How to REALLY make actionable data really actionable
Actionable data is a buzzword that seems to get tossed around casually in job descriptions and team meetings all the time. But what is actionable data? And how do you use it … really? Data points in and of themselves simply point to action, growth, activity, or tasks completed. On their own, they only tell you what is happening. Not why. Actionable data transforms those data points into something you can use to guide your business strategy and make good decisions. Your data should track more than activity. It should reveal the causes, motivations, and psyches that guide behavior so you can adapt your business to meet your customers’ needs. Now, we’re going to tell you how to do that. Actionable data hinges on choosing your KPIs wisely Before you begin setting up data tracking tools and collecting information, ask yourself what you are tracking and why. Start by reviewing your business goals and choosing KPIs that relate to those metrics. Don’t focus on data that simply shows activity. Instead, focus on data that relates directly back to your goals. If you want to increase sales or customer satisfaction, consider what data might be an indication for sales or engagement success. Once you’ve picked a few metrics, confirm your choice with the following two question test: 1. If this metric were to dramatically increase or decrease, would the business care or feel a sense of urgency about this change? 2. If so, what types of action would you do in response? If you can’t answer those two questions, or the answers suggest the metric you chose is more of an activity tracker than a business indicator, don’t bother charting it. We can help you figure that stuff out. Don’t confuse correlation with causality To act intelligently in response to your findings, you need to be certain that the data you’re collecting shows causality – rather than correlation – to a business metric. For example, imagine that an electronics retailer began running two advertising campaigns: one online and one offline. Their goal was to determine whether their customers responded best to online versus offline advertising. Assume they had enough budget to run two ads in major newspapers, so they ran a promotion before Black Friday and around Father’s Day to appeal to holiday shoppers. The return on their investment was fantastic. Online, their budget allowed for digital ads every other week, but not on specific geographic or demographic targeting. The return on that investment was significantly less. The fact that their holiday newspaper ads outperformed their “spray and pray” online banners doesn’t show causality between amazing sales and newspaper advertisements. The cause was seasonality … not advertising channel. If, for example, that same company invested their entire budget in newspaper sales expecting the same return on investment week over week that they enjoyed before Black Friday, they would be sorely disappointed. Avoid this pitfall by doing a gut check on whether your data can point to an actual cause. Timing is everything for actionable data Good data doesn’t simply reveal what happened to your business. It can also help you predict what might happen in the future. Good forecasting can support your budgeting, planning, cash flow, pricing, promotion, and resourcing strategy. So yes, basically everything. This is why establishing causality between different variables is so important. Knowing that certain metrics influence other outcomes can help you prepare for likely impacts as variables change or work toward influencing driving behaviors. It is also important to deliver these forecasts with enough time to act or affect change. They say that hindsight is 20/20, but it doesn’t change your bottom line. Sync your forecasting and analysis around your natural business planning and work cycles. Telling your web team that they need to update your landing pages in a week, when you know that they work on monthly planning cycles, does not set yourself up for success. Pay attention to the competition While you might not have access to your competitors’ revenue and sales information on a granular level, you can easily track their social sentiment, media placement, reach, broad web metrics (such as visitor volume), and third party content about the brand. Some of these insights may be quantitative in nature, such as trending sentiment or page visits. However, competitors’ qualitative data can be an extremely useful tool as well. This is especially true if you want to increase your share of the market or focus on competitive switching. Qualitative data, in particular, can reveal how your competition’s customer service performs, what products customer want, what features give you an edge, or how you can serve your target audience differently. Make your actionable data