With the huge amount of options people have when buying your type of product or service, it’s so important to make it really clear why they should buy from you, what value do you bring them and what is the experience going to be like?

Every now and then, ask yourself the questions below. It’s also good to involve your team in this exercise to ensure everyone is on the same page.
​
Here are 5 questions that will help you clarify why people should book you or buy from you:

1. What do you do? Clearly describe the product/services you offer and the experience your customers will have. When doing this, always think from your customer's perspective - people that may know little about the area or type of product you offer.
2. Who are your customers? The more specific you can identify and describe the needs of your customers, the more likely you are to be able to tailor your product to them. Revise this periodically as your types of customers can be changing and you want to ensure you are still providing them with a product/service that appeals to them.
3. How will you meet the needs of your customers? How can you tailor your product as much as possible to your specific customer groups? Don’t try to be everything to everyone and try to appeal to specific niche markets. These customer groups will then better relate to what you offer and are more likely to book you or buy from you.
4. How are you different from your competition? They say that 50% of sales come from your USP’s (Unique Selling Points). People come to you because you offer something that is better, more unique, cheaper, higher end, award-winning, highly reviewed, personalised, or whatever else makes you stand out from your competition and that appeals to your target markets.
5. How easy is it for people to buy from you? In other words, how 'visible' are you to your target customers? Be as effective as you can in reaching your customers in ways that appeal to them and make it easy for them to book you. In travel, it could be through inbound operators/wholesalers, OTA’s, booking agents, through your website, email marketing, social media etc. Ask your customers what methods they prefer to use and adjust your marketing strategy to make it easier for people to book you.

Ask yourself these questions at least twice a year and you'll come up with ways to improve your marketing.

Till next time, Marijke
Coming soon: the new Agri-tourism Success Programme and the new Tourism Business Success Programme.  Click here for more info!

Happy new year to you! 
Here are 5 Tourism Marketing Trends for 2019!

​Trend 1: The rise of Instagram for tourism.
Instagram has grown at a much faster pace than Facebook has in the past. It’s a great visual platform for tourism businesses and by learning how to use Instagram ‘properly’, including the use of hashtags, you can reach and keep in touch with customers in an effective way. 

Trend 2: The growth of Google Reviews (and Google bookings).
​You will have noticed the increase in Google Reviews and Google Local Guides. The advantage of this is that everyone uses Google and it’s a good to have an alternative way to review to Tripadvisor. Google has offers online booking - you can book directly from the operator's Google Listing through one of the existing Online Travel Agencies (OTA's). Google clips the ticket.
Oh, and did you know that Tripadvisor is going ‘social’ too? Late last year, they launched their own social media platform. I won’t go into too much detail here, but to be honest, I’m not sure what to think of it and whether it will take off.

Trend 3: The increased importance of content marketing.
Content marketing has been growing in the last few years, but now businesses are becoming more strategic about it. Content marketing involves developing quality and unique content that will benefit your customers. Think about imagery, blogs, videos (virtual reality/360 degree videos) etc.
By developing a content strategy (rather than posting random ad-hoc content) for your website, social media, blog etc, you will have quality material that will encourage your customers to book you, share your content and follow you. User-generated content (USG) is when your customers’ photos for example are shared on social media. UGC is hugely powerful and should be a part of your content strategy.  

Trend 4: Mobile marketing & the growth of voice search. With between 75% and 80% of visitors using their smartphone while on holiday, the growth of voice search has grown too. Paying more attention to the mobile user experience and speed is important – how does your mobile site perform and is it optimised for voice search. 
We’ll also see the growth of payment methods such as Alipay, Wechat pay and Whatsapp pay.

Trend 5: Direct marketing. More and more hotel chains world-wide are using direct marketing to reach customers as their share of bookings (and thus paying more commission) to Online Travel Agencies (such as booking.com and expedia) has grown so much. Many hotels are focusing on direct marketing to their customers and I believe it’s hugely important that smaller accommodation and activity operators do this too. Don’t forget that you don’t control what’s happening on social media. What you do control are your own customer databases. 

Do you need help with your business and marketing strategy? Do you want to learn and keep up to date? Then check out the new Tourism Business Success Programme and the new Agritourism Success Programme.  Go to www.smartraining.co.nz for more info!

A few years ago, a business owner, we’ll call him John, came to see me. He was desperate and needed my help. Up to then, he had a good running tourism business which he had grown nicely over the years. He had a steady stream of customers and he wasn’t too worried as it all seemed to happen quite easily.

