DIGITAL DESTINATIONS

Dr Philip Alford Bournemouth University

www.digitalhub.co.uk

www.pinterest.com/digitaldest www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub

ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk

@schooloftourism | @philipalford

#DDBU

Digital Destinations project is an ESRC funded research project, delivered by Bournemouth University,

with an overarching aim to:

‘capture change in the adoption and use of digital technologies and to develop a strong, competitive local tourism economy.

Through increased understanding and use of emerging digital technologies, visitor economy businesses will be in a position to increase their marketing and management effectiveness, and

develop new products and services that will provide an enhanced experience for visitors to their destinations’

The businesses benefited from 4 workshops which covered: Background to on line marketing

Individual Business objectives

Developing the strategy

Measuring impact

Reporting outcomes via case studies

All course material can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub All business outcomes and blogs can be found at http://www.budigitalhub.co.uk/

The following presentation is the case study provided by New Forest Activities New Forest Activities were active in all elements of on-line marketing, but felt that their approach was too general with no real targeting of certain demographics or groups. The main areas they wanted improvement were around the children's parties and team building sectors. They wanted to experiment with some story based testimonials, using social media and blogs to produce content and give depth to each area of the site. Alongside this it was important to ensure that potential clients were able to quickly find the information they needed, whilst develop trust in our brand. Measurement would be way of tracking our contact page conversions (leads) from the specific contact forms within these sections of the website.

Digital Destinations

Digital marketing analysis and plan for New Forest Activities

Introduction

• At New Forest Activities we were active in all elements of on-line marketing, but felt that our approach was too general with no real targeting of certain demographics or groups. The main areas we wanted improvement were around the children's parties and team building sectors. We wanted to experiment with some story based testimonials, using social media and blogs to produce content and give depth to each area of the site. Alongside this it was important to ensure that potential clients were able to quickly find the information they needed, whilst developing trust in our brand. Measurement would be way of tracking our contact page conversions (leads) from the specific contact forms within these sections of the website.

• This digital marketing analysis and plan focuses on) New Forest Activities ; an outdoor activities centre based within the New Forest, Hampshire. The company was set up when its sister company (Liquid Logistics) found there was a demand for other outdoor activities.

• See the website. Things to do in The New Forest

• NFA offers a variety of fun outdoor services such as:

• Archery • Battlefield Simulation • Canoeing • Cycling • Guided Walks • Kayaking/Sea Kayaking

New forest activities current missions

• To enjoy sustainable and profitable growth of the company, delivering and packaging quality experiences to the New Forest National Park and the surrounding area, with enthusiasm and interest in customers and their experience , creating valuable and long lasting relationships with customers , producers and associates.

• New forest activities is also looking to grow and build engagement in the children's party and team building sector.

• See the web page for Team Building Hampshire

• See the web page for Children's Parties Hampshire

What we learned from the project

• The SWOT analysis shows us that NFA has many strengths surrounding both its online and offline presence. However weaknesses revealed that its organic hits come predominantly from its domain name search, and SEO is weak within its key target groups. Also it was discovered that whilst there was a significant email database to target, email campaigns were ineffective with low open and click through rates. SWOT analysis also takes external factors into account through opportunities and threats. These are used in conjunction with the strengths and weaknesses to develop potential strategies that could be adopted by NFA.

• The following sections will analyse the situation of NFA in more detail, drawing on some elements of the SWOT analysis in addition to parts of the macro and microenvironment.

It is important for businesses to ascertain certain behaviours and characteristics of its targeted audiences; this is known as customer insight and has become a crucial element in the search for competitive advantage across many industries in recent years When looking to understand more about your customers, it is recommended that business owners create customer personas. New forest Activities target six different groups of people via their website the following personas have been created in alignment with this.

Persona Demographics Purchase decision Frequency of custom

Social Influencer (Social Groups)

Usually male, between ages of 18-21. College/University students. Decision maker within friendship group

Persona 3 purchases because it aligns with keen interests in outdoors activities. Regular customers. Predominantly information seeking motives.

Book constantly throughout the season.

School Teacher

(School Groups)

Aged 25-40. Male or female Graduate usually with a senior

position in the school.

Persona 2 purchases to offer the children new experiences in a

different environment

Popular throughout the season April – Sept

Best Man/Maid of Honour

(Stag & Hen)

Aged 25-35, predominantly male but hen parties also engage. Likely to earn a good salary.