easy to digest Once you’ve uncovered some great insights and establish some ideas about how to impact your business, you need to package your data – aka your proof – in a way that is digestible and contextual. Realize that senior-level audiences may not want to see all the hard work you did to get to your forecast or dig into the nitty gritty details of your data mining. Showing that you did a lot research doesn’t prove that you are right. Showing critical data and putting it in context against your business drivers does. Generally speaking, your decision makers will want to see concise, consolidated readouts that show what’s happening and why it matters. The people who can analyze and use data to its fullest advantage are not always the best people to translate that into “business speak.” Sometimes they are. But if they aren’t, team up with the right individuals to make sure your findings are presented in a context that is easy to understand and that inspires meaningful change. And yes, that means all those amazing Excel charts might not be your smoking gun. There’s a reason that data-driven decisions are so popular: they reduce risk and increase the likelihood of success. Increase your ability to use data by focusing on insights and actions first. Click
Instagram stories: how the “new snapchat” can help your business
In case you haven’t heard, Instagram now offers disappearing messages and photos, as well as expiring video and image stories. If that sounds an awful lot like another social media platform you know and love … you’re not wrong. Instagram has been incorporating many of the popular features of Snapchat into their app platform and Instagram stories marketing could do big things for your business, too. Tuesday, Instagram took one step closer to the snapchat platform: These changes have boosted Instagram’s daily use by hundreds of thousands and taps into users’ desire to share aspects of their day-to-day lives even if those events aren’t “worthy” of a permanent spot on their timelines. Unlike Snapchat, however, Instagram already has a solid business advertising structure and reputation for highly engaged users and shoppers. Well … Snapchat has somewhat of a reputation too, but their early emphasis on disappearing photos did no favors for business advertising. Because businesses are already flocking to Instagram, the next logical question is: how can this help increase marketing and sales? To answer this question, we’re going to tell you a story about a South Florida hair salon called True Hair Miami. A story of insta-success: Picture yourself in Miami, Florida’s hot sun. You’re feeling fresh and fabulous after a new haircut, and can’t wait to hit the town to debut your new style. As your hair stylist has been working magic on your ‘do, she has been taking photos and posting them on the salon’s Instagram story. She’s also sent you several Snaps – oops, we mean Instagram disappearing photos – to your direct account showing the before and after transformation. Suddenly, you’re Insta-famous. You’re on the salon’s page for all the world to see, being tagged, and shared, and talked about. The results make customers feel like they are part of the organization and extremely valuable members of the business ecosystem. At the end of the day: everyone just wants to feel special. Because Instagram has a more business-ready audience, these tags and posts may subconsciously carry more weight than if the same posts had occurred on SnapChat. And because these messages and stories disappear, your business doesn’t need to be so judicious about curating content. Everyone can be included. Instagram Stories marketing builds an emotional connection between the user and the organization through the experience of being tagged or messaged by a business. This can mean a more easy, meaningful rapport, stronger customer service reaction, and willingness to engage with and share that business’s other content via social media. And let’s be honest, shares are the first step to referrals and positive reviews. This emotional connection also boosts customer loyalty and increases the likelihood of repeat sales and services. Getting started with Instagram stories marketing: Use Instagram’s new features to share announcements (think: flash sales and buzz around upcoming events), in-store previews, and service testimonials. The disappearing content’s raw and unedited quality rings with authenticity and truth, setting it apart from highly edited marketing ads. Instagram’s new features give your business one more tool to help you step away from your marketing budget and lean into third-party, user-generated content. For content calendars, posting ideas, and techniques to increase your reach, click here to learn more about BIGEYE’s digital services. Who knows, maybe you’ll be our next Instagram video testimonial.
