Case Studies and Templates

Introducing Targeting & Distribution

Our seventh chapter, Targeting and Distribution, demonstrates how to effectively refine content in order to reach a target audience, alongside how to formulate a strategy to distribute this content. This chapter reveals the essential nature of data as the driving force behind accurate and effective targeting and distribution.

Data driven solutions can significantly improve consumer targeting. Chapter seven will elaborate on how to effectively and efficiently analyse data, in order for DMOs to understand the ways in which they are reaching their desired audience. Moreover, data can allow for some surprising finds, such as an audience you never knew you had. Possessing an audience of varying demographics may mean that marketing strategies and campaigns may have to be altered in order to send the correct message to the appropriate audience. Evaluating data will allow DMOs to assess their potential consumers and their behaviour, enabling them to improve marketing efforts and advertising campaigns. Through doing this, DMOs will also be able to see where they are losing consumers to competitors. This chapter will highlight the tools needed to analyse data, such as Google Analytics, and suggest ways to utilise data for targeting purposes, such as through SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

It is hugely important that DMOs select the most appropriate channels to use in order to market to their target audience. Within this chapter, our team at DTTT will encourage DMOs to analyse their current channels, in order to establish whether additional channels could be added to your distribution strategy, or whether current channels are in need of replacing. Here, our team will also explain the relevance of various advertising techniques in each stage of the visitor cycle; previously discussed in chapter two.

This chapter also suggests ways to create a compelling advertising strategy, which distributes your message to your key target audience. It discusses how to incorporate alternative targeting methods to augment your distribution strategy, from ‘Always On’ campaigns to big campaigns using PR. This section of the report also describes and links to 8 case studies and 3 talks published on the Launchpad that particularly focuses on the topic of Targeting and Distribution.

Finally, DMOs can access the 7th chapter of the 12 Part DMO Transformation Online Learning Course, “Targeting & Distribution”, to learn about the topic in a more active and interactive way, and access the Asana Project Template to start working on your targeting and distribution strategies in a structured way.

The Evolution of the Targeting Landscape

Since the 90s, the way brands target their audiences has evolved dramatically. From what used to be a pipe-dream of targeting only people interested in your product or service, is now very much the reality. And it hasn’t stopped. As marketers, you have to be aware of how fluid and dynamic advertising (and advertising trends) can be. So, to stay ahead of the competition, you better know your SEO from your PPC, your retargeting from your remarketing and your big data from your business insights.

Ever since online ads became a thing, improving them has been a constant quest. Even though the initial revolution is behind us, the future of advertising is looming and promises to be bigger and more successful than ever before. For instance, Turespaña utilised a tool called Adara. Adara elaborated to Turespaña a lot of data information, which they then incorporated to modify their targeting strategy. You can watch the case study and read more about it in the Case Studies section below.

Remember when pop-ups and banner ads ruled the digital world? Even though they still exist on some of the poorer platforms, all types of digital advertising are bound for evolution at some point, including targetted ads. 20 years ago, the same ad would appear for everyone - regardless of their interests. And here laid the problem. Why spend money and waste valuable time and resources advertising to consumers who are not your target audience? At this time, no information existed to specifically target the right people.

Despite not being able to attract the right audience, the concept of targetted marketing was very much in the air. From casting a broad net and hoping for the best, marketers are now far more strategic, using data and technology to ensure their efforts are not going to waste. The science behind the data and the means of analysis is constantly growing, and alongside this, so are the targeting possibilities.

As an industry connecting advertising opportunities, it’s come a long way in only a few years. Undoubtedly, the industry will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. In 2019 and into 2020, it is expected that the security of data will arrive at the forefront of priorities, through products like SpotX Audience Lock – protecting user data while abiding by privacy laws like GDPR. Furthermore, we expect to see further innovation in order for brands to stand out from competitors, with regards to management and online ads.


Ensuring Quality Targeting

Personalisation and Demographic vs Psychographic Targeting

Psychographic and demographic targeting is used by companies and brands to help them understand who, where and how to target. Traditionally, obtaining demographic details of a target audience to use in marketing methods has been the protocol for many brands, however consumer research has demonstrated that marketing to consumers via psychographics is far more effective and efficient. In this section, we will cover how each method of targeting can be used more effectively in various marketing campaigns.

