MOTORCOACH
ISSUE 06/ MAY 2018
MARKETING SPRING 2018
Marketing and Sales Information Designed for the Motorcoach Industry
5 Ways to make your office run more smoothly
5 WAYS TO ATTRACT
AND KEEP REPEAT CUSTOMERS 7 Ways to Target
Website Visitors With Facebook Custom Audiences
Why Employees Are Your
Most Powerful Brand
Storytelling Tool
Travel Then and Now
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AVOID THESE MARKETING MISHAPS DURING YOUR BUSY SEASON/ As you know, we’re in our busiest season now. A few weeks ago, I considered and...
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WHY DEFININGYOUR CORE BRANDVALUE AND VALUES IS MORE IMPORTANT THANYOU THINK IT IS/ Confused with all the conjecture and ambivalence surrounding...
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT/
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WHY EMPLOYEES ARE YOUR MOST POWERFUL BRAND STORYTELLING TOOL/ On a recent flight with an anonymous airline, I found myself chuckling as the flight attendant...
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HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR WEBSITE FOR VOICE SEARCH/
NATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM WEEK 2018 THEME: “TRAVEL THEN AND NOW”/ Industry leaders to come together in May to recognize how far the travel industry has come. National Travel...
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7 WAYS TO TARGET WEBSITE VISITORS WITH FACEBOOK CUSTOM AUDIENCES/
5 WAYS TO ATTRACT AND KEEP REPEAT CUSTOMERS/ Repeat customers remain a business’s best and steadiest source of revenue. While an influx of new and one-off...
Are you taking full advantage of Facebook custom audiences? Wondering how to retarget...
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5 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR OFFICE RUN MORE SMOOTHLY/ Running an office involves a million moving parts: ordering supplies, troubleshooting, dealing with....
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Have you used the voice search feature? It is absolutely awesome! Voice Search is perhaps the best...
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ADVERTISING AGAINST A SEA OF INDIFFERENCE/
5 LESSONS SMALL BUSINESSES CAN LEARN ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA FROM BIG BRANDS/
Do consumers really see more than 4000 adverts a day? Probably not, but consumers daily exposure to brands...
A great social media presence is essential for any business. Large corporations and big brands are...
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PRODUCTION Production deliverabilities layout&design: Phone: 360.468.3699
Email: info@deliverabilites.com www.deliverabilities.com
ADVERTISING Motorcoach Marketing Council opportunities: Phone: 360.840.0779
Email: chris@gomotorcoach.org motorcoachmarketing.org
GoMotorcoach
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NO TIME FOR MARKETING? NO PROBLEM... WE CAN DO IT FOR YOU.
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The Motorcoach Marketing Council/ From the president.
This is an exciting time for the Motorcoach Marketing Council. As many of you may have heard, we recently issued an RFP (request for proposal) to find an entity we can partner with to expand the current work of the council. We have been thrilled at the response we’ve received and are excited about the future. Our goal is to amplify our influence in order to more effectively help operators’ marketing efforts have greater impact. If, collectively, we can make significant strides with marketing, we are confident that we can grow this great industry that we depend on and love. This is an interesting time. I know that all of us are dealing with staff shortages, fluctuating fuel prices, equipment adjustments, regulatory conditions, and a myriad of other factors that confirm this simple truth: change is the only constant. That notwithstanding, the past 5 years have been good for the motorcoach industry. For most operators I know, these years have been profitable and spending has been on the rise. And while they’ve definitely included several challenges, they’ve ultimately been good for business.
a major shift going forward. Those of us on the council couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it! While most changes in our industry are met with initial resistance, the council is optimistic about this one. We’ve focused on providing the training, tools, and materials that operators need to go from where they are to where they will need to be. We’ve wanted to be a resource for the industry, and that is not going to change. We believe that as we graduate to the next chapter of this organization, we’ll be able to help even more of you sell more charters, to more people, for more money That’s the mission we’re passionate about today, and it will continue to be the core of all that we do in the future!
-Jeff Rogers
This “good for business” climate has introduced another opportunity and challenge. More and more, the traditional limo market is expanding to include full-size motorcoach equipment. Manufacturers and other industry vendors are witnessing major shifts as the lines between our two business segments have become a bit blurry. This shift has brought additional operators and equipment to our markets, and these companies understand marketing and the role it plays in the growth of charter operations. Limo operators have long been known for their ability to use marketing to go and find business beyond what would be considered “existing demand”. With their expertise in marketing now expanding to include motorcoaches, they are, in effect, raising the proverbial bar for the rest of us. Combine this with several companies bringing in the next generation of leadership, people who are passionate about new and dynamic marketing techniques and avenues, and you can see that the motorcoach industry is shaping up to undergo
Jeff Rogers
MMC President. Owner First Class Tours Houston, TX
MARKETING
Avoid These Marketing Mishaps During Your Busy Season/ BY RACHEL COUGHTRY
Have a team member check the major links on the website.
As you know, we’re in our busiest season now. A few weeks ago, I considered and wrote about ways we keep our team motivated during this crazy time. That’s important work, because we care deeply about the people working here and desire to see them well cared for during periods of high stress.