You’re losing customers because of your smartphone marketing
There. We said it. You are losing customers and leaving money on the table because of your smartphone marketing. Over 83% of adults in the United States own a smartphone according to the Pew Internet Project. In other words, that number is too big to ignore. Smartphones aren’t a trend or a fad anymore. They aren’t simply a tech gadget or symbol of social status. And they aren’t solely for early adopters. They are extensions of how we work, communicate, and complete tasks. All you have to do is look up from the smartphone you’re probably reading this post on and take stock of how many other people around you are looking at their smartphones right now. Exactly. No movie theater, restaurant, board meeting, or park is safe anymore. We are constantly on our smartphones … and that simple fact has opened up an entirely new way to effectively communicate with and engage customers. Mobile intent is solution-driven It’s important to understand that people conducting mobile searches, using apps, and interacting with their smartphones are primarily motivated by quick and effective problem solving. Unlike desktop browsing, which is usually associated with deeper research or entertainment, almost all searches on a smartphone are focused on finding a solution to a present situation. This means that your mobile marketing should not solely aim to educate your customers. It also needs to solve their problems. When building your smartphone marketing strategy, start by imagining the scenarios your customers might be in if they are searching for your product on a smartphone and tailor your content around those needs. Thanks to the emergence of responsive website design, you can adapt your content to reveal itself differently on a desktop and on a smartphone. Save the bells and whistles for your desktop site and lead with your most useful links and information on mobile. In our recent blog post about automated voice search, we talk about the nuances of intent in greater detail. CUT THE BULL$@%! The important takeaway of realizing your smartphone marketing needs to be solution-oriented is that you don’t have time for fluff. Call it corporate jargon, marketing speak, advertising, or even bull$@%! But when your customers are looking for an answer on the fly, they don’t want to spend time combing through flowery language and vague messaging about your brand. Get to the point. Google’s recent research suggests that customers consider an average of 10.4 options and sources before making a purchase. That means your information needs to be relevant, clear, and impactful. If your unique value proposition isn’t clear enough, your customer will simply move on to your competition. Use smartphone marketing to clearly communicate what makes your brand special and focus on how your brand solves a unique problem for your customers. As they say in business school, “don’t be right – be helpful.” Understand mobile’s place in the customer lifecycle You have to realize that some customers might start their relationship with your brand on a mobile device and finish it on a desktop. This is especially true for B2B products, large-ticket items, and emotional purchases such as vacations. On the flip side, retailers and consumer packaged goods have much less of a hurdle to overcome when getting customers to purchase online (thanks, Amazon). Take time to consider where smartphone marketing makes the most sense in your business’s customer journey. Is it at the top of funnel or bottom of funnel? Is your goal to get people to the point of sale or capture leads? Do you want people to visit your store or purchase online? These types of questions will help you define your mobile strategy more clearly and tailor your smartphone marketing accordingly. Our team can help you determine where mobile engagement makes the most sense for your brand and ensure your marketing distribution aligns to your goals. No, mobile apps are not the same as mobile presence While your smartphone marketing might include mobile app development, don’t assume that your mobile presence is complete simply because your customers can download something on Google Play. People download mobile apps because they already believe a brand can help them accomplish something (think: Instacrat on-demand grocery delivery, Google’s email or maps app, Duolingo’s language lessons, or ClassPass’s workout scheduling assistant). However, those same customers use these brands’ mobile websites to learn about the apps at the very top of the marketing funnel. Oftentimes, your mobile website is your customers’ first experience with your products, so it should be information-focused and concise. Apps, as we mentioned, fall much farther downstream and might ultimately be your point of sale. One is not necessarily more important than the other, and your business may never need an app, so think about where you need to direct your customers most before investing in app development. Recognize and use the gateways to mobile While you’re getting your smartphone marketing in check, take time to consider where mobile traffic is coming from. Voice assisted searches, email campaigns, local discovery via maps, television or video jump campaigns, and even real world cues such as billboards or product placement can all send a customer to their smartphone. Mobile is the landing point for the majority of other marketing campaigns and initiatives so don’t ignore this important channel. As we mentioned, even if your customers don’t complete their purchase on a smartphone, you don’t want to miss an opportunity because they can’t find what they are looking for during their first mobile pass. Think of your smartphone marketing campaigns as a tool or helper rather than an advertising technique and your customers will thank you later. As will your boss. Work with our team to brainstorm unique ways to communicate your brand’s value proposition in the mobile world.
