Just a heads up about two Conferences you may want to attend:
Firstly, the annual TIANB conference is coming up, early bird registration ends April 17 (save over $100). We are having TWO Tourism Gurus this year, Joe Pine and Roger Brooks. This conference is value for your money. May 22 in Caraquet. Visit http://www.tianb.com/ for more information.
Second, the Atlantic Internet Marketing conference will be next week in Halifax. I will be attending along with my other tourismtechnology.com counterparts. While not geared to tourism specifically, it's a great broad base of information and local contacts to help you generate the most out of your website and blog. http://www.aimconference.com/
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Just get the job done.
This week's post is dedicated to procrastination and doing those things which you do not like to do.
I'm generally pro technology, and bubbly smiley about websites. However I get the feeling that not all people are like that ... imagine.
Imagine not being at one with your computer, imagine not being in total sync with MS office products ... I shudder at the thought.
So I have a confession.
I dislike to exercise. I loath it the way most of you loath checking and composing email. Not just general loathing, but a deep deep psychological loathing of lactic acid pain.
But for the past two weeks I've been on the exercise bike and drinking at least one glass of water EVERY DAY. And that includes Saturdays and Sundays. In fact I'm sitting at work right now with my water and drinking that bland ol' H2O as I type.
So if I can make the effort to Exercise, You can make an effort with your website !
Start like I did, with a small goal, and just keep at it. Set up a time of day, and stick to the routine.
There are two main factors in my success:
One - there is a chilled water dispenser at my office. It's right there in front of me. And chilled water is a bit tastier, so it's not to much of a hassle for me.
Two - I also own an exercise bike. It's not fancy but it does the job. And it's right in my house, so again it's not a hassle.
Look around at your technology options, are they a hassle ? If so, think about making some changes.
I'm generally pro technology, and bubbly smiley about websites. However I get the feeling that not all people are like that ... imagine.
Imagine not being at one with your computer, imagine not being in total sync with MS office products ... I shudder at the thought.
So I have a confession.
I dislike to exercise. I loath it the way most of you loath checking and composing email. Not just general loathing, but a deep deep psychological loathing of lactic acid pain.
But for the past two weeks I've been on the exercise bike and drinking at least one glass of water EVERY DAY. And that includes Saturdays and Sundays. In fact I'm sitting at work right now with my water and drinking that bland ol' H2O as I type.
So if I can make the effort to Exercise, You can make an effort with your website !
Start like I did, with a small goal, and just keep at it. Set up a time of day, and stick to the routine.
There are two main factors in my success:
One - there is a chilled water dispenser at my office. It's right there in front of me. And chilled water is a bit tastier, so it's not to much of a hassle for me.
Two - I also own an exercise bike. It's not fancy but it does the job. And it's right in my house, so again it's not a hassle.
Look around at your technology options, are they a hassle ? If so, think about making some changes.
- If your computer is too slow, take it in for a professional "cleansing" or a few upgrade parts
- Consider buying a new computer
- Is your computer in a comfortable work area?
- If your website is a pain to update, consider getting a new one.
- Or talk to a web developer to see what can be done with the one you have.
In this market, every developer should be keen on any business, even a few hours of work. Find someone who speaks to you at a level you understand and don't be afraid to get a second opinion (or a third).
I finally started thinking in terms of the rewards, rather then the tasks. The rewards of exercise is good health, long life, better fitting clothes.... while on the beach visiting one of your fine establishments.
The rewards of a technology / website upgrade is that it will make your life easier, it will encourage you to make those frequent updates, and it will lead to increased business.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Story of Bill, Gary, and Jane
(fictional)
Bill runs Trinity Escape, a small cottage property on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. He offers a dozen oceanfront cottages from June through September. He is usually booked solid in July and August.
Bill has had a website for four years that was built by his brother-in-law. He cannot update it himself so every 4-6 months Bill pays to make any changes that are needed. He receives about 30 email and phone inquiries per week, but this number has dropped off over the past year or two, even though travelers are already starting to plan their summer vacations.
