  Reviews help customers make decisions on where to stay, what to do or what to buy.
You work hard at providing an excellent customer experience resulting in positive reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor, Facebook, Google, Yelp etc. But every now and then, you may get a negative review. Some are fair, and these provide you with an opportunity to improve aspects of your business. And some are unfair. No matter what they are, you need to write a response. It provides you with an opportunity to explain what happened and apologise, and it shows your professionalism and that you care. I have talked with many operators about their occasional bad review. It’s human nature to focus on these, even if the majority of your reviews are raving! So, my first piece of advice is: keep the negative reviews in perspective. How many good reviews do you have compared to the bad ones? Don’t take it too personal and don’t dwell on them. OK, now you need to respond to that negative review. Here are 5 tips to help you do it.
Final tip: Have a complaints procedure in place so it’s easy to respond. Ensure your staff is empowered to do this too to solve issues quickly and on the spot.
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User-generated content is hugely powerful. It's when customers share photos and their experience about your business on social media. It's 'word-of-mouth marketing' and it's free! It works because it's much more credible when your customers say nice things about you than when you do it yourself. So how can you make it easy for customers to share positive photos about your business or experience? It's simple. Create a photo opportunity at your business location that people can't resist. It can be a funny board with a hole for their face (cheesy, I know, but people love them!). If you do this, ensure it has your business name, website address and hashtag so it's easy to share. Another idea for a photo opportunity is a large 'prop' of some sort, something unique, cute, funny beautiful etc. I was at Houston, Texas yesterday and just had to take a pic of these huge cowboy boots (about 2m tall). What could you come up with for your business that people would want to take photos of? Generate a simple, short hashtag that relates to your business. To encourage people to use your hashtag, you could start a competition and offer a prize for the best photo with that hashtag. PS, have you checked out the new Tourism Business Success Programme yet? Click here for information about this exciting 9-month programme that will help you take your business from where you are now to where you want it to be! Only 10 spaces per location - registrations are now open! Till next week, Marijke Below is an excellent infographic with some great tips to help you design the perfect logo. Also, don't forget to research your competition so your logo doesn't resemble theirs! I see a lot of logos looking very similar, so do ensure yours is unique and different. Coming up in Queenstown: 2 NEW Email Marketing 1/2 day courses for tourism, hospitality and retail businesses: 7 Nov 2017: Starting with Mailchimp: grow your direct bookings 9 Nov 2017: Advanced Mailchimp & Email Marketing Strategy Development Registrations closing soon! Click here for more info. 50% NZTE funding available. 
Innovative marketing ideas for your business 2017 is well underway and I hope you've had a chance to set some time aside to work on your business, or at least plan when you're going to do this. Below is an infographic with some innovative marketing ideas for 2017. Note the ones that apply to you in your marketing plan! Till next week, Marijke  I found this interesting piece of research by AC Nielsen (a large global marketing research firm). They surveyed 30,000 millennials (age 21-34) and baby boomers (age 50-64) on their consumption behaviours. If your clients fall in either the millennial or baby boomer category, then the infographic below will be of interest! Click on it to enlarge it, print it off and circle the information that applies to your business. Then decide how you can better serve these customers. Till next week, Marijke  Click to enlarge A video on your home page or landing page will increase conversion to sales. You can get a video professionally produced, but you can easily produce your own videos too.
My intention is to produce more videos as people process images and video thousands time faster as text. It's one of the major trends in marketing and if you want to develop content for your website, learning to produce simple videos will greatly enhance your website. The little video slideshow above only took me 10 minutes. I take my lovely black lab Jessi for a walk to the lake daily. Last week, I decided to take photos of her coming out of the the lake shaking off the water after fetching a stick. Here's how I put together the little video above in less than 10 minutes. 1. Back in my office, I first transferred the photos from my phone (a Samsung Galaxy s6 - takes great photos!) to my laptop by simply emailing them. 2. Open www.youtube.com. If you haven't set up your own Youtube channel, click here to learn how to set one up. 3. In the top right corner, click: Upload. In the right hand column, click 'Photo Slideshow - Create'. 4. Select the photos you want to use for your slideshow. Click Next. 5. You can now edit your slideshow, add music, change the transition, add text etc. You can also click the Advanced Settings buttons for more features. Once you're done, just click save and your video gets uploaded to Youtube. You can give it a name and add a description. 6. Now that the video is on Youtube, you can easily put it on your website. Most good content management systems will allow you to insert a Youtube video on your website. Voila! You've done it! PS My dog is NOT for sale! Have a great week, Marijke  The other day I googled one of my favourite restaurants to find out their address to pass on to a friend. On the side of the page, the google listing showed up. This is the listing most people will go to as it stands out. On the listing, it had opening hours and it said that the restaurant was now closed. That seemed strange, so I called them. They were actually open!