Predictive marketing analytics 101: A user’s guide
You’ve heard us say before that one of the best predictors for future success is past performance. Us marketers are trained to look for past successes and find ways to duplicate the most effective elements of those moments. Now, we can use predictive marketing analytics to do this better, faster, and more effectively. Here is our user’s guide to predictive marketing analytics to help get you started. Use case 1: Predictive analytics help model behavior Predictive analytics tracks how often certain phrases or behaviors occur before a desired outcome. It then uses that information to gauge the likelihood other prospects will behave the same way. For example, if the majority of people searching online for the terms “puppies for sale” also buy dog food within two months of this search, serving them coupon for dog food during that window might increase their likelihood of choosing your brand. Predictive marketing analytics helps identify behaviors that precede sales so you can build a marketing strategy around them. Predictive analytics can also help you find “look alike targets.” Look alike targets are people who are interacting with brands closely aligned to yours. Therefore, they may be interested in your products. People who buy dog food might also be interested in dog togs, bedding, or treats. Predictive analytics can help you determine the likelihood these people will buy or what their value may be. Use case 2: Use predictive analytics to guide automated marketing Automated marketing is an emerging tool that uses data to optimize the exact timing, targeting criteria, spend, and reach of a digital ad before deploying it. The goal is to maximize your return on investment without needing to use a lot of manpower and resources to do the job. Automated marketing can be a great tool to get more bang for your digital marketing buck. Predictive analytics is the foundation of this technology as it helps define the variables used to optimize automated marketing. Our team can help you balance automated marketing against your other channels and strategies effectively and easily. Click here or give us a call to find out more about how we can help. Use case 3: Nurture cross-sell opportunities with predictive analytics Using predictive analytics to determine which customers are most likely to need additional products or services your organization offers can help you target those critical few at the right time and increase the likelihood of a new sale. A customer with two or more of your products is then more likely to stay with your company. They’ll engage with your brand over their customer lifecycle. Use case 4: Predictive analytics is not just for marketing This data can also be used to streamline your company’s operations. That means lower costs and more marketing dollars … right? Predictive analytics can help you forecast how many sales will occur in a quarter due to seasonality, or the influx of demand that guides your inventory. It can even help determine how much staff or resources you’ll need during peak sales times. This is true in almost every industry from tourism and hospitality, financial services, and retail. Predictive analytics improves makes your business more efficient and your ability to invest in meaningful marketing and support campaigns to take your business to the next level. No matter how you use predictive marketing analytics, you can bet it will help you break through the clutter and reach your audience more effectively. Learn more about how to kick off your predictive analytics team and track the right customer success metrics by contacting our team today.
Don’t miss the January deadline for Google expanded text ads
Originally slated for October 26, 2016, Google announced they will be extending their deadline to migrate to their new, expanded text ads program to January 31, 2017. If you’re asking yourself what Google expanded text ads, we’re glad you’re here. On January 31, you will no longer be able to edit or create ads using Google’s original ad format, which features a 25-character headline, and two 35-character sub-headlines. Instead, all your ads will adopt a new format, which includes two 30-character headlines and an 80-character body text block. THIS IS A GOOD THING, RIGHT? Generally speaking, the switch is a good thing. Google’s new ads were designed with the mobile user in mind so they could more quickly and easily gather information about an ad to determine whether a click was worthwhile. There are a few other nuances, such as enhancements to the display URL; and the addition of optional path fields, that make presenting information more simple for businesses. For example, instead of confusing users with complicated URLs that link to your campaign landing pages or micro-sites, this new format will simply show your parent website (e.g., www.bigeyeagency.com) even if you are linking to a specific subpage (e.g. www.bigeyeagency.com/LandingPage). Similarly, path fields give you the opportunity to send your customers directly to information you know they need (e.g., “shop”, “reservations”, “contact”, or “about us”) rather than sending them to your main site where they need to click into these sub pages. The good news is; it isn’t an either/or decision. Google’s new ad format let’s you do both. SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? You need to get on this because you can’t assume that the new ad format will perform better than your old text ads even though there is more text space. Which means, it’s time to start doing some A/B testing. Aided, of course, by our three step, fast and furious ad testing guide: 1. Aim for an apples-to-apples comparison: Test a successful version of an old, shorter ad against a similar variation in the new format. Even though you have more real estate with the extended ad format, try to keep the text in your initial test variations as similar as possible so you can determine whether the format itself will have an impact on your ad performance (rather than the content). This gives you a clean baseline to test moving forward. 2. Keep your control: Because you don’t have long to test these ads before the January deadline, you might be tempted to ditch your original control and start testing on the new format alone to accelerate learnings. Do. Not. Do. This. You’ll have plenty of time to test variations of the new format against itself once the deadline hits. For now, the goal is to optimize what has been successful in the past. Test your best (and even worst) past ads against the new format to get as close to or better than those results. 3. Test multiple versions at once: Depending on your ad keywords and your expected traffic, you might not reach statistical testing significance if you run multiple test variations at once; but you want to make sure you have as much data as possible (even if its directional) moving toward that January deadline. In this instance, we’d rather see you test more variations to gain a variety of early insights rather than hitting the deadline with only one perfect test in hand. But if it must be only one perfect test, make sure it’s the apples-to-apples comparison we mentioned. Let us help you set up some quick tests for fast learnings before the end of the year. Our team can quickly set up a few extended ad tests and prioritize your spend for next year so 2017 is the best yet.