One such traveler is Jane from Calgary who has just clicked onto Bill’s website. Jane is flying home in the summer to visit her family and is planning a girl’s weekend away with her sisters. She went online and Googled "cottages for rent in Newfoundland" but found no good results. She then Googled "tourism Newfoundland" and found a list of properties on the provincial tourism website, which she is going through one at a time.
Jane likes the location on the ocean and the cottages look comfortable. She needs to bring her sister’s dog but it takes her awhile to find the policy information. It’s a bit ambiguous as to which cottages will allow dogs but she is willing to take a chance. The cottage fits her budget and she is ready to book. After scanning around for online booking, she realizes Bill doesn’t offer it. Jane hits the "back" button and returns to the provincial tourism website. She may be back if she doesn’t find another property that is suitable -- and if she remembers the site.
Jane clicks the next link in the list and she arrives at the site of Gary’s Oceanside Cottages, 25 km down the road from Bill’s. Jane quickly finds an ideal cottage. She stares in awe at a photo of the sun setting over the ocean, as seen from the deck of the cottage, and salivates at the homemade raspberry scones, crème fraiche and coffee that are delivered each morning. She sees that the cottage is available when she is visiting. Jane is sold and clicks the Book this Cottage button adjacent to the room description. Jane is so excited she calls her sisters
Gary is relaxing by the pool at his condo in Bradenton, FL. He spent the day deep sea fishing. He checks his email and sees that cottage 8 was booked online for a 2-night package in the second week in June. That brings his occupancy for that month up to 74%. He sends Jane a short email to thank her for her business and asks if they have any special requirements for their breakfast or her sister’s dog.
Its mid-June and Bill is shaking his head. For the first time in 20 years he still has vacancies for July. He looks around his property – his gardens are in full bloom and the new dock he built over the winter is just waiting for visitors to launch the kayaks. "Maybe I should lower my rates and put an ad in the paper?" he asks himself.
What do you think?
Do you think an Ad in the newspaper is going to do anything for Bill's occupancy rates?
You know what I think - I think that Bill should have taken the Tourism Technology Website Mentoring Session from myself, and updated his site. Even just a few updates/changes may have prompted Jane to perhaps reserve by phone, and would not have cost Bill a lot of money.
Call me to book your session.
506-451-0173
beth@@tianb.com
Bill runs Trinity Escape, a small cottage property on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. He offers a dozen oceanfront cottages from June through September. He is usually booked solid in July and August.
Bill has had a website for four years that was built by his brother-in-law. He cannot update it himself so every 4-6 months Bill pays to make any changes that are needed. He receives about 30 email and phone inquiries per week, but this number has dropped off over the past year or two, even though travelers are already starting to plan their summer vacations.
One such traveler is Jane from Calgary who has just clicked onto Bill’s website. Jane is flying home in the summer to visit her family and is planning a girl’s weekend away with her sisters. She went online and Googled "cottages for rent in Newfoundland" but found no good results. She then Googled "tourism Newfoundland" and found a list of properties on the provincial tourism website, which she is going through one at a time.
Jane likes the location on the ocean and the cottages look comfortable. She needs to bring her sister’s dog but it takes her awhile to find the policy information. It’s a bit ambiguous as to which cottages will allow dogs but she is willing to take a chance. The cottage fits her budget and she is ready to book. After scanning around for online booking, she realizes Bill doesn’t offer it. Jane hits the "back" button and returns to the provincial tourism website. She may be back if she doesn’t find another property that is suitable -- and if she remembers the site.
Jane clicks the next link in the list and she arrives at the site of Gary’s Oceanside Cottages, 25 km down the road from Bill’s. Jane quickly finds an ideal cottage. She stares in awe at a photo of the sun setting over the ocean, as seen from the deck of the cottage, and salivates at the homemade raspberry scones, crème fraiche and coffee that are delivered each morning. She sees that the cottage is available when she is visiting. Jane is sold and clicks the Book this Cottage button adjacent to the room description. Jane is so excited she calls her sisters
Gary is relaxing by the pool at his condo in Bradenton, FL. He spent the day deep sea fishing. He checks his email and sees that cottage 8 was booked online for a 2-night package in the second week in June. That brings his occupancy for that month up to 74%. He sends Jane a short email to thank her for her business and asks if they have any special requirements for their breakfast or her sister’s dog.
