Last month I was invited to speak at Skal Hobart May meeting but unfortunately COVID struck and I was unable to attend. Here is what I planned to share.
It's predictable and one of Tasmania's great competitive advantages with 4 distinct and stunning seasons to inspire emotion and connection with place. While this article was prepared for my Skal Hobart presentation, the same opportunity exists for my friends in the tropics with Sun season and Green seasons. So why do most communicate through a single season lens year round?
This article explores how you can paint communication by your seasonal story.
INSIGHT
Tasmanian seasons offer a distinct competitive advantage, presenting the opportunity for Tasmania to differentiate from competing destinations. Tourism Tasmania are nailing it through the OFF Season Campaign and the same opportunity exists for your brand to extend a tailored invitation to indulge in the Tasmanian Winter experience.
OPPORTUNITY
We all agree that marketing is story telling… and that travellers during the planning journey need to see themselves in your story.
Traveller expectations during each season differ by some significance, and they will also vary by traveller segment within each season. For example, romantic Winters differ from adventurous Winters. Families expectations differ from well travelled couples. The opportunity is to define your target traveller mix for each season, profiling the seasonal experiences they desire and story they yearn to hear.
ACTIONS
Segments can be a combination of interests, attitudes, life stages and incomes. By season, document with detail your target customer segments. Where do they come from? What is their travel party make-up? What are their interests, attitudes and passions? Are you attracting foodies, nature lovers, romantics, social groups, girls weekends, adventurers? The Tourism Tasmania segments can be found in this link https://www.tourismtasmania.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/101985/Tourism-Tasmania-Brand-Guidelines-2021.pdf
Rank the segments by season in order of priority to your business
Write your compelling seasonal story for each traveller segment, by season e.g. what’s your pitch to attract Wildlife Lovers in Winter? Consider your region and product
Prepare your content for each story e.g. images, video, copy, offers
Detail your plan for story activation and get sharing. Some ideas for activation are shared below.
STORY ACTIVATION IDEAS
The 5 steps above will prepare your seasonal pitch to engage travellers during their planning journey. The activation task is to share your compelling seasonal story via the multitude of marketing channels and platforms.
Action 1
It's also important to recognise that someone may visit your website during Winter, seeking to visit in Spring, Summer or Autumn. Thats why the first task is to capture your seasonal story on 4 x specific seasonal website pages. Your experience in Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. These website pages capture your story (or pitch) through the lens of your target traveller experience through each season. They are like mini homepages for each season and include your favourite seasonal bars and restaurants, walks and picnic spots, events and festivals, blogs, offers and more.
Activation 2
Below is a list of potential Winter activation ideas of your business:
Add Winter images, copy and experience features to your website homepage
Create Winter Blogs shared on your website, social media and database
Partner with complementary businesses and email your combined Winter offer each partners database
Fill your social media feed with winter tips and moments of magic (hero staff and owners to shape a more personal invitation)
Add Winter Events to your website and share on social and emails
Add a Winter email signature
Change your on-hold message
Ask your chef or bartender to share a Winter delight (blog, emails, social media, email footer)
Winter your artwork on Social Media headers and intro copy
Social Media Ads
ATDW listing
OTA listings
Google My Business Image
Google Ad headings and text
Google Search header and text
Regardless of your location in the south or north of Australia, sharing your story by season will deliver a significant competitive advantage to your business. Your experience message and visual connection becomes more specific to the desired traveller experience and therefore your conversion from contact to booking will rise.
Go Seasonal.
David
Opmerkingen