So I thought, that would be a good tip. Ensure your business information on Google is correct so you don’t miss out on customers! You may change your business hours during the year with seasonal changes, relocate your business, have changed the look and have new photos etc. To update your listing, go to: https://www.google.com/business/ and login to google. Then, simply update your information! Have a great rest of your week! Kind regards, Marijke
I recently heard a story of a Chinese visitor who was reprimanded at Auckland airport for smoking. The sign said ‘SMOKE FREE’. The visitor thought (understandably) that he was free to smoke.
Why not just say ‘NO SMOKING’? That way, there is no doubt. Lost in translation… If you are dealing with overseas visitors whose first language is not English and you provide information to them, whether written or verbal, try to think from their perspective. It’s about giving them a great experience, isn’t it? Being a Dutch native, I had no choice but to learn multiple languages at school as few other nationalities speaking Dutch. I was also lucky to live in France and the US when I was young and learnt French and English at a young age. And I also learnt German and Spanish in school. So, I have always been fascinated by language and fortunate to have the ability to view things from different cultural perspectives. Why is it so important to make it easier for international visitors to understand your messages?
How can you avoid your message being lost in translation? Here are 6 tips to provide better information to your international markets: 1. Put information on your website in the languages of your target markets. It doesn’t have to include EVERYTHING, just the info and products that apply to them. It can be in the form of a pdf. 2. Have a QR code on your brochure with a link to that information. 3. Get the information professionally translated and DO NOT use Google Translate. You can contact your RTO for recommended translation services. 4. Keep in mind that ‘kiwi English’ is difficult to understand for most other nationalities. Speak slow, use simple language (no jargon) and ensure people understand you! 5. Research cultural differences 6. Ask your customers with that nationality for feedback (is the information clear, is the guide easy to understand etc). Have a great weekend! Marijke A number of years ago, many businesses put QR codes on their brochures or used it in other ways. The issue with QR codes back then, is that they were used the wrong way. With this I mean that in the majority of cases, they redirected to a non-mobile friendly homepage of a website. As non-mobile optimised websites are basically unreadable on mobile phones, most people were put off using them.
In other countries such as the US however, QR codes are used for retail coupons (Americans loooooove coupons!) Last week, I attended a workshop by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) about research conducted on the Chinese FIT traveller. I learned to my surprise that Chinese are big users of QR codes and this offers some great opportunities to provide them with relevant information. How cool is that! Chinese don’t like to see big signs in their own language while they’re visiting other countries on holiday. They want an authentic experience. I don’t blame them; I am the same. If I go on holiday to a country with a different language (which is most countries as I am Dutch), I do not want to see Dutch signs or brochures! I want to immerse myself in the local culture. Of course there is often a language barrier, but there are subtler ways to provide Chinese with information in Mandarin. Through QR codes! For example, instead of giving them a menu in a restaurant in Chinese, just have a QR code at the bottom indicating that the menu can be seen in Mandarin by scanning the QR code. Oh, and free Wifi is a must too to enable your customers to use QR codes easily. So, the QR code is back! Below are a few links to previous tips I’ve written about QR Codes in the last few years! How to create a QR code: http://www.marketingwhizz.com/weekly-marketing-tip/how-to-create-a-qr-code Are QR codes dead? http://www.marketingwhizz.com/weekly-marketing-tip/are-qr-codes-dead Have a great rest of your week! Marijke
I'm pretty sure you've had someone send you a funny video or ad and chances are you have forwarded it to someone else. We all love having a laugh and if it's good, we love sharing funny ads and videos. As a result, these - i.e. the funny ones - tend to go viral. What a great way to promote your product or service! So have a think about how you could add some humour to your product or service in your advertising, videos etc. What would put a smile on people's faces and if you come up with something really good, it may go viral! That's free marketing! Coming up with something funny to promote your product or service will also make you stand out from your competition and people tend to remember you more. Organise a brainstorming session with your team to come up with some fun ideas! Here are a few videos: By the way, do you need some more marketing inspiration? Join us for the Tourism Marketing Bootcamp on 20 April in Queenstown. Click here for more info! Till next week, Marijke
 The next time you go to a café or restaurant, take a closer look at the pricing on the menu. Some restaurants have really thought about about the way they price and display their pricing (or got someone to help them think about it!)