The concept of demographics is purely collecting quantitative statistics of a target audience, the data of which is limited. This is the standard method of data collection in marketing, as it is easy to analyse and convenient. Generally, when demographic data is collected, a brand is able to clearly identify its popular consumers. This secondary form of market research is more cost-effective and achieves quick results that require very little time to obtain. However, in target marketing, demographics can only demonstrate so much information about a brand’s consumers. In order to uncover deeper insights into customer behaviour, and to target them effectively, brands must look towards psychographic segmentation and targeting. This method delves into the needs of the consumer, regarding products and services, and assesses the consumer’s buying habits.

Psychographics has been adopted in marketing to understand consumer behaviour. It allows brands to connect with consumers through a more personal level, and is more subjective than demographics. This method helps brands to pinpoint the vital markers of their consumers’ lifestyle, so as to target them effectively with a thorough understanding of their needs and desires. In essence, psychographics allows marketers to understand how best to position the product for target marketing. While creating a campaign or communicating in any form to a target audience, it really is vital to connect with the audience on another level to ensure that the entirety of your content fits.

When targeting specific markets, in order to understand consumers, DMOs should consider the following:

Activity Interest Opinions

These are known as AIOs, which are only produced through psychographic segmentation, allowing the DMO to connect emotionally with its target consumers. If DMOs are able to win the hearts of their target market, they should pay close attention to their AIOs to encourage loyalty and customer retention. Psychographics can allow DMOs to entirely reshape their brand identity and produce stronger campaigns, engaging content, and communicating more effectively. It enhances targeted demographic segments to maximise sales potential and strengthen visitor relationships.

Using data obtained from demographic and psychographic analysis, as a DMO you will avoid wasting valuable time in sending ineffective messages or by using the wrong platforms to send these messages.

This data will aid DMOs in developing the correct messages that will truly resonate with their audience, alongside relevant campaigns, products and services devised around consumer needs. This type of targeted marketing will drive more traffic and increase interest and visits to the destination.

The Role of SEO - is it still relevant in targeting efforts?

The relevance of SEO in content marketing is constantly debated. Is it necessary? Do brands really need to place it at high importance in marketing strategies to beat competitors to the top spots of internet searches? Aren’t good content and social media presence enough?

Did you know that 93% of online experiences begin with a search?2 So perhaps SEO really is the key to getting your content and brand in front of your consumers’ faces. To understand its relevance and to create strategies for SEO enables you to thoroughly target your target audience.

But SEO and content marketing really come hand in hand – when they’re both done well separately, they compliment each other beautifully as a team. In actual fact, SEO is strategised around content marketing – every website needs content, including articles, keywords and interesting substance. Throw in some great social media presence and you’re on to a winner. These 3 factors will absolutely ensure your destination remains top-of-mind for visitors, and jumps in front of those most likely to book a trip, which is essentially what you want. There’s no use targeting those who aren’t interested!

When content is produced and distributed with substance, SEO and social media in mind, the result is totally optimised targeting. The main challenge for brands has been the ability to bring together these tools to truly conquer the process. These elements require consistency. Content should be fresh, interesting and unique to rank higher than repetitive, low-value content of competitors.

This content should directly target your audience by catching their eye, and be influential, relevant and valuable through the use of researched keywords to target visitors. The use of carefully selected keywords within your content is the most important factor to rank high on Google and to successfully target your visitors. SEO and content marketing need each other, and done well, the two together can be a powerful tool in your targeting strategies.

Searches through Google and other search engines are the primary way consumers research places to visit, so SEO is a big deal for destinations. DMOs should ensure they’re doing everything possible to be on that first SERP (Search Engine Results Page). SEO is primarily about researching and discovering the relevant keywords to use, and including them within your content. These target keywords will help your brand rank well and will boost relevant traffic to your site via strategised targeting.

All in all, SEO really should be a top priority in DMOs’ marketing strategies alongside content marketing. The two aspects should complement each other beautifully, and together form a strong team with a social media presence to ensure your brand and destination remain top-of-mind, appear high on SERPs, and target those most likely to be interested in an efficient and effective manner.

How to Exploit Data for Targeting Purposes

Target markets have become as diverse and dynamic as never before. Brands are now using a variety of methods to understand what makes their consumers tick, and big data is an important aspect of understanding your target audience. “Big data” isn’t always that big. It’s really just a buzzword relating to the data footprints your customers leave behind when they visit your website or social media pages. In essence, big data provides brands with a trail leading to discovering and engaging the correct audience through effective targeting. Many brands are paralysed by the sheer volume of data available, and find it difficult to uncover and understand relevant data that is easily applicable to their strategies for implementation.

