Don’t you hate it when you come across a great article, save it, and then spend half and hour afterwards trying to find it? Errg.   Anyway, I was reading an article that had some very good statistics about the effectiveness of PR firms reaching out to bloggers – the figures were shockingly low, actually.  As a “travel blogger” myself (our sister website is a travel lifestyle magazine), I see both sides of this PR/blogger relationship, and I have to say that both are to blame.

I have great relationships on both sides, but you don’t have to look hard to find PR and bloggers not meeting eye-to-eye. But now that you have your expectations set, your approach will be different, right?

Why Bloggers Are the Small Business Owner’s Friend

Bloggers are your friend, my dear small business owner!  You see, they provide the do-it-yourself PR approach with easy to access fodder.  If you keep all of the above in mind, you’ll have some good results I think.  Some ways you can utilise an effective business-blogger relationship:

• SEO: As mentioned above, bloggers are usually operating on a shoestring budget, so most offer the option to buy links. Yes, I know I know, that’s totally not cool in Google’s book, but people do it.
• Content: Similar to the above, many blogs accept sponsored content – meaning you can buy a place in their editorial. Yes, advertorial. It sounds gross, but it can be done very very well – in fact, to do well in a blogging environment, the less your advertorial looks like an advertorial, the better.
• Access to Niche Markets: The strength and the USP of a blog is niche. Niche niche niche. Are you a travel agency known for your knowledge in adrenaline tourism? Then target adventure blogs. Are you a gay tour operator? Time to hang out on the gay travel blogs. Luxury B&B nobody’s heard of? Time to tweet the luxury travel bloggers.
• Direct Access: Unlike a New York times journalist, bloggers are usually pretty accessible – just send them a tweet or an email. Others can be harder to get ahold of, but overall I’d say they are very approachable. They might even have a connection to someone else in their network you might be interested in getting access to.

I’m sad to hear PR folk are not finding success with bloggers – because these niche platforms in many cases have a huge following and can do wonders to get the word out. Take advantage of them by taking some time to evaluate the blogs that you feel are a good match for your offering and ethos, then make an approach! The worst they can say is no (or, actually, not reply at all…).

To Learn More

Is there a online marketing problem you are struggling with? Why not visit our resource library, where you can find other materials and services that might be just the thing!

Photo by oneras.

I’ve been reading about a lot of pretty innovative marketing ideas lately.  One that comes to mind is the “pop up shop” here in the UK; given the glut of empty storefronts and real estate here since the economic downturn started, entrepreneurs have been working out deals with the real estate owners for short term leases on the plots.  This gives the entrepreneur an inexpensive way to road test their ideas – ideally the best way to test an idea: in a real, life environment.  It is a win-win and a great way to make the best of a bad situtation.

The other was a published author Jennifer Belle.  She hired a bunch of actresses to stand in various popular locations in New York and read her book – while laughing.  Now this isn’t a new author – she’s already published several books, so clearly it’s a move to get her name in front of new faces.  She was lambasted by the media (specifically the writing community) for it being in poor taste.  While I’m not sure I have feelings positive or negative about the situation, she did get a lot of press for it.  (The real question:  does it sell books?)

So, can tourism businesses go guerilla?

I can’t help but ponder the question, can small travel and tourism businesses go guerilla online? I think yes, you can.  I think, yes, you must.  Here’s why:  the problem is that with all of these online tricks, once everybody is doing them, they’re no longer effective.  This process keeps repeating itself over and over, but nobody seems to be paying attention:

• Starbucks is now posting (lousy, in my opinion) special offers in Foursquare for all of their properties.  Yes, ALL of them.  Soon, every four square user will be so sick and tired of Starbucks offers that nobody will bother checking what the offers are, since it’s always Starbucks.
• Bloggers used to get loads of mileage from memes like #TravelTuesday on Twitter.  Now, everybody uses it, the spammers have gotten ahold of it, and now it’s not nearly as useful.
• LinkedIn and Facebook status updates were once useful and people read them.  Now that it’s easy to flood all of your social networks with hundreds of updates, people aren’t as selective in seeing what you have to say as they used to be.
• And of course, the ultimate:  everybody’s gotten on board the SEO train.  That game just gets more and more important.