But tackling the big workload and keeping employees motivated isn’t our only concern right now. Even during the busy season, we keep up with our business development activities. It’s essential to our growth. Tempting as it is to focus solely on the work that’s piled on the desks, ignoring the
need to generate new business will only hurt us later. The same goes for you and your business. Over the years, I’ve discovered that small business owners tend to make the same 5 marketing mistakes over and over again when they’re bogged down. Does this sound like your busy season? Not posting new content or blogs on the business website during the busy season Neglecting to check the client portal and essential links on the website Neglecting communication with clients you aren’t working with during the busy season Delaying all marketing efforts, including social media posting, until the busy season is over Ignoring leads until after the busy season is over Firms that operate in this manner are really good at “putting out the fires” of their busy seasons and meeting deadlines for their current clients. Problem is, in a few months time, they’re all staring down at a budget that shows little to no growth. And it happens every single year. Preparing your marketing efforts in advance is the first step to remedying the above marketing fails. To that end: Prepare website content ahead of your busy season, or consider ways to repurpose the content you already have. A “Best Of” or “How To” list, or a white paper or other downloadable item can be created with text you already have. Short on text? This is a great time to bring in a guest blogger or two, or turn your blog over to a ghostwriter who can write it for you on a regular basis. At the very least, add in some new photos to quickly but
dramatically change the feel of your site. Have a team member check the major links on the website—especially the client portal—to make sure they’re working. Email or call your “other” clients, those whose workload falls outside your regular busy season. Do not let them feel neglected or ignored simply because you’re working on other clients’ issues right now. Encourage these “other” clients to begin preparing for when you’ll meet again. Maintain your marketing campaigns to keep your brand on the radar of clients — current and potential — and search engines. This could be as simple as a postcard mailer to clients reminding them of upcoming deadlines and items to prepare, or something online, such as digital ads on LinkedIn or Google, focusing on your firm’s other services. Continue to consult potential clients. Train up another team member in your company to do this if you currently can’t delegate the task. I get how tough busy season is. Believe me, I do. But don’t waste the opportunity to grow simply because it seems too challenging to do so. With a little prep work, busy season can be one of your best opportunities to advance your business.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ONLINE CLICK HERE
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SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT MARKETING MATERIALS
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INSPIRATION
Why DefiningYour Core BrandValue andValues Is More ImportantThanYou Think It Is/ BY: Chitraparna Sinha
Your brand value signifies the compass that guides your business to the north of its success.
Confused with all the conjecture and ambivalence surrounding ‘brand’ and ‘business?’ Regardless of how you look at it, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re part of an ever-growing majority that tends to blur the lines rather erroneously. Your brand value signifies the compass that guides your business to the north of its success. Put simply; they’re VERY important for your business. Now, the next logical question is – what does it take to define them and what do you do with that definition once you get them in place? Let’s start from where it all starts making sense – the very beginning! Brand and Values: The Indelible Connection Values are at the front and center of your brand and the business it represents. They are the centrifugal force upon which everything else (including the look, design, voice, and engagement) permeates. Unless you’ve been living without an Internet connection, you already know that the success of your business heavily depends on the strength of your brand. You do, right? But, if you’re clueless about refurbishing your business as an enlivened brand, or getting your brand to catapult your business, read further. The Two Pillars of Branding Let’s face it.
Values are at the front and center of your brand and the business it represents. They are the centrifugal force upon which everything else (including the look, design, voice, and engagement) permeates.
Building a brand is a long, tedious and complicated process.
Value Vs. Values: More than a missing letter?
Contrary to the popular notion (and what small business owners believe), it entails myriad elements and is way more profound than a fancy logo proudly displayed on your website. Generally speaking, the success of your brand rests on two extraneous yet indisputably important pillars:
That’s a very relevant question because the difference is not so apparent on the surface. Does your brand value have any connection, explicit or otherwise, with its values?
Voice identity: this includes your communication style, tonality, tagline and messaging Visual identity: as the name suggests, this includes the visual contours of your business like colors, logo, typography, and others. But guess what? For a brand to be truly ‘out there’ and make its presence felt, there’s a third imperative ‘internal’ pillar. It is a pillar that every business owner must address – before even conceptualizing a logo or drafting a compelling tagline – on every channel/ platform you intend to promote your business. Any guesses? This missing pillar that is most important for your business is nothing else but your Brand Values. It is brand values that will help you position your organization’s personality and purpose. In the absence of these values, your business runs the greatest risk of all – lacking differentiation that makes it recognizable and relatable. When that happens, you can be sure that your business is only headed towards one direction – southwards.
If you’re tempted to retort with a dismissive ‘no,’ think again! By the same token, don’t rush to the conclusion and say ‘yes.’ As always, the truth lies somewhere between the two – the perennial gray area.
may cost $200, but command much only wore them on salvaging their pr bought them again lose its sheen.
We all know that no let alone thrive on customers.
In contrast, if anoth $80, but it is able to repeat purchases, it value.
When using the term brand value, one tends to conjure images of a quantifiable sum of money. It’s common to hear people discussing their ‘brand worth.’
In other words:
For instance, an unbranded T-shirt could be valued at $15 whereas an Adidas-branded T-shirt that looks the same may be worth $150. Evidently, the difference in value stems from the strength (or weakness) of a brand.
As Starbucks CEO poignantly observe
Seth Godin makes a wonderful observation in this regard:
What this simply really don’t prefer another (for exampl because it’s necessa cases, it isn’t. Man have proven that between our ears- o
A brand’s value is merely the sum total of how much extra people will pay, or how often they choose the expectations, memories, stories and relationships of one brand over the alternatives. As is clear from the above example, a brand’s value is not restricted to how much people would end up paying for it, but also the regularity with which they select it – as well as the underlying reasons. For instance, a pair of jeans (branded)
Repeat customers h business’s success a to its brand value.
If people believe the a company, they w brand.
To make your br don’t necessarily ne greatest array of des most costly product This is very true industry too.
