We hope everybody is rested after a great conference. More importantly, we hope you had the chance to see how significant it is that we as an industry stay connected.
For the first year of the tourism conference blog we want to thank every one of you who read and became a part of the blog.
We’ll be ending our regular updated posts in the very near future, but in the meantime we want to get your feedback.
What did you like?
What would you like to see more of?
What would you like to see less of?
Any suggestions on usability?
Would you download and/or listen to a podcast?
Would you consider being a guest blogger?
We will take all of these suggestions as we get ready for year two of the Talkin’ Tourism Blog. Look for us to start up again for our 2010 conference next year.
In the mean time, set your RSS feeder so you won’t miss us when we start back up. You can do this by clicking “Subscribe.” For instructions on navigating an RSS feed, read here. If you liked what you saw this year, send the link to a friend in the tourism industry.
Thanks again on behalf of the entire blogging team and we’ll see you next year!
Last night at the Awards Gala we got to hear from the Governor and his take on tourism. Here are some of the highlights:
The Governor started off joking about vacation ideas to South Dakota for outgoing president George W. Bush-including a trip to Mount Rushmore where nobody would recognize him as the “only president there without a 60-foot granite head.”
The Governor congratulated the people in the room for their ability to take on the challenge of the 2010 Initiative to double visitor spending in the state-a goal deemed overly ambitious by some, but not the tourism industry.
While other states grew three to four percent annually, South Dakota bucked the trends and experienced six, seven and last year, 8.8% growth in visitor spending. The Governor highlighted many examples of how South Dakotans worked together in 2008 to continue the growth even as gas prices hit a record high.
And what was visitor spending in 2008? The Governor released the budget number last night. With a plunging economy, South Dakota stayed ahead of the national trend with $967 million, a 2.8% increase. “Growing visitor spending, even when the economy is strong, is a difficult challenge. But growing our visitor numbers nearly 3% on top of the biggest single visitor spending year in our state’s history and doing it in the face of the most difficult economic conditions since the Great Depression is truly remarkable,” he said.
The Governor closed by sharing his confidence that we can reach our goal of 1.2 billion dollars in 2010. He encouraged the industry to continue to do what we’ve been doing to get through these uncertain economic times. After all-South Dakota is the true American family destination and a great value.
Karen Talavera, President of Synchronicity Marketing, spoke this afternoon about the importance of email marketing, and what you can do to get started. The the challenge being that the volume of email is increasing and consumers’ attention span is decreasing, here are the top 10 things you need to know about email marketing:
Comply with the law.
Build your list. Make it easy for consumers to opt-in, and give them some value for joining your list.
Use permission. This isn’t a law, but definitely a best practice.
Segment. By sending different messages to different parts of your list (by demographic, preferences, lifestyle, etc.) you’re giving your audiences more value.
Messag to Customer Lifestyle. Think conversation, not broadcast. Also, not all of your customers are at the same stage with you. Some are prospects, some are new customers, some are loyal customers.
Be relevant. Think about what’s in it for your customer.
Optimize Creative Design.
Test. Track responses, the email creatie, the landing page to which you’re driving traffic. See what’s working and what’s not by using test groups and establishing controls.
Clean and manage your list. Make sure your list is as accurate as possibly by getting rid of undeliverable emails and those that have opted out.
Connecting the Miles, Connecting the Smiles Beth Terry, President and CEO, Beth Terry Seminars, Inc.
Beth Terry, a South Dakota native by way of Kadoka, Philip and Madison, spoke highly of her roots and expanded on new and creative ideas that were home grown in which we all have and need to remember. [click to continue…]
That’s all the time you have to keep someone on your website or lose them to another. How can you win them over? The number one thing you can do, according to Search engine marketing expert Matt Bailey, is use analytics to truly understand your site and how people interact with it.
The Visitor and Industry Relations Team breakout sessions were attended by 70 people. The two sessions brought about great questions from the visitor industry, and proved to be a great opportunity to make the connection in tourism.
The relaxed atmosphere at the session proved to be a great medium and learning experience. The VIR team was able to share important details about each of the Cooperative Marketing Programs, and educate the participants in our specific tasks.
The topics of discussions ranged from program deadlines to brochure placement in the Information Centers. The VIR team was able to collaborate with members from the visitor industry to solve current issues and present new ideas for implementing our marketing programs.
For more information on how you can make a connection to this team, and to the various cooperative programs they facilitate, contact Nicole Gall, Visitor & Industry Relations Manager, at 605-773-3301 or nicole.gall@state.sd.us.
The Office of Tourism announced today that they will offer a public relations co-op in 2009. The co-op involves the multi-media release (MMPR), a format that combines the traditional press release with social media elements such as photos, videos and social bookmarking sites.
For a fee, partners will receive one MMPR that includes copywriting and a customized media list, as well as a followup analytics report that helps the partner measure their return on investment.
Mailers and application forms will go out following the conference, with applications due April 1. For more information, or if you have any questions, you can contact Wanda Goodman, Media & Public Relations Manager, at 605-773-3301 or wanda.goodman@state.sd.us.
According to two sessions given by the Trade Sales & Marketing team this morning, international visitation and motorcoach tours were up in South Dakota in 2008. This is evidenced by rest area counts, and by input from South Dakota attraction promoters.
During the sessions, travel industry members discussed ways to target group tours, travel agents and meeting and convention planners for 2009 business.
“We’re excited that Rapid City will host TAP (Travel Alliance Partners) group tour operators in June 2009 and showcase the Black Hills area to these operators who will bring potential tours to the area,” said Maureen Droz, Trade Sales Manager for the Office of Tourism.
Reports from mainland Europe show that those markets still plan to travel and the Euro is still strong against the dollar. The United Kingdom reports that even with the low value of the pound, people will still continue to travel for their holidays. The South Dakota travel industry will continue to host familiarization tours, attend trade shows and target both international and domestic tour operators, working together to promote South Dakota to gain this business.
The Research and E-Commerce team, led by Kirk Hulstein, REC Manager, hosted two sessions this morning on the Office of Tourism’s marketing research efforts. Kirk also let the audience know how the Office of Tourism can help out in this area. Here’s some of the research data we have to share:
Intercept studies – geographic data, travel party profiles, travel spending, travel planning, final destination of trip
2008 Ruf profiling – demographic profile, geographic mapping, media traits and travel behaviors
Focus groups – testing of messaging and imagery, travel planning, places of interest, etc.
South Dakota Travel Monitoring System – current and historical travel and economic indicators
National studies – Travel forecasts, leisure/business traveler data, travel habits, media usage, advertising trends
One of this team’s main goals is to provide available resources to the industry, so don’t be shy…call Kirk (605-773-3301) if you have questions about marketing research, or would like to see some of the research his team has compiled.