But does this mean giving up?  No way!

How To Go Guerilla

The principles of guerrila marketing for tourism online are simple:

• Ignore Everybody Else.  You need to come up with something uniquely your own. For example, I rarely do #FollowFriday anymore.  I do #AwesomePeopleMonday and #AwesomePeopleTuesday etc.  Those people who I call out appreciate it, and more people notice it.  What can you do that everybody else isn’t?
• Hang Out at the Edge of the Box.  If you go too far out of the box, one of two things will happen: 1) people will think you’re an idiot, or 2) you’ll end up doing something illegal.  Stick to the edges where the easier wins are.  So instead of another boring coupon or contest, turn up the heat a little.
• Budget Conscious to Balance the Risk.  That’s the whole guerilla part, right – it isn’t too expensive, so if it doesn’t work, you’re still ok.
• Leverage Your Special Something.  The best guerilla work plays off of what it is that makes YOU so special.  What is it?  If it’s your hospitality, then use that.  Maybe it is the gorgeous backdrop for our tour or property?
• Go.  Then Monitor, Measure, React. The campaigns you haven’t launched?  They didn’t get you any business.  So do something.  Then see how it goes, evaluate how well it worked, then decide next steps.  Could you do it differently, or maybe repeat for a second hit?

Guerilla Inspiration

A lot of the latest guerilla craze has been video.  Consider this staged march by Visit Saskatchewan which got them a decent amount of press:

And then there was the video that Visit Denmark produced. It was a mother holding her baby, and she was looking for the one-night-stand father of her baby who was, naturally, a tourist who had visited the country. That didn’t go so well – it was pulled from Youtube, but here’s a quick screenshot:

Perhaps that is a little too viral. But you can make a wee video just like these tourism organisations. What’s stopping you? Fear?

The only marketing campaigns that are successful are the ones that you actually do. Now get out there and do something remarkable. Or guerilla. Or both.

To Learn More

Is your marketing feeling a little uninspired and not very guerilla?  (Maybe it is starting to look like an ungroomed gorilla?) We’ve got tourism marketing ideas for you: check out our do-it-yourself guide, 33 Fun and Effective ways to Promote Your Business Online.

Inspiration guaranteed or your money back.  Click the banner for more information.

Photo by jimbowen0306

I think the problem with many small businesses these days is that they spend a lot of time reading and listening to overviews, and not enough time doing something.  You can’t tell if a plan or strategy will work unless you try it out first to see.

If you’re ready to do something, you might want to attend the workshop TOP is co-hosting in Canandaigua New York, Social Media Success:  Enough with the Overviews, Start Doing Something.  Tickets are quite inexpensive for the three hour event and you can get in now for only $25.

What’s Covered

We’ll start out with a few anecdotes and stories, to help give some focus and direction, and then we’ll have a large Q&A portion for you to talk about

• why social media is so important and so useful to small business
• what kinds of social networks should get your attention
• what you should share via social media to tell your story
• how to use these tools efficiently (e.g. avoid the time suck)

How To Book

To learn more and/or book your tickets, you can book online: http://smsuccess.eventbrite.com.  Venue capacity is limited, so I suggest you buy now. Canandaigua is a short drive from Rochester, and even accessible from further afield places including Buffalo and Syracuse.  Check it out if you’re in the area, or tell a friend who might be interested – I’d love to say hello!

Have you ever dealt with the dreaded blogger’s dip?  It happens to all of us, at one point or another.  It’s happened to me on every blog I’ve ever written for, and I’ve seen it happen to other bloggers time and time again.

What is The Dip

I’d like to preface this conversation by saying that I mean no foul or harm to any bloggers out there.  The reason I say this is a very good friend and business collaborator started a blog early in the year, and after wishing her luck, I gave her some advice:  You’re burning red hot right now; remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint.  And no matter what – you’ll hit the dip.  You won’t see it coming.  Just relax, and take it in stride.