Yes, factors like amb and aesthetic appea role in the success
t its brand wouldn’t value if people nce for the sake of restige and never n, the brand would
o brand can survive, n one-time buys &
her brand costs just get people to make t enjoys a far greater
hold the key to any and are strongly tied
O Howard Schultz es:
ey share values with will stay loyal to the
means is that you r one brand over le, Nike over Adidas) arily better. In most ny research studies the difference lies our brain!
rand valuable, you eed to show off the signs or arrange the ts within your niche. for the hospitality
bience, surroundings al do play a massive of a restaurant or a
coffee shop. But your brand value truly gets amplified every time that one customer decides to come back only to you and not try out someone else. The brand makes your business succeed when that (or any other customer) prefers you over your rival to do business with, or better still, recommend your services to a friend. It is this conscious choice they make which is strongly linked to the core of your brand values and branding strategy. A brand that stands up If you’re looking to develop meaningful and long-lasting relationships with your customers in a manner that brings repeat businesses and raises your brand value, you may want to define its (your brand’s, that is) values so that you give your audience something to remain loyal to. This is a critical point and must never be undermined. As owners of businesses, we tend to embroil ourselves in lengthy explanations of what it stands for and believes in. But, the fact remains that few of us can repeat or even remember those lofty points about our business. If you asked your customers to define your brand in one sentence, what would they say? What would you want them to? When promoting your business (via customer service, website, advertising), make sure you highlight the core values you want your potential or existing
customers to understand. Let’s take the example of the company, Apple. What words come on your mind when someone says ‘Apple?’ I can think of a few right away, and it’s no accident that I think of exactly these things: • • • • •
Cool gadgets Sleek designs Passion Innovation Better ‘everything’
These are the values that Apple believes in and promotes them at every touch point and every point of engagement with its audience, inspiring them to live their dreams through its own. In a presentation Steve Jobs delivered in 1997, he suggested, What we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their job done… Apple is about something more than that. Apple at the core… It’s core values… is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. And, that’s the focal point for any brand: Encouraging others to reach out to their dreams. So, what does your brand value(s) stand for?
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ONLINE CLICK HERE
In CaseYou Missed It/ Important Articles Written Exclusively for the Motorcoach Industry.
Data driven marketing
Time. The ultimate killer of marketing.
Big data is a big deal. Marketers around the globe have turned to data as a powerful ally in finding new customers and cross-selling to existing customers. Big data is...
For those of you who may not know, we recently wrapped up the first-ever motorcoach marketing industry survey. The survey accounted for nearly 3,500 pieces...
READ IT NOW
READ IT NOW
Change
Let’s Raise Our Prices
Let’s face it: change sucks. It’s often scary and inconvenient, and in many cases, it means we have to stretch. Just like the rest of you, I’m familiar with the “change is good”...
Yep, you heard me…on three…go! OK. Prices raised. See you next month! If only it was that easy! I was recently asked to address a group regarding the shortage of...
READ IT NOW
READ IT NOW
The Council’s Mission
The Key Is In The Drip
For any of you that have attended a meeting where I have been asked to speak, you can probably recite in perfect cadence our mission: to help operators sell more charters...
Erosion is a pretty strange way to start a marketing column, but let’s be honest…it’s probably not as strange as potatoes! I was recently driving from the Pacific...
READ IT NOW
READ IT NOW
STRATEGY
Why Employees Are Your M Storytelling Tool/ By KRYSTAL OVERMYER
Most Powerful Brand On a recent flight with an anonymous airline, I found myself chuckling as the flight attendant smoothly cracked jokes during the safety announcement. An amused seatmate loved the bit, too, quipping, “He must have defected from Southwest!” Even aboard a different airline, Southwest’s brand storytelling efforts take flight. The company’s marketing plan hinges on the enthusiasm, sincerity, and humor of its employees. Those efforts have paid off: Many people associate the brand with comedic employees and a positive travel experience, in stark contrast to the negative publicity other airlines can’t seem to shake. Employees, as Southwest has found, can be a brand’s greatest storytelling asset. Employee advocacy helps humanize the brand, bridging the gap between company and consumer by putting a face to the company name. When an employee raves about their job or their workplace, it has more profound meaning than remarks from a distant executive, let alone messaging from a faceless corporate entity. Employee stories can bring the brand to life. Start looking closer at major brands and you’ll find that many are hitching their marketing campaigns
to their employees. From high-quality digital video vignettes to casual Instagram Stories, brands are looking to their staff to express what’s great about the brand. By utilizing employees as storytellers, brands show they’re invested in their teams, while also gaining audience trust. And as Southwest has shown over the years, trusting employees to express themselves creates its own positive brand story over time.
Why Employee Storytelling Works There’s a huge reason why brands should do more to capture and raise up employee stories: People trust them—a lot more than CEOs. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, employees are trusted an of average 16 points more than CEOs on a variety of topics, including messaging around employee–customer relationship, financial earnings, crises, innovation, industry issues, or programs addressing societal issues. Moreover, trust in CEOs and business is trending downward. According to the 2017 survey, CEO credibility fell by 12 points from the prior year to an all-time low of 37 percent. As people turn away from CEOs, they’re cozying up to employees. According to the Edelman survey, 60 percent of respondents said they trusted “a person like yourself.” And who is more like the consumer: the highfalutin CEO, or the Average Joe employee? Given the power of employee storytelling, it’s no wonder brands have sought to create mechanisms and programs to encourage individual employees to share the brand message. When brands activate their employees to sing their praises, they aren’t just expanding how far their message
will reach, they’re also boosting the trustworthiness of that message. While employee advocacy programs can include offline activity, social media activity does tend to be a critical component. After all, if 90 percent of employees are already checking social media at work, they might as well put in a good word for the company while they’re at it. Research shows that employee posts on social platforms are more effective than the normal brand efforts. According to MSLGroup, brand messages reach 561 percent further when employees share them versus the regular branded social channels. Furthermore, brand messages are re-shared 24 times more often when employees distribute them instead of the brand. Content that shines a light on employees can also be an effective storytelling technique. When brands highlight the stories of their staff, it shows their investment in the team, showcases diverse people and positions, and humanizes the brand. After all, people are more likely to have a meaningful, memorable interaction with an individual employee versus a Twitter account, whether that experience is with a customer service representative, an account specialist, a sales rep, or a flight attendant. When consumers have a positive experience with an employee—in real life or via digital touchpoint—the experience sticks. People remember that good feeling, which helps drive consumer loyalty and employee recruitment efforts.
