I hope you’ve seen the acclaimed NZ movie: Hunt for the Wilderpeople. A boy (Julian Dennison) and his foster father (Sam Neill) become the subjects of a manhunt after they get stranded in the New Zealand wilderness. It's arguably the best movie of 2016! Julian, along with Ronan Keating, features in a holiday video created by Air New Zealand. They change the lyrics of the Christmas carol “Winter Wonderland” to “Summer Wonderland”. Finally a Christmas carol that relates to Chrismas in summer! Within 2 weeks of being launched, this video has received nearly 900,000 views! So, this summer (or winter if you live in the northern hemisphere), come up with some creative, funny, cute, beautiful, surprising and novel photos or videos you can use for your marketing. That's the stuff that goes viral and provides you with free publicity! Till next week, Marijke The first video is the making of the video, the one below, the actual carol!
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Well, after doing some further research into Bing, this is what I've found out. Here in NZ, search engine Bing is hardly used. As mentioned in last week’s article, it is however important to list your business so people in other countries can find you. For example, in the United States, Bing has a market share of 22%! So if people are searching your business on Bing, you want to be there so they can find you! Bing also has “Bing Places for Business” (see: www.bingplaces.com) where you can list your business, its location on the map etc. Similar to “Google my Business”, which includes Google Places/Maps. This service on Bing is however not available everywhere, and unfortunately not in New Zealand. Currently, Bing Places is used in United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Bing is however working on growing Bing Places to more countries, and their market share is slowly increasing too. So, if the US is a large market for you, do ensure your business is listed on Bing - see last week’s article. I’ll keep an eye on Bing Places and if it becomes available in New Zealand, I’ll let you know! Till next week, Marijke Bing is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. Bing also powers Yahoo! search.
Even though Bing isn’t as big as Google, it’s still very important your website can be found on Bing as a significant percentage of people use Bing as their search engine. It’s is the default search engine when you use Microsoft software. Who uses Bing? Well, more people than you may think! I’ve researched statistics, and the most reliable ones were the US statistics. To give you an idea, in the US, around 30% of people use Bing and Yahoo, the remaining majority use Google. Bing searchers are for the most part 35+ in age and commonly within the 55-64 age bracket. Bing users generally less tech savvy. Some people get really annoyed with the tracking that Google does (with ads following you everywhere) and therefore use Bing. In China, people can’t use Google but they can use Bing! So, you need to make sure your website appears on Bing. It will only take a few seconds to submit your domain name (website address) to Bing, and it’s free. Click on the link below to register: http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url Next week, we'll look at how to make the most of Bing for your business. Marijke Here we go:
Have a look at your own website and what you can improve to make it more user-friendly. Till next week, Marijke Chances are that you're using Facebook for your business. You may have set up a few other social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, but most small businesses don’t use these as much.
My advice to you - especially if you operate a tourism business - is to consider Instagram much more than you are now! Here are 7 reasons why:
To get started, go to: www.instagram.com Give it a go! Any questions? Use the comment box below! Till next week, Marijke First of all, what is bounce rate?
When you look at the google analytics (statistics) of your website, on the main dashboard you’ll see your bounce rate. This rate indicates the number of visitors that only look at one page of your website and then leave. Unless you have a lot of people looking at one page (such as I have with the weekly marketing tip), you can assume that your website visitors haven’t found what they were looking for. If you pay for google adwords, which can be quite expensive, you want to make sure that the people that click on your ad are not one page visitors and a bounce rate statistic. If they are, you are wasting your money and need to review your ad. But even if you don’t pay for ads, you want to ensure you get quality traffic and keep them on your site. The aim is to keep your bounce rate under 40%. If you can get it under 30%, you’re doing extremely well! If you can keep people on your website longer, you have a higher chance to convert them to a sale or a booking. Here are a few reasons people leave your website:
So, set a goal to improve your bounce rate by improving your website. Till next week, Marijke While I was eating a cookie (haha) and saw a cookie notification on a website I was visiting, I though to myself let's find out a bit more about cookies for this tip. Most websites (over 92%) use web or tracking cookies. There are first and third party cookies. Some are useful and necessary, others are very annoying! In Europe it's required by law to have a cookie notification on your website (not here in NZ). Below is a short video that explains how cookies work. Till next week, Marijke If you use social media to promote your business, you need to read about this important trend!20/10/2016 Two years ago, mobile internet use officially took over desktop use. As a result, the growth of messaging apps (used on smartphones) has been on the increase too. They’re all about easy communication and sharing information. Last year, the total number of active users of the top 4 messaging apps overtook the total number of active users of the top 4 social media platforms. I’ll repeat this: last year, the four largest messaging apps overtook the four largest social networking sites. You probably already have social sharing buttons on your website. If you don’t have messaging app sharing buttons yet, it’s time to add these. This will make it a lot easier for people to share content from your website! And they will. The largest messaging app is Whatsapp, actively used by 1 billion people worldwide. (I’m a big fan myself!). The next biggest one is Facebook’s Messenger. So ensure you have at least these two! www.sharethis.com is a free tool that for your website that has the sharing buttons. I have had this on the side of the marketing tips for a few years (see buttons on the right). I recently installed the Whatsapp button but couldn’t figure out why I can’t see it. I contacted the help desk. You can see it, but only on a smartphone – duh! It’s a mobile app, not a pc app, so you only see the Whatsapp sharing button on a mobile device. So, put these sharing buttons on your website today, it’ll make it easier for people to share your great content! 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 If you want to be successful in business, you need to stand out! Be remarkable! Here are 8 ways to help you stand out from your competition:
Till next week, Marijke There’s nothing like a great photo to keep your website and social media channels up to date. Smartphones take the most amazing quality photos these days… And the great thing is that you always have it with you! I found some cool little videos on youtube with tips on how to take great (some very creative!) photos with your smartphone! Get out there this weekend and take some new pics. Have fun! Till next week, Marijke I just got back from a wonderful holiday in Vietnam. Apart from great food, interesting culture, beautiful environment, the thing that I probably enjoyed most was the kind nature of the people and the great service we received. (Did I forget to mention the shopping?).