Its mid-June and Bill is shaking his head. For the first time in 20 years he still has vacancies for July. He looks around his property – his gardens are in full bloom and the new dock he built over the winter is just waiting for visitors to launch the kayaks. "Maybe I should lower my rates and put an ad in the paper?" he asks himself.
What do you think?
Do you think an Ad in the newspaper is going to do anything for Bill's occupancy rates?
You know what I think - I think that Bill should have taken the Tourism Technology Website Mentoring Session from myself, and updated his site. Even just a few updates/changes may have prompted Jane to perhaps reserve by phone, and would not have cost Bill a lot of money.
Call me to book your session.
506-451-0173
beth@@tianb.com
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Creating links both real and virtual
The following content is taken from the March 2009 enRoute magazine which I read on a recent Air Canada flight to Toronto.
Travel is a social activity. You meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. On a business trip, you hang out at your hotel bar and meet others doing the same thing. You strike up a conversation. Sometimes, you stay in touch. Every business trip is really a trip to meet someone.
So it’s not really surprising that the social aspect of travel has morphed into social networking. Sites like FlyerTalk are not just message boards about airlines and airports but also places where people “meet” and talk and, eventually, socialize.
The endless number of applications built around travel speaks to our desire to see the world or, if we can’t, to experience it vicariously through others. What these sites do is something many are calling “intelligent networking.” Our business trips are often networking opportunities, and the Internet has allowed us to network without leaving our desks.
On Twitter anyone who is thinking about travelling announces it to the world. The “tweets” come in waves when someone is actually on the road; it’s almost as if you’re travelling with them, and, in a sense, you are. From Twitter you can link to a site where you’ve uploaded your photos, so your followers can see what you’re talking about.
Go to Flickr, another photo-sharing site, and you can sort through millions of vacation photos from all over the world.
Why are we doing this?
Well, what’s the first thing you ask when meeting someone who’s been away?
How was the trip?
Because travel is social. You want to know the story. Watching others travel allows us to construct our own stories in our minds. Every traveller has something to relate, no matter how mundane the reason for travel, and every anecdote has the potential to illuminate and entertain.
And if this social travel allows me to grow my network and even wins me new business? Well, that’s about as intelligent as networking gets.
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/site-seeing
Travel is a social activity. You meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. On a business trip, you hang out at your hotel bar and meet others doing the same thing. You strike up a conversation. Sometimes, you stay in touch. Every business trip is really a trip to meet someone.
So it’s not really surprising that the social aspect of travel has morphed into social networking. Sites like FlyerTalk are not just message boards about airlines and airports but also places where people “meet” and talk and, eventually, socialize.
The endless number of applications built around travel speaks to our desire to see the world or, if we can’t, to experience it vicariously through others. What these sites do is something many are calling “intelligent networking.” Our business trips are often networking opportunities, and the Internet has allowed us to network without leaving our desks.
On Twitter anyone who is thinking about travelling announces it to the world. The “tweets” come in waves when someone is actually on the road; it’s almost as if you’re travelling with them, and, in a sense, you are. From Twitter you can link to a site where you’ve uploaded your photos, so your followers can see what you’re talking about.
Go to Flickr, another photo-sharing site, and you can sort through millions of vacation photos from all over the world.
Why are we doing this?
Well, what’s the first thing you ask when meeting someone who’s been away?
How was the trip?
Because travel is social. You want to know the story. Watching others travel allows us to construct our own stories in our minds. Every traveller has something to relate, no matter how mundane the reason for travel, and every anecdote has the potential to illuminate and entertain.
And if this social travel allows me to grow my network and even wins me new business? Well, that’s about as intelligent as networking gets.
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/site-seeing
Friday, February 27, 2009
Product Development
So you think you're best angle is your sweet coaxing voice on the phone...once you have them on the phone you tell me you can sell them on whatever it is you're selling (overnite stays, meals, tours).
And I ask you, "Is the best use of your time?"