Persona 1 is looking to host a unique stag/hen party, one that will challenge participants. Seeking visual examples of

activities.

Make up a strong percentage of

early season bookings.

Youth Group Leader (Youth Groups)

Male, aged 18-25.

Purchase to build relationships within youth groups with fun

activities.

Book sporadically throughout.

Parent of Child

(Kids Parties)

Female (Childs Mother). 25-35 years old. Wealthy parent usually not working or working part time.

Purchase to offer a unique party

for their child.

Small market at the moment

needs growth.

Office Event Organiser

(Team Building)

Young female, postgraduate

acting as office PA.

Constructive team Building initiatives in the work place.

Small market at the moment,

potential to grow.

• The main issue was a clarity of objectives for example, generally using Facebook instead of using Facebook with a purpose that was measureable.

• For more info visit our facebook page for New Forest Activities, Battlefield Live and Liquid Logistics

• Ongoing issues were time and resource allocation as well as too much knowledge and not enough action.

• Other issues are maintaining momentum, maintaining focus on key growth areas, how to present key information on a busy website for example Sopley Lake.

• Objectives have to be business orientated instead of online orientated.

• Also learnt about SEO and benefits of on and offsite SEO Tactics.

• From Student Learnt about a good structure to plan the ‘SOSTAC’ framwork.

New Forest Activities Email marketing, using Mail Chimp. •Quality of the database is high with a 93% delivery rate. • Open rate is poor at less than 14%. •Of those that open the email just 1.5% are clicking through the relevant links.

NFA database is made up of past consumers and those who have opted in online. The biggest weakness to NFA’s email campaigns is that the database is not segmented into different target groups, best practice email guides suggest emails must address specific target groups and be personalised if they are to be successful Another weakness is that there are too many words and not enough images.

NFA Facebook Strengths: •Almost 1400 likes on the Facebook page • Integrated booking system • Integrated YouTube Channel • Integrated booking system

Weaknesses: •No engagement with followers, where followers comment, no conversation is started • Not optimising the cover photo •needs a colourful bright image showing product • Content predominantly pictures not targeted to specific customer profiles and don’t encourage traffic

Analytics

• Hubspot report 68%-82%

• Facebook insights

• Twitter Klout score 53

NFA Google analytics

With Google analytics we are able to check data related to our website for example on the dashboard page we are able to check, the new visits, unique visits, visits, visits by browser, average duration, bounce rate, goal completions and revenue.

With the audience overview page we are able to collect the data, of the demographics, languages, system and mobile.

Google analytics also allows us to collect data with the intelligence events overview which shows us the change either daily or weekly of, average visitor duration, newsletter sign up, average visitor duration of the exit page, revenue, visits email, visits source new forest booking centre, visits homepage and the contact us page.

Website Tactics

• Incorporate a blogging format

• Share content to social media channels

• Review Children’s Party offer page

• Review Team Building Page

Changes made

Online Value Proposition clearly displayed on the page

Advertising in the USP Clearly identifies the different product offering

Companies with strong brands who have been consumers are clearly identified along with positive comments regarding experience

Email Tactics

• Segment the database into target categories • Personalise the target group with appropriate

language. • Pictures and relevant content • Incentivise • Sharing • Follow up emails

Examples of revised email marketing campaign

Social Media Tactics

• Share the Stories / consumer blogs from website onto Facebook with short punchy subject lines.

• Implement the Facebook competition: Blog posts will be shared across to the Facebook page,

users will be encouraged to share their stories and the one with the most likes and shares each month will win a free trip for 6 people.

• Encourage advocates to post their own stories (via click through link).

• Engage in conversation with consumers. • Post regularly but at the correct time with engaging

content

Examples of social media tactic changes

LinkedIn Tactics

• Share the blog posts created from website onto Linked In as Case Studies.

• Implement the LinkedIn competition. The converted case study with the highest click through rate to the

relevant landing page will win the monthly prize.

• Get Active in appropriate linked in groups

• Post regular status updates based on LinkedIn best practice guidelines.

Team building on LinkedIn

Tactics Summary

• The tactics proposed will add value to New Forest Activities by making the online presence more about the customer. The ability to share experiences and interact with each other is making the whole thing an experience rather than personal. Further value is added by consumers feeling part of the company, actively engaging and being part of the website.

For more information on DIGITAL DESTINATIONS contact:

Dr Philip Alford, Bournemouth University

ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk

@schooloftourism | @philipalford

#DDBU