Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, May 4, 2012,
In :
Tourism Marketing
If you're offering multilingual tours, you want to use your brochure to get your message out. Here are five design recommendations for your brochures.
1. Using Flags for a Brochure Rack When creating a brochure for a multilingual audio tour experiences, we recommend using the front cover of your brochure as an opportunity to visually communicate to people that you offer foreign language tour experiences. Since many of your brochures will be sitting in racks, where visual real estate is import... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, February 29, 2012,
In :
Tourism Marketing
What is your position statement? How do you want people to think about you?
Your position statement wants you to answer the following questions:
Who are we?
What do we provide?
For whom?
Against whom?
What makes us different?
So? What's the unique benefit?
If you answer these questions and create a Position Statement - this does not necessary mean that your position statement aligns with your customers' perceptions of who you are. You need to find out what people are actually thinki...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, February 9, 2012,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Scott Bedbury, former VP of Marketing for Nike and Starbucks Coffee, in his book “A New Brand World” describes your (tourism) brand as:
“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy. It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads that somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishmen...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, January 26, 2012,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Branding occurs when you connect with customers by delivering on YOUR promise of excellence - by providing memorable tour experiences.
Branding helps set you apart from your competitors. This is especially important in the sightseeing industry where it can be hard for people to distinguish between product features and benefits.
Take for example, a city sightseeing tour. When visitors of a city get ready to take a sightseeing tour, most search websites or blogs to look for favourabl...
Posted by Brad Alguire on Friday, October 7, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
This week we’re answering a frequently asked question: “What is an Audio Tour?”
Often we’re asked: “What does your company do?” Our common response is: “We provide multilingual audio tours for sightseeing companies, attractions, historic sites and museums.” Usually the next question is: “What is an Audio Tour?”
What is an multilingual GPS Audio Tour?
Guided tours have been traditionally delivered by a tour guide who accompanies a group of people on a walking tour of a museu...
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white...
Posted by Brad Alguire on Friday, July 29, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
This week we are looking at the World’s smallest personal Audio Commentary System. Called the “In Hand Guide”, this tiny light-weight device can deliver an hour of professional audio-quality presentation. The included miniature LR44 batteries power the 8cm x 4cm @ 20.5 grams (3.15 in. x 1.57in. @ 0.723oz.) device for eight hours.
When used as a personal audio commentary tour system; your visitors can conduct their own self-directed adventure tour at their own comfortable pace, complete ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, April 28, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
AudioConexus is providing a new media form for the delivery and promotion of information through a new patented low cost digital audio device. The InHand guide smart audio player allows the secure storage of audio in any language or topic and includes stereo earphones, a map and/ or information guide, all in a custom and private labelled gift box. Battery operated; this low cost audio guide is reusable. Best of all, it provides visual audio branding for a multitude of applications tailored ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, April 19, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
In an article by Richard McLauchlan published by Gulf News on March 28, 2007, tourism experiences were compared to the entertainment business:
Experiences have always been at the heart of the entertainment business, says McLauchlan, "...but since the 1990s the concept of selling an entertaining experience has moved well beyond amusement parks. Indeed, words like 'experiential', 'learning', and 'enrichment' are appearing with increasing frequency in the travel media as new destinations and faci...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, March 24, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States (U.S.). It is estimated that by 2012, Hispanics will account for nearly one out of five Americans; reaching 50 million.
Hispanics represent the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. today. In 1970, the Hispanic population in the U.S. was 9.6 million, or 4.7% of the total population. This population has now soared to over 45 million, or 15%.
The Hispanic or Latino consumer market is broken down into persons ori...
Posted by Romana Mirza on Monday, March 14, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Marketing efforts should begin with your brand. And a successful brand is authentic. It’s not what people think of you. It’s who you are. What people think of you simply measures how well you express your authentic self to the world. Once you understand your authentic nature, then you can design your marketing communications to reflect your brand message. This establishes a connection with your customers because what you say about yourself on the outside matches who you are on the inside....
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, March 4, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Your commications, PR, marketing campaigns, promotional literature, blog, and social media (to name a few) should communicate your business's personality (in a consistent way). To create a personality you really need to understand who you are and why you exist?