Suddenly – shock, horror! - John’s business dropped by 40%. What happened?

Well, his biggest supplier of customers stopped using him. And as he received over 40% of his business through this supplier, he suddenly had a big problem. This supplier decided to start competing with them. John had never looked at his distribution strategically, i.e. analyse where his bookings were coming from and how he could work smarter. It was time he did.

Distributing your product more strategically could include the following;

• Ensure you have spread your risk. If you have one very large supplier, like John had, you can see that this poses a big risk to your business. So, have a look at how you can increase your business from a range of distribution channels.
• With the rapid rise of OTA’s (online travel agencies) and their market share of your bookings, it’s important to also focus also on getting more direct bookings. A great way to do this is through keeping in touch with existing customers.
• Set clear goals of where you want your business to come from, through what distribution channels and decide what you need to do to achieve these goals.

Oh, and John is ok. He managed to get his business back on track again through strategic distribution planning and runs a successful tourism business.

Till next week, Marijke

We are now well into February and chances are that if you started setting a few goals or resolutions at the start of the year, you are already lacking the motivation to stick with them. Whether it be actioning your marketing plan, updating your website & social media, getting more exercise, or just planning to do more fun things, once you’re back into your daily grind of urgent and important activities, it’s easy to lose motivation to focus on a new and exciting goal.

So, here are some ways to get motivated and achieve a new goal. And wow, how great would that feel!

1. Being passionate about what you want to achieve really helps! Visualise the end result and how it will make you feel. Write down why you want to achieve this goal; your motivations.
   
2. Start with ONE goal. If you try to do too much at once, you are unlikely to keep motivated to do it all. Do write down all the things you want to achieve though, and then pick one to start with.
   
3. Then, decide how long it will take to achieve this goal, for example two months. What do you need to do each day to achieve your goal in these two months? Start small! Write it on a notice board or pin it to your notice board so you see it all the time.
4. Develop the habit to work on your goal every day. If you miss a day, get back on track as soon as you can. I love the quote: ‘Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.’
5. And last but not least (I find this extremely powerful and important): surround yourself with positive people. Tell them about your goal and keep them in the loop of how you’re progressing. They will support you along the way! (Also: it’s much more fun sharing your success with others!) And be kind to yourself :)!

So, what is your ONE goal going to be for the next few months?

Till next week, Marijke

1. Create a Marketing habit! Set aside a set time each week to work on your marketing & business goals. If you do this, it becomes a habit and you will actually get the things done that you plan to do!  
2. Keep up to date with your marketing! I read 2 marketing or business books a month and I attend conferences, workshops, read online newsletters etc. I don’t remember it all, but I do pick up the things that are useful to my business. And I find it motivational and it inspires me to implement new ideas!
   Do check out the Marketing for Success Programme, you’ll love it!
3. Create a video for your website! Video is a great way to increase the conversion to sales!
4. Keep in touch! Keep in touch with your customers by sending them an update every month or quarter (keep it brief and ensure it relates to them!) Note: do personalise the message!
   
5. Get to know your customers better! Where do they hear about you, what do they want, what do they like, what social media do they use, what could be improved? Plan to survey them regularly. Then create products or experiences that suit your customers!
6. Work with complementary businesses! Develop a package or jointly market your products.
7. Make a list of topics to use in social media & newsletters – then, when you do so, you don’t have to come up with new things all the time! Examples: great photos of customers experiencing your product/service, something funny, something interesting, a link to a video, tips, special deals etc.
8. Communicate your USP’s! Why do your customers choose you over your competition? Your unique selling points, the things that set you apart from others accounts for 50% of your sales. So, do communicate these clearly on your website and promotional material!
9. Make it easy for people to book or buy your product! Whether through online booking, 0800 numbers, distribution through a range of channels. For example if you’re in tourism I mean through your own website, 3rd party websites, booking centres, wholesalers etc. The wider your distribution, the easier it will be for people to find you!
10. Focus on the quality of your service and whole customer experience! The better the service and experience, the better your reviews and word of mouth. Hire enthusiastic staff and train them well!

Do you need help planning your marketing and get support along the way? Do you want to learn new marketing skills and work with like-minded businesses? Then join the 11-month Marketing for Success Programme  starting in April. Click here for more info & testimonials!