My friend was quite offended (to say the least) and I was only trying to help.  But I feel the need to point out this unusual phenomenon because I see it happen over, and over, and over.  The process usually goes something like that:

• New blog starts  - whoohoo, new chiny blog (cue streamers and bunting)
• Blog gathers steam
• Blogger starts to realise the pressure of maintaining a blog (cue sweat-drenched brow)
• Blogger hits THE DIP — blog content starts to suffer, and said blogger suffers emotionally because of it

The result is only one of two things: either the blogger comes out the otherside more appreciative of the work involved in making their blog work, or they don’t make it.  Their blog becomes one of the hundred thousands millions (billions?) of abandoned blogs out there.  The only thing worse than no blog at all is an abandoned blog.  What would you rather have next to your home: a vacant lot, or a house with broken windows on the verge of collapse?

How To Deal With The Dip

Here’s my less-than-twelve-steps way to deal with blogger’s dip.

1. Acknowledge that a blog is a marathon, not a sprint.  In fact, it is a marathon with no finish line.  If you can’t stomach that though, don’t start running.
2. Acknowledge the dip will occur.  You will loose focus.  You will question why the hell you have blog in the first place.  You will have days when nobody reads, nobody comments, nobody cares.  Deep breaths.
3. Remind yourself the benefit your blog is giving you.  Why do you have it?  Is it an SEO tool?  Is it to provide some interactiveness to your website?  Write this down on a piece of paper and put it up next to your desk.
4. Fix whatever problems you have. The dip often happens because you’ve not got something quite right.  Are you struggling with slotting your post into categories because the categories are wrong?  Fiddling with tags and have no idea what you’re doing?  Was the whole point of this to do SEO and yet you aren’t even researching and using keywords in the posts.  Ok, so how do we fix those problems?
5. Turn down the dial if need be.  If you were blogging three times a week, take it back to two while you reorientate and adjust.  Do NOT feel the need to apologise to your readers.  Mostly, they won’t notice.
6. Stretch, limber, loosen, relax – refind your voice.  This is another common problem that leads to the dip: trying to pigeonhold your square-shaped blog posts into round hole.  The best blogs have a clear voice – the voice of a person (or people) – so maybe you need to re-find yours.
7. Get some feedback.  Once you are slowly reorientating yourself, get some feedback from customers or other small businesses (maybe one who blogs and who who doesn’t?).  How was your stuff previously?  How is that new plan shaping up?
8. Now, get going.  Just like in a marathon, if you stop for too long, lactic acid (and inertia) will take over and you’ll never get going again.  Same here:  baby steps, nudge yourself forward.

The dip can happen anytime, and it can happen more than once.  I like to say that it’s the universe’s way of challenging a blogger to make sure their blog is awesome, and to kindly point out when the powers-that-be think you aren’t doing something quite right.

To Learn More

We have two great resources that are key tools for any successful blog, useful before, during, and after the dip.  Check ‘em out, use ‘em – and watch your blogging effectiveness soar:

• Do It Yourself Search Engine Optimization – arguably the biggest weapon a blog provides your small business
• Guide to Google Analytics – if you aren’t measuring how your blog is performing, how can you improve your performance?

We also have a blog coaching programme if you’re feeling really off track and could use a hand. We’re here to help!

Photo by Colin Gregory Palmer

Is there something in the air lately?  I’ve noticed a lot of small business owners feeling a bit stressed out, overstretched, and in general feeling in a bit of a funk.

Perhaps we can  point to the economic situation, which some claim isn’t recovering in the way it should.

Perhaps we can say that this is just the transition of the seasons – our antipodean friends are winding down while things heat up in Europe and North America.

Or perhaps we’re all just sick and tired of this social media junk: Tweeting, Facebooking, Foursquaring, Search Optimising, Email Newslettering, Blogging, PR’ing… it is enough to drive one mad, right?

Recently I had a customer who bought our small business dashboard (it’s nifty – if you haven’t, check it out) say they just couldn’t get their to do list down to a manageable size. I understand: when everything you stop doing has a consequence, the only option is to work yourself into the ground, and hope for the best.

Or not.

First Things First

My opinion is unequivocal on this point: your first, and only, number one priority is to deliver a REMARKABLE product or service to your customer.  You simply must not lose focus on this – if you need to drop something to pick up the creative energy to deliver that hospitality, do it.  If you are cutting corners in order to make room for some new media thing, stop.  The heart and soul of a tourism business is you and what you offer – loose that and the rest is no longer important.  You can’t undo bad reviews or bad customer experiences, so you can’t let them happen.