Data comes in many forms, from social media insights to free web analytics software such as Google Analytics, and when used effectively, it can truly transform brands’ targeting strategies through consumer analysis and the observation of behaviours. Moreover, it helps identify key relationships between the visitors and their needs, and directs DMOs towards more strategic decision-making. After the initial time in using data to discover your target audience, it should be relatively easy for your DMO’s traffic to be driven to your website and for your conversions to increase, so the output will be completely worth the initial input.

Gathering and utilising this data allows DMOs to learn more about their customers and understand their behaviours, which in turn aids DMOs in knowing how best to target these consumers and to predict behaviour patterns. Once marketing and targeting strategies have been adjusted according to the data received and analysed, the entirety of the customer experience can therefore be improved.

So how can DMOs harness big data to strategise effectively and efficiently?

Understanding current and potential consumers allows DMOs to construct better marketing campaigns to target customers, campaigns which are central to account-based marketing (ABM) approaches. This approach uses a centred and personal strategy with the messaging curated to the consumer’s needs and personality traits, according to the data. Predictive marketing can be applied through the analysis of these consumer behaviour and trends and will produce further data that enables brands to develop new target customers. Moreover, Data Management Platforms (DMPs) enable brands to access data, sync their target audiences and improve decision-making processes and actions based on the consumers' behavioural data.

Data can also show brands what is not working for their customers, with regards to targeting efforts. This is super useful as if data reveals that customers are not using products or services, then brands can use this information to adjust their targeting strategies.

Big data holds a lot of potential for DMOs to expand their brand – but gathering it isn’t enough. DMOs must be proactive in analysing big data trends and patterns and implementing these insights into targeting efforts. The options available to target customers effectively are ever-increasing as new capabilities emerge to target users based on first- and third-party data.

DMOs should extract the demographic and psychographic trends which correlate with their best consumers and match them to the personas created. Ideally, DMOs will be left with several collections of consumers defined by their behaviours, demographics and values. No matter how much data is available, it is not truly valuable until you apply it to a human face. Connecting data to human experiences allows DMOs to curate buyer personas helping to drive digital strategies and targeting campaigns.

Which tools are best for your DMO to obtain valuable data?

Through free software like Google Analytics, brands can obtain customer information such as their location, the length of time spent on the site, from which site they came from and referring sites. If your data is demonstrating that a large proportion of your visitors are coming from your Facebook page, then you can see that your social media is a strong source for leads.

On the other hand, this type of software will not allow insights into whether your customer is a returning visitor or if that particular visit to your site resulted in a booking, alongside releasing demographic or psychographic information. For this information, social media insights is far better suited if there is a social media strategy in place.

Keeping track of consumers’ behaviours provides DMOs with a solid basis for audience segmentation and targeting, with regards to search habits, popular items to purchase, the average spend, frequency of purchases, average customer reviews, time spent on channels. DMOs should take time and use the resources available to discover information about their existing audience. The existing audience is a subset of your overall target audience, so these insights will be incredibly valuable with regards to data analysis and further targeting.

Key Takeaways

Ultimately, the success of your online marketing and targeting, and of course your destination, depends on the extent of which you know your target audience. It is only until you target, reach and engage the correct audience using big data that you, as a DMO, will be able to generate customer loyalty and satisfaction, which in turn will generate higher levels of engagement and more bookings to visit your destination. Data-driven solutions have already improved customer targeting capabilities significantly, so DMOs really should use these to their maximum potential.

Channel Review

Marketing channels refer to a method or platform used for marketing activities. Examples of these can range from print marketing channels such as TV ads, magazines and brochures to digital formats such as websites, social media and email. Marketing channels can also come in the form of affiliate marketing, apps, blogs, press releases, SEO, PPC, SMS marketing and many more. Lost? Never fear, this section will cover various types of marketing channels and also the best types to use for your target market.

Expert opinions - which channels are right for your DMO?

Thankfully, there is absolutely no need to cover every possible channel for your destination marketing. Select a few that work for your organisation, based on research, data and past results, and perfect them – ensuring each channel is beautifully curated to impact the specific and desired target audience. It is 100% better to master a few, rather than spreading yourself too thin.

According to CoSchedule, the most effective marketing channels are:

• Website/blog - ties in with SEO, all about content, appearing on SERPs, organic traffic.
  