Stop ignoring Gmail sponsored promotions in your inbox
We know that Google is doing a lot of exciting stuff: extended ad formats and changes to AdWords paid advertising format, to name a few. But that shouldn’t mean that we ignore Google’s amazing Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSP). When you partner with BIGEYE, we help you prioritize when to invest in each of these opportunities. Also, how to adapt to your target audience’s needs so you can serve them the right information at the right time. Gmail Sponsored Promotions are especially important for consumer and retail organizations. This is especially important now that Google has finally opened up GSP to any and all advertisers. After two years in the beta testing phase, the sky is finally the limit. As you start planning your 2017 marketing strategy, don’t miss this trend. UNDERSTANDING GMAIL SPONSORED PROMOTIONS: GSP look and function a lot like email by popping into your customers’ personal Gmail inboxes like your latest email marketing campaigns … except they aren’t emails. GSP are actually cost-per-click (CPC) ads disguised as emails to increase engagement and reach users who may be primed to shop while checking their mail. These ads are always filtered into the “promotions” tab on users’ desktop Gmail site (never appearing on mobile). The idea is that customers who are spending time in this tab might be looking for a deal or browsing similar content, increasing the likelihood that a click will be profitable. All Gmail Sponsored Promotions follow the same format: A teaser ad, featuring a headline (25-characters). Body copy (100 characters) that mirrors the format of Gmail’s email preview layout. A clickable image (50 x 50 min or 600 x 1000 max) that opens when the teaser headline is clicked. It can be customized with form fields, video, and other interactive elements. HOW TO GET IN ON THE ACTION: Sounds great, right? We told you so. The ad layouts themselves do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, which means the main key is making sure the right users see the right content. GSP have similar targeting capabilities as Google’s other advertising channels, so you can filter based on all the demographics you’d expect, such as gender, age, geography, and any other public information. However, GSP also offer some unique, highly attractive targeting capabilities that other ad types don’t have. Think: domain-level targeting, job title, and purchase history (all mined based on pre-existing information in peoples’ inboxes). Just remember, the more specific your search gets, the smaller your audience will be, so balance these needs accordingly or partner with a BIGEYE digital specialist to help you find that happy medium. SETTING YOURSELF UP TO TRACK SUCCESS: GSP is most popular in the e-commerce world because it can lead to direct sales, but they can also be used to collect leads and contact information, or raise brand awareness (especially considering the CPC structure, you have a great opportunity to expose your brand to large audiences even if they aren’t clicking). In fact, using GSP for some of these secondary use cases is sometimes more successful than trying to drive sales. When you combine ultra creative content with this uniquely primed ad formatting, the potential is great. Without the accompanying price tag. Click here to explore some of the creative campaigns we’ve created for our clients. You could be next. And we are here to help every step of the way.