Rather than focus too much on the display of the price with dollar signs and cents, they streamline the amount by simply putting 12. This is instead of for example $12.50, reminding customers too much that they are spending money. The other trick they use is to have some higher priced dishes on the menu purely to make to other ones look more reasonable. Diners apparently go for neither the cheapest nor most expensive items on the menu. So by having some more expensive dishes purely for that reason, they get their customers to spend more. So, have a look at your pricing and whether you could apply this principle. It’s worth a try and may get your customers to spend more with you! Till next week, Marijke  Did you know that women influence 90% of all travel decisions - and close to 90% of all consumer buying decisions as well? (the guys reading this will probably nod…)
Girls like to shop, that’s no secret. We also think differently than men and make buying decisions in different ways men do. A few things to keep in mind when you work on your website content, social media, put together brochures or any other marketing for your business:
Is your marketing meeting these needs? Does your website provide enough detailed information? Does it encourage your customers to communicate with you? Does it say anything about the people working in the business? If you keep women in mind in marketing your business, more will buy or book your product and your business will grow! NOTE: registrations are now open for the 2016 Marketing for Success Programme. Click here for more info! Limited spaces! Till next week, Marijke To put a smile on your face, here are a few examples of bad business names! Well, some may be ok in their language, but sound funny in English! Have you ever had to come up with a name for a new business or product? If you have, you know it’s not an easy thing. There aren’t really any rules when it comes to business or product names, but there are some things to think about that will make it easier. Whether you are setting up a new business or are developing a new product, you’ll have it for a while (hopefully)… Here are some tips to help you come up with a good name:
The do’s: • Make sure the name is simple, easy to pronounce, memorable and easy to spell. • Research the web, the companies websites etc. to ensure the name isn’t already taken • Ensure the domain name you want is available (and relates to your name – preferably the same word as your name so it’s easy to find online) • Ensure it’s different from your competition • If you’re considering trademarking the name, ensure someone else hasn’t already done so The don’t’s: • Stay away from negative connotations • Make sure the name doesn’t mean something negative or inappropriate in other languages • Don’t restrict your name too much (with the eye on future growth) or limit yourself to a place name (in case you move!) Ideas on how to generate names: • Brainstorm words that relate to the product / service • Words that relate to the benefits for the customer • Words that relate to the values/quality of the company and products • Words related to colours, animals, plants, your industry, your types of customers etc. • Use a thesaurus to look up related names/words • Consider combining words • Ensure your name is meaningful rather than too generic • Use adjectives • Use humour • Does it evoke emotion? A little plug for the 2016 Marketing for Success Programme, starting in April. Don't miss it if you want to bring your business to the next level! Click here for more info! Till next week, Marijke 
Till next week, Marijke  Most businesses have competition. If you don’t, you’re lucky as you are the only one offering a particular product or service.
But if you have competition, you need to stand out (more). What are the reasons your customers choose you instead of someone else? These reasons are your points of difference. Here in Queenstown, we have a new (very large) supermarket, competing directly with the existing ones. As a result, another local supermarket recently started doing something a bit different. As you enter the supermarket, there is a table with pieces of fruit. There is a sign that says: Free fruit for kiddies. How cool is that! That certainly creates goodwill from customers and gives them a point of difference. So have a think about: what is it that you do particularly well, what do you specialise in, why do your customers choose you ? And make sure you communicate these points of difference with your customers! Till next week, Marijke 
You may have seen them around: Infographics. They are a visual representation of information or data, so that it can clearly explained and understood. People are getting more and more used to getting information presented in the form of videos, images or these infographics. Is it that we are getting lazier? Probably, but I believe our love for visual presentation is also due to the information overload we are dealing with. So, the easier you can represent information, the more likely your customers or audience will look at and remember your message. Last month, Tourism New Zealand published these great Market Snapshots on their corporate website. If you are operating a tourism business, you will find these very interesting reading! Here they are (click to enlarge): For a complete list of market infographics, visit: http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/markets-stats/research/infographics/
Have a great weekend! Till next week, Marijke  About five years ago, I bought a state of the art Epson projector. I bought it online and I must say I can’t even remember the name of the online shop.