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - most website traffic comes from SEO 82% of marketers perceive their 5 SEO efforts as being effective. This traffic is usually a top KPI for marketers.
• Email marketing - still as reliable and as effective as ever. Campaign Monitor state that email produces $38 in revenue for every $1.
• Organic social media marketing - organic reach starting to declining on social media platforms such asFacebook, despite this social media still offers brand value. Ensure there is a social strategy in place firstand choose a small number of platforms to master rather than focusing on every platform.
• Video/YouTube - YouTube is now considered the wold’s second largest search engine, as consumers often prefer to watch a demonstration of a product, to learn how something works, or to learn about adestination before they commit to a booking.
• PPC - organic traffic is a great method to consider in order to grow your audience. PPC, however, usuallyworks best for driving conversions – generally because when consumers click on an ad they are ready to make a purchase. According to CleverClicks, PPC converts 50% more traffic than organic search alone, and a combination of both is the ultimate dream team.
  

For the time being, your DMO should specify the following three points:

• The channels you are using at present.
  
• The channels you will look to add to your strategy.
• The channels which could be paused.

Remember, if a channel is not producing the results which you require, it may be time to reconsider whether the channel should be embedded within your marketing strategy.

Databox asked marketers to name, in their opinion, the most effective channel for reaching their desired audience. An overwhelming 79% of these marketers named content marketing (through organic traffic) as the most effective channel, with email marketing and social media marketing coming in 2nd with 44%.

Tactics for targeting via channels

• Find and understand your customers – define your relationship with them and BE your customer, where do they spend time?
  
• Create content – tailor it to your audience and be strategic, helps to rank high on SERPs.
  
• Build a process – search keywords, find related searches and optimise page and blog titles, write a well- researched and interesting article, SEO your article, distribute and promote your content on selected channels where your audience spend their time.
  
• Create goals for each piece of content – should have a clear focus and mission.
  
• Quality matters!
  
• Expand reach with excellent content promotion.
  
• Have an SEO strategy.
  
• Engage with your audience including responding to questions.
  
• Send targeted emails.
  
• Promote your brand at events.
  

And most importantly...

• Specify your tactics for each of your targets!
  

Like your customers, one size does not fit all, so whatever your target, switch up your strategy to ensure you’re smashing your individual goals. Eventually, all the pieces in your overall marketing strategy will fit together and work as a powerful, innovative and relevant targeting machine.

Advertisement Formats

The following table will introduce various types of advertising that DMOs could utilise to increase awareness of their brand and destination. A lot of these advertising forms will, probably, already be used in your marketing strategy. However, we have compiled the positives and negatives of each advertising format so you can see whether your advertisements are as effective as possible and if another advertising form will augment your pre-existent strategy.

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising (PA) creates web-based personalised advertisements to potential consumers, in real time. The DMO can select the interest, age, gender and language of a potential viewer of the advert. The growth of PA has been dramatic. Its global worth is estimated to be £15 billion.

The Positives

PA is effective as directly broadcasts advertisements to a DMO’s target audience. To elaborate, a DMO’s target audience’s web cookies and, perhaps, mobile app data can be utilised to produce real-time advertisements. For instance, if a user is looking at a particular page on the DMO’s website a similar activity, food or accommodation could be instantly suggested to the interested customers.

PA is easy to access as various platforms will project a DMO’s advert, such as the Google Display Network (GDN). The GDN will display text, image, interactive and video ads on relevant websites; to those who are interested. GDN will also supply feedback on your budget and the effectiveness of the campaign.

The Negatives

PA relies solely on a computer’s analysis, therefore there may be improper placement of a DMO’s advertisement. For instance, the advert may be placed next to sensitive material.

Some customers might notice the DMO’s PA, as they will notice that they are constantly targeted by the same advertisements. Therefore, some customers can feel that it is an invasion of privacy.


Display Advertising

Display advertising conveys a commercial message through a visual medium, such as, text, logos, videos, animations and photographs. DMOs can utilise display advertising on their own website for internal content or to advertise their destination on a social media platform.

The Positives

Display advertising works well because it is a quintessential part of traditional marketing media, such as billboards, posters and newspaper advertisements.

Display advertising utilised in conjunction with PA would ensure that the striking content would interest potential customers.

Digital display advertisement is not expensive. The cost is proportional and revolves around the size and placement on the host’s website.

The Negatives

There is an issue of ‘Banner blindness’. The multitude of advertisements that a consumer is bombarded by means that the overall effectiveness of Display advertisements in reduced. Some consumers have stopped looking at certain content or areas on a web page just to avoid adverts. 


PPC Advertising

Pay Per Click (PPC), is essentially when the traffic through an advert for the DMO’s website will be monitored per click and the DMO will pay for the advert depending on how successful it is.