Employee Advocacy in Action One easy way for brands to leverage the power of employee brand storytelling sounds simple enough: Share the stories
of employees. Through photos, videos, and written content, brands highlight the people behind the product, allowing the employees themselves to become the mouthpiece for the message. No matter the company—B2B or B2C, small business or large—employee stories can make for meaningful portraits revealing what the company is really about. For example, employee-focused stories can also highlight the important employee contributions, serving as a recruitment tool while also showcasing a company’s values. In this GE post, for example, the company celebrates the first female wind technician in western Canada, a GE engineer. Even seemingly simple employee-focused content can lend warmth and vitality to a brand. MailChimp posted numerous employee-centered Instagram Stories showcasing the hidden talents of its staffers. The result is a striking endorsement of the software company as a place with a great company culture. Brands can also encourage their employees to share company content or their own company anecdotes. Going back to Southwest, flight attendant Marty Cobb regularly posts snapshots from life in the sky on her Twitter account, @Flygirlmom. Cobb is no stranger to showcasing the brand story—a cell phone video of her comedic safety spiel went viral in 2014. LinkedIn is another employee advocacyready platform where socially active employees can help share content that drives the brand’s position as a leader in the industry. According to the platform, content shared by employees earns twice the engagement of content shared by the company.
Brands can also encourage their employees to share company content or their own company anecdotes. Do a quick search for content about a company on the platform, and you’ll find employees recruiting for jobs, singing company praises, and sharing expert content. For Earth Day, Monsanto employees shared an infographic describing the company’s sustainability efforts. The post has more impact coming with the sincere endorsement of an employee versus coming from the brand alone. What makes these efforts successful is their intentionality. Smart brands understand the power of their employees to signal company culture and, in turn, lure more people to the brand. By empowering employees to be representatives of their companies, brands deliver a more trusted, authentic brand message.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ONLINE CLICK HERE
WEB
How to Optimise Your Website for Voice Search/ BY Mirko
Have you used the voice search feature? It is absolutely awesome! Voice Search is perhaps the best and easiest way to search for anything. People have started using it, making it gain popularity at a fast rate. People do not want to waste time typing. Why type, when you can talk? That is the mantra of this age! This means you need to sit up, and, take notice of your website and its optimization for voice search. With time, keyboard search might become obsolete altogether. There are numerous ways which can be utilized for voice search optimization. What are the strategies that help optimize your website for voice search? Worried? No need to be! Rendering your website voice-search friendly touch is an easy task, when, you know the tips and tricks. Utilizing the current SEO strategies might do the job; but you need specialized strategies as well. Here are some of those strategies: 1. User Intent: Voice search is an innovative creation that answers all questions, like when does a store open or price of a
product. So, when you are optimizing the website for voice search, you will also have to keep in mind intentions of the user. To ensure this, ask yourselves questions that anybody would ask from a website, like store addresses. You need to make it easy for Google’s voice search to find all the information easily. Product information is also vital. Ask yourself questions regarding product USP, crucial aspects of your business and products, along with anything pertinent to your product. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer, and ask the questions they might ask and make your website optimally visible. Ensure that the answers to these questions are placed at the top of your content or website. 2. Mobile-Friendly: Mobiles, Smartphones and other modern digital devices have become the most popular form of communication in modern times. If you want your website to gain maximum visibility, you would have to maintain a mobile friendly version as well. Now, voice search on mobile phones has also grown in popularity. So, it is imperative
that you make your content mobilefriendly. Incorporate short paragraphs, numerous white space, and bullet points into your content. This way you will be able to ensure that all the information can be easily found through voice search on your customers mobile phones as well. 3. Use Schema: Schema is an intelligent form of SEO. It is a kind of markup language, which allows you to provide search engines with additional information. This will help you to provide an all-inclusive description about the data present in your website. With this, Google will “understand” all the information and improve the visibility of your website. This is perhaps one of the most effective strategies of SEO consultants at Seo North Sydney. When you do this, you are setting the website to be optimized for voice search and all kinds of keyword search. 4. Long Tail Keywords: The name defines the keyword, it is a longer, more specific keyword. It is supposed to be one of the most effective forms of voice search optimization. The queries are usually specific, and most companies overlook it. Just think about how the people might use these long tail keywords. Voice searches are more conversational in comparison to typed search queries. So, this means that these keywords will be able to pick up the questions and queries asked by the customers, thereby improving visibility. Using these techniques you shall be able to optimize the website for voice search. As you optimize your website, you improve your chances of gaining better visibility. Voice search strategies are quite different
Rendering your website voicesearch friendly touch is an easy task, when, you know the tips and tricks. Utilizing the current SEO strategies might do the job; but you need specialized strategies as well. from typed keyword search. Start the testing today, so that you can launch it as soon as possible, and gain more customers and visitors.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ONLINE CLICK HERE
In regards to the Motorcoach Marketing program, we love it. So far, we have made the 1000 postcards, and we did some full page handouts. We just got a stand up banner. When I get some time, I’ll be making new rack cards for both offices. We made 500 church theme postcards and 500 in the safety theme. We sent out the church cards through a local mailing company to every church within 50 miles. So far, we have had a great response and 4-5 people booked trips from it. I plan on using the safety ones soon by sending them to our new customers. All of our staff and drivers love the modern design and the finished products. Only one of my staff has watched the videos so far, but we will be working on that next month. So far I’m very happy with the service. It works well and looks great!