How would you describe who you are? And how is this reflected to the outside world? In other words, does your inside match your outside? How would you describe your business? And does this description match the way people perceive yo... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, February 24, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
The Opportunity
We had the pleasure this week of working with one of our customers to help them attract a new foreign language market onto their tour boat. They are already providing GPS tours in six languages (at the same time). But they saw an emerging foreign language market in their destination that they wanted to capitalize on - this season. Working with their CVB, they arranged a FAM tour of their boat for tour wholesalers arriving from overseas.
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, February 23, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
There are many opportunities to increase your foreign language tour business in local and regional markets. The first step is to identify and speak with local community influencers in the foreign language markets you service. Exchange ideas and learn more about your local markets. You'll receive valuable information about how to effectively reach and communicate with your target markets while building meaningful relationships in your community.
By focusing on local and regional foreign languag...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, February 22, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Planning for online videos to promote your tour products?
We've seen some amazing numbers come out of some of our partners who are now using videos to promote their sightseeing tour experiences online. Online bookings grew 300% in some cases, where high-quality videos were being displayed on web pages promoting tour products.
Hotel Marketing states that “If ever two trends were meant to intersect, it’s the growth of consumer appetite for researching their travel and leisure options online ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, February 17, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Looking to break down language and cultural barriers in tourism? While we specialize in breaking down barriers and we think this is a novel approach to meeting the needs of foreign language travelers. Just try and blast your way through them! This video is fun.
But really, this is a topic that is getting more attention in management meetings and board rooms. This is because meeting the needs of foreign language travelers means more revenue, more market share, and more bums in seats. But does... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, February 16, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Other industries are being transformed by sharing. At Ted, "Rachel Botsman says we're "wired to share" -- and shows how websites like Zipcar and Swaptree are changing the rules of human behavior."
Collaborative consumption is the power of collaboration and sharing through network technologies, and Botsman's discussion raises interesting points for how it may transform your business in the future.
We would add that sharing isn't limited to technology, and includes the power of storytelling, whi... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, February 15, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
There has been a lot of work done in the mobile app arena with regards to delivering content to mobile devices such as the iPod Touch, iPhone and Google Android platforms as well as Blackberries and other mobile devices.
We're contacted often about mobile apps and how they may be able to assist in providing tourism operators and sightseeing companies another opportunity to deliver content while creating new revenue. In most cases, the deployment of mobile apps is not something we recommend for...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, February 2, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
This is a great example of how language barriers can lead to simple misunderstandings. We rediscovered this fun and entertaining ad by Berlitz while we were planning our presentation for the U.S. Passenger Vessel Conference in St. Luis this weekend.
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, January 21, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
The one reason why your business will grow is you. Companies don't make businesses grow, people do. It's easy to get hung up on why your company is special or is the best. It's even easier to get hung up on what you do and how you do it.
Showing people you care about them is different than viewing people as just a source of revenue. Meaningful, memorable, fun, and unexpected experiences are often overlooked.
But the real stuff happens when you are making an impact on other people. This is whe...
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, January 17, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Sergio Zyman, one of the world’s leading marketers, defines advertising as “the goal of advertising is to sell more stuff to more people more often for more money.” The reason this statement is vitally important is simple. It’s not about how great your advertising looks, or how creative your campaign may be, it’s about getting results – it’s about selling more stuff.
The majority of attractions and tours in your area offer visitors “English only” services. As a result, your o...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, January 12, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
USP was being discussed on Twitter and we replied that everyone in our organization has a crystal clear understanding of our USP. Some people responded by saying that this is unusual for businesses in the tourism industry. Not true. We think a lot of tourism organizations understand their USP - some just aren't great at communicating it.
So what is USP? USP is the acronym for Unique Selling Proposition. This is defined as "The reason why somebody should buy from you and not your competition. T...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, January 11, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Communication is a two way street. It's an open dialogue. These days, marketing requires active listening and participating in conversations with your customers. As much as marketers want to evalgelize and communicate its collaboration that counts.