For some people (or nationalities), great service and big smiles come naturally. Here are a few tips based on my experiences in Vietnam:
So, what can you do in your business to delight your customers? Till next week, Marijke A favicon is an icon associated with a particular website, typically displayed in the address bar of a browser accessing the site or next to the site name in a user's list of bookmarks. See example below: Here are a few reasons why you should have a favicon on your website: 1. It looks professional and adds credibility 2. It reinforces your branding 3. It improves the user experience as it's easy to recognise your site in tabbed browsers and when the page is bookmarked How to create a favicon: A favicon is tiny, only 16x16 pixels. Have a look at some of the favicons that are used for different brands. They are simple but reflect the brand they represent: You can either use an element of your brand that can be reduced to a small enough size (16x16 pixels) or get your designer to design a favicon for you.
Most content management systems allow you to upload a favicon yourself. Or ask your web designer to do it. Have a great rest of your week! Marijke Most (tourism) businesses already have business pages on several social media platforms. But there may be one or two that you haven't looked at. Even if you set up a basic listing with links to your website, this will help your SEO (search engine optimisation).
Before you decide to spend a lot of time on any social media platform, find out what social media your customers use to find businesses like yours. Below are links to pages that explain how to set up social media business pages for each platform: Facebook business page: https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/set-up-facebook-page Google my business: https://www.google.com/business/ Linkedin business page: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/company-pages/get-started Instagram business page: https://business.instagram.com/ Youtube Channel for your business: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1646861?hl=en Pinterest business page: https://business.pinterest.com/en/set-your-business-account Twitter business page: https://business.twitter.com/en.html Have a great rest of your week! Marijke 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
Another example is this ad for a US$300,000 Bentley. It was filmed last year with an Iphone S5 and Ipad Air. Wow! Of course they were professional camera people, but it does show you that the image quality of a smart phone is great for a simple video!
So, my challenge to you is to put together a short video for your website by the end of next week. I will do so too and post it on this website. It only needs to be short (no more than 2 minutes). If you email me your video, I am happy to give you feedback and post it on this website (if that's ok with you!) If you don't have a Youtube Channel for your business, the video below will show you how to do it! 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 Upselling is adding value to a sale by either selling another product or service or a more expensive product. Fast food outlets do this very well: “Do you want fries with that?” and you think, “why not”, and the up-sell is done! It’s about giving customers ideas of what else they can buy. Upselling is a great way to increase revenue, yet many businesses don’t do it. Whether you are a tourism operator (sell them a full day trip instead of a half day, an extra night, a combo or a package), a retailer or a builder, there are always opportunities to up-sell. Up-selling is relatively easy as the customer is already buying your product. All you have to do is to convince them to buy more. There are also ways to up-sell if you are selling a product online. You might have seen on online shopping sites such as amazon.com : ‘customers that bought this product also bought that product’: ‘if you buy two or more products, you get free shipping’. Here are 5 upselling tips: - Identify upselling opportunities - Offer a matching or complementary product - Sign customers up for a loyalty programme - Train your staff the essential up-selling skills and opportunities - Implement the upselling strategies in your business Till next week, 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
How to create an automatic email signature with the Email Signature Generator - a cool little tool!5/5/2016 OK, this may sound really straight forward and simple (and it is!), but you'll be surprised how many people don't have an automatic email signature. An automatic email signature is easily created in your email package (outlook, gmail, apple mail, yahoo mail etc.) Once you've done this, every time you create a new email or reply to one, all your contact details are already there. An email signature looks professional and makes it easy for people to contact you, whether by phone, mail, or click on your website, Facebook or other link. So, to start with the basics, ensure your email signature includes:
I have found a cool FREE email signature generator. Click here to go to it! Do you want to know how to insert an automatic signature into Outlook? Click here to learn how to do this!
NOTE: There are a few places left for the Tourism Marketing Bootcamp on 25 May 2016 in Queenstown. Go to www.smartraining.co.nz for more info! 50% funding available for qualifying businesses! Have a good rest of your week! Kind regards, Marijke
Do you want to rank higher in search engines and increase website traffic? Then it’s time for a website spring clean (or should I call it autumn clean?)
Over the next few weeks, I’ll give you some tips on what to do. Not too much at once, just an hour or less each week to help you improve your website. Here we go: Tip 1: check all the links on your website. Are they working or do they go to error pages. If they don't work, fix them! Tip 2: Ensure your photos have ‘alt tags’ or captions. Alt tags are pop up descriptions of the photos (usually in yellow boxes). Captions are descriptions below an image. They are important for two reasons. Firstly, your website audience wants to know what they’re looking at, and secondly, you can add relevant keywords to each photo that will help people find your website. The photos will also pop up in Google Image searches. That’s all for now! Plan a time in the next few days or early next week to do these two little jobs. Have a great weekend! From sunny Queenstown, 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
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