The Positives

PPC advertising retargets customers who have previously clicked on the advert. Only 2% of visitors that click in the advert will become customers. Retargeting the potential customers will increase the likelihood of a consumer making a booking.

PPC advertisement is cost effective because a DMO would only pay for the advertisement when the advert is clicked on.

PPC advertisement is trackable. If the amount of clicks on the advert is insufficient to the need of the DMO, then they would to adjust where the advertisement is placed.

The Negatives

PPC advertising means that many people click on the advertisement if it is in a favourable place. Although, this does not mean that the consumer will make a booking.

Another issue that is consistent throughout digital advertisement is, again, advertisement apathy, due to the volume of advertisements that consumers persistently see.

Native Advertising

Native advertising (NA) portrays adverts in a similar format to the rest of the website. They are seamlessly integrated and not instantly recognisable as an advertisement. By 2020, it is estimated that 63% of mobile display ad spending will be on NA.

The Positives

The placement of an NA is in a position where future consumers are already looking.

NAs tend to be more effective. They attract up to three times more time and attention than traditional mobile app adverts.

NAs increase brand recognition and appeal. The trust the consumer places in the website or brand that holds the NA facilitates trust toward the DMO.

The Negatives

Consumers reading the content may feel taken advantage of, if there was not a clear indication that the NA was an ad.

If the platform that the DMO is working with is associated with something unfavourable then it can make the DMO look bad.

NA can be more costly as it could require the DMO to hire someone externally, for example, to write an article about their location.

NAs will not immediately increase traffic to the DMO website/product.

Video Advertising

Video advertisement (VA), in a digital setting, is any advertisement that utilises video.

The Positives

VAs have a wide reach – five billion videos are watched on YouTube each day.

Videos have a highly shareable nature. Indeed, more than one billion videos are shared daily across social media platforms. This is particularly poignant if the video is a form of NA.

VA can take the form of ‘in-stream’ advertisements. These are the videos that play before video content on Youtube and Facebook videos, meaning that VAs fit cohesively with programmatic advertisements.

The Negatives

Although, there are some issues with ‘in-stream’ video advertisements. Frequently, there is the ‘skip ad in 5 seconds’ feature so DMOs would need to create a good and comprehensive video which is five seconds long, which can be a difficult task.

Splash Screen Advertising

A splash screen is a full page advert that is conjured after an app or website has finished loading. Splash Screen Advertisements can be used on a DMO’s own website or on another website

The Positives

If Splash Screen Advertising is used on the DMO’s own website or app, the format will look more professional.

The Viewer will look at the advert, unlike Display advertising.

The Negatives

Splash Screen Advertising is not necessary as part of an organisation’s branding. For example, most of the highly visited websites do not have splash pages.

Splash Screen Advertising may frustrate the viewer as they cannot avoid it without clicking off it.


Immersive advertising

Immersive advertising is an advertisement that utilises Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and 360 Degree videos.

The Positives

Immersive advertisement allows DMOs to be a lot more creative in their advertisement campaigns, which will increase the interest of the consumer.

360-degree videos can be viewed as a normal video, on a platform such as YouTube. 


The Negatives

VR and AR have a limited audience, as not that many people possess the right equipment to view this sort of media.

Immersive adverts are expensive to produce, as they will need to be filmed on specialist equipment and would require a lot of time to produce.

How to compliment traditional media in digital and maximise combined results

How can DMOs formulate a marketing strategy that incorporates both digital and traditional marketing techniques? Firstly, the aims of the advertising campaign in conjunction with the DMO’s target audience must be understood; in order to maximise the effectiveness of a combination of traditional and digital platforms.

One common aim, which traditional media facilitates effectively, is brand awareness. Traditional media will cast a wide net for brand awareness that will reach a lot of people, repeatedly, particularly through TV adverts. However traditional media is not as selective as digital media, where the exact target audience can be reached through Programmatic Advertising. Furthermore, digital media enables DMOs to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of their advertisements, in particular via website hits or the purchasing of a product, and also allows them to assess whether their strategy needs to be adjusted.

Encouraging brand awareness, through traditional mediums, will only be appropriate for certain audiences. Ostensibly, a DMO’s television advertisements would work well for older customers and not for a younger demographic. For instance, brand awareness is cultivated, for younger generations, through digital platforms. For example, Flash Pack’s ‘The Ultimate Finland Winter Adventure’ advert utilises the travel blogger Jones Around the World to showcase their destination. The video therefore targets those who frequently use YouTube to watch travel content, who tend to be younger. On the other hand, and posted to Youtube, the TV advert ‘Norwegian Cruise Line TV Commercial’ is clearly aimed for families, as a result of the brief snippets of activities elaborated.

