Why you should care deeply about SEO.

April 17, 2023

Filed under: Digital Marketing, Website Strategies — @ 10:00 am

A black business suit and black bowler hat indicates where an invisible man stands, with the letters SEO where the face should be, as a reflection of why you should care deeply about SEO.

It may be less sexy than its flashier marketing cousins, but here’s why you should care deeply about SEO: it’s hands-down the unsung, invisible hero of digital marketing. If you’re not doing it consistently, you’re putting your business at risk.

This blog post is for all y’all who aren’t digital geeks and would love to understand – in plain ol’ English – what SEO is and why it’s important. So while the post looks long and scary, it’s actually a brisk read that paints a clear picture without using mind-numbing technical jargon.

SEO’s entire job is to lead buyers interested in what you offer (be it product, service, or just content) directly to your website. And when done effectively, your website will be found more frequently by these potential buyers…without you having to pay for ads to make it happen.

So what is SEO anyway? The formal and somewhat unhelpful definition by Oxford Dictionary defines Search Engine Optimization as “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”

OK, that sounded jargon-y. A simpler way to think about it is this: SEO is a process you use to remove technical roadblocks between your target audience’s questions and your answers. Or…in even simpler terms than that: It’s creating content that’s interesting or helpful to humans, while making sure it’s able to be navigated and processed equally well by a machine like Google’s search engine. Note the difference in wording here, because humans and machines don’t necessarily “think” the same way. Humans want things to be “interesting and helpful” and machines want things they can “navigate and process.” Your website has to successfully satisfy the needs of both.

So why don’t all businesses – even ones with massive marketing departments – care deeply about SEO? Indeed they don’t, and that’s not an exaggeration on my part. During planning meetings with DIY and small in-house marketing departments, no one EVER asks us about SEO except when they’re building a new website… and even then it’s just a one-time item on the checklist (“make sure it has good SEO”).

And with the larger marketing departments, who have more resources to devote to such things, SEO gets a much lower emphasis (if any) than it deserves. In fact, most of the SEO specialists I’ve met share a common grievance: the discipline of SEO has so much marketing power, and yet it’s deeply neglected and undervalued in terms of what it can bring to the marketing table.

So why don’t people care as much as they should about SEO?

First of all, it’s a scary mouthful. Search Engine Optimization sounds like something you need a PhD to decipher. Search engines are mysterious enough…add in the word “optimization” and that’s just an extra layer of intimidation. Its cousin, Pay-Per-Click marketing (PPC), is so much easier for everyone to understand (you pay for every click you get, precisely as it says).

But marketers and other executives often overlook the power of SEO for other reasons, including:

It’s misunderstood. SEO has multiple aspects to it (see below) and most folks are unfamiliar with all the facets involved. So often they think of it as one-dimensional and dismiss the bigger picture of its usefulness.
It’s not a quick fix. SEO is a program, not a one-time task. And the results come as a groundswell over time, not usually as instant pops of excitement the way it would happen with PPC ads (you place the ad and boom… clicks start rolling in). You can see some quick pops of results if you’ve made some dramatic changes that impact SEO, but mostly, it’s slow and steady improvement over time.
It’s invisible. Didn’t I just say earlier it’s less sexy than other marketing disciplines? SEO works behind the scenes, with multiple small, strategic changes that are largely unseen by the website user. Together, those often-invisible changes lead to a payoff, but it requires you to have faith in things you can’t see and can’t always directly track.
It feels “harder.” So…it requires faith, patience, and a long-term effort with a delayed payoff? It’s no wonder so many marketing programs and budgets neglect SEO in favor of initiatives that deliver more instant gratification…even if those cost more.

But why should people care more deeply about SEO?

SEO is the practice of keeping your website healthy and attractive to search engines, like Google. And shouldn’t that practice be one of the top goals for any marketer? (Note, there are several search engines for use out there, but for brevity’s sake in this article, I’ll just say “Google” to represent them all.)

In more concrete terms, here’s why you should care:

Healthy website = better results. Think of it like you would a health regimen for your body. Diet, exercise, sleep, and other maintenance actions keep your body healthy, and the payoff is that you can live a longer life with fewer restrictions and medical issues. SEO is like the diet/sleep/exercise health regimen for your website, but the payoff includes things like higher visibility in search engine results and more visitors to your website (without advertising payments for either of them).
The results compound over time. If you keep up the regimen, you may not feel/see the results at first (ahem, just like dieting), but once your efforts start to make a difference, the groundswell begins. The more attractive your website becomes to Google for certain searches and keywords, the more Google offers it to people searching for those things. And the more people start to satisfactorily visit your website for those things, the more Google considers you attractive for them. This cycle keeps strengthening itself over time. It may take a little while to catch fire, but once it does…the results feel magical.
It protects your overall marketing program. In the long run, the most successful marketing programs are ones with balance. It’s risky to put all your eggs in one basket – say, going “all in” on social media to the exclusion of email marketing – and this is particularly true when it comes to balancing your paid vs. unpaid marketing initiatives. If your website isn’t healthy enough to attract its own attention from Google without you paying for ads, then what happens when your budget needs to be cut? Bye bye clicks. You need that steady, solid foundation of organically-driven clicks to weather such budget fluctuations.
It increases the ROI of your paid marketing. Without an effective SEO program, your website is bound to have many unhealthy aspects to it, from a user perspective. And yet, you’re spending the rest of your marketing budget to pay to draw people there. Every dollar you spend paying to send people to a less-than-healthy website risks sabotaging your overall marketing ROI. The discipline of SEO forces you to think about your website’s effectiveness and how it’s organized, and that helps improve its quality score for Google Ads by strengthening keyword themes. And SEO also forces you to focus on improving your website’s load time and page speed metrics (literally, the amount of time it takes for pages, images, etc. to load when someone tries to visit it), and this can help improve conversion rates no matter how a customer enters your website.

At Redpoint, we got a painful lesson in the extraordinary power of SEO when one of our blog posts became insanely attractive to Google for a particular (and apparently popular) set of keywords. As the post wasn’t related to our core business, that level of attention for the “wrong topic” was killing our marketing goals. In fact, we had to take the post down. See why we were sorry we wrote this blog post.

So what are the key aspects of “doing SEO?”

There’s a lot to unpack within a proper SEO strategy, but here’s a high-level summary of three key elements you’ll need to consider if you want to start making SEO a marketing priority.