One of the most effective ways to do this is to open a dialogue with your customers that gets them participating in conversations about their perceptions of your business. What's important is how they feel about what you do and how you do it.
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, January 4, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Every successful organization has a vision. A vision of the future can motivate, stimulate, and inspire people to greatness. Don't be afraid that your vision may be lofty. Think Big. Where will your business be in three years? in five years? The key is to know your destination and visualize success.
Sergio Zyman, a world leading marketer, wrote in his book 'Building Brandwidth - Closing the Sale Online' that "the good companies know where their going. They have a clear sense of destination. An...
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, January 3, 2011,
In :
Tourism Marketing
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower" - Steve Jobs
If you want to innovate, stop benchmarking. Benchmarking means that you're looking at best practices from other companies (for example, your competitors) to see if its appropriate to make those practices your own. If you want to innovate, to make great leaps forward, stop benchmarking and focus on continuous improvement. Benchmarking puts limits on what you can accomplish or hope to accomplish. Instead, stop benchmarking ...
Posted by Ange Berlin on Thursday, December 30, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
In Michael Hepworth’s StreetSmart Marketeer he reminds us that ‘Customers are Not as Gullible as They Once Were’ Why? He believes there are two primary reasons.
1. Clutter… there is simply too much advertising out there.
2. Knowledgeable Consumers… today’s more savy buyer sees right through marketing hype.
How can the average business address this reality? The original way consumers decided what they wanted, by generating Word of Mouth referrals, still the most powerful method of mar...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, December 29, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
"An innovation, to be effective, has to be simple and it has to be focused. It should do only one thing, otherwise, it confuses. If it is not simple, it won't work". - Peter Drucker
When marketing your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), keep your message simple. Create a clear, compelling, relevant marketing message that caters to the worldview of your target audience.
Seth Godin defines a Worldview as "the rules, values, beliefs and biases that an individual consumer brings to a situation." For...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, December 22, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Many of us are engaged in social media in various capacities. Our CEO, Jonathan Stanley, can be found on Twitter @audioconexus as well as FaceBook and we're involved with other sites such as Squidoo, GoogleBuzz, and LinkedIn for example. But what does this mean in terms of leisure traveler adoption for your attraction, sightseeing company, musuem?
In a recent report by ITB, here are some of the highlights they uncovered for World Travel Trends and social media.
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, December 16, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
For every audio tour project, we create promotional audio trailers for our clients in the languages we produce. These audio tour trailers are distributed through a variety of sales and marketing channels, reaching out to a wide range of potential customers. These channels include direct sales, conferences and trade shows, as well as the Web and its social media channels.
There are other ways to promote the audio trailer as well. Here is an example of taking an audio tour trailer, produced for ... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, December 10, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
David Wilkening, writing for TravelMole, writes "The global travel crisis is over and there will be record numbers of international trips this year, predicts an extensive World Travel Trends Report compiled by 50 tourism experts and researchers."
We've seen double-digit growth in the U.S. and recent growth in Canadian markets by inbound travelers from overseas. International traveler spending is having a significant impact on jobs and the economy. We are optimistic as this growth continues.
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, December 9, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Are you finding it challenging to get meaningful work done at work? Uninterrupted stretches of time is invaluable for getting things done. In a recent Ted Talk, Jason Fried talks about Why work doesn't happen at work and offers three suggestions to make work ... work. He's the co-founder of 37signals and co-author of REWORK, a book we highly recommend as a must read!
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, December 1, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Here are 10 marketing ideas that will cost your organization $0. (...it will cost you some of your time).
1. Use your expertise to write an article or pitch an idea for a weekly column in local and regional publications (find an angle that's relevant and compelling).
2. Ask visitors for testimonials.
3. Become a part of an online discussion group.
4. List your organization in all free local, regional, and national business and tourism directories. (There's many of them out there).
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, November 30, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Testimonials are an important part of your marketing strategy - online and off. Commonly overlooked as part of an online sales strategy, testimonials are great for eliminating any fears your prospects may have. There's no doubt that consumers are growing more skeptical about the products and services they buy - especially online. Eliminating fear and establishing credibility is what testimonials do best.