Traditional media faces the issue of limited space and time-slots, which therefore results in the information being shared also limited. For instance, the ‘Norwegian Cruise Line TV Commercial’ TV advert is only thirty seconds long and does not give information about the activities shown. Yet the ‘The Ultimate Finland Winter Adventure’ provides much more information because it follows a more subtle form of advertising, native advertising, and includes a detailed itinerary and video diary of the blogger’s experience. The advert therefore entices the blogger’s followers to not just recognise the brand but to also book a trip. The wealth of information and digital media available to display on YouTube is due to the lack of a time limit for the length of the piece.

Traditional media can be utilised to project the name of the brand and their website or social media platform, which is shown with the ‘Norwegian Cruise Line TV Commercial’’s endorsement of their website. The DMO’s online platforms will then expand on details about the destination and the company. Therefore, digital media follows on to supply more information, encouraging consumers to then book a trip. However, digital media can be viewed as superior as one piece of advertising covers many marketing objectives, like brand recognition and product showcasing.

To conclude, traditional and digital media can compliment each other for a DMO’s marketing strategy. Traditional media facilitates brand recognition to a lot of people, especially older potential customers. Then, digital media supplies more information and encourages brand recognition with younger generations. However, digital media does supply more valuable information, such as the effectiveness of the various adverting aims and can be targetted at the specific audience. Furthermore, one piece of digital advertising can serve to encourage many advertising aims, such as brand awareness and the purchasing of a product.

Targeting and Distribution throughout the visitor cycle

The best channels and advertising techniques for each stage of the visitor cycle

As we already mentioned in Chapter 2 “The Visitor Cycle”, we identified 6 stages or phases that travellers go through from the moment they are inspired by the destination to the moment they take the decision to travel, book the products and services and share the experiences with their peers.

A customer’s journey starts with awareness of the destination, when they discover it, which is followed by a real interest when they start considering it as a holiday destination. The planning phase is perhaps the most important because it precedes the conversion, which means in this phase consumers need to find all the information they need before making an actual buying decision. They then experience the destination during their stay and share their experiences through social media, online reviews or traditionally thought word-of- mouth with their peers.

When we talk about targeting and distribution of messages that are supposedly aimed at promoting the destination to attract tourism, the methods and tools used to target visitors and, most of all, the channels used to target them, differ throughout the visitor journey. Some of them can be used in more than one phase of the journey, of course, but it is fundamental to, first of all, acknowledge the different stages of the cycle according to the type of visitors and your destination, and subsequently understand which messages, channels and advertising formats are optimal along the funnel of travel services and products.

As we mentioned in Chapter 2, the visitor cycle has dramatically changed and evolved in time with the shift of consumers’ preferences in travel and thanks to the improvement in technology that enables travellers to be always connected and find the answers to their questions at any moment online. This can be considered both a huge opportunity but also a limitation, because reaching consumers on such a personal basis and being able to measure the efficacy of the communication has become easier and easier thanks to technology, but it has also paved the way to a tougher competition.

DMOs need to understand the journey of their visitors and set a strategy to target them and distribute the messages online. Of course, at every stage of the visitor cycle correspond different channels and targeting actions. We will draw a general picture hereby to explain which channels and targeting measures are suggested to distribute the promotional messages that will attract visitors to the destination in an online environment.

Stage 1: Awareness

In this phase, users get to know about the destination for the first time and your DMO website as well as the other channels are only a few among the millions of other destinations. It is much more likely that in this phase users get to know the destination by randomly surfing the web and social media, attracted by hero videos and attractive imagery. We think that in this phase traditional advertisements on offline media like TV spots still work, but they might not work as efficiently along the other phases of the visitor cycle. In this phase you are putting the brand in front of the public, be it generic public or a very specific target audience strategically decided. Great awareness can be achieved through:

Targeting Tactics

• Sponsored Posts: Hero content.
  
• Display Ads using Google Display Networks Native/Video/Splash Screen/Immersive ads.
• Print marketing.
• Advocacy and collaborations with influencers.

Channels

• Social media channels: Facebook/Instagram, YouTube.
  
• Search engines, relevant websites.
• DMO website, social media, relevant websites.
• Traditional printed media such as posters/brochures at travel agencies, big wallpapers in cities or ads on printed media.
• Social media and traditional press media.