The quality of your website’s mechanics. Google cares (a lot) if your site is working smoothly. Because Google’s entire mission is essentially to provide users/searchers with the best possible results, that means it wants to deliver results that feature credible, effective, and appropriate websites. If your site is slow, takes too long to load for users, has broken links, has outdated and useless pages, and/or a host of other mechanical issues, then users don’t have a good experience when they land on it…and likely leave quickly. The more that happens, the more Google notices and says “hey… this website isn’t satisfying people who are searching for (these keywords), so let’s stop suggesting it as a relevant option when people search for that.” How does this hurt you? Imagine you’re a family friendly resort in California. And Google has been trained over time to learn that people searching for “family friendly resort in California” don’t have a good experience on your website…and so it stops suggesting you as a good result for that search. That would be bad for you.
The relevance of your content. You’ve got to think of SEO like it’s a matching game. If you want people searching for “family friendly resort in California” to see your website high up in the search results, you’ve got to have specific and relevant content on your site that satisfies those keywords. Let’s say that phrase is just mentioned in passing on your home page, and there’s not a lot of rich content on your website that describes all the family friendly activities/amenities at your resort. Over time, Google will see that folks searching with those keywords who went to your site didn’t really find you to be all that “family friendly.” And so, over time, it stops suggesting you as a “good match” for those keywords. Yes, you might be IN the search results, but perhaps below 40 other family friendly resorts in California who have way more relevant content on their websites than you do.
How good your website is at engaging visitors. Picture a brick-and-mortar retail clothing store, and you walk in to browse. If you walk in, look at the first display, and then leave… you’re not an “engaged customer.” But if you walk in and like what you see on that first display, you’ll move in further to explore the store. Maybe even try on some items. That definitely makes you an engaged customer, and them an engaging store. You need to think of your website in those terms. People will come into your website through a single page – whether the home page or an interior page. Once they land there…what makes them stick around and explore your site? Internal links to other pages, prominent and clear navigation, appealing imagery, pop-up windows, “you may also like…” content suggestions, and more… all are engagement tactics used by effective SEO programs to keep people on your website longer. And when Google sees that people who visit your website stay there for a while, that tells it that you’re satisfying your visitors with good, relevant content. It’s a mark in your favor with Google.

Each one of those three aspects requires strategy and constant maintenance. And those aren’t even ALL the aspects of SEO. There are so many different things you can do to make your website “more attractive to” (or, in geek-speak, “better optimized for”) Google, and a comprehensive SEO program should address multiple facets. Yes, it takes a while and it feels harder to do than just paying for clicks…but the payoff is worth it. Google will – without you paying for ads – suggest your website in the higher up in the search results to people who want to buy what you’re selling. And THAT is why you should care deeply about SEO.

And a final reminder tip: Don’t think of SEO as a one-time initiative. You are never “done” with SEO because everything is constantly evolving: your business, your competition, and Google’s algorithm (the mysterious formula it uses to decide what order to rank websites in search results). So – just like dieting – forget the quick fix in favor of a slow-and-steady program and you’ll see a more effective (and lasting) payoff.

A brilliant tourism marketing case study.

April 14, 2023

A red British phone box sits among the green rows of grape vines at the Luckett Vineyards in Nova Scotia, which is an example of a brilliant tourism marketing case study.

No one ever expects to find a phone booth in the middle of a vineyard…and that’s what makes this such a brilliant tourism marketing case study. The folks at Nova Scotia’s Luckett Vineyards have scored the brass ring of branding with this creative move. But it’s no fleeting stunt; it has brand and marketing legs for days. And spoiler alert…the phone actually works.

Let’s break down just what makes it so brilliant, especially from a tourism perspective.

It’s totally unique…and let’s be honest, very few ideas actually ARE unique. Most often, ideas billed as “unique” are just riffs on existing ideas. But this one embodies the very definition of the word unique. An iconic British phone box (which we call a phone booth here in the US), set smack in the middle of a vineyard in Nova Scotia? Nobody saw that coming. And that makes everybody pay attention to it.
It sets their marketing photos apart. We’ve all seen gorgeous pictures of vineyards. Many with gorgeous surrounding backdrops. Often with the light catching the landscape just right, and especially at sunrise or sunset. Never with a British phone box featured in the scene. On social media, such photos stop thumbs from scrolling. And in media relations, it catches the interest of journalists.
It provides bragworthy photo opps for guests. Guests share in that halo effect of capturing unique photos…and it does the same thing for their own social media feeds that it does for Luckett’s brand marketing. It makes for a cool photo that a visitor just can’t get elsewhere. And to be quite frank, in this way, it helps establish their presence as a tourist destination. Visitors to Nova Scotia who want to explore the province’s wine country in the Annapolis Valley region make Luckett a must-do stop. And if they stumbled upon it accidentally…they’ll never forget it.
It provides a surprise experience for guests. Wait… you thought it was just a photo opp? So might guests…until they go check it out. It’s actually a working original rotary-style telephone, and guests can make free calls from it to anywhere in North America. (TBH, just the experience of using a rotary phone is a surprise experience for many of the younger generations… are there instructions on how to dial? LOL)
OH THE BRAND EXTENSIONS! Luckett is the only brand in the world who can credibly name a collection of wines Phone Box Red, Phone Box White, and new for 2023, Phone Box Rosé. Besides the fact that these are delicious wines even for locals, what tourist who’s visited the winery and taken photos and called home on that rotary phone WOULDN’T also want to take home a wine called “Phone Box?” It’s not easy for a winery to get people to remember the names of all their different types of wines. These are unforgettable.
It’s an opportunity to have fun…everywhere. Their website’s home page touts “wines worth calling home about.” It’s little things like that which make this entire concept so fabulous. There’s always a way to weave the phone box subtly and cleverly into the brand’s marketing. And kudos to Luckett, they never devolve into the realm of cheesy with it. Everything is done with an edgy sophistication.

And the real gem of a lesson behind this brilliant tourism marketing case study? There was no grand master branding plan involved when they originally decided to do this. It was just a fun, cool idea tossed out one day by their vineyard manager, Marcel Kolb. It just seemed like something whimsical that would give visitors something unexpected to remember. But the owner, Pete Luckett (a British Canadian who was born in Nottingham, England), loved the idea and immediately started making calls to buy one for the vineyard.

All the other nitty gritty details that make this such a brilliant marketing case study came later. It all started with “this is cool, let’s just make it happen.” And then – very wisely – they built upon it to give it brand equity. If they had just stuck the phone box out there among the vines, and never absorbed it into their DNA, it would lack the branding power it has today. Instead, they gave it a stronger foothold and made it part of their identity. Not ALL of their identity. Just enough to set them apart. Super smart.

Parting tip: if you go visit, try their Fizz, which is my fave. But then again, I’m a notorious bubbly drinker, so perhaps I’m biased.

And here are a few related topics you may find of interest:

Six cool examples of marketing.

The secret to a great tourism photo.

Four brilliant and unexpected marketing partnerships.

Five ways tourism marketers often fool themselves.

March 17, 2023

Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 8:04 am

Listen up marketers…we like to think we’re always making wise choices, but sometimes we stick our heads in the sand. When budget, staffing, or timing is tight, it’s soooooo tempting to cut corners and say to ourselves “it’s fine.”

A cartoon image of a dog with a small brown hat sitting on a chair surrounded by a room that's on fire, while he is sipping coffee calmly and saying "this is fine." This is meant to illustrate what's happening as part of the five ways that tourism marketers often fool themselves.

Y’all…it’s really NOT fine, and deep down inside, you know it. Here are five ways tourism marketers often fool themselves, and how it comes back to bite them in the booty.

1) We can water down this BIG idea and still get BIG results.

The excitement and energy that accompanies a big idea is invigorating, infectious, and lasting. This is especially because the magnitude of the potential results makes us star-struck.

Here’s the rub, however. When – due to budget, operational challenges, timing, executive indecision, or whatever – that big idea gets watered down before implementation, often marketers are super bummed that the results aren’t the ones with which they originally fell in love. They conveniently “forget” that they dramatically pared down the idea, and never shed that infectious, lasting excitement they had at the start.