How many of your competitors are using testimonials as a part of their online purchase pro...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, November 26, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
The audio drama phenomenon which began in 1920's America continues today in countries such as Germany and Japan, with millions of audio dramas sold annually on cassettes, CDs and DVDs. The continued success of the audio drama is directly linked to a writer's ability to create personal and creative interactions with the listener. Great audio drama, just like a great book, creates a unique and personal experience in our mind's eye, allowing each of us to visualize characters, settings, places,...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, November 25, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We've been working with organizations who understand the value of cross-promoting their tour products within their audio tour commentaries - in English and in foreign languages. One of the opportunities for creating new revenue streams is through the discreet placement of short infotainment advertorials. This is accomplished by evaluating who in your network of tourism partners would benefit from a location specific mention of their business.
We do not recommend the placement of blatant advert...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, November 24, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
According to PhoCusWright's Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in China, online travel channels are set for high growth. PhoCusWright states that "With increasing wealth, the largest population and the most broadband users in the world, China's travel industry is clearly packed with potential. Yet even though China is the second largest travel market in the Asia Pacific region, very little China-specific travel research and market analysis currently exists."
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, November 16, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We are in the midst of change. We're now in a new model of leadership. Tribes are what matter now. It's about leading and connecting people and ideas. Listen to Seth Godin on tribes we lead (from Ted Talks).
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, November 11, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Travel Counsellors managing director Steven Byrne said: “There are massive opportunities for SMEs generally. If they are privately owned they can probably think quicker, act quicker and be more entrepreneurial than larger corporate enterprises.
“SMEs have a great opportunity at the moment. The old fashioned models are not working. The UK travel industry is becoming almost paranoid about consumers who want price but actually consumers want value and that’s about the level of service you p...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, November 10, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Many tourism operators we've met at World Travel Market this week are very optimistic about 2011 with good to great increases in growth over the last 12 months. One tour operator stated that they experienced 40% growth this year after a 12% decline in 2009. This is good news all around.
Furthermore, business travel is on the rise led by a resurgence in air travel and car rentals. With 2009 being a year of recovery for many tourism operators - the industry is now showing signs of positive grow...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, November 9, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Status Quo - "meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are." [Wikipedia]
The status quo is unsustainable. More and more sightseeing companies are coming to grips with the fact that if they continue with the status quo they will not be able to sustain growth, market share and profitability. Even worse, for some companies, the status quo means they won't be with us next year (or the year after).
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, November 4, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We conducted an online poll asking respondents "What do you want to experience when taking a sightseeing tour?" The poll showed that people want to be entertained on sightseeing tours. While this may not be news - it does reinforce that people are seeking fun and entertaining experiences on buses, boats, trolleys and tour trains.
71% of respondents selected entertainment as their primary purpose for taking a tour, followed by 29% of respondents wanting to learn something new - with education b...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, October 22, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We recently looked at various social media channels such as Yahoo!, YouTube, Twitter, and tripadvisor to see how people were using social media to talk about bad sightseeing experiences. We did this because we wanted to see what kinds of comments were being shared. We also wanted to better understand the key complaints by people regarding sightseeing experiences in the social media space. The results we found were surprising.
Tours and Tour Guides Make Lasting Impressions The majority of peop... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, October 21, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Everything about your business is your brand. If your brand promise is exceptional customer experiences, the perception of your brand solely rests on your ability to deliver on this promise (consistently). This is the promise that customers expect to receive from your business.
Here are some questions to consider when evaluating your brand's performance.
Who are your competitors and how are they positioning their brands?
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, October 14, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Sergio Zyman, a world leading marketer, defines advertising as “the goal of advertising is to sell more stuff to more people more often for more money.” The reason this statement is vitally important is simple. It’s not about how great your advertising looks, or how creative your campaign may be, it’s about getting results – it’s about selling more stuff.