Till next week, Marijke

For the first 8 months of this year, I got this really great thing going. It was a habit I developed that worked really well for my business. Every first hour of the day (between 7.30 and 8.30). It’s the ‘working on my business’ hour and I loved it! It 's my hour of generating ideas, reading, developing new marketing programmes etc.

Then I got off track. Yes, even though I teach people planning skills, I’m only human :)!

I got off track because I was in the final few months of building my house. Something that was a huge challenge and took much more time than I anticipated. But I did it and I moved in 2 weeks ago.

There is still quite a bit to do (landscaping - see picture above!, sorting through stuff, de-cluttering etc), but I am writing this from my lovely new office!

So my hour in the morning of working on my business (instead of just in it) just didn’t happen as there was so much else going on.

Once something is a habit, it’s easy to stick to it. But when you change your routine and your environment, your habits and routines often change too.

While I was walking my dog Jessi this morning, I decided to get back on track. Just get back into the habit again. It will take a week or too, but I know I will love it.

So, just do it. Commit to it and do it. I know it’ll feel great!
(I have it written down in my diary too, every day!)

Till next week!

Check out the new SMARTRAINING programmes starting early 2016: the 12 months Marketing for Success Programme and the new Advanced Marketing for Success Programme.

I love reading books, blogs and listening to audio books (as I walk my dog or do chores around the house). I enjoy learning as it motivates me and inspires me to do new things!

Another way to get inspiration is to listen to Ted Talks. Even better, make it a habit and listen to one Ted Talk a day (I have just started doing this!) They are only about 15-20 minutes each and you can choose between millions of interesting topics. Instead of watching some mindless TV show, why not listen to something interesting?

Today I listened to the one above on making hard choices - We all face these - whether in our business or personal lives!

So, check out www.ted.com and get inspired! Oh, and you can also download a Ted App on your smart phone. Just go to your app store and search Ted Talks!

We all go through times in our personal and business lives where we have to rethink where we're going, what we want to achieve, what makes us happy.

By doing this, we learn to focus on the positive, count our blessings and appreciate what's important to us.

These questions will help you with the goals you set in your personal life and in your job/business. Take a piece of paper and write down your answers. Start with 1 goal at a time.

1. What do you want to achieve (either in your personal life or your business)? Make it specific, positive and have the end result in mind. Visualise the end result as a bright picture!

2. To reach this goal, what do you need to do more of and what do you need to do less of?

3. To reach your goal, what do you need to start doing and what do you need to stop doing?

These questions may seem simple, and they are! But you need to take the time to think about the answers and write them down. Then make an action plan and review it daily.

A strong focus of the Marketing for Success Programme is setting and reaching goals. It's been great seeing people achieve things that they have been trying to achieve for years!

Till next week, Marijke

Coming up:
FREE 2-hour tourism marketing workshop:
Effective ways to grow your international visitor numbers! 
(4 Sept 2014 in Lumsden and 5 Sept in Invercargill)

So you need a new brochure or website… Many businesses just go to a designer and get it done.

I would advise you to stop and plan your new material before you call your designer.

Here are three questions to keep in mind:

1. Who am I trying to attract? Be as specific as you can when describing your target market(s) and ensure your marketing material (ie website, brochure etc) appeals to this market. The more you can appeal to them through imagery, wording (what ‘problems’ are you solving for them), the more they are likely to take notice of your material.

2. What information are my customers looking for? Ensure all relevant information can be found on your promotional material/website. If you can’t fit it all on a brochure (and you’re likely not to!) just redirect them to your website. Give them as much relevant information as possible, including your points of difference (make sure you are different from your competition!), prices, detailed product descriptions, great photos, testimonials, info about your company etc. Provide them with all the information they need to convince them you are selling a great product and for them to make a buying decision.

3. What do I want my customers to do? (I.e. what do you want to achieve with your marketing material?) You may want people to contact you so you can interact with them and start the sales process, you may want them to book or buy your product online, to register for a newsletter, or you may want them to tell you how they found you…

Whatever it is you want them to do, make it easy for them. Provide a call to action on each page. Ensure your contact details are on each page too and make it easy to contact you through email, mobile website (QR code!) an 0800 number or in person.

So, have a look at the questions above and how they apply to your website and other marketing material. The next time you update your brochure or website, ensure the questions above are answered.

Till next week, Marijke

It's that time of year where we look at the marketing trends for next year!

The way we market our businesses is changing. With an even more increased focus on online marketing compared to print, it's important to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. Are you ready?

