This presentation was presented at the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference 2011 (ESTC 2011), held in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA, from September 19th-

21st. Organized by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), the ESTC is a unique annual conference providing practical solutions to advance sustainability goals for the

tourism industry.

Learn more about the ESTC: http://www.ecotourismconference.org ESTC on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ESTC_Tourism

ESTC on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESTC.Tourism

The International Ecotourism Society | web www.ecotourism.org email info@ecotourism.org | tel +1 202 506 5033

Stretching Your Marketing Budget Marketing and PR for Tourism

September 21, 2011

Moderator: Deirdre Campbell, Tartan GroupDeirdre@tartangroup.ca @tartangroup

Panel Members:Vicky Hastings Maxwell PR, Theme: PR, advertising and email marketing

vicky@maxwellpr.com @vickyhastings

Andy CrestodinaOrbit Media, Theme: SEO

andy@orbitmedia.com @orbiteer

Terry RachwalskiFront Porch Perspectives, Theme: Social media

terry@theconsultinglife.ca @consultingmania

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Stretching Your Marketing Budget

1. Panel Discussion• 5-minute introduction

• 5-minute topical presentation from panel members- PR, advertising and email marketing – Vicky- What is SEO and why you should care – Andy- Social media tools, tricks and tips - Terry

2. Small Group Conversations• 3 15-minute roundtable discussions on each theme

• Key learnings

• Take aways

What To Expect

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PR: Spark Interest via Active Language

SEEtheWILD

Swim with turtles and touch a whale on your next vacation. Like us and learn

about eco-friendly adventure travel.

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Ads: Tell Your Story Visually

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Email: Deliver What Consumers Want

Readership Survey •Most want to hear from Astoria more often•52% would like monthly e-news•72% also Like Astoria on Facebook•Discounts are of great interest

Format Changes•Better integration of newsletter and Facebook•Quarterly multi-story newsletter•Monthly event e-blasts•Bi-monthly event planning email

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Search Engine Optimization

• Importance of search engine optimization, definitions

• Keyphrases – search volume, competition

• Writing (on page SEO) – title tags, headers, body text, links, meta

• Linking (off page SEO) – partners, directories, etc.

• Resources–Google AdWords Keyword Tool

–Google Insights

–Open Site Explorer

–Google Analytics

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Keyphrase Research

• Search Volume: How many people are searching for that?

• Competition: How many sites are trying to rank for that?

• Relevance: If a visitor finds me for thatphrase, how happy will they be?

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On-Page SEO: Writing

• Keyphrase Frequency: How often does the phase appear?

• Keyphrase Prominence: How close to the front (or the top)does the phrase appear?

• Location, Location, Location: Title tags, Headers (H1 – H6), body text, Meta tags

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Off-Site SEO: Link Building

• Quality: Some links are worth more that others(PageRank, Domain Authority)

• Targets: Partners, Directories, Association, Guest Blogs, etc.

• Anchor Text: Does the target phrase appear in the link itself?

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Be fearless, get started!

Roll up your sleeves, fail forward

•Find your voice

•Be you

•Be appropriate for media:

Blog vs. twitter vs. Facebook

Find your ROI1.) Integrated communications strategy

2.) Technology is a tool

3.) Step it up into marketing…

Social Media

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Free Tools – is free really free?

•Facebook Free Apps; Promos, Iwipa

•Third party apps: trip advisor, mail chimp

Premium Tools – the tool vs concept1.) Paid vs Free: the learning curve

Wildfire Apps

Involver

North Social

Facebook Enhancements

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Inspire and Reward

Monitoring/community management - free tools •Tweet Reach, Followerwonk•SocialMention.com •Hootsuite

Premium Tools1.) SocialReport.com

2.) Radian 6, Heartbeat

3.) Agency:

Meltwater Buzz,

Brandwatch,

Mediavantage,

MediaMiser

Measure and Optimize

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What did we learn? - PR, advertising and email marketing - Vicky

– What is SEO and why you should care - Andy– Social media tools, tricks and tips - Terry

What are our take aways?

Stretching your marketing budget;

Marketing and PR for Tourism

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