Yes, we all like the interaction with our customers/clients. It's the best part of the day sometimes. But is it the best use of YOUR time.
What about that garden that needs tending, scoping out those new tours routes you have in mind, running cross promotions with near by attractions, even those dreaded HST returns.
What if clients could ferret out a lot of information via your website?
What would you spend your time doing if you weren't answering the same questions over and over again on the telephone?
Would you be able to spend more time mingling with the clients you already have? Leading to better referrals and repeaters.
Would you be able to spend more time with your family and pets? Leading to less home life stress.
Would you be able to build that sunroom/gazebo/rock water fall? Again leading to better referrals and repeaters.
Let your website be their guide, and shift your focus to product development/renewal.
And I ask you, "Is the best use of your time?"
Yes, we all like the interaction with our customers/clients. It's the best part of the day sometimes. But is it the best use of YOUR time.
What about that garden that needs tending, scoping out those new tours routes you have in mind, running cross promotions with near by attractions, even those dreaded HST returns.
What if clients could ferret out a lot of information via your website?
What would you spend your time doing if you weren't answering the same questions over and over again on the telephone?
Would you be able to spend more time mingling with the clients you already have? Leading to better referrals and repeaters.
Would you be able to spend more time with your family and pets? Leading to less home life stress.
Would you be able to build that sunroom/gazebo/rock water fall? Again leading to better referrals and repeaters.
Let your website be their guide, and shift your focus to product development/renewal.
Brand Management and maintenance
The best way of convincing ourselves to continue to spend marketing dollars in a recession is by thinking of brand management as a sustained effort where returns are cumulative and compounding.
Building brand equity can be thought of in the same way as building a retirement fund - slowly and cautiously.
What is the best way to spend those scarce dollars?
On your website of course.
What better time then now to find a "hungry for work" website developer and negotiate your best price ?
No time. There's no time like the present to put forth your best "web face".
Not going to be able to hire a student this summer to take phone calls, change your voice mail to redirect clients to the website for more FAQs and other useful information. By the time you have returned their call, they are ready to make the booking.
Better yet, include online reservations into your site and the bookings will come to you.
Make sure your website reflects your brand to the best of it's ability.
Building brand equity can be thought of in the same way as building a retirement fund - slowly and cautiously.
What is the best way to spend those scarce dollars?
On your website of course.
What better time then now to find a "hungry for work" website developer and negotiate your best price ?
No time. There's no time like the present to put forth your best "web face".
Not going to be able to hire a student this summer to take phone calls, change your voice mail to redirect clients to the website for more FAQs and other useful information. By the time you have returned their call, they are ready to make the booking.
Better yet, include online reservations into your site and the bookings will come to you.
Make sure your website reflects your brand to the best of it's ability.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Shameless Corporate Plug
In the news recently, a restaurant in NB got slammed on facebook. This is every operator's worst nightmare. This is the dread in the back of every operator's mind - the posting of negative feedback ONLINE.
While I won't mention details, the scenario is that it was a busy night, a patron was seated, was not happy with the seating, and was verbally rebuffed by management. She took her issue to her facebook page, created a group to ban the restaurant, and almost immediately got 1,100 others to join her.
There are many lessons here.
First, if the management and staff had Superhost training from TIANB, perhaps they would be better at customer service relations. We also offer Food Safety, and Responsible Beverage... that's the shameless corporate plug. It's a fact that trained staff know what to do and not to do in situations like this. Trained staff feel better appreciated and stay longer.
Second, if the patron had known of another outlet to vent her rage, she may have used that instead of facebook. For example corporate emails, corporate blogs and forums on your own corporate websites. You need to provide outlets for patron rage, in a sense it will give you some control.
Third, there's a golden rule that if you're getting negative comments online, then you've got a problem offline. It's as simple as that. This patron didn't start out to create such a fuss, but it appears she is not alone in her opinion of this establishment and 1,099 others were just waiting for this group to start ! They were just out there waiting.
This is why you NEED to start a facebook group. If you had a facebook group of your own, perhaps she would have done a search for you on facebook, posted a comment to your group, and you could have answered personally about what you were going to do to prevent it from happening ever again.