When did biometric monitoring become a real marketing tool
Biometric measurements are being used by some of today’s most savvy and forward thinking marketers. You’ve probably even experienced biometric marketing without thinking twice about it. Think: Snapchat’s facial filters that conveniently transport you into a cool, new nightclub or morph your face into the villain from this Halloween’s creepiest thriller. Those are all biometric marketing techniques to get you to notice and connect deeper with a brand or product. At BIGEYE, we believe it’s important to stay ahead of the competition because you simply can’t reach everyone at once. Instead, by engaging with those you do, you’ll boost chances of creating a meaningful and mutually beneficial customer relationship. Here’s how you can start preparing for the increasing use of biometric marketing: HOW YOU CAN USE BIOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS TODAY: There are a few easy ways to use biometric measurements to your advantage today. The amazing part is that these tools are highly effective, but relatively low tech to implement. 1. Eye tracking software: Eye tracking monitors the movement and focus of users eyes as it relates to various pictures, products, or website elements. Scientists have been able to create an eye tracking algorithm over the years. It mimics what the average eye will do when scanning your advertisement or website. Companies, such as EyeQuant, are able to scan your creative assets with 80-90% accuracy and highlight what the average user would focus on. You can even adjust the filter to see what a first time visitor might look at versus what a brand-familiar user might focus on. Eye tracking helps you highlight issues with your user experience and information architecture quickly and easily in order to prioritize your creative updates. This is especially helpful for website testing and quick site fixes. 2. Body language and facial expression analysis: These tools aren’t just helpful in criminal investigations. Body language and facial expression analysis allow marketers to understand the emotional response to your creative assets. This qualitative insight can help you understand whether what customers are feeling matches what they say, and capture first impressions. One of the easiest and best ways to accomplish this is by hiring a biometric expert to sit in on a focus group experience. You can ask a small group of customers or would be customers to participate in a focus group. There your face and body language expert assesses their responses and behavior. WHAT’S NEXT FOR BIOMETRIC MONITORING: If you’re in the tourism and hospitality, retail, or security industry, staying on the cutting edge of biometric monitoring is especially important. These industries rely on our ability to accurately understand and identify human emotion or behavior. As biometric monitoring becomes more routine, it will help dramatically improve and enhance the customer service experience. Biometric monitoring allows us to anticipate our customers’ needs and serve them experiences they will genuinely enjoy. Click here for more insight into the types of forward-thinking tools we think your business can’t live without.
Understanding the ROI of employee advocacy programs
The Wall Street Journal cites the cost of an average Facebook fan at $1.07. Considering that the average Facebook user only sees content from approximately 10% – 20% of the Facebook pages they have liked, we think that’s a little high. And when we consider that the vast majority of individuals trust user-generated content (such as Yelp reviews, peer recommendations, and social shares), we’re even less impressed. This is why a successful employee advocacy program can be one of your most valuable marketing tools. Assuming that your employees are a reflection of your brand values, their connections are probably somewhat similar to them and may share some of the same interests and shopping habits as your employees. That means the people who do see your content may be more likely to want to interact with your brand. Lastly, it builds trust. Happy employees are great brand advocates in the making, so let them shine. To help you get started, here are four simple steps to launch an employee advocacy program. Inspire your employees The easiest way to launch an employee advocacy program is to inspire your employees to do it themselves. That is to say that they need to want to promote your brand. If your employees like working for you, believe in your products and the value of your services, they will be more likely to promote your brand and share their positive experiences on social media. This seems simple, but hiring the right people in the right roles can be tricky. Making sure those same people stay engaged and grow with the organization is equally difficult. Invest in a solid HR program, take time to get to know your employees creating a fun work culture, solicit their feedback about the work environment, AND your products. Then listen. Carrot vs. stick Incentivize your employees to share positive content. The carrot always wins. Host a competition for most creative social media posts. Include social influence as criteria when considering promotions. Give your employees a gas card or Starbucks certificate for every referral that becomes a client. Whatever works. You can’t make employee advocacy programs mandatory and expect success, but you can encourage your employees to participate by speaking their language and understanding what motivates them to do so. Carefully choose content Avoid burnout by cherry picking critical content or timely posts you want your employees to share. Even the most enthusiastic employee advocates won’t be willing to constantly share your content, so make sure your ask is meaningful and impactful. This will help your employees see the value in what they’re doing and be more inclined to give it their best shot. Focus on special promotions, off-season deals, or right before a product launch. It’s also important to set clear guidelines about the type of content that should be shared and how it should be promoted. Make sure expectations are clear and you are setting your employees – and yourself – up for success. Lead by example Although you may not be in the habit of connecting with your employees on social media, you can use screenshots of your own outreach as an example or share stories of how your outreach has inspired you or had an impact on your quarterly goals. Your employees should feel comfortable and confident that their privacy is intact, but that everyone is participating equally. This is an especially important gesture of goodwill when you’re asking people to give a personal endorsement on a professional brand. Learn more about how we have leveraged our clients’ social media accounts to generate buzz and build meaningful employee and customer advocacy programs here. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth.
