2. • Travel Oregon Team
• Central Oregon Visitors Association
• John Kelsh
• Workshop Participants
3. Overview of Today’s Topics
What is Marketing?
Your Marketing Plan Workbook
What experience you are selling?
Product positioning and branding
Destination Marketing Roles & Coop Marketing: Travel
Oregon/COVA
Coop Marketing and Content
International Marketing and Travel Trade
Marketing communications strategies and action planning
Budgets, timelines, measurement
Discussion
Evaluations and wrap-up
4. Outcomes
How to communicate in a way that the visitor finds
compelling.
Familiarity with marketing terminology, strategies,
action planning.
How to extend and maximize human and financial
resources through partnerships.
Tools and resources from which to develop a tourism
marketing plan.
5. 1. Your Vision
2. Marketing Action areas with consensus
3. Tourism Trends for Central Oregon
7. River Canyon Country in 2030 is a region that is engaged toward a common future
with a clear shared identity. The community has worked hard to build on values of
quality education, health and creating an active lifestyle, and this has paid off in
having a dynamic and high caliber workforce and strong social capital. This is
reflected in how our community organizations and volunteers work together in a
coordinated and cohesive manner. This cohesion allows us to adapt and capitalize
on new and emerging opportunities, while maintaining our strong community base.
We value our people and invest in creating opportunities for them to work,
contribute and thrive in the region.
We have beautiful landscapes, parks, and natural vistas, which are now connected
by a highly developed network of trails, by-ways and transport systems. We have
a strong economic tourism infrastructure focused on leveraging our unique
regional assets of local food, outdoor recreation and cultural diversity and
identity. Our thriving economy is built on our locally owned entrepreneurial
businesses, and complemented by world-class destinations. We are known
worldwide for our authentic, family friendly and environmentally sustainable
practices. We have become a renowned mecca for well managed outdoor and
eco-tourism and cultural experiences that make us the ‘must-do’ destination for
our many new and return visitors from across the world.
8. 1. Create a regional leadership structure for tourism
development
2. Develop a regional marketing strategy
3. Conduct local trainings to increase local knowledge of
tourism experiences (what there is to do!)
4. Ramp up local communication about tourism development
(improve internal communication systems)
5. Develop infrastructure for recreation and transportation
6. Develop packages and itineraries for visitors
7. Conduct an asset inventory and do a gap analysis
8. Ramp up business development for tourism
9. Create new and grow existing events
9. WHAT IS MARKETING?
What do YOU think Marketing is?
Definition of Marketing – The process or technique
of promoting, selling and distributing a product or
service. To be most effective, marketing requires the
efforts of everyone in an organization and can be
made more or less effective by the actions of
complementary organizations.
Marketing includes everything from the initial
awareness of a product, service, or destination to the
marketing materials developed to the delivery of the
experience.
10. Section One
Marketing Plan Background & Rationale – Page 7-8
What Experience Are You Selling? Page 9-10
Positioning & Branding – Page 11
Understanding Your Target Markets – Page 12
11. Marketing Plan Background & Rationale – Page 7
Create your organization or business mission
statement
Mission – A broad, general statement about an
organization’s business or organization’s and scope,
services or products, markets served and overall
philosophy.
What is your business/organization?
What services or products do you provide?
Describe the markets that you serve.
What is your overall philosophy?
12. Marketing Plan Background & Rationale – Page 8
What is happening in the world around you?
Economic Conditions?
Current travel trends?
Current social trends?
SEE: “Tourism Trends Overview” PDF,
Longwoods Oregon 2009 Central Region Research,
RCC Baseline PDF
14. What Are You? - Page 9
The LURE: the experience that motivates the visitor to
actually come to your destination. It is your brand.
DIVERSIONS: things visitors can do closer to home but
will do in your destination because they are already there.
AMENITIES: Things that make the visit a comfortable one:
signs, restrooms, shade trees, parking, seating and gathering
areas wifi, etc.
AMBIANCE: historic buildings, public art, street banners,
etc.
15. When selling: - Page 9
• Who is your customer?
• Lead with the benefit to your customer.
• Name the company second.
• Are you part of a larger niche or destination
brand?
17. A Brand is a promise of the experience
you are going to deliver.
Positioning is how you describe what you
are selling. (marketing)
(A good reference book is “Destination Branding for Small Cities” by
Bill Baker.)
18. What branding IS NOT:
• A logo
• A slogan
• A marketing campaign
• Geography
• History
19. • Tie in with a destination brand when possible
• Become known for something special
• If the product is not unique, make the service
special
20. Even if you do nothing, you still have a
brand. It just may not be the one you want.
Because consumers decide what your brand is, your product,
service or destination has a brand.
Do you really know what your brand is?
Are you managing your brand?
23. Marketing Objective – A goal that your
organization or business attempts to achieve,
usually focused on a target market.
Marketing objectives should be:
– Results oriented
– Target market specific
– Quantitative/measurable
– Time specific
24. Examples of Marketing Objectives: - Page 13
For an attraction: “To increase the number of trips
sold(result) to RV visitors(target market specific) by 100
(quantified) during the summer season 2012 (time
specific).”
For a small lodging establishment: “To increase the
number of room nights (result) generated from the
bicycle touring market (target market specific) by 100
(quantified) during the spring and summer of 2012 (time
specific).
25. Example of a marketing strategy and action plan: - Page 14
Strategy for an attraction or tour: ““Leverage existing
electronic media sites to create awareness of our attraction”
• Action plan attraction or tour: “Create an attractions listing
for VisitCentralOregon.com and TravelOregoncom”
26. Marketing Strategy - A course of action selected from the
marketing mix to communicate to various target markets.