If you had your own facebook group, perhaps a few of the other 1,099 folks that seem to have issues would have posted before now, and you could have sat back and thought, maybe there is a problem. (It's called an ounce of prevention.)
You would never delete such a comment but use it for what it is, genuine feedback, and respond appropriately. In your "contained" environment. Or in your online forums on your website.
People wanted to turn this into a problem with technology - the Ultra Bad Power of facebook. It's not. What this boils down to is a customer service problem that bled into the internet. There were many many many opportunities for this restaurant to resolve this patron's issue before it went online.
In today's economic climate - customer service is going to make or break you.
Get your staff Superhost trained.
And start a facebook group.
While I won't mention details, the scenario is that it was a busy night, a patron was seated, was not happy with the seating, and was verbally rebuffed by management. She took her issue to her facebook page, created a group to ban the restaurant, and almost immediately got 1,100 others to join her.
There are many lessons here.
First, if the management and staff had Superhost training from TIANB, perhaps they would be better at customer service relations. We also offer Food Safety, and Responsible Beverage... that's the shameless corporate plug. It's a fact that trained staff know what to do and not to do in situations like this. Trained staff feel better appreciated and stay longer.
Second, if the patron had known of another outlet to vent her rage, she may have used that instead of facebook. For example corporate emails, corporate blogs and forums on your own corporate websites. You need to provide outlets for patron rage, in a sense it will give you some control.
Third, there's a golden rule that if you're getting negative comments online, then you've got a problem offline. It's as simple as that. This patron didn't start out to create such a fuss, but it appears she is not alone in her opinion of this establishment and 1,099 others were just waiting for this group to start ! They were just out there waiting.
This is why you NEED to start a facebook group. If you had a facebook group of your own, perhaps she would have done a search for you on facebook, posted a comment to your group, and you could have answered personally about what you were going to do to prevent it from happening ever again.
If you had your own facebook group, perhaps a few of the other 1,099 folks that seem to have issues would have posted before now, and you could have sat back and thought, maybe there is a problem. (It's called an ounce of prevention.)
You would never delete such a comment but use it for what it is, genuine feedback, and respond appropriately. In your "contained" environment. Or in your online forums on your website.
People wanted to turn this into a problem with technology - the Ultra Bad Power of facebook. It's not. What this boils down to is a customer service problem that bled into the internet. There were many many many opportunities for this restaurant to resolve this patron's issue before it went online.
In today's economic climate - customer service is going to make or break you.
Get your staff Superhost trained.
And start a facebook group.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Oprah factor
Oprah, the most influential woman in the world, I would dare say. Still going strong after all these years. And how does she do it?
She uses technology to reinvent herself and maintain her connection with her audiences.
Yes, she does.
While I watched yesterday's show, I realized how much Oprah is using today's technology to reach out to fan base all over the world.
She has incorporated online learning, and webinars into the fold. Through her series of online segments about spirituality based on that book, what was it called ...oh well it was the largest webinar ever held in the world.
She's "Skyping" regular folks into the show. Viewers with questions can contribute from their own homes via Skype.
She's using satellite radio to reach millions more.
Her website is a mix of show content and complimentary articles using various medias.
It's quite remarkable. I encourage you to watch the show and visit the site sometime. Yes folks I'm asking you to couch potato it for a couple of hours.
There is nothing on the Oprah show that you could not be doing yourself.
Skype is a free Internet calling program, in fact we use it in the Tourism Technology program. There are widgets you can put on your website for folks to Skype call you. With a web cam you could potentially have a face to face conversation with a potential guest.
I've mentioned the importance of online forums before, Oprah has those in spades.
Multimedia rich online experience is extremely important in the tourism industry. Images (that include happy shiny people) and videos that convey the experience will get results.
And that's the Oprah factor.
She uses technology to reinvent herself and maintain her connection with her audiences.
Yes, she does.
While I watched yesterday's show, I realized how much Oprah is using today's technology to reach out to fan base all over the world.
She has incorporated online learning, and webinars into the fold. Through her series of online segments about spirituality based on that book, what was it called ...oh well it was the largest webinar ever held in the world.
