budget constraints. To treat them all as “cookie cutter” programs is just not the right way to go about it. In my opinion RFPs by their nature don’t address the real issue, which is program improvement based on analysis and clear cut objectives. When we have won RFPs we were able to dig into the web program and get good data and analytics in order to set up clear program recommendations and define goals. We were happy, the client was happy and we keep that client year over year for many years. When we lost an RFP it was always about budget, but many times it was that we believed the organization would get much more uplift from different programs than what they were asking for in the RFP. We would have been able to meet budget requirements AND show increase to meet goals they had, but there was no discussion before the RFP was sent out. Interesting to note that almost 50% of the time when we don’t win a contract through RFP the organization contacts us a year or so later and wants to hire us. (that’s how we know we could meet those goals with different programs and same budget) What I am trying to say is the RFP process is broken. I know DMOs need to go out for RFP and that makes sense in some instances. If you are not getting results year over year or if your current company cannot provide the service levels or the knowledge to keep your organization moving forward and keep you happy. But there should be a better way to go about this process where the organization gets great insight about the options they have and they can still satisfy any mandate about RFP process. Think about the fact that probably 6 staff people in a digital agency touch your account every day. Multiply the salaries of those people, add the results you have received and that really is your return on investment. You did not have to employ those people, pay the 20% plus benefits, manage them and most importantly keep them educated and going to conferences on each and every specific digital subject matter. You have the subject matter experts working for you but don’t have the salary load or management cost. The cost of delivering a really solid program to DMOs is not cheap. RFPs don’t elaborate on how much the internal DMO team will contribute or can contribute. Again, I am hoping that there will be a dialog started about the RFP process and how we can improve it by working together. I would like to hear from any of you and get your feedback, from vendors or organizations. Let’s make this process better for all. Happy Holidays! Leah Woolford Founder and Chairman of USDM.net lwoolford@usdm.net

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

A recent statistic published by eMarketer.com and attributed to Merrill Lynch, stated that online travel sales are projected to account for 30 percent of all travel sales in 2005, up from 25 percent in 2004 and 21 percent in 2003.

Jupiter believes that online travel sales will hit $91 billion in 2009... one out of every three travel bookings. That's a gigantic 70 percent increase from 2004.

The real news is that the major growth will not come from the big online travel agencies but rather the suppliers own web sites. Their market share in online travel sales is expected to grow a whopping 60%.

What does this mean for DMOs and hotels?
It means that the timing is right to develop a smart, long-term strategy for an Interactive program. Search marketing is key right now, but there are other marketing tactics that are vital to make up the whole online success picture. When we are called in to develop a plan for a DMO or hotel, we always perform a deep assessment and comparison study and set some benchmarks first. A SWOT analysis is vital. We develop the strategic plan after we have the data and analysis we need. It is vital to know how you measure up with your competitive set and how you need to draw the map to get to real online success.

The time is now. DMOs and hotels you can take your share of the online sales. But you have to plan your work and work your plan.

Leah

USDM.net, "Online-Offline Media Budget Allocations and Interactive Technology Drivers," July 21, 2005

Posted at 11:26 AM