Media Mix – Activities to communicate your brand, market
position, product/service features and benefits to the
customer. For example:
Website
Social networks
Brochures
Press releases
FAM trips
Other
Page 14
28. How to create an Interactive Strategy
• Use COVA’s website
• Using TO digital content/social media
• Use TO e-marketing newsletters and e-blasts
• Use TO blog, RSS feeds
• Develop YouTube, Vimeo videos
• Using co-op opportunities with RCC, COVA, Travel Oregon
30. Advertising on Google, Yahoo, Bing
1. Banner ads and SEM keyword ads.
2. Budgets are flexible by day.
3. Experiment with key words.
4. Pay only for visits to your site.
5. Try different ad copy.
6. Ask how visitors found you.
7. Use Google ANALYTICS.
33. Destination Promise
Brand “ Reasons to Believe”
Core Product and Experience Themes
Emotional Benefits
Tangible Benefits
34. Tangible Benefits EXAMPLE
• Publicsolitude or light recreationan environment of rest, relaxation, quiet
park settings that create
time,
• More rigorous outdoor exercise for those who desire it
• Comfortable walking trails and trail maps
• Programmed events for the different styles of relaxation of the targeted
visitors. E.g., music would include rock, jazz and classical
• Places for family gatherings
• Water and other view locations with benches
• Experiences in the redwoods
• Healthy dining
• Spa treatments
• Physical comfort
35. Emotional Benefits EXAMPLE
• Restfulness
• Tension and stress relief
• Quiet
• Being unplugged from the world
• Contemplation
• Recharging
• Peace of mind
36. Use with a character your audience can relate to – (that could be
me!).
Set the Stage – (Here’s how we rescued a fawn on the day we
visited River Canyon Territory).
Establish conflict – external or internal. Start with this.
Foreshadow – hint at what is to come to keep it moving.
Use dialog – stories are about people and people talk.
38. What is Collateral? – A collateral marketing strategy involves the
use of various printed and online materials that communicate
your brand, market position, product/service features, benefits
to the customer and pricing if you are a business.
Collateral marketing strategies can include the following activities:
• Creating attractive brochures and rack cards
• Creating posters, bookmarks and other printed materials
• Utilizing cooperative opportunities – local DMOs, RDMO, and
Travel Oregon
39. Key Tips:
• Lead with the best, leave the rest
• Tell the story, don’t just provide lists
• Give the details
• Photos should be large and compelling, not amateur hour
• Always have people in the photos, your target audience
• State the benefit to the visitor – it is not about you.
• Use good maps and detailed instructions on how to find
you.
40. Collateral Usability
• Collateral – make it easy to carry
• Fit into brochure racks.
• Use quality paper especially if you use a lot of photos
41. Public Relations – Activities designed to generate and
maintain awareness of your product, service or
destination among your target markets and other
organizations through nonpaid communication and
information about what you have to offer.
Why Public Relations?
• Important because it is “third party” coverage but
more controlled than social media.
• More credible than paid advertising.
42. Public Relations Activities
• Develop a website media or press area
• Develop a hard copy press kit, press information,
photo library
• Create and distribute press releases
• Provide media assistance for story writers and editors
• Utilize cooperative opportunities – Local DMO,
RDMO and Travel Oregon
43. Travel Trade – Travel agents, tour wholesalers and
operators, corporate travel managers, incentive travel
planners, and convention/meeting planners.
Travel Trade Marketing Activities:
• Advertising in travel trade publications
• Attending travel trade shows
• Providing Familiarization (FAM) trips
• Brochure distribution
• Public Relations
• Cooperative opportunities
44. International Marketing Activities:
• Media & Travel Trade Research Trips
• Trade Shows
• Sales Missions
• Partnering With Regions
• In-country Marketing Reps
• Printed Media
• Social Media – Twitter, Facebook
Page 25
46. Budgeting Methods
1. Historical – spending is same as previous years.
2. Percentage of sales – industry average % of total
revenues.
3. Competitive – match spending of your competitors.
4. Task-oriented – consider each activity and what needs
to be spent to meet marketing objectives.
47. The Reality of Budgeting
1. Allocate a tentative, overall budget for marketing.
2. Determine your marketing objectives and strategies.
3. Tentatively split the budget between strategies.
4. Then split the budget between actions within the
strategies.
5. Develop and refine the activities.
6. Reallocate budget to determine final budget
allocations.
48. Establishing Realistic Timelines
1. Establish a full-year marketing calendar cycle.
2. Understand steps and time involved in producing
collateral and advertising material.
3. Research key deadlines for advertising insertion dates.
4. Work closely with partners and service providers.
5. Stay connected to your local DMO, RDMO, and
Travel Oregon.
6. Create and overall TO DO list that covers the
marketing cycle and includes details of who needs to
do what and when.
50. How do you measure your success?
• Establish your measurement criteria.
• Establish your base line data
• Establish marketing controls – monitoring and adjust
activities.
• Analyze the results of efforts – both at the activity
level and the overall objective level.
51. Overall Evaluation
• Ask visitors how they heard about you.
• Total number of room nights for the year/season
• Total income for the year/season
• Total visitors and/or visitors by target market
52. Examples of Specific Measures
• Website – unique visitors, page views, origin of traffic, time
spent on site, engagement
• Collateral – number of brochures distributed, bookings
generated from brochures
• Public relations – number of stories generated through press
releases, FAM trips
• Advertising – number of impressions, responses, bookings from
specific ads or ad campaigns
• Travel trade and International – number of leads/bookings
generated though various activities
• Special promotions – number of inquiries/bookings generated