The projector is still great and working fabulously. Twice a year, I get an email from Linda, their sales person. She asks me if the projector is still working ok, and if there is anything else I need such as a replacement lamp. When she emailed me a couple of weeks ago, I asked her how much such a lamp is and they are not cheap ($ 570!). I said I would think about it as I was very busy and TRENZ was coming up. I then filed away her email. Today, Linda sent me another email, following up on my interest in the replacement lamp. I know I should buy one as a backup but I probably wouldn’t have done it right now if she hadn’t emailed me. As Linda has provided me with such good service all these years, I will be buying the lamp off her. If she hadn’t sent me these emails, there is no way I would have bought the lamp of this anonymous-online-shop- that-I-can’t- even-remember-the-name-of. So, the moral of the story is: keep in touch with your previous customers! There is a good chance they will be buying from you again! Have a great week! Marijke
I am always interested at the types of videos that go viral. This one, a French ad for... (you'll see it at the end) does a great job of surprising you, making you feel uplifted and even motivated (the music is a French song that reminds me when I lived in France when I was young), and add value to a simple product. Have a look first (this one's for the girls!):
At the end it says in French: "you have burnt 2000 calories". So they link the water with exercise and loosing weight. Very clever!
Think outside the square about how you can market your product / business. Brainstorm with your team, look at these type of videos, and come up with something different! Till next week, Marijke  It is said that we are exposed to over 3,000 messages a day (through emails, videos, tv, radio, internet, signs, advertising, etc. etc.)
It is amazing how most of them you don’t even notice – unless it is something we’re looking for. Think about the messages in the last few days that you remember . There will probably be only be a few that you remember. These are often the messages that go viral, that are funny or interesting enough that people will pass them on. Your customers won’t remember your message unless you can get it to ‘stick’. Here are 4 few ways to make your message stick: · Don’t overload people with information – keep it simple! That’s what I try to do with these weekly tips – just 1 useful (well, hopefully!) tip a week. · Make it personal, create that ‘emotional connection’. For example, fundraisers for third world charities often focus on 1 child and name him/her too, rather than on the millions of hungry people. · Tell a story – people tend to remember stories rather than features. Case studies are great too or how a customer has been transformed or benefited by your product/service. Ensure your story is credible! The story I wrote about ‘DIY Marketing Real Estate’ was read by a large number of people! · Surprise them! If you can provide people with something surprising, funny, or cute they tend to remember it more. These messages tend to get forwarded and go viral. So, when you are writing a newsletter, blog, website content or advertising copy, keep these things in mind! Till next week, Marijke  You can get really creative with your business card! (no, this is not mine!) As I’ve just changed the physical location of my office (remember, I sold my office building!), I need new business cards. It’s a perfect opportunity to rethink this useful little piece of great marketing collateral! Here is a short guide to what I think needs to be on a card and the way it could look: Ensure all relevant information is on there: o Name o Title (eg Manager) o Phone (ensure it has your country code, ie +64 in front of it if you deal with overseas clients) o Mobile phone (same as above re the country code) o Physical address (include your country too!) o Postal address o Website address o Social media pages (if applicable) o Skype address (if applicable) Look and feel: o Use great quality paper (I have a fettish for nice paper and only use the best, in fact, my cards have a laminated finish…nice!) o Use a consistent font for all your marketing material (incl website) o Use your brand & colours Personalise: o Real estate agents do it (sometimes) and I’ve seen sales people do it too: a photo of yourself on your card. Most people don’t like it, but it’s the best way for people to remember you! My brother had a business card once (this is 8 years ago and I still remember it!) that had a photo on the back, but more a black and white one. (see pic below). Quite classy and it made people remember him! I might try that for my next business card!  A photo on your business card? 'Gimmicky' things:
o If you want to be more creative, you can get business cards with all sorts of effects: cut in a particular shape. Say you sell cards; you can get it cut into a car shape. Or embossed, with a hole in it etc. o QR codes are still valid. If you use these, ALWAYS mention what they are referring to. For example they can scan to a mobile website, to your contact details, your phone number, a video clip etc. So, the next time you need a new business card, put a little thought into developing it! Till next week, Marijke  Well, I’ve done it! It’s sold!