Your special thing.  Your wow factor.  (Old school marketing jargon: USP – unique selling proposition).  That is number one – always, always, always. If that is failing you right now, please stop reading this and go fix it, right now.

Then What

After your key priority, your customers, are taken care of, then you need to prioritise the rest.  And, well, I am not you so it is hard to tell you what is important and what isn’t.  When I started out, someone gave me a piece of advice that said something like do whatever is the next step closer to an invoice.  There’s something to be said for that – after all, the reason most small businesses fail is because of a lack of cashflow, not because their idea was bad.  So, is there something you could do that would be a long term cash flow generator – finally writing up that new tour offering you have, or actually using that email list you’ve been building but afraid to use.  I like to take a long term view here – unless you actually do have a serious cashflow problem – and ask yourself what can you be doing that is building a good foundation for the long term.

After that, you just need to do some hard thinking.  But the most common problem here, as the customer I mentioned above has, is wanting to put everything on the list.  You are human (unless you’re an alien – *waves hi* – aliens please stop reading here.) You cannot do everything.  So stop trying.

The best advice I have here are the two things we mentioned in last month’s new media myths and misconceptions podcast:

• Tips from the world of yoga:  Do what you can do, and leave the rest behind.
• Tip from Theodore Roosevelt:  Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

To Learn More

If you need help managing your priorities, our TOP Travel Business Toolkit can help – it is filled with fresh perspectives, realistic tips, and suggestions on how to do more with less.  Click the banner to find out more and download a copy today.

Photo by shermee

I’ve just spent the best part of an hour wanderlusting at all the gorgeous websites in this roundup of inspirational travel website designs.  They are beautiful websites.  Some are more effective and usable than others, but all definitely easy on the eyes.

I couldn’t help but notice the comment “Frederica” left:

I noted that these hotels and resorts are almost all luxury hotel: it’s far more simple to design a beautiful website if you have awesome pictures!

Hmm.  I don’t think that is true.  Yes, pictures say a thousand words, as the cliché goes,  and if you don’t have any photos on your website, people will wonder what you are hiding.  Yes, they need to be professional photos – not expensive, but not lousy off-the-cuff shots with a blurry cameraphone.  (Side point:  It might just be me, but I would rather see photos that look like a tourist took them – instead of the overly glossy marketing photos.  Perhaps it is just me.  Personal preference.)

But no way do you need to have a million dollar facility to have great photos.  Here are some photos I just found from visitors to budget hotel properties – these visitors have shared these photos to their friends on Flickr.

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I’ve had many tour operators (and hoteliers for that matter) tell me something over and over again:

People who buy online buy less, and often less expensive, products and services than offline customers do.

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Quick Note: Our big spring blog clean ends TODAY! If you missed it, click here for details.

I’ve been reviewing a recent article about post-recession trends in travel with a great deal of interest; it was written by eMarkter, a company that does a LOT of great market research across a number of sectors.  The article focuses on online travel trends, and it definitely echoes a lot of the sentiment shared here in the TOP community.  In summary, the article says, despite the drop in travel due to the global recession:

…usage of the Internet for researching, discussing and booking leisure and unmanaged business travel has shown surprising resilience.

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Summer is just around the corner (or, well, winter for our antipodean friends!), so is it time to start thinking about some spring cleaning on that blog of yours?  We say yes – just in time for our limited-offer Big Spring Blog Clean!

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I’ve really been enjoying a television “reality TV” programme that has been featured here on Channel 4 recently: Three in a Bed.  They take three small B&B owners and each takes a turn staying in the others’ properties.  After each stay, the couple then gets to decide how much they think the property is worth paying for, and that’s all the owner will get.

Mostly, the other B&B owners pay around what the owners are asking for – sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.  Almost always, the owners disagree with the feedback, even if pretty much everyone else agrees.  It’s entertaining and sort of a shame, all at the same time.

While yes, there is certainly a heavy gloss of overzealous TV-drama and production factor, I still think there is a relevant lesson to be learned here, and one that is important in the online world:  everyone  has their own expectations, and those expectations make up their own personal little zone of reality.

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