Stage 2: Interest

As for the Awareness stage, the Interest stage sees a bit more activ e involvement from the user. In this phase, users start becoming knowledgeable about the destination through its channels and to look for information online and offline. Therefore they pass from a passive to an active role, they start making their own research about the destination and take as much inspiration as possible that has to fulfil their main goal: take a decision about a visit, a holiday or an escapade from home. The targeting techniques in this phase are very similar to the previous phase, but here SEO starts having an important role. The user is already interested in your destination and is actively making research about activities and places in line with his interests and idea of holiday. It is therefore very important in this phase that your websites and social media have relevant search-engine-optimised content ready for the user. This also means that you need to advertise your destination and its offering through pay-per-click advertisement and retargeting display ads. (More explanations on this will follow in the next chapter).

Targeting Tactics

• Sponsored Posts: Hero and Hub content.
  
• Display Ads using Google Display Networks.
• Native/Video ads with PPC.
• Print marketing.
• SEO oriented blog posts and online articles.

Channels

• Social media channels: Facebook/Instagram.
  
• Search engines, relevant websites.
• Social media, relevant websites.
• Traditional printed media: articles about the destination’s offering.

Stage 3 and 4: Planning and Conversion

These phases are considered by many as the most important ones of the cycle for a simple reason: during these two decisive moments, the user takes the active decision to visit your destination and is ready to buy the tickets to get there, which means conversion. It is worth mentioning that not for all DMOs the visitor journey involves conversion, but even if not through the DMOs’ direct booking tools, it is your organisation’s objective to drive desire for the destination and leads and conversion to your stakeholders.

During these phases, retargeting and remarking techniques are fundamental to drive the consumer to a decision about travel and to book the services that will compose the tourism experience such as travel, accommodation, attractions and other products and services. It is therefore important that the content on your website is SEO oriented, as in the interest phase, but most of all that it can drive real conversion through active links to offers and services. In the planning and conversion phases, you should make good use of retargeting, through display ads, but also re-marketing, through efficient email campaigns that are used to remind consumers that their purchase hasn’t been completed and stimulate conversion.

Tip: especially in the planning phase it’s very important to show potential visitors the experiences they can live at the destination. When planning posts about the experiences make sure to share blog posts from your DMO website on social media or embed social posts into articles, and make sure they are inspired enough to discover more and click on the links. In the conversion phase, if your DMO is not selling services, you should promote and tag your stakeholder’s products as much as possible.

Targeting Tactics

• Sponsored Posts: Hub and Hygiene content linked to real offers and services to purchase such as tickets for attractions, experiences at the destination, etc.
  
• Display Ads using Google Display Networks Programmatic Advertisement.
• Print marketing for Planning.
• SEO oriented blog posts and online articles.

Channels

• Social media channels: Facebook videos/posts about experiences at the destination; Instagram posts and stories with swipe-up link, YouTube ads.
  
• Search engines, relevant websites.
• Social media and relevant websites according to target market.
• Traditional printed media: articles about the destination’s offering.
• DMO website, online press media.

Stage 5

In this phase, those who were once online users or potential customers have successfully been converted into visitors and have started their tourism experience at the destination. The role of the DMO in this stage is to provide assistance and information to the visitors on the spot and, where possible, stimulate them to visit the information centre or any other substitute of this service, such as chatbots or local greeters/guides that can help them discover more about the destination while they visit. This stage is strongly interlinked with the 6th and last phase, Sharing.

Tip: Try to comment as mush as possible to your visitors’ social media posts while they experience the destination, keep track of the hashtags used to share the experiences and provide tips and tricks to help them get the most out of their visit.

Targeting Tactics

• Online chatbots or tourism assistants.
  
• Programmatic Advertisement based on location.
• Location-based content share.
• SEO oriented blog posts and online articles with particular focus on “what to do” at your destination.

Channels

• Facebook Messenger, DMO website chat, physical or virtual info points, hotel guest services.
  
• Social media and relevant websites according to target market and based on current location.

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Stage 6: Sharing

Nowadays, visitors start sharing their experiences about the destination while they visit, so they become advocates of the destination stimulating the creation of multiple new visitor cycles with their peers, who hopefully will imitate their friends on social media and consider that destination for their own holidays.

But if at this point, both the DMO and the local stakeholders have hopefully managed to save data about those visitors and can use it to stimulate sharing action, such as leaving feedback on online review websites or sharing stories on social media. They can therefore monitor the feedback provided by the visitors and stimulate the creation of a new visitor cycle to convert those people into loyal returning customers.