Chris Knittel
Owner/General Manager New Mexico Texas Coaches, LLC
We Help Operators Sell More Charters To More People. Easier. Faster. Far More Effective. MotorcoachMarketing.org
STRATEGY
7 Ways to Target Website Visitors With Facebook Custom Audiences/ By Charlie Lawrance Are you taking full advantage of Facebook custom audiences? Wondering how to retarget prospects on Facebook based on their activity with your website, or product or landing pages? In this article, you’ll discover seven Facebook website custom audiences you can use to generate new sales or leads from your website traffic. What Are Website Custom Audiences? Website custom audiences (also known as website traffic custom audiences) allow you to create a list of people who have visited certain pages or taken particular actions on your website. You can then target these audiences with highly relevant ad campaigns.
These custom audiences are best used at Level 2 of the ALL Framework because they target the “hottest” audiences of people who have visited your website. The goal here is to re-engage the people who visited your website but haven’t taken the action you want them to take such as purchasing your product or inquiring about your services. To create website custom audiences, you first need to install the Facebook pixel and any relevant conversion tracking. With that in place, navigate to your Audiences dashboard via the Ads Manager main menu.
In your Audiences dashboard, click Create Audience and then select Custom Audience from the dropdown menu. In the Create a Custom Audience window, select Website Traffic.
The website custom audience creation window then pops up on the screen. This is where you’ll create the different website custom audience variations to target people who have visited your website.
There are three main types of website custom audiences: •
Standard website custom audiences, which include the default option as well as URL-based and time-on-site conditions
•
Event-based website custom audiences, which use the conversion event actions you’ve installed on your website
•
Advanced website custom audiences, which combine both standard and event-based conditions
•
Now let’s look at seven of the most effective website custom audiences you can use for your business.
#1: Target Everyone Who Visited Your Website
Targeting all website visitors is the default option when creating website custom audiences and will be automatically selected for you in the creation window. This website custom audience is a great option for smaller businesses that don’t have enough website traffic to target people by page views.
With the website condition already selected, move to the timeframe condition. For all website custom audiences, you need to specify how long you want someone to stay in your audience. A longer timeframe will create a larger audience, but a shorter duration will be more relevant, so it’s a tradeoff. Finally, enter a name for your audience and click Create Audience.
#2: Target People Who Visited a Specific Product Page but Didn’t Purchase
Another type of website custom audience, specifically for ecommerce companies, targets people who have viewed a particular product page but haven’t purchased. This is an advanced website custom audience that combines a URL condition with an event action. To create this audience, first select People Who Visited Specific Web Pages, and then from the Contains drop-down menu, select Equals. In the URL field below that, enter the specific URL of the product page that people need to have visited to be included in your audience. You don’t have to include the www or https in the URL.
Now you want to add an exclusion condition. Click Exclude to create another conditions box. From the drop-down menu under From Your Events, select Purchase.
Next, you want to refine the purchase condition (using the content ID method) to match only purchasers of the specific product. This is an advanced website custom audience that combines a URL condition with an event action. Click URL, and under parameter, select content_ids. Next, click the Contains drop-down menu and select Equals. In the field below that, enter the ID of the product. Finally, set your audience durations. Start with 7 days for the URL of the product page view. If your audience isn’t large enough, then increase your duration. For the purchase exclusion, you want as many people who have previously purchased your product to be excluded so set the duration at 180 days. Your finished audience should look similar to this.
#3: Target People Who Viewed Your Lead Magnet Landing Page but Didn’t Opt In
Similar to the previous website custom audience, you can use this next audience to target Facebook ads to people who visited your lead magnet landing page but haven’t opted in yet. To get started, choose the standard condition of People Who Visit Specific Web Pages. Next to URL, change the condition from Contains to Equals. Then enter the full URL of your lead magnet landing page.
If you were to create this audience now, it would contain everyone who has visited and opted in. You want to exclude the people who have already opted in so they don’t see an ad for a lead magnet they already have. The easiest way to exclude these people is to click Exclude. Then select People Who Visit Specific Web Pages, change the condition to Equals, and enter the full URL of your lead magnet thank-you page. For the lead magnet landing page views duration, try 30 days and increase it if you don’t have a large enough audience size. For the thank-you page duration, you want to include as many people who
have already opted in so go for the maximum 180 days. Finally, give your audience a name and click Create Audience. Your landing page website custom audience should look like this:
#4: Target People Who Viewed Your Contact Page
This next audience is ideal for service businesses that want to target people who are interested in working with them. This audience groups people who have visited your contact page but haven’t completed your contact form. First up, select People Who Visited Specific Web Pages from the conditions drop-down list. Then change Contains to Equals and enter the full URL of your contact page.
Next, add an exclusion. Click Exclude and then from the conditions drop-down list, select the event action you have installed on your contact thank-you page. For example, if you have installed a Lead action, select Lead from the drop-down list. If you have multiple conversion actions using the same event, you can refine the action by the specific URL that triggers it. To do this, click Refine By, choose URL/Parameter, and enter the full URL of the thank-you page ensuring the equals condition is selected.
Finally, select your audience duration. Keeping the contact page view duration short will improve the timeliness of your ads, and using the maximum time duration for your exclusion will ensure you aren’t targeting ads to people who have already contacted you. Your final view should look something like this, with the contact page view condition and the Lead event exclusion either with or without the URL refinement:
#5: Target People Who Started the Buying Process but Didn’t Complete It
This next audience uses your event actions and is very effective for ecommerce companies. Creating this audience allows you to group people who have visited your website and started the buying process, such as adding a product to the basket or initiating checkout, but haven’t completed a purchase. To get started, select the Add to Cart action from the drop-down list. After that, click Include More and select the Initiate Checkout action.
Finally, click Exclude and choose the Purchase action from the drop-down list. You can further refine all of these event actions to target people interested in specific products, using the content ID method outlined earlier in audience #2. #6: Target People Who Previously Purchased From You One of the best ways to increase your revenue is to drive repeat purchases from existing customers. This website custom audience allows you to target people who have already purchased from you. You can then introduce new product offerings and exclusive discounts to encourage a further purchase. To create this audience, select Purchase from the drop-down list, under your event actions.
