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

New study by Forrester Research shows that 46% of travelers are allowing their budgets to dictate vacation destination, and 49% of travelers say that they will accept a certain amount of inconvenience in order to save money.

Southwest Airlines taps into traveler sentiment about airline bag charges by launching seven new ads this week that feature cost savings and employees having fun!  Ads run online and offline. In this era of airlines starting to charge for every amenity, including bags and maybe even seat preference, Southwest is holding true to it’s values by offering customers the same great service without bag fees. Clearly they have been successful since they have gained market share by forgoing these additional charges.

As travel marketers we have to remember that the economic climate is still uncertain. We can count on the fact that travelers are looking for deals and ways to save.

Till next time.

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

In the old days of the web we had to be the jack of all trades… there were no subject matter experts. New technologies emerged, eCommerce was refined, search engine marketing became more complex, online media took on multiple avenues, social marketing bloomed and mCommerce emerged. In a very short time it became clear to us that as an agency and media company we had to start developing highly specialized departments and highly skilled subject matter experts within our agency to research, test, innovate and execute on all these specialties.

Without these highly specialized experts an agency or in-house marketing department is “skimming the surface” of their integrated marketing and advertising program. In fact, they don’t even recognize the gaps in a plan because they don’t know what to look for from a specialized vertical perspective.

Agencies who are telling their clients that online media is all about display, or that SEOM is only about buying Paid Keywords are doing their clients a huge injustice. They may not know how to strategize or execute on other elements that are important, so they just don’t. If you don’t, hire a digital firm or subject matter experts behind you.

The case can be made that unless you have a group of subject matter experts on your team you are missing major opportunities and opening yourself up to lackluster results. In the worst case you are not building a sustainable program because competitors are passing you by.

Focus on the highly specialized areas of your plan that will make the difference short term and most importantly long term, and make sure that you have the right people making the right decisions for you as an organization. If you are an agency reading this, and I know many of you follow this blog, take a big step and fill in the gap. You will be executing for the client on all those things you do so well and you will be bringing to the table subject matter experts that can fill in the gaps WITH you.

Till next time,

Leah