I set a goal to sell my Commercial unit by the end of November and I’ve achieved that goal. I actually had an offer within two weeks, it’s just taken a little while to finalise ‘the deal’! How did the buyer find out about the unit being on the market? This marketing tip database! It’s a list of hundreds of small to medium sized businesses with many of them the target market for the unit. So whenever your market a property or a product, decide who your ideal customer would be and where you can find them. It’s no use advertising in newspapers and other mass media as you will pay for targeting ‘everyone’ (unless you want to reach ‘everyone’). Try to be a bit more creative than that! The result for me was that I had several high quality potential buyers! The other marketing activities I carried out were: - Developed a nice looking flyer and distributed around the area - Set up a page on my website with detailed information about the unit a potential buyer needed with nice photos etc. I had a domain name www.unitforsale.co.nz pointing directly at that page. This way, I could measure how many views that domain had too. - A FOR SALE sign on the building with my phone number and the www.unitforsale.co.nz website - Listing on Trademe (this was the most expensive part at $ 399) What were the advantages for the buyer? - The feedback I’ve had is that buyers prefer dealing with the owner of the property as they know the property best! - A much better price as no commission was involved. The next time I’m selling a property, I will do the marketing again myself! Till next week, Marijke Yesterday, I was Skyping with my sister in Holland and she was telling me about this amazing promotion their local supermarket was doing. It’s so good, we thought you’d enjoy hearing about it! In the town they live, there are two large competing supermarkets. One is the market leader and has the larger market share, the other one has a lesser profile. The one with the lesser profile has come up with an amazing promotion that has taken a lot of business away from the market leader. This is what they did. Do you know those sports people cards that you can collect and stick in a book? Kids love them! This supermarket went a step further. Instead of having famous sports people on the cards, they made the local kids the stars. They contacted all the local sports clubs (soccer clubs, hockey clubs etc.) and asked them if they wanted to join the promotion. They then took photos of all the teams and each kid individually – quite a job! They produced free albums (see photos above) with the names of the kids and the clubs. For every appr. $ 20 spend, you receive a set of stickers with photos of the kids in a particular club. All local kids are frantically collecting and exchanging these stickers. All local sports clubs have fully endorsed this promotion, resulting in huge amount of free publicity for the supermarket as well as community goodwill. It isn’t just great fun for the kids, but a great promo for the clubs too! My sister was saying how the kids hassle their parents to shop at this supermarket and the other one is much quieter. The supermarket also offers additional products (at a cost) such as a poster with the photo of the team and the kid, mugs with photo etc. What a great way to get more customers! I’m sure it’s paying off for them! So, creative and innovative marketing is a great way to increase your profile, sales, goodwill and loyalty! What could you do in your business to stand out? Re the DIY Marketing Real Estate – my story: there are some exciting developments and I hope to be able to give you some positive news very soon! Have a great weekend & till next week! Marijke Registrations now open for the 2014/15 Marketing for Success Programme. Click here for info! Don't miss it if you want to learn all about tourism marketing, social media, set and achieve your goals.
 After last week's post on marketing my commercial unit myself, I received many emails with tips and encouragement. Thanks for that!
Readers commented that they prefer dealing with owners of property directly as they know the property best. I know this is not everyone's thing and a lot of real estate agents do a great job, but in my case I think this is working as I can spend time with interested parties and provide good service! Someone said it's useful to have an open home as people like the structured approach. Great idea! I will plan some in the next couple of weeks! Here are a few other marketing activities I've carried out in the last week: - Registered www.unitforsale.co.nz. This website address links to the page on this website with information on the unit. I have added more photos and information to it. Having a specific website address for a marketing campaing enables me to track (through Google Analytics) how many people view this page. - New photos photos on Trademe listing so it stays 'fresh'. - I'm having 250 flyers printed that will be distributed to my target market next week. - I have shown a handful of interested parties the unit (and there are a few more in the pipeline, and hopefully one of them will be a buyer!). The majority of these people are exactly the type of people that would love living and working here. Some are overseas for part of the year and want a 'pied a terre' in Queenstown that requires no maintenance. So, it's been an exciting journey in just the first week and a half! I'll keep you posted. And if you know of anyone that is looking for a unit like this one (in near-new condition), please email them the link www.unitforsale.co.nz . Registrations now open for the 2014/15 Marketing for Success Programme. Click here for info! Till next week, Marijke  Whether you sell a tourism activity, a dining experience, gardening services or accommodation packages, you can package these up to be the perfect gift for specific types of people!
What you need to do is the following: - Identify your different target markets (customer groups), so your customer can identify with these, for example : o Gift ideas for mum o Gift ideas for dad o Gift ideas for the family o Gift ideas for girlfriend o Gift ideas for teenager o Gift ideas for grandparents o Gift ideas for couple o Gift ideas for adrenalin-seeker o Gift ideas for staff o Gift ideas for ??? - Then, for each customer group that you can cater for, list the options you offer and a buy now or book now link to the gift voucher. It’s about making it simple for people to book/buy gift vouchers for mum, dad, or someone with a particular interest! Make the expiration date 1 year from the date of purchase. You can always offer a special deal if they buy the voucher before a certain date, or buy multiple vouchers. Another fact about gift vouchers is that a percentage (they say up to 25%!!) never get redeemed! Till next week, Marijke |
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