4 marketing secrets to increase customer engagement in hospitality
Having an amazing destination or an amazing hotel isn’t enough to keep today’s jet set consumers coming back to your property for their annual vacation anymore. There are simply too many other enticing options vying for their attention and disposable income. But as US unemployment rates drop to the lowest they’ve been in close to eight years and the average wages skip past historic highs, there will be more revenue to go around for everyone. The rise of picture-based social media such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have made it easier than ever for travelers to virtually explore new destinations, plan trips that fit their budget, and delve into new tourism options. As a result, the tourism and hospitality market is expanding – which is good news for you. To remain competitive, you simply need to remain relevant. Hospitality Marketing and engaging with new and existing customers online is an incredible way to pique their interest in your destination and help increase your reach to new audiences. The trick is: how? Constantly seek new audiences to invigorate your hospitality marketing: Use social media to engage new audiences (not just those users who are already interested in your brand) and create a bridge between your tried-and-tested marketing campaigns with your point-of-sale experience. Blog posts, customer references, social listening, contests, and social influencers are all lynch pins when increasing your reach to new audiences. It’s especially important that all your channels complement each other so that no matter how new prospective customers discover your brand, they are receiving a seamless, on-point experience. Measure everything: Measure everything. We simply can’t say it enough. Before you generate or release any creative content, consider your goals and what you want success to look like. This will help you craft the appropriate call to action for each activity. With a bevy of data tools to choose from – from Twitter, Google and Facebook analytics, Klout, and HootSuite, to more robust platforms such as Adobe Analytics and Campaign Manager – you can track almost any output in the digital world. As certain channels and entry points prove valuable, you can begin investing more in those areas. This systematic measuring allows you to make decisions in a world where your customers expect you to be everywhere they are … even if you haven’t met them yet. Intelligently invest in your hospitality marketing: While returning guests are the bread and butter of any business, they should be part of your maintenance strategy – not necessarily your growth strategy. Methodically invest in high-impact marketing tools by testing new channels and entry points in a way that won’t expose your business to too much risk. For ideas on how to test new ideas that will break through the clutter and keep your marketing materials fresh and engaging without overexposing yourself, partner closely with a creative, multi-platform agency like our team of Orlando marketing experts. Click here to see how we have helped customers like you add new to their foundational marketing plans. Pay attention to new hospitality marketing trends: In that vein, don’t be afraid to try new things. The hospitality industry is constantly changing, and your marketing techniques should reflect those changes. Social media is often a “safe space” to introduce new ideas, survey your audience regarding potential product or service enhancements, and gain customer insights about experimental ideas. The tourism industry, perhaps more so than any other, is constantly changing as new ideas and trends enter the market, so keep up. Embracing new audiences, setting goals, investing in new techniques, and staying on top of emerging trends are all ways to keep your customer base engaged with your brand and eager to visit you again and again. Our team is here to help create a comprehensive marketing plan that allows you to do all of these things with ease. Give us a call today to find out how.