If this describes your organization, fear not…you’re not alone. I can’t tell you how many times clients have asked us for a BIG BOLD IDEA, which they love at first hearing. And by the time it comes back to us after several washings through their various committee discussions and lengthy decision-making processes, we don’t even recognize it. This phenomenon is quite common. In fact, it’s so common that we even have a term for it at Redpoint: vanillafication. That’s taking bright, colorful, tasty ideas…and wringing all the flavor out of them until they’re just vanilla.

Folks, there’s no harm and no shame in paring down ideas. Necessity (and the reality of your situation) often demands it. But if you pare down your ideas, you must proportionately pare down your expectation of results accordingly. Not doing so is just one way that tourism marketers often fool themselves…and then they’re disappointed.

2) It’s fine if we just replicate last year’s event as is.

No, it’s not. Whether it’s a trade or consumer event, whatever tourism thing you’re selling…it’s being sold to people. And people get desensitized so easily.

It’s essential that you add at least one new element to your annual events each year. It doesn’t have to be huge or cost a lot of money. Just something different than your audiences have experienced at that event before. It keeps the event fresh, makes an impression, and gives folks something to talk about…and maybe even post on social media or share in other ways.

Moreover, if you seek news coverage of the event, you actually need “news.” If the event is 100% the same as it was the last time they heard about it or attended, there’s literally nothing for them to cover. They need a nugget of something new to make their editorial coverage interesting and timely.

I know, I know. Tourism marketers are so busy and often stretched so thin that it’s a relief when you can finally put something on autopilot and not have to invest new creative energy or logistical planning into something that’s already “done.” Sorry, friends. This is yet another way tourism marketers often fool themselves.

3) We can wait to fix this website issue.

There are days when I feel like it would be easier to raise a child than properly maintain a website. Platforms evolve, things break, algorithms change, content gets stale… the list is endless.

The mission to keep everything current and in excellent working order is so relentless that it’s tempting to ignore some of the issues for a while. Like… “until I have the budget,” or “until I have the time,” or “until next year.”

Because of this, often tourism marketers fool themselves into thinking, “oh, it’s not that bad if that one part of the navigation is wrong,” or “it’s only a few broken links on pages people don’t use much,” or “yeah, the site is slow to load but it’s not that bad,” or – my personal favorite – “these photos aren’t the best, but they’re fine for now.”

This sort of ostrich mentality does your business grave damage. Why? Because it’s quietly and invisibly turning away potential customers…AND YOU DON’T EVEN HEAR ABOUT IT. Trust me, no one ever calls you up and says, “I was going to book with you, but your website annoyed me so much I decided against it.” They don’t do that…they just walk away.

Sure, if you look at your website analytics, you can see symptoms of this. But that’s easier to ignore (if you’re even looking…and many businesses, especially with DIY marketing, aren’t). Imagine if all those folks who walked away actually DID call you up and say that? You’d make fixing your website the highest priority instantly.

Your website is your virtual front door. Stop losing business because of it. On both desktop and mobile, it needs to be visually appealing AND fully functional. That means it’s fast, easy to navigate, informative, and current, with no broken links or wonky formatting. Users care about all of that, but as importantly…so do search engines.

Tip: here are six common website issues to look for on your site.

4) These photos are good enough.

I can’t tell you how many times tourism operators have handed me a brochure or a business card (sometimes even at a trade show!) and said, “This is us, but don’t look at the photos; they need to be updated.”

Here’s a story that puts that situation in perspective. During a website audit, we showed a hotel client that the highest number of people were leaving their site from their photo gallery page. Sweet lordy. A photo gallery page should inspire people to check dates and start the booking process, not leave the website.

Investing in a major photo shoot had seemed like something they couldn’t afford. But that audit showed them that they couldn’t afford NOT to do it.

Photos are an essential selling tool in tourism marketing. They can’t just be “good enough.” They have a job to do, which includes things like catching attention among cluttered social media feeds and capturing the imagination of website visitors. Ultimately, you want your photos to inspire action, whether it’s to read a caption, click a link, or inquire about booking.

Please don’t fool yourself when it comes to the quality of your photos. You will lose money because of it.

Note: for tips on this, see The Secret to a Great Tourism Photo and What Makes a Dramatic Tourism Marketing Photo.

5) It’s fine if no one else in our organization knows what marketing is doing.

In so many of the organizations we work with, marketing lives in a silo. And it’s sooo tempting to keep it that way. No scrutiny, no one chiming in with opinions, no questions about how budgets are being spent. We hear that a lot: “I just gotta keep my head down and churn out the marketing stuff.”

If this is you, hear me out. This is a major way in which tourism marketers often fool themselves. In the tourism industry, the relationship between marketing and all the other departments is crucial. Our product is experiential, and its delivery is dependent on operations, guest service, human resources, and more. It’s an ecosystem that needs to be in harmony at all times.

Because of this, EVERYONE needs to know what marketing is doing. Marketing is bringing in the guests who fuel the engine that delivers the experience. So, that engine needs to know what marketing is doing to make that happen…especially so they can live up to those promises.

