Post on 19-Jan-2015
description
eMarketing in 2010Rob Stokes
This is not about football
But a realisation that the internet is here to stay
…. and like it or not, tourism starts online
In the UK, the internet is now the biggest marketing channel in terms of spend
The average UK tourism company is spending well over 50% of it’s marketing budget online
Are we giving eMarketing the respect it deserves?
How it all fits together
eMarketing is NOT just a list of tactics
It achieves its true potential when these tactics work together
The tactics need each other
They feed off each other
They are substantially less effective without each other
At the centre of your eMarketing universe is your website
A hub to drive traffic to
A medium through which you can communicate and build a relationship with your audience
But it can’t just be any old website
You MUST add value to your user’s experience. Before, during and after their visit
Websites are no longer just brochures
They should be built to attract, convert and retain customers – or they shouldn’t exist at all
The average tourism website has 11 seconds to capture a user before they get bored and go elsewhere
Travelmole
Is your website THAT good?
Our web development priorities
Monitoring your website’s performance
Top stats to keep an eye on
Goal metrics above all else: conversion rates!
Unique users (not HITS)
Traffic Sources (and their conversion rates)
Engagement Metrics
Bounce rate
Repeat users
Pages per user
Time spent on site
A quick word on mobile sites
Get one
Bringing traffic to your website
Search Engines!
1 Billion searches each day
Lots of volume, but why is this important?
Searchers are looking for what your are offering
They WANT to find you!
And if they don’t find you, they WILL find your competitor
Over 40% of online bookings started with a search
Major considerations in 2010:
Organic search – keyword rich links are everything, build a site that offers so much value that it attracts them naturally
Universal search: make sure your images, videos and maps are optimised to take advantage of all the SERP real estate
Mobile search: location aware users in a highly goal driven mode
Expect paid search prices to rise heavily next year
Make sure your organic and paid search campaigns are learning from each other
Always be optimising your response paths
Search marketing will bring a lot of traffic to your site, but you can’t stop there…
You should be looking to build communities around your business
Social Media can play a big part in this
A few social media channels:
The most important one…
A few tips to take it to the next level
Be strategy lead.
The medium is not the message
How will social media deliver on your business goals?
Push for critical mass quickly
Discover and target influential individuals and communities
Identify and fill content holes – don’t echo
Write with your keyword strategy at your side
Consider the impact of social media on your other eMarketing tactics
Create a social media culture internally, it will reflect externally
Let’s look at a few specific examples…
Online Video: YouTube
Second largest search engine!
60% market share
100+ million viewers a night
‘The overnight success’ thing
Encourage your customers to build content on your behalf
300+ Million active users
And many ways to communicate with them:
•Groups and Pages
•Applications
•Ads
•Facebook Connect
Of the travellers who use Twitter...
•52% Tweeted between 4 and Ten times per day•25% Tweeted 10 updates or more per day•60% Used Twitter to connect with hotels and transport•28% Made a reservation following an initial contact on Twitter
But the Buzz isn’t always good...
11 million people search for “Ryanair” each month.
A Ryanair employee comments on a blog…
Followed by the official response
Then the online community got hold of it
Then the newspapers got hold of it
These powerful sites often linked to this site…
And we know how important good links are…
Why is your online reputation important?
Because peers are the most trusted source of recommendation
Edelman Trust Barometer 2008
Consumer Generated Content influences over $10 Billion per year in online travel
Compete.com
Tripadvisor.co.uk is the favourite website for UK users for holiday inspiration.
European Travel Commission
88% of Trip Advisor Visitors are influenced by the content the read on the site
European Travel Commission
People are talking, are you listening?
Are you truly engaging with them?
Monitoring your online reputation helps you…
… avoid a reputation crisis by informing you quickly… discover quick and effective new marketing opportunities… improve customer service through engagement … understand your customers’ needs and wants better … identify powerful influencers to target with WOM campaigns
A final word on email marketing
Do it and do it properly. It will serve you well.
In conclusion: eMarketing fundamentals
•Get your website right, make it remarkable!
•Drive qualified traffic to it.
•Optimise the conversion of that traffic.
•Build a relationship with your audience.
•Test, test, test.
Thank Youwww.quirk.biz/etourism