That’s it, no inclusions or exclusions. The final thing is to set your duration (180 days will create the largest audience size) and give it a name. If you have multiple products, you can also set product refinements using the content ID method, and create variations of this audience for purchasers of different products or product categories.
#7: Target People Who Read Your Blog
If you have a blog, this website custom audience is for you. It allows you to target everyone who visits your blog or visitors to specific blog pages. This is a hyper-responsive audience to which you can run offers or even just promote more content to
build stronger brand awareness and deepen your relationship. To create this audience, select People Who Visited Specific Web Pages, and under the Contains field, enter the keyword “blog.” This will group everyone who has visited a page that contains a URL with the word “blog” in it.
For instance, it would group people who have visited your blog homepage, such as www.mywebsite. com/blog, as well as specific posts like www.mywebsite.com/blog/post-1. It’s worth creating multiple audiences with different time variations to see the size of your audience. Start by testing 30 days, 45 days, and 90 days. Conclusion Website custom audiences allow you to effectively target the most responsive and engaged people who visited your website and took a specific action. With the RTM method — which consists of three
ad types: reminders, testimonials, and Messenger — you can re-engage your website visitors and drive traffic back to your site to increase conversions.
Reminders help create urgency to get potential customers to take action, testimonials provide social proof to build trust and confidence, and Messenger ads create a quick first touchpoint to start a conversation with your potential customers. 
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MARKETING
Advertising Against A Sea of Indifference/ By Alistair Beattie
Do consumers really see more than 4000 adverts a day? Probably not, but consumers daily exposure to brands is increasing. We are shifting to new channels, improving our targeting, monitoring in real-time, digging in the data...but is it working? Despite all our effort, are brands losing their power? No-one ever said they couldn’t wait to engage with some branded content. Evidence (and intuition) suggests that consumers would rather swipe right, binge on Peaky Blinders and argue with strangers on the internet. Our enemy isn’t the other brands in our category, it’s a lack of relevance and interest. Welcome to the “Sea of Indifference”. It’s cold and grey and stretches for as far as the eye can see. Your brand is a pebble on the beach. There
are lots of other pebbles and they all look the same. More and better ads in smarter channels but big brands are struggling to maintain their pricing. Why? Why are we failing to make an impression? Why are we failing to convert equity? Are brands playing it too safe? Do they optimise for similarity and not distinction? Put simply, are they different enough to be engaging? Noone wants to be boring, but when did you last send a car to Mars? Agencies and marketers alike - it’s time to put real people first and rediscover the joys of humanity.
“Our average consumer is…” There’s a big danger in big data. What we gain in scale we lose in sharpness. Average consumers lead to average brands. Synthetic personas, vague targets, and over-simplified user journeys are convenient but often miss the point. Marketers and agencies need to spend more time with the real people who use their products. Let’s model the millions but meet the individuals, because the edge-cases are where we’ll find the greatest inspiration.
“The category convention...” It might feel good to know what the competition are doing, but there’s danger in following the rules. Brands worry too much about alienating their core. Despite being “common sense”, it’s not a well documented effect. More common is brands failing to adapt enough to a fast changing core consumer. A great brand is a point of meaningful difference from the generic alternatives. It’s not a competition to see who can blend in. Rule breakers and risk takers drive the category by creating their own standards.
“Best practice” Digital transformation and user Experience design often pursues efficiency over expression. Over time this can reduce the individuating aspects of digital experiences. We should optimise for more than efficiency. We should be designing experiences that reflect biases and emotional quirks .
“The data” Humans are not easy to measure - we are not computers with cameras at the front. We’re not logical, and we are not reliable. We are poor judges of why we did things in the past, or how we will behave in the future. Data are useful, meaningful and often illuminating but not a silver bullet. It is a fallacy to think that humans are reducible to what we can measure. Let’s not submit to the robot overlords just yet. We are still in the business of communication. It’s an art as much as a science - and it needs ingenuity, intuition and instinct.
Reality is messy but worth it. Humans are quirky, contentious and puzzling creatures who respond to things that are different. It’s worth asking if we’ve lost sight of this in the rush to a data-driven and optimised future. It’s time to put a respect for humanity back at the heart of our work. In doing so we can create work that rewards the brave, curious, individuals who give us their attention.
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5 ways To Make Your Office Run More Smoothly/ Running an office involves a million moving parts: ordering supplies, troubleshooting, dealing with vendors, maintenance, payroll, etc. Another important part of a manager’s job is helping the office function on a daily basis. And the more efficiently an office is run, the more successful a business can perform. Here are five tips to follow to keep your office running smoothly.
1. Organize.
Becoming meticulously organized takes time, but so does searching for things amid clutter and chaos. That’s why it’s best to err on the side of organization. By taking the time to put everything in its place - from food items to office supplies - you’ll spend less time looking for things and less time telling employees
Managing an office can be stressful given that there are so many things to do at one time and so many people to please. That’s why it’s essential to keep a positive attitude when dealing with coworkers. where they can find things. Be sure to arrange files, paperwork, and supplies in a clear and concise way, and avoid creating clutter by regularly getting rid of items you don’t need.
2. Promote self-sufficiency.
Your job is to manage the duties of the office, not serve as other employees’ mother or maid. While a large part of your job will be to maintain order and cleanliness, it’s important that you don’t encourage employees to be helpless. Establish order in the office by laying down ground rules. For example, require employees to load the dishwasher to help reduce the time you spend cleaning up in the kitchen.
3. Put things on autopilot.
Having to remember countless details each day can get overwhelming. This is especially
true for minor details such as re-upping on office supplies. To prevent yourself from forgetting to order supplies or equipment, schedule weekly or monthly reminders. And whenever possible, create recurring orders for specific supplies, such as weekly food orders or ink-cartridge replacements. Services like HP’s SureSupply Auto-Delivery take the stress out of keeping track of reorders. With Auto-Delivery, customers get notified when their printer is running low on toner and ink and are given the option to reorder.
