It’s January 31st. The year is in full swing. Last chance to post something on what 2012 will bring! So, here goes.

It is certainly an interesting time for destination marketing and the national, regional and city Destination Marketing Organisation – the ‘DMO’. We have been talking about fundamental and revolutionary change for a while now. The hyper connected economy in which we live means our customers are now truly empowered and we are facing up to the fact that they are getting increasingly turned off by one-way communication. The current economic climate has brought with it austere times in many countries around the world and with that comes cost cutting and spending controls.

There are however plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the opportunities that 2012 brings for digital and destination marketing. Here are five.

1. There is a real opportunity, through better collaboration, to get what could be a whole country behind creating, sharing and distributing great content about your destination. Imagine that! The potential to leverage a hugely valuable content network to help you achieve your marketing objectives from awareness raising to conversion is indeed a huge one.
2. We have been saying that this year will be the year of mobile for at least 5 years. This year probably will be! And mobile is intrinsically linked to local search. If you have not done so already your destination marketing strategy needs to consider the opportunities mobile brings and how you develop marketing programmes and platforms to support that.
3. Integration really is important. Destinations really are thinking about multichannel now and we are even starting to define multichannel roles within the organisations we work in. Those organisations are starting to figure out how to deliver integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels. Furthermore, words like engagement, participation and sharing are becoming part of every destination marketers vocabulary.
4. It is finally time to put that campaigns mentality you have been developing for the last 25 years to one side. Yes, your campaigns still have a place but you need to start putting relationships at the heart of those campaigns. An unending dialogue between your destination and the customers that are interested in talking to you.
5. Focus and prioritise. Probably the biggest challenge you face is time. A list that is far too long for you to have any chance of reaching the bottom of. At its simplest level developing strategy is about making sure the right things are at the top of the list. This presents an opportunity in itself – making the right decisions around where to invest, where to test and what deserves a rest.

Perhaps ironically some of the biggest challenges you are going to face are likely to exist closer to home.

Paradoxically, success in delivering digital is more to do with people than technology. The skills shortage and lack of experience that exists in other areas of digital applies equally to the DMO. Success very much depends on getting the right people in the right jobs – and creating an environment for them to thrive.

The destination’s relationship with the tourism industry is critical. Even smaller tourism businesses are empowered to act like never before and reach out directly to the customers they are targeting. How the destination enables and supports those tourism businesses as well as defines the DMO’s role across awareness, consideration, planning, booking and advocacy will dictate whether the destination creates an effective and collaborative relationship with the industry it is supporting.

And finally, just a little bit of tech. Developing a destination content ecosystem, taking advantage of the opportunity that mobile brings and undertaking useful evaluation and measurement in a truly multichannel environment demands more of your platforms and toolset than ever before. Just like the marketing programmes you are running, success is going to depend on effective integration of different systems and technologies in the pursuit of delivering a seamless customer experience.

Good luck!

Tags: destination marketing, tourism marketing, trends

Leave a comment

Heading back to work after the holidays I wondered how many posts I would be reading around digital trends and what 2012 was going to bring. It would appear the answer was ‘less than I expected’. Maybe that in itself is a sign that our industry is growing up and that year on year the stuff we were writing about last year still applies this year. Maybe this year really will be the year of the mobile!?

Of course the world we work in continues to change and the economic climate we are experiencing sets the tone. What we are experiencing now has become the new normal. Interestingly what is often perceived as the face of adversity is also driving positive and interesting changes in our behaviour. Here are ten to mull over.

Tags: brainfood, change, trends

Leave a comment

It’s that time of year when you tend to look forwards. What will the year bring? How will it compare to last year? Is it going to be a good summer? This time last year I wrote about 10 digital marketing trends to watch out for in 2010 and I’ve just gone back and re-read them. Strikingly it occurred to me that whilst most of what had been written about had indeed been a feature of 2010 most of it was still very much applicable this year.

Take that last point. You need to figure out how it all applies to your business – where to invest, where to test and what deserves a rest. It feels like there is a common sense approach to doing digital. Focus on your core business and what works but at the same time continue to allocate some resource to test and learn. Focus on data and drive actionable insights that help you improve what you are doing. Above all be agile.

We’ve been talking about fundamental and revolutionary change for a while now. Yep, web 2.0 and everything that is social was certainly that. But now? There’s still loads of learning to be done and each day brings something new in terms of the toolset at our disposal but what about the principles? Aren’t we figuring those out? At the same time we are also realizing that some of those principles that represented good marketing in our traditional world still represent good marketing in our digital world.

Integration. We really are thinking about multichannel now and we are even starting to define multichannel roles within the organisations we work in. Those organisations are starting to think beyond the big idea, tone of voice and creative execution. They are starting to figure out how to deliver integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels. Words like conversation, engagement, participation and sharing are becoming part of every marketers vocabulary.

It’s often simple and unifying approaches that help you find solutions to complex problems. Delivering integrated marketing campaigns can feel like one of those problems. So bring it back to the basics. The building blocks – content, distribution, platforms, people and measurement. Developing a content strategy across your owned, earned and bought media that delivers specific objectives across the customer journey is perhaps one of those unifying approaches.

