Strategic Audience Targets

BY KRISTA ORSACK

Staying relevant and building a loyal customer base are two primary objectives every company considers while developing and implementing marketing strategies. Consumers have hundreds of options when it comes to choosing their next travel destination and the attributes your destination offers need to stand out.

Sure, the media mix will include traditional and digital advertising to reach your audience and showcase those attributes. But your next move after that first engagement is critical. The tools and tactics available are more sophisticated than ever. Literally, at any time during the day and during any daily activity, a person can be targeted.

It is a delicate balance to reach consumers, avoiding it at the wrong time or too many times. Consumers are more interested in hearing about content specific to their interests and at the time they want to hear it. It’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all message mentality. Utilize destination research, competitive set analysis and captured characteristic traits to guide conversation. Build your marketing channel or funnel based upon goals and the foreseeable interactions of your target audience.

The most successful tactics for driving relevancy and loyalty include campaigns driven by geo-targeted audience lifestyle activities, travel personality attributes, persona-based messaging, retargeting and email automation. The timing of each of these tactics will drive engagement and help achieve success.

At the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Convention & Visitors Bureau, we have worked with a variety of platforms that allow us to capture behavioral and lifestyle data on the people who engage with us and those who don’t. This data has allowed us to group potential visitors by six defined personas: explorer, foodie, family first, shopper, adventurer and romantic. Each persona has specific characteristics and audience traits that we build our message around. Creative elements in our marketing include culinary video stories, one-day or three-day guides, guided searches for local restaurants or family-friendly attractions and stories that feature insider tips.

Focused strategic marketing efforts on a very granular level will reach a highly engaged, loyal consumer audience. Although the exposure may look lower with this strategy, it will be those customers and followers who will help carry your message further and offer more exposure down the road. Sometimes the small wins will turn out to be big wins in the future. PB

Krista Orsack Director of Marketing Sioux Falls (S.D.) Convention & Visitors Bureau korsack@siouxfalls.com