Distribute a monthly update, make periodic presentations, even go door-to-door Erin Brockovich style and tell folks what’s happening. One business I know hosts a monthly “snack time,” at which they lure folks from other departments in with free snacks and share the upcoming marketing tactics while soliciting input for the future. Figure out whatever works for your organization’s culture and just do it.

~~~

Overall, it’s likely that time poverty and budget constraints are the two biggest culprits behind many of these unwise choices. So I get it… it’s not easy. But awareness is the first step toward change, so grab yourself a beverage and think about where YOU might be fooling yourself in your tourism marketing activities. Feel free to make that an adult beverage… you might need it. 😉

What makes a dramatic tourism marketing photo?

March 16, 2023

Filed under: Public Relations, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategies, The Power of Persuasion, Social Media — @ 10:07 am

Your personal photos serve to capture a scene and a memory, but a marketing photo has another job: it must persuade and entice. But before it can even do those things, it has to catch someone’s attention. That means your marketing photos need to be arresting enough to stop thumbs and stand out among the sea of clutter that barrages people every day. Which begs the question:

What makes a dramatic tourism marketing photo?

By “dramatic,” I mean it evokes emotion, piques curiosity, and/or makes a bold statement. This is done through strategic use of angle, lighting, perspective, and subject choice. A dramatic tourism marketing photo can tell a story in one glance. And it can also get someone interested enough to stop and read the caption or other accompanying message you want to convey.

In that latter sense, the photo is just a lure. It’s bait, if you will, that hooks your audience into hearing what you have to say. So for a photo to hook as many people as possible, that bait needs to be nice and juicy.

A picture can indeed be worth a thousand words. Here are five dramatic tourism photos I’ve come across in the past month, and what each one says to its audience.

Destination British Columbia

This says: private, remote, solitude, peace, quiet. It also says, “Breathe fresh air in the wilderness and get away from the noise and clutter of your daily life.”

In this sea of snowy bluish-white, your eye is drawn to two things: 1) that little patch of brown, where the cabin sits nestled in the woods, and 2) the blurry branches in the left foreground. And the rest of the image is just natural, uninhabited, snow-blanketed forest. In this photo, the perspective distance from the cabin and the upward angle that still allows the cabin to peek through the trees really nail the emotion here. The cabin alone or the blurry branches alone wouldn’t create the same impact. But they work together to hold the viewer’s attention, and that in turn communicates a message that viewers don’t even realize they’re receiving: this is literally “getting away from it all.”

Tourism Tasmania

This says: unhurried, no decisions to make, no responsibilities. It also says, “Be alone with your thoughts and slow down your speed.”

The curves and swirls that juxtapose white and blue are enough to stop someone’s scrolling thumbs, but then it’s the lone human walking near the water that really makes this photo. The aerial perspective, coupled with the person, convey the scale and context of the landscape in a way that neither a close up, nor the same photo without the person in it, ever could. And even though there’s a light frothy surf where the beach meets the shore, the timing of this photo evokes the feeling that everything on this beach is still and calm…and so the only movements are the ones YOU choose to make. The person in the photo is clearly walking, which is essential to the emotion of the photo. If the person were standing still, it wouldn’t create that same compelling dynamic.

Switzerland Tourism

This says: unforgettable, breathtaking, Instagrammable wedding memories. It also says, “If you’ve got joie de vivre and a fun spirit, we’re the right place for your wedding.”

A quick glance at this photo catches attention because the couple on the ski lift is clearly NOT wearing ski gear. And the “white space” around that couple ensures that they really pop…it makes a viewer want to stop and zoom in for a closer look. What helps here is that the background is SO majestic. It screams “classic Swiss Alps” for a wedding backdrop, and yet the mountains don’t dominate the scene. Moreover, the perspective looking up from the ground, and the simplicity of what’s captured in the frame, evoke the feeling that the newlyweds are high above and away from everyone… alone together, far removed from anyone and anything. I mean, could it get any more romantic than that?

Klahoose Wilderness Resort

This says: unusual experience. It also says, “Whatever that is, it looks cool.”

It looks like a shed sitting on a dock, and that might be enough for someone to stop and check it out. But then, it has steam coming out of the roof, so…what IS that? It’s the steam that really makes this shot because it piques curiosity. Then the caption tells you that this is a work-in-progress shot of the resort’s new wood fire cedar sauna and just like that…you want to be in that sauna. The downward perspective from an elevated viewpoint shows just enough context for the viewer to understand its cool location, and that super calm blue water surrounding it adds to the allure. BTW, you can see the finished sauna here.

Inn by the Sea

This says: “You want wine? We’re not playing around. We’ve GOT wine.”

Landscape and nature aren’t the only subjects for dramatic tourism marketing photos. Look at these wine barrels. The way the rows curve at the back, along with the perfectly aligned strips of oak and burgundy coloring, really nail the drama for this photo. They draw the eye and give the impression that the barrels continue on to infinity. And nothing says “we’ve got plenty of wine” like a seemingly unlimited supply of wine barrels. Even better: this photo was used to promote inn’s wine pairings and menus for Maine Restaurant Week. Why is that better? Because it’s soooo different than the usual photo used to promote such an event, like a glass of wine next to a plated dinner. This stands out.

What’s the bottom line? What makes a dramatic tourism marketing photo isn’t necessarily having a dramatic subject. It’s CREATING a dramatic feeling by choosing how the subject will be photographed. It may take a little more investment on your part – time, money, expertise – but it’s well worth it to invest in this kind of marketing bait.

For more (undramatic) tourism marketing photography tips, find out the secret to a great tourism photo.

ChatGPT tips for tourism marketers.

February 13, 2023

Filed under: Public Relations, Digital Marketing, Website Strategies, Customer Service, Crisis Communications, Effective Presentations, Writing Tips, Marketing Strategies, This is Cool, Social Media, Effective Communication — @ 11:24 am

Here’s why tourism marketers need tips for using ChatGPT, an online program that engages in human-like dialogue based on a prompt: because we’re all too damn busy to waste time. And messing around with a new tool we’re not sure we’d even use feels a lot like wasting time. Is it worth it? Should you invest the time to get familiar with ChatGPT because that investment of time will pay off?

Short answer: yes. You need to know what this tool can REALLY do before you decide to embrace or reject it. It has some uses that may surprise you.

So let’s jumpstart your learning curve with some practical tips for how tourism marketers can explore the benefits of using ChatGPT.

First, let’s get one thing straight. ChatGPT is just a resource and a tool. You’ve got a lot of tools to help you do your job. Google is a tool. Adobe Illustrator is a tool. Semrush is a tool. But the relentless media frenzy around ChatGPT has given it near-mystical properties that make it seem more potent than that. Chill out, y’all. It’s just a tool. It’s one more resource in your toolbox to potentially help you do your job better, smarter, and faster.

And like all tools [she says sheepishly, aware that she barely knows how to use 5% of the available apps on her iPhone], its usefulness is only as powerful as your knowledge of how to harness it. I’ll never forget years ago when an accounting mentor said to me, “If you’re doing any manual calculations whatsoever or taking a long time to manipulate data in an Excel spreadsheet, then there’s a shortcut, command, or function you just don’t know about. Excel is designed to make life easier. If it’s making it harder, go learn more about Excel.”

ChatGPT is the same. When you first try it out, you won’t be savvy at knowing how to coax the most effective results from it. So you’ll plug in a few basic things and the outcomes will be unimpressive. And then, because you’re super busy and there’s no mandate that says you need to use ChatGPT, you’ll dismiss it as unhelpful and go back to the familiar tools in your toolbox.

But what if I told you that…