4. Become a pro at multitasking.
Office managers are required to put out a lot of fires throughout the day while managing their own workload. To do this effectively it’s important to be able to juggle multiple tasks at any given time, such as managing a team of administrators, working with vendors, planning staff meetings, and ordering supplies. Prioritize what you have to do each day while doing your best to not be distracted. (Being able to manage time effectively helps with multitasking tremendously.)
5. Maintain a positive attitude.
Managing an office can be stressful given that there are so many things to do at one time and so many people to please. That’s why it’s essential to keep a positive attitude when dealing with coworkers. No matter how repetitive questions become or how helpless employees behave, you should try your best to be friendly, approachable, and - most importantly - patient when interacting with coworkers in the office.
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National Travel and Theme: “Travel The
In 2018, 35 years after National Travel and Tourism Week was established by a congressional resolution, the industry will celebrate with a new theme: ‘Travel Then and Now.’
d Tourism Week 2018 en and Now”/ By Marguerite Orane
Industry leaders to come together in May to recognize how far the travel industry has come. National Travel and Tourism Week— taking place May 6 – 12, 2018— celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of the U.S. travel community. The annual tradition brings industry professionals together to highlight the value of travel and consider the broad impact it holds for communities across the
country. In 2018, 35 years after National Travel and Tourism Week was established by a congressional resolution, the industry will celebrate with a new theme: “Travel Then and Now.” The theme is a challenge to industry leaders to reflect on travel successes of years past while advocating for policies that promote growth for the future.
Here are a few tips for engaging the “Then and Now” theme.
Share your “Then and Now” photos Use photos to showcase how travel and tourism has changed in your community. Think of recognizable locations, historical landmarks and notable destinations. Share your photos on social media using the hashtags #nttw18 and #TravelNow and encourage your community to engage by sharing their stories of travel then and now.
Illustrate the economic impact of travel Has travel to your destination grown in the last 10 years? Or even this year alone? Share what that growth has meant for your local economy. Has this translated into job growth, for example? Use U.S. Travel’s interactive research tools, including the Economic Impact Map, Interactive Travel Analytics, and Travel Economic Impact Calculator, to create stronger messaging by exploring the economic impact of travel growth in your state or region. Advocate for one of the many issues that will help travel continue to thrive To build on our industry’s continued success, we need pro-growth, pro-connectivity and pro-traveler policies to be
implemented in communities across the country and at the federal level. Consider which of the following issues will most impact your destination’s growth and integrate it into your #TravelNow messaging.
Adjusting the Passenger Facility Charge cap. The Passenger Facility Charge, or PFC—a small fee dedicated to funding infrastructure projects at airports—hasn’t seen an increase in nearly two decades. PFCfunded projects, like expanding terminals, building new gates and improving runways, will help local economies grow and give travelers more choices and greater connectivity.
Defending tourism promotion budgets. Decreasing or eliminating travel promotion budgets negatively affects local economies due to a drop in overall visitation and traveler spending. By investing in tourism marketing and promotion, destinations are creating travel demand in their region, in turn generating visitor spending which spurs new jobs and boosts the local economy.
Winning back America’s lost week of vacation. Project: Time Off has uncovered an alarming trend over the last 40 years: Americans are taking fewer and fewer vacation days. The
Use photos to showcase how travel and tourism has changed in your community. Think of recognizable locations, historical landmarks and notable destinations. belief that working long hours will help you get ahead, coupled with a culture of silence around vacation usage, has created a nation of work martyrs to the detriment of individuals, businesses, and the broader economy. We want Americans to understand the value and necessity of taking vacation. Join the U.S. Travel Association and the travel community this May in celebrating “Travel Then and Now.” Check back in early 2018 for a comprehensive toolkit.
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TAKE YOUR Passenger EXPERIENCE FROM MEMORABLE TO UNFORGETTABLE. The striking exterior of the Prevost H3-45 sets the stage for high expectations. The luxurious cabin confirms an unexpected level of comfort. Passengers enjoy a stunning view, with added privacy that makes every moment more personal. More than just memorable, this is an experience your passengers will never forget.
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MARKETING
Repeat customers remain a business’s best and steadiest source of revenue. While an influx of new and one-off visitors can boost profits, these regulars come in and spend time and time again. On average, their business can be worth 10 times as much as their first purchase! This loyal patronage is part of the reason 43 percent of reporting small businesses plan to focus on customer retention strategies in the coming year. They want to maintain and improve those relationships, some of which may stretch back to opening day. Of course, in the beginning you could find
nothing but new customers, and that worked well enough, didn’t it? How could you get return customers if they didn’t start off as new ones at some point? Twenty-eight percent of businesses plan to invest greatly in new customer acquisition – and will pay for it. Conventional estimates place the cost to draw in new customers as between five to 10 times as much as to keep your regulars; on the outside, it might reach as high as 16 times more! So, in the interests of your budget and your clientele, what can you do to help keep your regular customers?
