Ideas & knowhow

I recently met with someone who has a really good business, with loads of potential. But he said that he’s struggling, both to get more attention and new visitors, and financially. When we talked a little more I discovered two things: a) he’s paying for advertisements all over social media; and b) he’s paying someone else to do his social media posts for him. Neither the ads nor the posts are really having an impact - he’s not building followers very quickly, not really extending his reach (how …

I’ve recently heard from numerous business owners who have said they’re struggling at the moment. Some are disheartened by their lack of bookings and visitors, other exhausted by the extra effort that seems necessary to generate income and uncertainty caused by last minute bookings.

If you’re feeling like this, you’re not alone.

I am running a free marketing workshop (on Zoom so you don’t have to go anywhere and there’s a replay available) to outline what you can do right now - details here. You’r…

Want to give your website and social media a quick boost? Need to build engagement on social media and improve search engine rankings?

You could spend a lot of time and money doing all this, but there is one simple action that you can do right now to start to make a difference. Update your photos and basic profile descriptions.

It’s such a small action but has several benefits:

One of the factors that determines your search engine rankings for websites and how many followers your social media po…

I’ve lost count of how many conversations I’ve had with people who wondering if the weather will ever get any better, and tourism business owners who say that bookings seem slower than usual. The two are definitely connected! You can’t change the weather but there are two easy things you you can do about it.

The first easy thing…

The world is in turmoil - war, climate change and economic certainty. It’s natural for people to be reticent about planning day trips and booking breaks. But many do hav…

Sometimes it’s worth taking a step backwards to help you leap forward.

Now and then I like to re-consider the basics of marketing. It’s easy to make things more complicated than they need to be.

There’s a short sequence of marketing activities that work, again and again. It’s more about words and ideas than anything else, so it’s free.

Here’s what you need to do to get someone to book, buy or decide to visit

Think: does your current marketing do this? Can you change your social media posts so the…

Can you feel the excitement and anticipation in the air?

As the weather warms up, holidays approach and we slowly cast off our Winter vests, it’s uplifting to look forward to the Summer.

Social media is filling with news of last minute preparations for attractions re-opening, and visitors are posting about their plans for trips.

Now’s the time to take advantage of two related factors in your marketing: Anticipation and FOMO (fear of missing out).

When I talk to some business owners about using a…

I’ve just spent several days judging accommodation awards for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. I enjoy doing this as it gives great insights into trends and what others are doing to stay ahead. Perhaps surprisingly though it’s also a reminder to go back to basics.

Some of the best B&Bs or hotels miss out on awards (and bookings) because they don’t do the simplest things. The same lessons apply to other tourism businesses, whether attractions, activity providers, or food and drink outlets.

R…

A long time ago I worked in an office where we used ancient manual typewriters to write the same kind of letters again and again. I’d seen one of the early Amstrad computers in action and eventually managed to persuade my boss that we’d be much more efficient with a computer. The day the computer was due to be delivered, one of the secretaries (then aged about 25) didn’t come to work. She sent a letter saying she was giving in her notice because she didn’t want to use a computer and thought it w…

I was recently asked, “If a small tourism business has a limited marketing budget and not very much time, what marketing activities are most worth doing, in order of importance?”

Here’s my answer in brief. I’ve ranked a list of marketing tools in order of importance/success, with the most important first.

1 - Good website - because it acts as a reference point for other marketing too, and can help to build trust and confidence in what you do. This needs to be combined with an updated Google Profil…

As the leaves start to appear on trees, more visitors will be arriving. Is your marketing ready to make the best of the year ahead?

Once busy with visitors, marketing gets harder to fit in so here’s a pre-season marketing checklist to feel a little more prepared.

Let’s focus on just a few elements for now:

Anticipation

[ ] Ideas for social media posts asking what visitors are most looking forward to, ways to get them to talk about forthcoming trips

[ ] Messages (e.g. by email or text) for guests who…