Marketing

Good marketing is often said to be 'promoting the right product to the right people in the right place at the right price'. It is but there's another essential element most never think about.

Timing is everything

Try selling flip-flops in Winter. Or serving hot stew on a hot Summer's day. It just feels wrong. 

But... we don't always use that knowledge. 

We post on social media first thing in the morning because it suits us to make it part of our morning routine. Porridge and a quick facebook…

Do you ever feel like your potential guests and visitors are just 'not getting it'?

That maybe people just don't realise how good you are, that you have the most fantastic business?

Perhaps they keep asking the same questions over and over again, or miss the point on what you have to say? 

Or maybe you're sometimes downhearted because you know you're offering a brilliant service or experience and yet you just don't seem to be able to charge the prices you'd like, or attract the visitors you want? 

This is something you can quickly do to raise the profile of your business.

It's easier and quicker than you think so if you're been putting it off... do it now!

It's important. It's free. It's optimising your Google Business Profile - the new name for Google My Business. Don't worry about the 'optimise bit' - I'll explain. 

92% of search engine searches are on Google so it's incredibly powerful. You want your business to show up as high in the results pages as possible. You don't need any te…

Imagine if I tried to get you to pay money for something you'd never heard of? Would you pay? For your sake, I hope not!

Would you buy something you knew about, but didn't see how you could benefit from it? I doubt it.

Imagine now that your friend has recommended something to you. They're full of praise and you can see how great it would be for you too. You're thinking about when you can buy it, how you can get it. Your mind isn't even focusing on how much it costs - you're ready to pay what is ne…

Do you know what your visitors will want in a couple of years' time? What their expectations will be? Have you got some ideas for how you might be able to adapt what you do to make your business more profitable? Or maybe just how to theme a room or create an activity to stimulate more demand? 

Tourism is full of trends. Over time it's possible to spot opportunities and to adapt products and services to appeal to changing markets. A little tweak to how you describe something could make a differe…

Pre-Covid, celebrations were a major trend. There was a significant increase in visitors meeting up with friends and relatives for a celebration of some kind, often a big birthday or anniversary. Celebrations are a great market. They often take place outside the main season. One person invites others to come along, so you can attract new visitors, and people are generally in a good mood and ready to spend!

There's now even greater demand as people try to catch up on all the celebrations they mi…

If your marketing budget is tiny (I don’t know any tourism businesses with a big budget!), it’s easier to stand out from the competition if you focus on being different or special in some way.

How about being so special and different, you’re the ‘one and only'? 

It’s easier than you might think.

You can choose a ‘category’ and be the king/queen of that category. Here’s how. It works equally well no matter what type of tourism business you run. 

Let’s say you run a self-catering holiday cotta…