5 WAYS TO ATTRACT AND KEEP REPEAT CUSTOMERS/ By BRIAN SUTTER
REMEMBER: YOU AREN’T THE BIG GUYS…AND THAT’S OK What’s wrong with being the little guy? When your customers talk about your business, you aren’t some faceless organization: You’re a local (or localized) experience, or you can be. As a small business, you won’t experience the same level of traffic as your larger competition. Take advantage of that! You get the opportunity to interact more closely with your customers. You can customize their experiences and your efforts to make a lasting impression. You aren’t restricted by corporate
guidelines shipped to you from a centralized location in another state or country. You can bend your rules if you think it’s for the best. You can opt to let a trusted customer use an I.O.U. when he forgets his wallet. Someone can run a monthly tab as long as the bill gets settled at the end of the month. You the proprietor can also engage your customers in more personal tones though almost any channel. Take SRx Training, operated by professional wrestler Michael Manna, better known by his ring name Stevie Richards. SRx offers fitness guidance and personal training, both online and in person in the Atlanta, Ga., area. While it makes perfect sense to customize programs to meet each client’s individual needs and limitations, Manna doesn’t stop there. Even those who opt to purchase his guides and videos receive a personal touch. In a personal encounter, I purchased an exercise series from SRx and received the customary thank-you message from what I took to be a bot. I then received a second message from a different account that apologized for a possible mix-up with names. Manna noticed the difference between my credit card name (formal) and my email address (informal) and wanted to make sure that he used the right name in any future exchanges. That small gesture combined with my satisfaction with my purchases helped make me a regular consumer of SRx. Like me, about two-thirds of consumers place the experience and service as more important than price alone when it comes to company loyalty. REWARD THEIR LOYALTY WITH A LITTLE SOMETHING SPECIAL A second fitness example come from a second
former wrestler: “Diamond” Dallas Page, the founder of DDP Yoga. In the early days of his mail-order DVDs, Page would sit at his kitchen table, randomly select numbers from his purchase logs, and cold call his customers – to talk. He took an interest in them, in why they chose his program, what they wanted out of it, how their days went, and what they wanted in life in general. As his business grew, Page found a new way to reach out to his clients through his DDP Yoga Now app. Subscribers watch motivational messages, review recipes, and keep track of their progress along their fitness journeys. For each milestone reached, Page offers a special reward (sorry, no spoilers). Subscribers also receive different rates based on their subscription length: Month-to-month pays the highest rate; three month subscriptions receive a modest discount; yearly subscribers get a whopping 70 percent discount! Once rejected on Shark Tank, DDP Yoga now generates more than $3 million annually. KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
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The need for exceptional customer service will only continue to grow. Sixty percent of consumers expect more from customer service than they did one year ago. An equal amount of them wouldn’t trade cheaper price if it cost them in quality customer service. But what constitutes poor customer service? Respondents gave four main causes of disappointment: Poor or slow response time (35 percent); a lack of useful employee empowerment to help (31 percent); poorly trained staff (30 percent); and complaints over the quality of and/or consistency of information given by staff (24 percent).
Do you see the trend? In a majority of these responses, the cause stemmed from a lack of knowledge, either procedural or informational. Look at what you do and know it as best as you possibly can. Share that understanding with your people and let them have the tools they need to best serve your customers. Once you arm your people with knowledge, give them the power to use it. Make certain that any documentation tells the same story: Who, what, when, why, and how. Above all, make sure your most important product or service isn’t so much what you sell or do but the value you sell to your customers. AND ON THE TOPIC OF CUSTOMERS…
The need for exceptional customer service will only continue to grow. Sixty percent of consumers expect more from customer service than they did one year ago.
Manna and Page offer ways to help their clients improve their health and own their lives. Zappos started as a means to avoid store after store in search of a particular pair of shoes. Each business, in its own way, sought to make something a little better or a little easier for anyone involved in the process, be it fitness or footwear.
and customizes each member’s plan: Each gets a free birthday sub as a present from the chain.
Now, since most small businesses say that customer retention is their top revenue-growth strategy for the coming year, why not start the approach with a thank you?
That doesn’t mean consumers will settle for just any old thing you decide to throw their ways. Fifty-six percent will drop programs that don’t offer anything of interests or personal relevance; 54 won’t stick with programs that seem impossible to use.
One common method is through email. Customers can sign up on your website and receive updates on company news, special offers, or even small thank you note…just because. Another way to show your appreciation for their business is to offer a loyalty program. Take Papa John’s Rewards: Create an account and earn one point per $5 spent. Twenty-five points becomes a free large three-topping pizza. Lenny’s rewards combines the tried-and-true purchase reward (buy nine and get one free)
While rewards programs may not seem like much, remember this: 87 percent of consumers want them. Seventy-six percent even see these programs as part of the consumer-business relationship.
Surprisingly – and keep this in mind when you design your program – only 11 percent of these programs offer personalized rewards. You could be amazed at what such a “small” gesture could do for your bottom line.
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STRATEGY
5 Lessons Small Businesses Media from Big Brands/
By PAULA F
es Can Learn about Social
FERNANDES A great social media presence is essential for any business. Large corporations and big brands are keenly aware that 81 percent of consumers make buying decisions based on the social media posts of family and friends, and 78 percent of people say that companies’ social media posts influence their purchases. If you are still in doubt about social media’s ability to make or devastate a business just consider the case of Snap Inc., which lost $1.3 billion in market value due to a single tweet from Kylie Jenner. While large brands have big marketing budgets, smaller businesses often have to make do with fewer resources. In fact, a whopping 49 percent of small businesses don’t have a formal social media marketing strategy in place, according to a Netsertive survey. The good news is that small businesses can adapt some of the social media strategies used by the big players to create their own impactful and shareable content. Here are a few lessons you can learn from some of the larger brands that are dominating the social media landscape. Encourage user-generated content like GoPro
Popular camera manufacturer GoPro harnesses the power of user-generated content by asking consumers to submit shots and videos they create with the tiny wearable cameras. These videos are often widely shared online, show the product in action and make the user’s experience the focus of the brand’s social media content. In addition to becoming a viral sensation on YouTube, the videos are also shown on a GoPro channel on Virgin America Airlines and have a streaming option on Xbox, Roku and other smart TVs. GoPro incentivizes users to submit their best photos, raw clips and video edits by offering GoPro Awards to the favorites in each category, along with cash prizes. Like GoPro, you can find ways to create a user-generated content campaign that engages your audience and uses their input as content on your social media platform. This may include sharing customer reviews, reposting photos shared by fans, or creating some sort of video contest and posting the best entries.
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