In many cases, tourism venues rely more heavily on spending marketing dollars on short-term demand activities to increase seaso...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, October 13, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Like other forms of media and communications directed at your target markets, your Internet marketing efforts should be integrated with your overall marketing strategy and managed to capture the greatest potential benefits. Your tourism business needs to create an online marketing strategy to generate and maintain traffic to your Website, while providing trip planning information to potential tourists, tour operators and other travel influencers in your key target audiences. Additionally, try...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, October 12, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
In a follow-up to our blog post, Now Shipping Hamsters - Recharge Your Day With Nokia's Viral Video - this Volkswagen experiment called the "The Fun Theory" shows why having more fun is always the first choice for most people. And did we forget to mention that this video had over 6 million views in 4 weeks when it was released!
"Fun sells. The early proof of that can be seen in the amazing success of location-based networks such as Gowalla, MyTown and Foursquare, and in the breakthrough marke... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, October 6, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Working on the premise - it's not about the technology, it's what you do with it - or as we say, it's the experience that counts, we thought we'd take this opportunity to share one of 2010's new viral videos from phone manufacturer Nokia. More proof that fun sells.
Gabe Zichermann, author “Game-Based Marketing” and “Funware in Action” and CEO of professional mobile social networking startup beamME wrote earlier this year:
"Just like sex, fun sells. The early proof of that can be seen ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, October 4, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
When we're out on sites we carry a Flip. This low cost video camera provides great quality video for a very reasonable price. We use the Flip minoHD- it's slim and easy to use. With one-touch video uploading to websites such asYouTube, MySpaceandAOL, this camcorder fits comfortably in your hand and offers impressive HD quality video (1280-by-720 HD) for its size.
The Flip minoHD features a big red button you use to start and stop recording and includes touch-sensitive buttons for Volume ... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, October 1, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
TweetChat offers you the opportunity to pre-arrange a conversation through the use of Twitter. By using a predefined hastag to link tweets to a virtual conversation you can start your own conversation in advance and at a specific time. Or you can choose to participate in a Tweet Chat yourself.
"TweetChat helps put your blinders on to the Twitter-sphere while you monitor and chat about one topic. TweetChat creates Twitter-based online-chat rooms, based on the hashtags feature (for example, #i...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, September 28, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Leading companies know that its imagination that leads to prosperity. Five years ago - the idea of the idea ecomomy was a hot topic. Many stood on soap boxes and screamed that ideas had become the new economic currency.
Were they right?
Lets ask the question: What happens to companies who are entrenched in business models and market strategies that made them successful or even wildly successful last year? Will these same models and strategies work for them tomorrow? What happens when companies ... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, September 24, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that international visitors spent an estimated $11.4 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of July-$1.5 billion more (16%) than was spent in July 2009-marking the seventh consecutive month of growth in U.S. travel and tourism exports. International visitor spending in the United States increased an average of $927 million a month in 2010.
"The travel and tourism industry's remarkable grow...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, September 22, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Have you read the book REWORK by 37 Signals? If not, it's a must read for anyone growing or starting a business. It's the boot camp for getting motivated with practical advice about growing a profitable business. But more than that - REWORK reminds us that every business is "governed by the same set of market forces and economic rules. Revenue in, expenses out." Be inspired and put your inspiration to work.
The book gets straight to the point with easy to read, digestible nuggets of wisdom tha... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Tuesday, September 21, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We've seen great tourism marketing and advertising campaigns yanked because they didn't provide quick results. Unfortunately, many of these campaigns were doomed to fail before they even began.
Why?
Because when it comes to marketing there are no quick fixes, no secret "success" plans, and no guarantees that all of your marketing activities will lead to accellerated sales and success.
Marketing works when there is a variety of well planned strategies that work well together. Not every marketi...
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, September 17, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
What are you currently doing to support your sales and marketing objectives? Sales missions? Travel trade strategy? A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review sponsored by British Airways clearly shows that face to face meetings are essential to conducting business and investing in your relationships (both old and new). Here are some of the key points from this report for your consideration:
Highlights
79% view in-person meetings as a highly effective way to meet new clients to sell busin...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, September 16, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
OK - we admit it. We're big Seth Godin fans. So when this video was recently released on TED we had to share it with you. Do you have broken designs, processes, or procedures in your organization? If so, how are you going to fix them?
