When you’re on holiday somewhere, do you ask locals what their favourite restaurant is, what the best walk is, what the best activities are etc? I sure do!

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful ways to market your product. 

Recently, we stayed in a lovely ‘villa’ in Tuscany, just outside of Florence. It was a wonderful experience, the main reason being that the service exceeded expectation and was very personalised. They were interested in where we were from, gave us lots of tips on what to see and do, and also gave us a sheet with their favourite local restaurants. This was very helpful as there is a choice of nearly 2,000 restaurants in Florence!

For locals who work in tourism and are in contact with your customers, it is highly beneficial to know the local products as people will ask them for advice. But not just for people working in tourism, as any local is likely to talk to visitors.

So, what can you do for locals to get to know you and recommend you?

• Hold a ‘locals’ day’ where the proceeds go to a good cause and the locals get to do the experience for a fraction of the normal price
• Have a locals’ loyalty programme
• Hold a low season event for locals
• Give locals and their friends & family a locals’ deal year-round
• Get involved in a community project
• Give your customers a sheet with local activities, cafés & restaurants, walks etc. that YOU recommend. Tell these places you are doing this and ask them to recommend you as well!
• All this will help locals to recommend your product.

What's in it for you?

• Increased referrals & direct bookings
• Community goodwill
• Increased brand awareness
• Free publicity (do send out press releases!)
• Ask locals to write reviews on Tripadvisor, Google & social media - resulting in higher rankings

PS: This is your last chance to register for the West Coast "Tourism Business Success Programme" on 18th Oct 2018- because this programme will help you work smarter, not harder! Only a few places left. Click here for more info! (50% funding available for qualifying businesses)

Till next week, Marijke

Just back from a trip to Europe... A holiday in a different environment is a great way to recharge, and also to find some brilliant innovative marketing ideas....

One small Italian restaurant we visited had a novel way of charging for wine. It was lunch time and we just wanted a glass of wine or maybe one and a half, not a whole bottle.

We asked the waiter for a wine suggestion. He said, how about I put the bottle on the table, and you only pay for however much you drink.
This was perfect!

They offered the opportunity to just pay for how much you actually drunk, rather than charging per glass or a whole the bottle. We had a glass of lovely white wine and decided to have a little bit more.
When it came time to pay, the waiter put a ‘measuring stick’ (see pic above) next to the bottle indicating exactly how much we drank and how much we had to pay. What a great idea! It allowed us to have a little bit more than one glass, as we didn’t want a whole second glass. (Though it was tempting with the bottle sitting there!)

For the restaurant, it’s an easy way to increase revenue! 
What did they do with the rest of the bottle? They probably used it for single glasses of wine…

Till next week for more innovative tips, Marijke
PS Last chance TODAY to register for the Tourism Business Success Programme starting this Friday 21st of September 2018 in Queenstown. 
Are you from the West Coast? We'll start there on the 18th of October. Don't miss out! go to www.smartraining.co.nz for more info!