5 reasons why Twitter is NOT obsolete for tourism marketing
Despite finding it’s way into the presidential debate, onto national news, investigative reporting, and into our workplaces (come on, when’s the last time you went to a marketing conference without a Twitter hashtag?), Twitter sometimes gets a bad wrap. Twitter may not be the most lucrative social media platform in terms of the company’s own raw revenue, but it does have a unique, indelible place in our social media ecosystem. And this is especially true for tourism marketing experts. Here’s why. Reason 1. Twitter attracts tourism marketing experts: Twitter often attracts specialists due to the conversational nature of the platform. Likeminded individuals and experts can easily find each other using a simple hashtag or searching by specific jargon. Unlike other social media platforms that require you to link accounts with someone before you can interact with them, Twitter encourages open connection and discussion. Top tastemakers and reviewers suddenly have real, human access to the most coveted chefs, destination authorities, and tourism officials. And potential travelers have a front row seat to the conversation (and can even get in on the action). If you are hoping to truly connect with influencers, Twitter is a great place to catch their attention by reaching out directly and engaging with them in conversations where they are already participating. This is especially valuable for new destinations and growing brands because, according to Social Media Today, customers are more than 44% more likely to discover a new tourism destination on Twitter than any other social media platform. It’s where you go if you want insider, in-the-know information. Reason 2. Twitter aggregates many geo-location platforms: Because Twitter links to almost every geo-based social media platform (think: FourSquare, Instagram, Facebook, Vine and more), it has become the great aggregator of location-centric marketing. It’s no surprise that tourism destinations such as Greece and Iceland are rising to the top of every trendy travel channel when Twitter is literally inundated with check-ins, geo-tagged photos, and live tweets from these destinations. You simply can’t ignore the slow influx of a certain trend when you see it all in one place. And the more your destination is seen, the more it will be top of mind when your customers are ready to book their next trip. But you don’t need to passively wait for your destination to become popular. Search for trends near your region or in your niche market that might help you differentiate your brand from the competition and run with it. A few years ago, for example, molecular gastronomy took the Riviera Maya by storm. Emerging hotel chains, such as Karisma Hotel’s Azul and El Dorado Resorts, jumped on the trend and began tweeting about their offerings to the excitement of many foodies and tourism experts. Today, they are known as the #gourmetinclusive all-inclusive alternative focusing on good food and inclusive service. What will your next hashtag be? Reason 3. Communication is the king of tourism marketing: At its heart, tourism marketing is a service industry. That means that providing good customer service when your destination is at its best – and worst – can literally make or break your brand image. Unlike email (with routine 12-24 hour wait times) and customer service hotlines (that always seem to be experiencing “unusually high call volumes”), Twitter presents an opportunity for near instantaneous communication and gratification. When a flight is delayed or your bags are lost and no one at the service desk seems to be able to help, Twitter becomes an outlet to vent frustrations. When you receive the best massage of your life and simply need to share a humble brag, Twitter becomes the perfect platform to let your follows know sp-ahhh time was awesome. Over 70% of customers who cite tweeting (both good and bad) say they felt better afterward. We believe this is because many companies monitor their Twitter accounts and are in practice of responding to customers. It’s a great service tool for one of the most critical service industries and should never be overlooked when building your customer outreach strategy. Reason 4. You can let the tools do the work for you: Some marketers are under the impression that Twitter requires a substantial amount of work because the livestream conversation never stops. This, however, could not be farther from the truth. Twitter is one of the easiest platforms to use when mining customer insights or scheduling content. There are countless social listening tools that tap directly into your Twitter feed, numerous analytics and reach measurement tools tracking your Tweet exposure, and even more scheduling and retweeting tools that allow you to wrap up your content in one neat package and have it sent into the internet at your allocated time. You can even retweet other peoples’ content if you don’t have time to generate your own. Twitter is an open source of information about your customers, your competitors, and your industry – and it’s often free to collect this information. The simple fact is that Twitter makes it easy for you to use and mine insights from the platform, so it would be silly not to take advantage of the opportunity. Reason 5. Because your competitors have it: Chances are, your competitors have Twitter accounts. And if they don’t, they should. There is no reason not to have a Twitter presence and most businesses understand that even if they don’t invest fervently in the platform. Thus, if you aren’t keeping pace with your competition, this is a missed opportunity. Naturally, if you are ahead of the curve and your competition hasn’t caught on yet, this is good news for you too. Twitter may not be your primary marketing focus, but posting and retweeting between 3-6 tweets a day (something that could take an hour or two of scheduling for the whole month if you know the types of content you want to expose), can have a real and meaningful impact. No matter what your reasons are, we can’t think of many reasons why Twitter