You could paste a particularly legalese-sounding section of a vendor contract into ChatGPT and say “explain this to me like I’m an 8^th grader”…and it does?

It could produce a style guide for all your team members to follow, after you feed it several samples of a brand’s voice to analyze?

It could take your 400-word bio and make it fit that directory listing’s 100-word requirement in just one click?

It could give you a substantive list of story ideas for your content calendar…and then organize them into a seasonal schedule…and then create first drafts of each piece of content, in different formats for social channels, blog posts, email newsletters…and even website copy that’s optimized for the keywords you require?

It can indeed do all those things and more…if you know how to prompt it effectively.

Janette Roush is Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, for NYC & Company, which is the official DMO/CVB for New York City. And she’s one of ChatGPT’s early adopters and passionate champions who is learning to master the “art of the prompt.”

“If you want to get ChatGPT to give you useful answers, the key is in how you formulate your prompt,” Roush told me. “I was once advised to think of it like an omniscient three-year-old. It knows everything under the sun, but it doesn’t know who YOU are, WHY you need to know, and WHO you’re trying to talk to. You need to prompt it with details like that for it to return a result that’s written in the context you need. Otherwise the result will be very generic and way less useful to your purpose.”

Roush has honed her prompting skills through persistent trial and error. In fact, she even documents her journey with ChatGPT on LinkedIn, making regular posts about prompts she’s tried for a wide variety of uses and the results they’ve produced. (Pro tip: Connect with or follow her there. You won’t regret it.)

Inspired by Roush, I took ChatGPT for a three-hour test drive one morning, just giving it prompts for various tourism-marketing-related things. One thing I quickly learned is that a generic prompt yields a generic answer and specific prompt yields a specific answer. Case in point: Look at how it adjusted its responses for social media captions based upon my specificity:

And it did the same thing as I sought its help to generate story ideas for Northern California:

Are those story ideas all perfect with no need for tweaking? Perhaps not. But did it give me threads to follow where before I had none? Absolutely. And some good ones too.

So, in addition to writing copy, one use of ChatGPT is to think of it like you would a sounding board. Or a brainstorming partner. It can’t ideate on its own (it’s not designed to innovate) but it can work with the prompts you give it to hit you back with starter threads.

Roush shared some spectacular direction on how to prompt ChatGPT as a sounding board in one of her recent LinkedIn posts:

You may be thinking “well, why can’t I just Google stuff like that instead of using ChatGPT?” And you can. But Google (“regular” Google, not the emerging Google Bard version that’s trying to infuse AI into its experience but not quite succeeding as of this writing) will give you a slew of different links for you to go explore and assimilate all the information on your own. And ChatGPT will just…answer you. Not with “here are ten sources you can read to find story ideas” or “here are ten sources to see how other destinations are making themselves an attractive esports destination.” It delivers YOUR story ideas, and tells you how YOUR destination can achieve an attractive esports destination profile.

And then – mind blown – you can direct it to actually WRITE that story about ice skating in Northern California or OUTLINE that strategic plan to develop esports tourism in NYC.

Again…will they be final drafts that need no tweaking? Absolutely not. They will be FIRST drafts, but if you’ve prompted with care, they’ll be pretty damn good first drafts.

And THAT saves you time, which is the whole point of using ChatGPT for marketing assistance.

But wait, you say. When I use Google as a resource tool, I can handpick from among sources on the results pages that I feel are legitimate and credible. Without such references, how do I know the information I’m getting from ChatGPT is accurate?

Folks, I remind you again that ChatGPT is not supposed to be a mystical tool that sees all and knows all. You’ll need to check your facts, just like you would using any other source. Do you really think that something is accurate just because you got it from a source on Google that you consider “credible?” News outlets get details wrong, websites have outdated information, and inaccurate stuff has a way of floating around and perpetuating online. So, ChatGPT is no more nor less credible than any other source you use. And you should do your due diligence on its output when necessary.

And while we’re at it, I should also remind you that most of the output you get from ChatGPT will need tweaking and polish. Even with the absolute best of prompting, there will still be nuances and phrasing you’ll need to infuse. So it can’t hurt to brush up on your writing skills, and these tips will help.

If you want to explore how ChatGPT can potentially help you with your tourism marketing needs but you’re not sure how to begin, Roush offers these four tips to get started:

Commit to a finite time period for practice. You won’t learn how to use any new tool unless you devote time to using it. Roush recommends setting a challenge to yourself, with some kind of accountability built into the period. Take two weeks or a month or whatever, during which you commit to prompting ChatGPT on at least one topic every day. “I challenged myself to post a new ChatGPT insight on LinkedIn every day for a month, and it forced me to think of that tool daily,” she says. “It didn’t come naturally to me at first, but after a while, as various needs arose throughout the day at work, I’d automatically say to myself ‘let me see how ChatGPT would handle that.’ And then I’d dive into prompting.”
Don’t think of it just for help with writing. With accurate prompting, ChatGPT is an excellent resource for organization, explanations, curation, and more. Roush says it’s helped her structure her lesson approach for her work as an Assistant Professor at Hunter College, and it’s helped flesh out her vacation itinerary in Montreal by finding cool things to do nearby to her already-planned stops. “I’ve also used it to help it explain things I don’t fully understand,” she says, “like when I understand 80% of a technical proposal and I want to understand 100% of it. I can ask ChatGPT to explain it to me in layman’s terms.”
Learn to become specific in how you prompt. You won’t be good at this right out of the gate. It takes time and practice to master the art of prompting. When Roush first dabbled in using ChatGPT, she – like most folks – prompted it with “silly things,” just trying out generic questions and commands, and receiving lackluster responses. “It wasn’t until I stumbled upon how to start being more specific that I began to see the possible uses of ChatGPT,” she says. “I had asked it to create an itinerary for my vacation in Montreal and it was pretty vanilla, just hitting all the major tourist sites. But when I fed it my existing itinerary and asked it to suggest enhancement additions using the right prompts for specificity, it really impressed me.”
Let ChatGPT create a style guide for you, so it learns to deliver responses in your own voice. Roush fed it around 40 of her previous LinkedIn posts and asked it to create a writing style guide for her… which it did shockingly well. Now she can instruct ChatGPT to use that guide when asking it to write stuff on her behalf. “It was surprising how well the style guide captured my voice,” she said. “If I had tried to analyze my own work and write up my own style guide, it would have taken forever and probably been less accurate.”

The bottom line is that the more you use it, the more uses you’ll discover for it. And with practice at the art of prompting, you can make ChatGPT something akin to a full-service virtual assistant who brainstorms, writes, organizes, and educates.

Or… not. You may end up hating it, but until you REALLY take it for a lengthy and diverse test drive, how will you ever know?

Related reading: Issac Asimov’s I, Robot. It was written in 1950 and well…here we are, folks.

Here’s how to stop being an impatient writer.

February 8, 2023

Filed under: Writing Tips — @ 5:32 pm

If you’re a marketer, you can’t afford to be an impatient writer. You think you’re saving time by just zipping through your writing, but actually you’re wasting time. So if you’re an impatient writer, you need to stop. Here’s why and here’s how.

WHY?

Because a well-crafted piece does its job on first exposure, and a piece that’s been produced with cut corners needs further explanation and follow up.

Impatient writers often choose ineffective words because they came to mind first. Something may not feel *quite* like the perfect phrase, but it’s “good enough” and the next task is calling. So, they don’t take the time to better articulate their meaning. What happens? The audience is left to interpret the meaning however they wish. Two examples:

This weekend hotel package is great for families with kids of all ages.
This weekend hotel package will have your toddlers laughing from wake time to bedtime, your teens producing TikToks their friends will envy, and your whole family making experiential memories together that last a lifetime.

Sure, example #2 is longer…but it’s also richer and more vibrant. It paints a picture in someone’s mind. It gives a parent an aspiration: That’s the kind of vacation I want to give my kids.

So why do we say that writing example #1 is “wasting time?” Because it’s not descriptive enough to do its job, which is to inspire busy, scattered parents to click, ask, or engage to find out more. That means you need to either write MORE copy to further explain your story (in which case, that first sentence is useless), or you need to bombard those parents with supportive and more descriptive marketing from several other channels and angles. Lovely…so now you’re wasting money too.

If you’re a marketer, every sentence, phrase, and word you write should pull its weight in the persuasion department. And it can…if you’re willing to employ the patience to make it happen.

HOW?

Patience is often in short supply, especially for a task we don’t like or a skill we lack. And when we’re overstretched and crazy busy, patience feels like a luxury we can’t afford. Here’s how you can transform yourself into a more patient, and therefore more effective, writer in four steps:

First, concentrate on changing your mindset. Treat writing like you would any other habit you’re trying to change…dieting, hydrating more, exercising, quitting smoking, whatever. The first step is being committed to changing your writing impatience, and to surviving that uncomfortable phase when you’re acting differently and it feels weird. The first few times it takes you 20 minutes to write something that would have previously taken you five…you’re gonna hate it. You’ll feel frustrated and (yes) impatient, and you’ll be distracted by all the other things you know are awaiting your attention. And you’ll feel like you’re wasting time. This is normal. Just like you should expect to feel hungry when you first start dieting, so too you should expect to feel uncomfortable when you set out to curb your impatient writing habits. You’re acting differently, so naturally you’ll be feeling differently. I repeat: this is normal, so expect it to happen and you’ll be less frustrated when it does.

Second, adjust your planning to build in more time for writing. We marketers tend to overfill our to-do lists, which handcuffs us before we even put fingers to keyboard. That list – that you created, btw – forces you to crank through 47 things today (or else feel like a failure at the end of the day) and so drafting that email copy on your list has 16 minutes to become “good enough.” Stop that. You must acknowledge that effective writing needs time. Allow yourself the freedom to spend that time. If you’re an impatient writer, you might not even be forecasting how much time writing needs will take. Rather, you just assume you’ll fit them in between more important things like – ahem – meetings. Again, I repeat: stop it. Give your writing projects the space they need on your dance card. And as someone who’s been there, take my advice. Whatever time you think you need? Double it.

Third, temporarily mute all distractions. If you want to stop being an impatient writer, you’ll need willpower to ignore distractions. Not forever. Just while you’re writing. Whether it’s an important three-sentence email to your boss, a marketing-oriented blog post, a newsletter blurb, ad copy, or whatever… surely the world can wait for a bit while you focus on that? Give your willpower some help. Turn off email, Teams, Slack, social media, and any other notifications on your desktop. Put your phone on silent. Even if that bit of writing only takes you 15 minutes, the seductive power of those dings and notification bubbles makes it challenging to focus. This is especially true if you dislike writing or it’s not a top skill for you.

And finally, start using thesaurus.com or another online resource for wordsmithing. I guarantee that even if you completely ignore the first three steps, just making this ONE simple change will completely transform your writing. You will find more powerful, descriptive words and phrases than the ones your brain initially dumped out. Your writing will be – as in example #2 above – richer and more vibrant. And it will do a better job of achieving your objective on the first exposure to your audience. See what the power of changing one simple word in a phrase can do here.

For more tips to help you stop being an impatient writer – and become a more effective one – check out these additional resources:

The power of 15 minutes in writing.

Five opening lines that sabotage your email’s success.

Four quick tips to strengthen your writing.

Take the “No I” challenge to improve your writing in one week.

Hotel amenities can have marketing value.

January 13, 2023

Filed under: Customer Service, Marketing Strategies, This is Cool — @ 11:55 am

Travelers expect a lodging property to have a bed and a shower, but hoteliers should look beyond that to offer hotel amenities that also have marketing value. What do I mean by that? I mean the type of things that make a lasting impression. The kind that guests want to photograph and share on social media, and text to friends with an “OMG ISN’T THIS THE COOLEST THING EVER?”

The type of things that transforms guests into ambassadors.

Let’s face it. Travelers in 2023 will STILL be itching to make up for their pandemic travel pause. Call it revenge travel, rebound travel, or restorative travel…no matter the name, it means they’re seeking experiences memorable enough to feel like several vacations in one.

And extraordinary, unexpected amenities are one small yet meaningful way for hotels to deliver such standout memories. Better yet, they don’t have to be expensive or extravagant for either the hotel or the guest. They just need to be unusual enough to make an impression.

Here are five spectacular examples from around the world of hotel amenities that have marketing value:

The Toilet Paper at The View – Lugano, Switzerland

A roll of pink toilet paper sitting on a wood ledge that shows hotel amenities can have marketing value.

Credit: The View Lugano

With its breathtaking setting up on a hill overlooking the Lake of Lugano in Switzerland, The View Lugano already offers a lot in the “making memories” department. But with the hotel’s “Tailor Made Services” program, guests can customize nearly every aspect of their stay prior to arrival. And while there are plenty of the usual customizable amenities on the list of options – pillows, champagne in the room, breakfast choices, etc. – one thing is SO unusual, it’s likely a guest will never forget it: you can choose from among five different colors of toilet paper to have in your bathroom. It’s a small detail that makes a huge impact.

The Bookmarks at The Betsy – Miami Beach, Florida

A white colored bookmark (embedded with flower seeds) with a poem written in black sits on a white background, showing that hotel amenities can have marketing value.

Credit: The Betsy

It’s pretty cool (so says this bookworm) that each room at The Betsy in South Beach has its own library, but then there’s the bookmark at turndown. Each night, guests receive a bookmark on their pillow made from recycled paper and wildflowers. Take ‘em home and plant them in your garden, and voila: you now have a tangible and lasting memory of your visit.

The Podcast Booth at The Sinclair – Fort Worth, Texas

The interior of a podcast booth with two chairs, a microphone and other recording equipment, showing that hotel amenities can have marketing value.

Credit: The Sinclair Hotel

Every hotel is looking for ways to make it easier for guests to share their experiences with others. The Sinclair takes it to the next level with a fully-equipped podcast booth for rent during a stay. Open to both guests and the public, this quirky (but brilliant) amenity rents for $50 per session. So, from the hotel’s perspective, over time the investment they made pays for itself. But even if it didn’t…the press coverage alone upon opening earned them a worthy ROI. This is DEFINITELY a hotel amenity that has marketing value, on multiple levels.

The Coffee Maker at the Marriott Hacienda Belen – San Jose, Costa Rica

A traditional coffee maker with a wooden arm and white mesh strainer, showing that hotel amenities can have marketing value.

Credit: Marriott Hacienda Belen

Paying homage to the glorious thing that is Costa Rican coffee, the Marriott Hacienda Belen provides some elite guests with a traditional drip coffee maker to use during their stay…and then gifts it to them to take home. It’s such a startling difference from the “tech-ification” of the typical in-room coffee amenity at hotels that it stands out in a lasting way. Not only is it highly Instagrammable and TikTokable, it also taps into the extreme passion of serious coffee enthusiasts. A win-win.

The 3D Cocktails at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac – Quebec City, Canada