As you know, we are running the Marketing for Success Programme 2014, which is totally aimed at helping you develop a clear vision for your business with specific goals. You will learn all about the latest marketing techniques. The action planning component and monthly 2-hour workshops will keep you on track. Registrations are filling, so don't miss this opportunity to work a lot smarter & achieve what you set out to do. Go to www.smartraining.co.nz for detailed information. Deadline is next week!

So here are the Marketing Trends for 2014:

1. Planning: Businesses see the importance of developing a Marketing Plan to focus where they go and use the best NEW marketing methods to reach their customers. 

2. Online presence: Your online presence is becoming more and more important. Not just a basic static website, but one that allows customers more interaction. It should also integrates with social media.

3. Content is king! Creating relevant, quality content that will help your customers to buy or book your product becomes more and more important. This is something you need to plan!

4. Mobile optimised. Between 10-25% of your web traffic is through mobile devices. It is therefore vital that your website is mobile optimised - ie that your website looks good on a mobile device!

5. Personalisation. It's becoming more important to tailor your message to your different target groups and communicate with them personally. This could be through opt-in newsletters that are personalised to creating content that is aimed at a niche market.

6. Visual presentation. You will see the use of imagery and video increasing. Other tools like embedded slideshows (see last week's marketing tip) are also on the increase and of course you know that Youtube is 2nd largest search engine in the world!

So. are you ready to grow your business in 2014 in a smart & cost-effective way?

If you need help and become part of a great network of like-minded businesses, join the Marketing for Success Programme 2014 in either Queenstown, Te Anau or Invercargill!

Till next week, Marijke

With strong economic growth forecasts and a new year ahead, start to plan your future now. You only live once, and you deserve to lead the life you've always dreamed of! (I know this sounds a bit tacky, but I mean it!)

Have a look a the Time Management matrix below. Before reading on, decide where you spend most of your time.

Now let's have a look at...

Where do typical small businesses spend most of their time?

Check out the quadrant below - they spend most of their time in the "Urgent / Not important Quadrant. Interuptions, mail, urgent matters, phone calls etc. Do you relate?

Now read on below this diagram...

Where high performance businesses spend most of their time (see below).
As you can see, they spend a large part of their time planning, preparing, relationship building, but also 'true recreation', doing the things you really want to do and are important to you. Isn't that what life is all about?

The reason most people spend a lot of time in the Urgent/Not important quadrant is that they've never learned to plan consistently.

Well, here's the good news: even if you're a small business and you have to be a 'jack of all trades', you can still learn the skills to grow your business you want to have, and lead the life you've always dreamed of.

It's not rocket science, but if you feel you need help, we are EXTREMELY excited to have developed our BEST programme ever.

The first one we're running is for Tourism Businesses and we'd like to invite you to join us (Note: up to 50% New Zealand Trade & Enterprise funding is available.)

Download the flyer below and don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

Till next week, Marijke

Now, I was hoping to write a very happy marketing tip this week as we all still had big hopes for Team NZ winning the America’s Cup. But it wasn’t meant to be ...

In business, we deal with disappointments too. There seem to be a few patterns on how people deal with failure or
setbacks. 

Most successful people have setbacks and they use these
experiences to improve.
To name a few famous people: Steve Jobs was fired from
his own company; Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison; and Abraham Lincoln failed in business, had a nervous breakdown, and was defeated in eight elections. So how did all these people achieve such extraordinary success?
 
Positive attitude

Successful people have a highly positive attitude and bounce back when they experience a setback. I’ve seen people go bankrupt and manage to build up a very successful business again. 

They see the glass as half full instead of half empty.

Positive people see setbacks as learning experiences. We all have them, so you may as well learn the lesson and move on! Don’t be deterred by them or let it undermine your confidence… 
 
Take Responsibility
 
You are responsible for your own actions. Take responsibility and learn from your mistakes. If you do, you will do better next time. 
 
‘Experience comes after you need it!’ So see your setbacks as experiences and move on. 
 
Accept yourself and be good to yourself 
 
Always show loyalty to yourself. Embrace your weaknesses and shortcomings, but work to turn them into strengths. You cannot control the negative opinions of people around you, but with self-acceptance, you can block out the noise. 
 
Trust your gut feel
 
Make your decision based on experience and listen to your gut. We all have been in situations where we didn’t follow our gut and (hopefully) have learned from that. 

Continue on your path with integrity using both your heart and mind to guide you back to success.

So, always focus on the positive, take responsibility, be loyal to yourself and trust your gut feel.
 
Till next week, Marijke