Internet Marketing for Tourism » word of mouth

How to Boost Revenue 20% & climb to #1 on TripAdvisor

Todd Lucier — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:47:53 +0000

During a recession, businesses can get panicky about finding new ways to market their business inexpensively. I’ve worked with thousands of tourism businesses over the past five years and these two stories are my favorites for generating new revenue with little or no cost.

Disclaimer: “If you are in the tourism business, there is no shortcut to boosting your business in the Web 2.0 landscape. Be Great, or find another line of work.

Why Trip Advisor Matters:

Word of Mouth has always been the most important lead generator for tourism businesses. In Web 2.0, Word of Mouse rules and your guests are your best marketing and sales agents.
Trip Advisor is the #2 most frequently visited travel Web site on the Web.
Trip Advisor search results not only show up in TripAdvisor.com but they are fed out to a number of Travel Web sites and services such as Google.com/maps (see top right)

Story #1: How one hotel operator boosted revenue 20% , while all around hotels were losing market share due to a decline in travel to the region

The tool: A simple laminated business card

On one side: business logo and contact info
On the other:

Thank you for staying at our Inn. In an effort to convey the quality of service and amenities offered we appreciate your comments at TripAdvisor.com. Looking forward to your next visit.

Use: When clients check out, they are given the laminated business card.

Results:

Revenue up 20% with no other changes to marketing plan!
The Hotel becomes ranked as #1 in the city on Trip Advisor
All of this, despite the lack of any other search results showing their hotel web site

Why this works:

the most obvious reason might be that happy guests will leave comments and these comments will generally be positive, but there is more to it than that.
the card is laminated – yes, laminated. Most folk will have a harder time just tossing the card in the waste can, so it has a good chance of being used for its intended purpose and later, stuck to a fridge or filing cabinet for the next trip! Laminating the card unconciously tells your customer this is important, we took the time to ensure this card was prepared with care.
MOST IMPORTANT REASON THIS WORKS: Staff at the hotel know this card is being handed out! If your guests are being encouraged to leave comments on your performance, wouldn’t your staff act more like an owner and give extra good service to your clients.
This inn already has a culture of excellence and personal service – you can’t fake it. Even the best strategy will fail without quality.

Story #2: A Country Inn uses their CRM Strategy to climb to #1 in the Province on Trip Advisor

The tool: An effective email communication strategy with their guests, ensures that fans of the Inn have an invitation to rave!

Thank you for choosing our Inn during your recent visit to our area. We hope that we at least met, and maybe even exceeded your expectations. We are sure you are aware that more and more today’s travelers are relying on the opinions of fellow travelers when deciding where to stay themselves. In doing so, they often reference websites such as TripAdvisor to seek guidance. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to share your opinion . . .

Use: Approximately two weeks after their stay, every guest receives a personalized “thank you for your visit” email from the Inn’s proprietors.

Results:

#1 b & b in the province on TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor becomes #1 tracked new sales source

Why this works:

The Hillsdale House Inn IS IN ALL LIKELIHOOD, the finest B & B in Nova Scotia! I haven’t stayed at many, but I couldn’t imagine a nicer experience than spending a few days with Paul and Val at their historic inn. I’ll definitely be back.
Paul and Val establish a personal relationship with each of their guests during their visit. One of the little-known facts about traveler wishes: What most travellers want is to like their hosts and for their hosts to like them back.
The email isn’t so much a business request, it’s more on the lines of friend to friend communication. The communication is personal. You can’t fake this. You earn the personal relationship with your guests with every interaction during their stay.
Paul and Val have a CRM plan in place that results in their guests receiving followup email communication at a time when their experience is still fresh in their mind, and they have settled back into their routine at home. The note rekindles memories of their holiday.
The email explains clearly why they are inviting their guests to post comments.
Like any responsible tourism business, Hillsdale House tracks their business inquires and knows that new sales are being driven by TripAdvisor.

So after reading this, you have likely come to understand the value of a great CRM strategy with your guests? Your first two steps:

Step one: Give great customer service and coach your team to behave like owners!
Step two: Review your strategy for tracking sales and leads

Your Turn: Leave a comment!

There are many Web sites for guests to share their experiences, reviews, photos, videos, stories. Do you know of a service that provides helpful information for travelers. Please tell us about your favorites.
Do you have any insights into these CRM strategies? What are your favorite strategies for boosting Word of Mouse?

How social media and word of mouth create sales

Todd Lucier — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:16:32 +0000

Click to Play

I’m just returning from Victoria, B. C. where I’ve been working with Royal Roads Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management developing an Internet Marketing strategy for Hatley Park – Castle and Gardens and online and on campus Education training programs. (If you are thinking of moving up the ranks in your tourism workplace, consider a degree from Royal Roads: online learning, flexible admissions, advanced learning, and a to-die-for campus.)

Yesterday, we were talking about the impact of social media to enhance sales. I’d like to share the story I used to illustrate my point that Word of Mouth, or the online version – Word of Mouse, might be the way your tourism business makes it’s next sale.

July 10: a user of Twitter from Aussie, fabierabbiosi from Untanglemyweb.com asks her Twitterverse for an SEO learning resource recommendation. I answer the question by proposing a visit to the Tourism Keys online lesson on SEO. Fabienne replies that she hopes to create some Screencasts and asks my opinion about a tool she’s used. I suggest a fantastic screencast product called Screenflow and she replies that she’ll download it and give it a try based on my recommendation.

At the same time I see a message from my brother in Ontario, where it’s 2 am, but Tom is online, so I invite him to join me for a Skype call where three important exchanges take place.

First, Tom tells me about his recent foray into making T-shirts and I read a blog post on the Clever Sheep Blog that features a photo of the shirts. I spend a few minutes thinking about it and arrange to have some T-shirts designed for our guests. I write a quick blog post about how the t-shirts could be a business card for conference planners and when the folks at Royal Roads hear about it, enthusiastic, animated conversation takes place in our meeting about how they can use the t-shirt as part of their student orientation gatherings.

Second, Tom mentions a short Hotel Nightmare video he has recorded after a nasty hotel stay. Of course, I request a copy of the video and share it with meeting attendees to reinforce the importance of Web sites like TripAdvisor to influence the travel buying decisions of other travellers.

Third, Tom asks if I’ve seen the video posts he’s been making on his blog with a cool new tool called Flip Video. He shows me the small, simple looking device on Skype Video and explains how simple it is to get video online. He excitedly explains how he posts videos promoting upcoming live music shows at Phog Lounge in downtown Windsor Ontario and how he gets over a hundred views within two hours of posting the video! He also tells me that the device has not been available in Canada until now and it is only available at one retail outlet (listen to the podcast to see where to buy Flip Video. The next morning, I take Nancy Arsenault, the dean of the faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management to see the device and we promptly purchase one, shoot a video and get it on Youtube within 30 minutes! Nancy is excited about using the simple simple video camera to capture video for marketing her offerings. Her staff are enthused too. And although I already have digital still and video cameras I am too excited to resist. I now want one too. This morning, Nancy purchased a second camera and I purchased one too.

Click To Play

The use of Social media has made information exchanges about best tools and resources almost instantaneous and right before my own eyes I had examples of five valuable recommendations made possible by social marketing.

It is interesting to note that in each case, the end user of the technology had never even heard of the tool, thought about using it, or even gone looking for it. But the personal conversations were powerful influencers on the decision-making process. in 30 minutes of conversation, perhaps $1000 of business was immediately transacted over five different products and services.

Are you interested in fostering social marketing and word of mouth about your tourism enterprise? Find time to use the tools of social marketing and you might be surprised at what happens.