Six Ways The Internet Should Be Increasing Your Bookings
More people are using the Internet to plan their trip - but the information that impacts the destination choices may not be what you expect.
Turns out, the Lodge or Resorts website may not be the biggest online influence to travelers who are using the Internet to select a specific summer vacation.
Before you can learn how to sell to people who use the Internet to research, plan and share their vacation, you need to know exactly how these people are using the net, and identify where you might connect with them in the process.
The Internet provides a huge variety of resources to help travelers plan a trip.
As a seasonal tourism business, the key to uncovering the six ways the Internet should be increasing you bookings, is knowing how trip planners are using the Net in each stage of the trip planning cycle, then creating a plan to position your business to benefit from each of these opportunities.
6 Ways That People Use The Internet For Trip Planning The Internet gives travelers a huge array of resources to help them plan a trip.
People who are driving from the Midwest US into Canada for a fishing or hunting trip will not use the big flight planning brand name websites when planning their summer vacation, unless they are going to fly.
1.
Instead, travelers who are planning a driving vacation to a particular geographic region will often start with a local search for the town name in your local area and review things like the local Chamber of Commerce website.
This will often branch off to local news, attractions and upcoming events and lists of nearby and businesses including hotels, restaurants and gas stations.
Perform a similar search and see if there are community websites in your area that may offer prime web real estate for low, and often no cost.
2.
Travelers who are planning a special interest trip will start their search with keywords that reflect their personal interests.
These search results will often bring up topic-related directory websites, such as tourism associations and specialty business directories.
Perform a keyword search for the experience your business provides and fill out or claim your business listings in every business review website you find.
3.
After a traveler narrows their selection to three or four favorable listings, many travel shoppers rely on business review websites to help them with the final choice.
Several popular business review websites have general travel forums, destination guides, and most importantly, they provide reviews and recommendations from real users.
These review websites are also provided as apps on smart-phones and pads, providing seamless access for travelers to share their experience and read reviews from others.
Visit these review sites as though you are shopping for a trip - search out the listings available for your business, for your town, for your competitors.
Claim your listings or submit your business and add all the information you can! 4.
In the booking stage of planning the trip, travelers will contact a business, or two, and ask a few questions.
People who are ready to purchase will telephone or email - if they feel rapport, they will buy.
The skill of turning an inquiry into a booking is another area of study: a topic for a future article.
Sometimes a person will do their trip planning long before they are ready to pay for the trip, and their initial contact may be through twitter, as a comment on your blog post, or as participation on your Facebook page.
Treat these people like the future customers they are going to be! (People often mistakenly believe the final step in trip planning occurs when the traveler makes the booking.
This is not the case.
The most critical moment in your future success has yet to arrive...
) 5.
During the trip and just after the vacation, social media sites become an important vehicle that provide your customers a means to literally give their friends and family a complete tour of the trip experience! Pictures, Videos! Happy times shared in the moment! You can't get better word of mouth than this! Plan for this sharing, find any excuse to encourage it, and plan staff resources to support it.
6.
After the trip is complete and your guest is safely back at home - the very most important moment in the sales cycle presents itself.
The followup.
The followup is the most important, and yet most often overlooked step in the full marketing cycle.
Take careful note of who your happiest customers are! Write down their contact information in a special folder and plan it out on your calendar - phone these people after they are back home, and specifically ask them for the favor of an online review.
eMail them a personal link to the specific review site you wish to develop.
Positive Online Reviews are dynamite! They amplify word of mouth marketing, and they pave the way for even more leads and referrals from people who use the Internet to research, plan and book their vacations.
Turns out, the Lodge or Resorts website may not be the biggest online influence to travelers who are using the Internet to select a specific summer vacation.
Before you can learn how to sell to people who use the Internet to research, plan and share their vacation, you need to know exactly how these people are using the net, and identify where you might connect with them in the process.
The Internet provides a huge variety of resources to help travelers plan a trip.
As a seasonal tourism business, the key to uncovering the six ways the Internet should be increasing you bookings, is knowing how trip planners are using the Net in each stage of the trip planning cycle, then creating a plan to position your business to benefit from each of these opportunities.
6 Ways That People Use The Internet For Trip Planning The Internet gives travelers a huge array of resources to help them plan a trip.
People who are driving from the Midwest US into Canada for a fishing or hunting trip will not use the big flight planning brand name websites when planning their summer vacation, unless they are going to fly.
1.
Instead, travelers who are planning a driving vacation to a particular geographic region will often start with a local search for the town name in your local area and review things like the local Chamber of Commerce website.
This will often branch off to local news, attractions and upcoming events and lists of nearby and businesses including hotels, restaurants and gas stations.
Perform a similar search and see if there are community websites in your area that may offer prime web real estate for low, and often no cost.
2.
Travelers who are planning a special interest trip will start their search with keywords that reflect their personal interests.
These search results will often bring up topic-related directory websites, such as tourism associations and specialty business directories.
Perform a keyword search for the experience your business provides and fill out or claim your business listings in every business review website you find.
3.
After a traveler narrows their selection to three or four favorable listings, many travel shoppers rely on business review websites to help them with the final choice.
Several popular business review websites have general travel forums, destination guides, and most importantly, they provide reviews and recommendations from real users.
These review websites are also provided as apps on smart-phones and pads, providing seamless access for travelers to share their experience and read reviews from others.
Visit these review sites as though you are shopping for a trip - search out the listings available for your business, for your town, for your competitors.
Claim your listings or submit your business and add all the information you can! 4.
In the booking stage of planning the trip, travelers will contact a business, or two, and ask a few questions.
People who are ready to purchase will telephone or email - if they feel rapport, they will buy.
The skill of turning an inquiry into a booking is another area of study: a topic for a future article.
Sometimes a person will do their trip planning long before they are ready to pay for the trip, and their initial contact may be through twitter, as a comment on your blog post, or as participation on your Facebook page.
Treat these people like the future customers they are going to be! (People often mistakenly believe the final step in trip planning occurs when the traveler makes the booking.
This is not the case.
The most critical moment in your future success has yet to arrive...
) 5.
During the trip and just after the vacation, social media sites become an important vehicle that provide your customers a means to literally give their friends and family a complete tour of the trip experience! Pictures, Videos! Happy times shared in the moment! You can't get better word of mouth than this! Plan for this sharing, find any excuse to encourage it, and plan staff resources to support it.
6.
After the trip is complete and your guest is safely back at home - the very most important moment in the sales cycle presents itself.
The followup.
The followup is the most important, and yet most often overlooked step in the full marketing cycle.
Take careful note of who your happiest customers are! Write down their contact information in a special folder and plan it out on your calendar - phone these people after they are back home, and specifically ask them for the favor of an online review.
eMail them a personal link to the specific review site you wish to develop.
Positive Online Reviews are dynamite! They amplify word of mouth marketing, and they pave the way for even more leads and referrals from people who use the Internet to research, plan and book their vacations.
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