Marketing Tourism Online, Part One: The Basics – Marketing
Marketing Tourism Online, Part One: The Basics
Bryan Wilson
This is part one of an article series which will introduce some basic strategies, considerations, elements, and techniques for marketing tourism products online. We plan to update and refine these articles as situations change and when we have new knowledge to present. If you have comments or questions, or you are interested in Leave Homes travel marketing consulting services, please visit www.Leave-Home.com or contact the author directly. You can also request to be notified when a new article in the series is available.
OPPORTUNITIES AND ROOM TO IMPROVE
While most tourism organizations are by now familiar with the Internet, far fewer have really gained an understanding of the technologies, new resources, new communication opportunities, and the requirements that they represent. These tips and explanations should prove a useful introduction.
While new technologies provide new opportunities, they dont change the basics of marketing: people, product, price, promotion, and distribution. Know your target markets, understand their purchase decision processes, and offer them the right product, at the right time, for the right price--and correct your course continually.
SHAPING THE PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS AND THE TOURISM EXPERIENCE
Your online communication with customers can be used to shape outcomes in the following circumstances and stages, in relation to a potential tourists purchase decision and tourism experience. Good communication can:
Build awareness of a product or destination, and reshape existing perceptions;
Generate interest;
Provide information to turn interest into desire;
Transact the actual purchase or series of purchases;
Provide reassurance of a good purchase and offer preparatory information for the actual tourism experience;
Continue to provide information, shape perception, and improve the experience during the tourists journey;
Aid and deepen memories after the tourism experience;
Build upon your relationship to your customer, to add value for both you and the tourist; and
Encourage referrals and generate repeat business.
There are different goals to achieve and appropriate methods of communication for each of these circumstances. Adding further complexity is the fact that different people family members, friends, co-workers, etc. may be involved and have varying importance at different stages of one purchase decision!
IN CONCLUSION
Despite these complexities, there are some basic guidelines which will help you communicate and market effectively online. The next in this series of articles presents advice for attracting visitors to your website.
Seattle, USA; August 2004
About The Author
Bryan Wilson is a travel marketing consultant and partner in Leave Home Productions. Leave Home Productions provides marketing services and tools to tourism-related businesses and organizations. Our clients benefit from strategies, tools, and creative concepts developed to clarify their needs, make use of their resources, and help them achieve their goals. We specialize in promotions, online communication, distribution and the creation of multimedia and Internet tools. Leave Home also supports marketing with traditional media formats and personal communication. We work to develop solutions that support healthy growth for our clients business and sustainable tourism for the host communities and environments.
Leave Home, tourism marketing consultants
http://www.leave-home.com
bryan@leave-home.com
How Pre-Settlement Lawsuit Funding Works – Legal
How Pre-Settlement Lawsuit Funding Works
Afra AmirSanjari
An injured person contacts a company that offers pre-settlement lawsuit funding, sometimes at the suggestion of an attorney. The finance company contacts the lawyer who is handling the case, and obtains information about the case. Based upon that information provided, the loan company estimates the value of the likely eventual settlement or verdict, and offers a cash advance to the injured person based upon that estimate. The fee may be a flat fee, or a monthly fee that accrues each month the loan is outstanding. When the case settles, or the defendant pays after losing in court, the loan and associated fees are paid to the finance company.
These advances are offered as non-recourse funding, which means that an injured person has no obligation to repay if the lawsuit is lost. Similarly, if the ultimate settlement or verdict is smaller than anticipated, the amount that must be repaid never exceeds the amount of the injured persons share of that verdict or settlement. For legal reasons, these advances are not characterized as loans.
Amounts available vary significantly, depending upon the nature of the case and the company involved. Many companies offer pre-settlement funding amounts between $500 and $25,000. A few offer amounts up to $100,000. Fees also vary depending upon the company and the type of case. Some companies will fix the fee for the advance up front. Others will charge a monthly fee for each month between the time the funding is issued and when it is repaid, sometimes as high as 15% per month.
About The Author
Afra AmirSanjari is the Principal for Peacock Capital.
Peacock Capital specializes in solving the cash flow challenges of Small/Medium Businesses, Government Vendors and Individuals with innovative financial solutions by providing a network for securing operating capital.
http://www.peacockcapital.com
info@peacockcapital.com
Lighting the Way when Two Become One – Weddings
Lighting the Way when Two Become One
M J Plaster
Whether you want to add a little extra romance to an evening reception or a little glow to your house of worship, candles are a natural, effortless addition to your wedding theme. Youll have no trouble finding a role for candles at the wedding ceremony, at the reception, and even as part of the floral displays.
Unity Candles
Join the growing number of couples who include a unity candle as part of the wedding ceremony. Perhaps you think that unity candles are steeped in a rich history of religious tradition, or perhaps you think that unity candles are the invention of the candle makers to sell an extra candle or 10,000. Neither is the case. The exact evolution of the unity candle is uncertain, but since it began 30-40 years ago, it seems that we have that ever-lively 60s generation to thank for yet another custom that has wormed its way into modern life.
Id like to propose my own idea of the unity candles origin