Tip: Sharing the experiences and the stories is a great advocacy for your destination and you should keep in mind that both your visitors and local residents are a very strong means to market your destination through powerful word of mouth. It’s therefore fundamental that you monitor the online sharing activity and be present where possible to thank your visitors for coming and sharing their stories.

Targeting Tactics

• Social listening and research by hashtag.
  
• Re-marketing techniques to stimulate feedback.

Channels

• Social media, Social monitoring and listening tools.
  
• Email marketing, surveys to the customer.

Retargeting and re-marketing across the cycle

Retargeting and remarketing allow brands to reach customers who are more likely to complete a call to action (CTA) than first-time visitors, which is an incredibly important strategy within marketing efforts. Retargeting and remarketing have similar goals, but there are differences between the two concepts with regards to their strategies.

Retargeting

With the average conversion rate being a mere 2%, there is a clear need to reach out to the remaining 98%6. That’s where retargeting comes into play. Retargeting strategies enable brands to capture those visiting their websites who aren’t completing CTAs, such as booking a trip – meaning the brand is receiving the traffic, but they’re not generating the sales, and that’s the important bit.

How does it work?

Usually, retargeting refers to online ad placements and/or display ads. These target users who have previously interacted with your site without completing a conversion or CTA. As soon as a visitor lands on your site and completes an action, a cookie is set within their browser. A cookie is a piece of data that enables the future tracking of websites the user visits. Information gathered from this action is used to retarget the user with a variety of ads linked to their site movements, once they have left the site.

These ads are distributed by third parties, like the Google Display Network, permitting the brand’s ads to appear on other sites that the same user is visiting on a regular basis. These ads only appear for users who have previously visited the site but haven’t yet completed a CTA – this is why it is called ‘retargeting’ as you are targeting the visitor again.

Facebook has absolutely perfected the art of retargeting through their choice in sponsored ads per user. Retargeting campaigns display higher levels of engagement compared to non-retargeting campaigns. In essence, it is much easier to market and advertise to those who have previously shown an interest in your product, service, or destination.

Re-marketing

Re-marketing is often confused with retargeting. This confusion is aided by Google’s Remarketing Tools, which are essentially retargeting tools. The truth is, retargeting and remarketing do share common goals, but each possesses a different strategy. Remarketing usually refers to email marketing via campaigns to re-engage customers – all from their inboxes. It works by gathering user information and creating lists, which are then used to distribute sales emails. The strategy uses tactics such as emailing customers who have abandoned their shopping basket or who have added items to their wish list. Additionally, customers could also be emailed regarding items searched for as a ‘favourite’. This method works well, as the potential customer has already expressed an interest in a certain product, service or destination, but was unable to complete the CTA while on the site in question.

AgilOne conducted a study and discovered that the most effective remarketing emails fall under three categories:

• Products on sale - discounts on products/services previously liked or viewed.
  
• VIP Treatment - outreach treating the consumer like a VIP.
• Cart Abandonment - reminder emails.

In essence, re-marketing is intended to increase the conversion rate for potential customers who have already interacted with your site.

Pre-marketing

If brands take a look at the foundation of the technology behind their remarketing efforts, and look into the analytics, they are able to take remarketing to the next level. This can be achieved by discovering the latest connections between events, and then utilising advertising to facilitate the timeframe and influence the association of the brand for the specific events. This has been classed as ‘PremarketingTM’.

DMOs should consider what their consumer is doing prior to booking a trip to the destination, and need to think about the power of a strategic brand influence. Brands like McDonalds plant seeds of desire into their consumer’s minds, keeping their brand top-of-mind, in spite of where their consumer may be on their purchase and/or visitor cycle.

DMOs cannot wait for their visitors to find them. It is more effective and efficient to reach out to them if you understand their movements prior to booking. Why not premarket to them while remaining top-of-mind and fast-track the sales process? DMOs need not a huge budget to achieve this level of brand perception for influence intentions. Simply knowing your audience and how best to target them can keep you ahead of the game.

Key Takeaways

Despite the associated differences between the two concepts of retargeting and remarking, the two terms really have the same key collective goal. Essentially, both are fabulous ways to interact with your target audience before, during and after they display an interest in your destination or complete a booking. But really, each is a driving force which should be implemented into DMO’s strategies in order to increase conversions from those who are most likely to visit your destination. With a focus on paid ads, email campaigns and the continuation of your brand visibility, the two concepts together compliment each other beautifully to be truly effective in increasing e-commerce conversion and should be highly strategised as a whole within DMOs’ marketing strategies.

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