Nov
23
2016
Alaska internet marketing tip 1: make customer reviews very visible
Summer is the busy season, and no business wants to flunk it. Being able to hold the mantle of “fully booked” is not simply good for your ego but feels immensely pleasurable in your pocket. Moreover, it creates the kind of demand that extends into multiple years, and leaves people hungry to get in on the action – your action that is. You do it with reviews, pricing, and media.
Customer Reviews are the best form of word of mouth recommendation on the planet.
Nabbing the Fully Booked mantle boils down to how efficient you can be with leveraging your internet content. Of course, you don’t want to break your bank with expensive ads or - worse - irritating ways of saying to potential customers, “I’M HERE.” Customer reviews are free and customers love them.
Customer reviews are to your business what a Quarterback is to a football team. Poor reviews will kill a business's ability to attract Alaskan tourism. Period. That being said, fortunately most businesses don’t suffer from that problem, and generally provide excellent services worthy of quality reviews – for example TripAdvisor reviews are 48% 5 star and 29% 4 star.
So just how important are quality reviews for businesses?
- Reviews impact 90% of buyer's decision
- 79% of people trust reviews like a personal recommendation
- People read on average 6-7 reviews before booking a reservation for traveling
- 70% of travelers read up to 20 reviews before buying
Which is why I remain dumbfounded why businesses don’t:
- Obviously point out their positive reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.
- Direct people to their social media sites
- Have a customer testimonial page with pictures, etc.
Since 4 out of 5 people trust a review as much as a friend’s recommendation, business should do everything they can to show people what previous customers are saying about them.
Alaska internet marketing tip 2: offer discounts for early booking
People love happy hour. It’s our “reward” for frequenting a business early. People also love rewards. Which is why so many businesses offer happy hour and tend to be fairly packed during those hours. Businesses outside of the food industry should treat neither themselves or potential customers any different. The average person tends to book their travel plans 6-10 weeks in advance (Alaskan Conversion Study).
The smart money would be to leverage your business above others by offering a discount in that time period.
Sound like a loss in revenue? Think again. Here’s some math. Let’s say the average person spends about $500 booking with you. You offer a 10% discount. That means that of every 10 people who consider your business, you only need to garner 1 of them to make up the difference. The outlook there looks more than good. The result: a win win. You attract Alaskan tourism, and they are happy with a discount.
More customers, more revenue, and that much closer to being fully booked.
Internet marketing Alaska tip 3: use many videos and pictures
I can’t stress how important visuals are. They make a huge difference in showing people EXACTLY what they are getting into with your business. And the more certainty a buyer has, the more likely they are to book with you. When your website uses videos:
- 58% of people will trust your business more
- 68% of people are more likely to purchase your services
- 59% of website visitors will watch your videos
- 96% of website visitors will find your videos helpful
Let me say no more except offer these two startling – as in you better start making videos NOW – statistics that Google found:
Enough said.