She's "Skyping" regular folks into the show. Viewers with questions can contribute from their own homes via Skype.
She's using satellite radio to reach millions more.
Her website is a mix of show content and complimentary articles using various medias.
It's quite remarkable. I encourage you to watch the show and visit the site sometime. Yes folks I'm asking you to couch potato it for a couple of hours.
There is nothing on the Oprah show that you could not be doing yourself.
Skype is a free Internet calling program, in fact we use it in the Tourism Technology program. There are widgets you can put on your website for folks to Skype call you. With a web cam you could potentially have a face to face conversation with a potential guest.
I've mentioned the importance of online forums before, Oprah has those in spades.
Multimedia rich online experience is extremely important in the tourism industry. Images (that include happy shiny people) and videos that convey the experience will get results.
And that's the Oprah factor.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The process of buying lettuce
There has been a shift in the process of buying travel. For the better or for the worse, it's happened.
Travellers are using the Internet to search out their own deals and itineraries.
They are starting with inspirations from friends or broad based DMO campaigns and then drilling down from there.
Travellers are visiting as many as 22 different websites before making that buying decision.
Think about that.
Would you travel to 22 different stores to buy lettuce?
Of course not.
How would you feel after you trekked to 22 different grocery stores, compared prices, and lettuce volume? Made notes. Returned for second looks. Asked the grocery cleck for more information on the lettuce and waited two days for a response.
You'd be tired.
You'd be frustrated.
Imagine how the traveller feels about his/her online experience.
Review your website through the eyes of someone who has spent the last hour looking at similar bed and breakfast websites. Does yours clearly state information like prices, rooms, amenities, policies on kids and dogs???
While we may never get to the point where we are comparison shopping for lettuce, we are in the midst of online comparison shopping for travel experiences.
It's a reality that operators need to respect and deal with.
Remember when travel agents used to be Gods... We wined and dined them and sent them special gifts. Well the travel agent is feeling the crunch, and now we need to wine and dine the online tourist directly.
Clean and clear websites chocked full of relevant information and inspirational imagery.
That's what we need to present to today's lettuce shopper.
Travellers are using the Internet to search out their own deals and itineraries.
They are starting with inspirations from friends or broad based DMO campaigns and then drilling down from there.
Travellers are visiting as many as 22 different websites before making that buying decision.
Think about that.
Would you travel to 22 different stores to buy lettuce?
Of course not.
How would you feel after you trekked to 22 different grocery stores, compared prices, and lettuce volume? Made notes. Returned for second looks. Asked the grocery cleck for more information on the lettuce and waited two days for a response.
You'd be tired.
You'd be frustrated.
Imagine how the traveller feels about his/her online experience.
Review your website through the eyes of someone who has spent the last hour looking at similar bed and breakfast websites. Does yours clearly state information like prices, rooms, amenities, policies on kids and dogs???
While we may never get to the point where we are comparison shopping for lettuce, we are in the midst of online comparison shopping for travel experiences.
It's a reality that operators need to respect and deal with.
Remember when travel agents used to be Gods... We wined and dined them and sent them special gifts. Well the travel agent is feeling the crunch, and now we need to wine and dine the online tourist directly.
Clean and clear websites chocked full of relevant information and inspirational imagery.
That's what we need to present to today's lettuce shopper.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The "did you knows" about the internet
A few fun facts and trivia gleaned from the e-connect conference
Did you know:
Did you know:
- 10% of a businesses marketing budget is spent online - however consumers spend close to 30% of their free time online
- consumers age 70 or older read a newspaper every day
- only 10% of consumers age 20 or older read a newspaper
- 1.4 billion computers have access to the Internet
- there are 3.4 billion mobile devices in the world today
- there were 12 billion online videos viewed in November 2008 alone
- 81% of travellers view videos of potential destinations
- 25% of the 122 million online travellers in the US do not know where they want to visit
- 80% of customer reviews posted on websites are positive ones
Stats are so ...boring. But hey, if that's the only way I can convince you that your website / Internet presence is important to the viability of your business, then I'll take the risk and publish the boring post.
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