A cocktail in an opaque black glass with a 3D model of sugar in the shape of a building sits next to a cocktail glass filled with ice and lemon. This shows that hotel amenities can have marketing value.

Credit: The Fairmont le Chateau Frontenac

Heaven knows that people LOVE snapping and sharing pictures of beautiful cocktails. Indeed, at the time of this writing, the hashtag #cocktails on Instagram had 36 million posts. The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac takes it one step further by making some of their cocktails video-worthy as well. The 3D cocktails feature a small model made of sugar and natural flavors (the one above is a miniature of the hotel itself). Once the liquor is added, the model slowly dissolves to create a perfectly blended cocktail. Delicious drink…delicious marketing.

The point is…not EVERY touchpoint of a guest’s stay needs to provide a snap-to-attention, memorable “wow.” Too many of them would just be desensitizing anyway. But strategic pops of surprise can capture a guest’s heart and make a lasting impression. Hotel amenities that have marketing value can be a low-cost way to do that. I mean, you have to give them toilet paper… why not offer it to them in pink?

For other ideas on how to make a lasting impression on guests, check out these two other resources:

Tiny design details can make big memories in hospitality.

10 Unexpected and fabulous guest service stories.

The use of experience guarantees in tourism marketing.

December 12, 2022

Filed under: Public Relations, Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field — @ 12:24 pm

With a looming recession in a post-pandemic world, you may – should? – be considering the use of experience guarantees in your tourism marketing. Why? Because travelers will be less willing to risk their precious dollars on an unpredictable experience.

A rare black Amami Island rabbit sitting nestled in the forest in Japan, showing how the use of experience guarantees in tourism marketing can be successful.

But offering a REAL guaranteed experience of any kind could be risky for you. Sure, you can say “we guarantee you’ll have a great time” (and by the way, here’s why you should never say someone will have a “great” time). But that’s quite different from “we guarantee XX will happen or we’ll give you a refund.” So much of the hospitality experience is subjective that it’s hard for you to TRULY guarantee that certain things will happen.

So what CAN you money-back guarantee without exposing yourself to excessive risk?

First, embrace these two key factors:

Most consumers don’t have a clue how much risk is involved to you. All they’re thinking about is the guarantee to them. So your low-risk guarantee – which may seem like a “duh” to you – still has marketing value.
The bolder the guarantee, the higher the risk. And the higher the risk, the more powerful the marketing proposition. You need to decide your comfort level on the financial-risk-vs-marketing-power spectrum, and it’s different for every brand.

Second, remember that tourism experience guarantees serve a MARKETING purpose, not an operational purpose. Indeed, marketing and ops departments often have polar opposite views of guarantees: marketing would love to guarantee everything, and operations would love to guarantee nothing (because they aspire, but what if circumstances don’t allow them to deliver consistently or are completely beyond their control?).

And since these guarantees serve a marketing purpose, they must be marketing-worthy…or else what’s the point? Such guarantees set you apart from your competitors and, if they’re cool enough, can attract hefty attention in both traditional and social media.

Gather food for thought from these examples:

No Brainer/Low Risk

There are so many whales in the Juneau, Alaska, area that Princess Cruises can offer a whale sighting guarantee on their paid shore excursions. You can spend 200 bucks on your ticket, knowing that if you don’t see a whale, you’ll get $100 back. VERY attractive for travelers, VERY low-risk for Princess.

Also on the wildlife front, tours on the remote Amami Island in Japan offer guaranteed sightings of the island’s rare black rabbit, an animal exclusive to that area. If you don’t see a rabbit, you’ll get a 50% refund. If you’re up for some light reading, check out this deep scientific study that assessed the benefit of these guarantees on both the tourism economy and the conservation of the rare Amami Island rabbit. The punchline: that guarantee is good for everyone…the tour operators, the visitors, and the rabbits.

A few years back, thanks to some crafty fine print, Priceline promoted a Sunshine Guarantee for its packages. The promotion covered a shockingly wide variety of destinations (really…July in Seattle?) and the bottom line is that if it rained more than the expected amount on your vacation, you get your money back. You’re probably thinking… were they nuts? No. They just had great lawyers that mitigated their risk:

Bolder Options with Financial Bite

One of the boldest and riskiest tourism marketing experience guarantees I’ve ever seen actually hails from Redpoint’s own client portfolio. Years ago, we launched a Sleep Guarantee for The Benjamin Hotel in NYC as part of its comprehensive sleep program that included a 12-pillow menu, a Sleep Concierge, and rooms specially designed for an ideal night’s sleep. The guarantee, which offered a full refund if you don’t sleep as well or better than you do at home, added MAJOR strength to the hotel’s sleep positioning and attracted the attention of high-profile media from Good Morning America and The TODAY Show to The New York Times (multiple times… here are two), The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and more. It was a strategic component designed to attract media attention and you know what? In the ten years we worked with them, fewer than 10 guests asked for that refund. So let’s say that total refund cost was (generously) $10,000. The PR value of the sleep guarantee easily exceeded $1 million in that same 10-year period. ROI: The hotel knew their high-end clientele wouldn’t be out to make a quick buck on this offer, so in reality it wasn’t as risky as it seemed.

And the Uzbekistan government also did the math. In summer 2020, they offered US $3,000 to any visitor who contracted Covid-19 while staying in the country. This seems like a hefty financial risk to them but 1) were people even traveling internationally at that time? And 2) It sounds mercenary but that potential $3,000 per person was definitely way LESS than the value of the marketing attention they gained. So, even if they ended up paying out the money, it was a sound investment.

Aruba also realized how skittish folks would be about booking travel amidst a pandemic, so they offered a “Happily Ever After Guarantee.” Billed as “the first postponable pandemic destination booking policy,” it allowed bridal couples and honeymooners to reschedule without penalty for up to a year if Covid-19 wrecked their travel plans. A bold move, for sure, as multiple properties had to agree to honor the policy. But it worked, and it set them apart from other Caribbean destinations.

If you’re considering the use of experience guarantees in your tourism marketing, heed this advice: be playful, be bold, and be strategic about your fine print. For example:

A Tastiest Tomato Guarantee? Lookin at you, Woodstock Inn & Resort.
A Freshest Lobster Guarantee? Lookin at you, Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl.
A Bird-Sighting Guarantee? Lookin at you, Trinidad & Tobago.
A Fresh Air Guarantee? Lookin at you, Tasmania.
A 24-Hour Music Guarantee? Lookin at you, Nashville.

When you evaluate carefully and do the math, such guarantees may not be so risky after all. Consider any claimed refunds as a “marketing investment.”

And hey, while we’re doing math and looking at your P&L, see here why you can’t find love on a spreadsheet.

How to promote your brand’s weaknesses strategically.

December 9, 2022

Filed under: Public Relations, Marketing Strategies, This is Cool, Spending Budgets Wisely, Branding Strategies — @ 10:43 am

Of course all brands want to promote their good side, but is it possible to promote your brand’s weaknesses strategically? You bet it is. In many cases, there’s an upside to promoting your “bad side.”

The fact is, you’re not perfect and consumers know it. Today’s consumers are savvier than ever, and you know what they want from you? Authenticity. They don’t want you to gloss over your issues and they want to engage with you based on clear expectations. When you do this, it earns their respect. Indeed, TikTok is a channel surging in popularity precisely because it’s a home for authentic, unpolished content.

Many brands have leaned into this sentiment, finding ways to turn a negative into a positive. And in doing so, they reap the rewards…not just in engagement but often also in revenue.

Here are four strategic examples of organizations – from various industries – who promote their brand’s weaknesses strategically with great success.

Sun-Maid: Candy is better than raisins and we know it.

Who wants raisins in their trick-or-treating haul? No one, that’s who. And yet, for years, Sun-Maid tried to promote their raisins as a healthy alternative to Halloween candy. Recently, they finally realized that’s an uphill battle they’ll never win. As marketing director Fernando Herrara says:

So, they began a series of annual Halloween marketing activations and video campaigns to position Sun-Maid raisins as a trick-or-treat villain, scaring kids everywhere. The fun twist gets folks to laugh with them and communicates a cool, authentic vibe for the brand. Most recently, the brand took over an entire town, complete with Raisin Zombies and a ton of interactive elements. See the video and read about the seriously impressive results here.

Vancouver Island: Come here for the rainstorms.

Unless deliberately engaging in winter activities like skiing, travelers most often wish for sunny warm weather on vacation. But this creates a challenge for destinations, splitting their annual tourism calendar into high seasons and low seasons. That’s not ideal, as a destination wants (and needs) year-round economic stability. And if tourism is a key driver of their economy, they must make low season more attractive to visitors while still managing expectations and providing a worthwhile experience.

On the west coast of Canada, British Columbia’s Vancouver Island is far from a sunny warm climate during November through February. Yet, it’s also far from being considered a “low season” in the tourism industry because it’s Storm Season.

Two people in yellow rain gear stand at the edge of the ocean with rough seas as part of the Wickaninnish Inn's Storm Watching package, which is an excellent example of how to promote your brand's weaknesses strategically.

Winter storms on this coast are breathtaking and dramatic, and the region has transformed storm watching into a key attraction during Storm Season. Properties like Tofino’s luxurious Wickaninnish Inn have made a booming business out of Storm Watching Packages from November through February. Guests get outfitted with full rain gear and are treated to a host of cozy and warm amenities when they come in from the storm. And with average nightly rates from CAD $553 – $833, it’s hard to believe that would be considered low or off season.

Hockey Legend Denis Potvin: I don’t suck…buy my socks.

As sports rivalries go, the hockey divide between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers fans ranks among the most intense. So much so that Ranger fans are STILL pissed about something legendary NY Islander Denis Potvin did to one of the Ranger players back in 1979.

How do we know they’re still pissed about it? Because to this day, more than 40 years later, Ranger fans still chant – loudly, as one – POTVIN SUCKS every time the Rangers play the Islanders. And yet Denis Potvin retired in 1988.

It seems that after 40 years of being booed, Denis has finally figured out a way to earn their respect…if not exactly shut them up. He launched a collection of “Potvin Socks.”

Three pairs of Denis "Potvin Socks" in orange, blue, and white, which are excellent examples of how to promote your brand's weaknesses strategically.

Ranger fans may still hate both Denis and the Islanders, but there’s no denying this bold and sassy move adds some fun spice to the rivalry. And the best part? A portion of the proceeds from each sale goes to the NY Islanders children’s foundation. Come ON, Ranger fans… it’s for the kids! Get them here.

Destinations Everywhere: Mud is good clean fun.

Colorado. New York. Vermont. Utah. New Hampshire. Maine. And a slew of other creative destinations have aligned with the motto “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Mountainous destinations with snowy winters end up with early spring seasons that are a muddy mess. As the snow and ice melts and runs off down the mountains into the surrounding areas, there’s simply mud everywhere. Let’s be honest, it doesn’t make for attractive tourism brochure photos.

Unless… we make mud the “reason to come?”

A land rover car driving on muddy terrain in a forested area with blue sky, which is an excellent example of how to promote your brand's weaknesses strategically by capitalizing on mud season.

Mud season packages and activities can offer a compelling draw for tourists, and the concept of “mud” has a wide latitude. There’s mud outdoors, like you’d experience with off-road driving. But there’s also mud treatments in spas, mud pie, muddy cocktails, even “get dirty in the mud” team-building activities for groups and weddings. I mean, what bridal party doesn’t want to enjoy a tug of war and obstacle course in the mud as part of their lower-priced wedding package because it’s not high season?

Mud season is not a new tourism angle, but it sure is popular with the media. So even if consumers don’t book, it has legit marketing value and good press never goes to waste. I’ll never forget when, years ago, Redpoint orchestrated an entire mud season campaign for the New England Inns & Resorts Association. Dozens of the association’s member hotels participated by offering creative mud-themed packages for consumers. And one of them told me that a gent called their reservation line to inquire about the mud package after seeing it here in the newspaper…and he ended up booking a $3,500 engagement package before getting off the call!

That just further proves that PR is essential in tourism marketing.

The bottom line is that even though you naturally want to promote your “good side,” it’s also possible promote your brand’s weaknesses strategically too. You just have to be thoughtful and clever about it, and you can’t be afraid to have a little fun. Because consumers will get what you’re doing and applaud you for it.

But one parting thought: if you’re going to go this route? Don’t skimp on photography. Here’s what happens when your tourism photos suck.

Your belly button is an email marketing tool.

November 9, 2022

Filed under: Digital Marketing, The Power of Persuasion, Effective Communication — @ 4:01 pm

Wait… IS your belly button an email marketing tool? Damn right it is. Here’s why.

Consumers kinda suck, don’t they? They need to be rewarded for everything we want them to do…liking things, sharing things, buying things, answering things. It’s maddening.

Well marketers, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve conditioned people to chase carrots and respond to hoopla…which means we’ve ALSO conditioned them to ignore stuff that’s boring, predictable, trite, and unrewarding. If you add in clutter from other sources, their willingness to focus on your boring stuff drops even lower.

Where does this leave email subject lines? At the top of your “spend brainpower here” list.

Think about it…all the time and energy you spend creating the perfect email content is 100% useless if people don’t open the email. And when sifting through their barrage of daily incoming emails, consumers use three main criteria to determine which ones will get their attention:

How much they care about you vs. how much they care about the rest of the senders sitting in their inbox.
How much time they have available when your email arrives.
Is the content going to be worth their time?

And #3 is why subject lines should get your brainpower. You have little or no control over #1 and #2.

If your email marketing subject lines are things like “August Newsletter” or “News from…” or even something a little more specific like “Winter Packages at…”… you are relying on the first two criteria (which – again – are beyond your control) to supply the magic “open sesame” of consumer response.

But if your subject line is something like…

Procrastination is fine. (From Pacifica Hotels)

I hate purple. (From Chilewich)

Stick Season – Have You Ever Experienced It? (From West Hill House B&B)

The ecosystem of your belly button. (From American Museum of Natural History)

Hydrangea Heaven at Chatham Bars Inn. (From Chatham Bars Inn)

Because our first shoe had to be perfect. (From Everlane)

Caution: Do not lick this email. (From Seamless)

…you’re using the subject line as a lure to snap desensitized recipients to attention. It’s likely that 80% or more of the emails they receive each day have boring subject lines. Make yours interesting and you’re one notch closer to seducing them into seeing your email content.

Here’s the best part. If you pay heed to #3 (teasing interesting content)…and then you actually ensure that the content IS interesting…over time, it’s going to positively impact #1 and #2. Remember: marketers train consumers. And the more you train them that your emails are interesting, the more that #1- they will care about you and your messages, and #2- no matter when your email arrives, they will make the time to read it.

It’s a delicious cycle of persuasive marketing goodness. And soon you will find that consumers – those picky, aloof, what’s-in-it-for-me monsters we marketers have created – will suck just a little bit less.

Tourism folks may not easily be able to use a belly button as an email marketing tool – although for years, we worked for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Times Square and no body parts were off limits for marketing there – but the concept is the same. At the end of the day, it’s all about making your marketing more persuasive. And therefore, making all that precious time you spend creating content…worth it.