Focus on your core business. Apply well-understood marketing principles. Join things up and find simple unifying approaches to tackle complex problems. Is digital marketing growing up? Feels like it might be.

I found the eye-phone pic on Annie Corriveau’s blog. Thanks. It made me chuckle.

Tags: digital marketing, planning, trends

One comment

We’re going to be working on some pretty hefty web redevelopment projects over the next six months so I thought I’d swot up on current thinking and future gazing on where the web is going next in terms of design and usability.   Here are some of the trends that are coming our way.  Thanks to the smart team at Net magazine for a great article in issue 198 called Tips and Trends for 2010. Here are my jotted out revision notes. I’ve chosen a neat top ten, there were lots more, but I like neat.

1) Improving  what you’ve got. The return to analytics.

Throwing money at gimmicky one-off micorsites and games will be replaced with a serious assessment of core site usability to increase customer conversions and retention. Analytics will shift from active pages to examining user activity. Google AB testing.

2) Multi-channel design briefs.

Companies will move to using the web as a primary source for spreading the message. This won’t lead to mega agencies, but to more creative collaborations with small teams. Designers will take a more holistic approach. Be content aware, user and usability focused.

3) Less choice and more single minded content.

Sites will become more purposeful and single minded, minimising self hosted content to the strictly relevant and using third party services where necessary.

4) It’s still about speed. Find , do , share things – Quickly!

The trend of enabling people to rapidly access information is here to stay. We’ll see a continued rise in the grid system, influenced strongly by print with plenty of white space to enhance visuals.

5) Apps will lead the way in design.

Apps provide quick, usable solutions for people on the go. Many sites will take their design and user experience from their mobile apps rather than the other way round. Designers will simplify and streamline websites for mobile platforms, resulting in sites with better usability and apps that give users greater control over their personal experience.

6) It will move for a reason.

2010 will see a move away from meaningless moving content and towards beautiful interactive style that looks great and adds something to the ease and pleasure of using a site. Flash is not dead, Flash CS5 looks promising.

7) It’s all about web fonts.

2010 will be the year of web fonts. Web designers can now use a wider pool of fonts without resorting to images or flash. Web fonts it will change the look of the web forever.

Designing for social engagement and the three universal challenges*

Designers will be optimising sites for things that can be commented on and shared. Designers must optimise for engagement and encourage participation. The three key design and usability challenges for social engagement look like this. 1) Help people understand how the site works. Quickly! 2) Get people to sign up. 3) Turn them into active returning users.

*I honestly have no idea why my number eight is a smiley face. I’ve looked at the HTML but I’m none the wiser. See point 10. Will email Pete on Monday.

9) Mobile and location awareness.

Location awarness will become integral on desktops.  Without relying on user input it will be possible to set a geographical context, enhancing the user experience with services such as localised search.

10) We’ll all need to broaden our skill set.

With the iphone it’s all about software so if you’re a designer who doesn’t know code you should learn. If you’re web page creator who doesn’t know basic HTML you should learn.

All this sounds pretty exciting to me. If you know of any more me drop me a line. Thanks again to  Net magazine.

Tags: design, trends, usability, user experience

Leave a comment

Mobile has got to be one of the biggest digital marketing trends of 2010 and anyone and everyone is talking about it. Smartphones are proving to be a game changer for most and in one of the offices we work in there’s an almost unhealthy level of phone geekery and banter.

While researching my ‘top trends’ for a keynote we are giving at the International conference of Information Technology in Travel and Tourism ENTER 2011 I came across this slideshare presentation on mobile trends 2020. These people are not anyone and everyone. They are 46 very smart folk that really know their onions around mobile. Pulled together by Rudy De Waele and well worth having a flick through over a cuppa sometime.

Tags: conference, mobile, trends

Leave a comment

At this time of year everyone is talking about trends, doing some crystal ball gazing and planning ahead with a fresh pair of eyes. Me too. Here are ten digital and marketing trends we think you should watch out for and consider – derived from those people and organisations we follow and look up to.

1. The revolution is in full swing and there is an entire generation eager to change the world we live in | Welcome to the decade of frustration and change by Seth Godin
2. More and more people are going to be sharing everything they do | 10 crucial consumer trends for 2010 by trendwatching
3. Maybe not real time search but really real time information is where we are heading | Online and tech trends I am watching in 2010 by Wilhelmus
4. Mobile is going to happen ‘proper’ this year | All about mobile by Gerd Leonhard
5. Online video and viral video provides a valuable and measurable tool for driving brand engagement | Where digital marketing is heading in 2010 by Advertising Age
6. New technology and devices will redefine the way we interact with content | Apple tablet – the speculation keeps growing by Guardian
7. Media spend will continue to move online but success in the earned media space will still need to be earned rather than paid for | 7 predictions for 2010 from Geoff Ramsey by eMarketer
8. If social media really is important to your business then building a good in-house social media team is a must | Five social media tips for 2010 by Econsultancy
9. Conversion rate optimisation is going to be king in 2010 | 8 predictions for SEO by SEOmoz
10. You need to figure out how it all applies to your business – where to invest, where to test and what deserves a rest | 10 online marketing trends for 2010 by Entrepreneur

Sounds exciting to me.  Let’s go!

Tags: digital marketing, trends

Leave a comment