This video is a good conversation starter.
About this Talk
Why are so many things broken? In a hilarious talk from the 2006 Gel conference, Seth Godin gives a tour of things poorly designed, the 7 reasons why they are that way, and how to fix them.
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, September 13, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Jay Rasulo, when President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, (he is now the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Walt Disney Company), spoke at a Keynote Address during The Marketing Outlook Forum for Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) in 2004. While this may seem like a long time ago - it's still relevant today. Rasulo's call for a national tourism marketing and communications corporation has finally materialized. With the recent appointment of Director...
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, September 8, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Alan Kay, when he was Vice President at Walt Disney, said: "Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he knew more stories (proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we're all just cavemen (and women) with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories."
We would add that it's also how these stories are told that attract your listeners' ears. One of the essential ingredients to developing your communication skills is passion.
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, September 3, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
"The best brands never start out with the intent of building a great brand. They focus on building a great - and profitable - product or service and an organization that can sustain it." - Scott Bedbury
Creating a great brand requires (in part) three essential approaches to supporting your brand's core identity. Firstly, a great brand starts with a remarkable product or service worth talking about. Capitalize on meaningful points of differentiation that are going to separate your organization ... Continue reading ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Thursday, September 2, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
There have been many studies done that show poor quality photographs turn people off. If you’re using poor quality photography on your website – you’re turning people away.
For example, consumers searching the Web for sightseeing activities may be considering two motor coach companies that offer deluxe city tours.
Both companies invested in Website development, SEO [Search Engine Optimization] and CPC [pay per click] campaigns to attract targeted audiences to their websites.
Posted by AudioConexus on Wednesday, September 1, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
We agree with Simon Sinek's golden circle principle. He says "People don't buy what you do - they buy why you do it." While some assumptions are made about history in this talk, the underlying theme offers a meaningful message - use these powerful principles in your work to inspire others to your cause . Communicating the why in your business has the potential to rally your team and disrupt your competitors. Far too many companies focus on what they do without asking the question why they do ... Continue reading ...
Google Insights for Search analyzes a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you've entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. You can also request forecasts for specific key word terms and phrases.
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, August 30, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
One of the most vocalized challenges we hear from sightseeing companies is product consistency. Despite having immaculate vehicles and vessels, friendly staff, and well organized and focused management teams, some of these tour operators continue to operate with an Achilles’ Heel.
We’ve all experienced lousy tours. They’re boring… irrelevant and sometimes… [at worst] offensive. We often hear about problems with off-color commentary. It's a huge challenge to control content.
Posted by AudioConexus on Friday, August 27, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
Recently, one of our customers shared their recent successes with online marketing. They're reaping great results with huge increases in sales conversions.
What are you doing differently? We asked. The answer - Videos.
Our customer is posting videos - sightseeing and destination videos. They placed videos beside "Book this Tour" buttons. The result? A significant 300% increase in online sales conversions.
Digging into this further, we found a variety of sources that support this result. If you... Continue reading ...
In a recent interview with Jeff Rivera for a Mediabistro feature, Godin shares that he's through with publishing books because of the long process and the challenges of spreading ideas through traditional ...
Posted by AudioConexus on Monday, August 16, 2010,
In :
Tourism Marketing
While this article is no longer available on the Web, we felt it was a great opportunity to share this relevant tourism story because we are always prodding, pushing and massaging our content to meet the needs of visitors and passengers.
In his article, Dr. Hudson writes:
“The hospitality industry must keep up with the marketing Joneses to stay on top of behavioural trends. In any business, success is dependent on managers and decision-makers gaining a clear grasp of the volatility of the... Continue reading ...
Helping you learn more about tourism trends, storytelling and audio tours. Help, tips, advice, and techniques for better storytelling and tourism marketing.
Our Higher Purpose is to captivate the imagination by creating exceptional entertainment experiences about our world - shared experiences that inspire the human spirit and unite us in discovery.
"The best brands never start out with the intent of building a great brand. They focus on building a great - and profitable - product or service and an organization that can sustain it." - Scott Bedbury
