Cruise Geek

Ask yourself this - "Who's in charge of my business?"

Today, the answer is The CLIENT. Here's a link to a recent conversation that really highlights how much the consumer influences others - and how the web has really changed the way business works.

Gone is the world of B to C (business to consumer) marketing. Web 2.0 is the era of C to C (consumer to consumer), where the business that's the most consumer friendly wins !

At our National Conference we discussed using a blog to document your trips and travels as you're cruising. Here's a real world example :

http://www.cruisingwithamyanddebbie.blogspot.com/

CruiseOne's Debbie Rosenthal & Amy Slovis have done a great job of really sharing their travels with the readers of their blog. I'm willing to bet after reading this blog many of you will want to go on a river cruise. Beyond just sharing destination info - it really shares the experiences they had on their journey. If you're not already blogging - do so and share the experience with others via your blog.

I'm just back from the PhocusWright Travel Technology conference. At the conference we had several industry experts evaluate our websites. Although there were a handful of suggestions, their feedback was very positive and led me to the conclusion that we're definitely ahead of many travel sites online in a great many ways. I'm currently scoping out some of the suggested changes, and none look to be very difficult so far.

Here are some interesting findings from the conference :

• 2 out of every 3 minutes spent on Travel websites are spent by people in the 55+ age group.
• Offline advertising is the genesis of 2/3 of all searches in the travel category.
• 39% of those searching for travel actually convert to travel clients - this is much higher than any other category on the Internet (other categories avg is 12%).
• Searching for travel online is a mainstream activity - 86% of all US internet users will conduct an online search using a travel keyword this year.
• The global potential of the internet is where the future is - North America is only 25% of the potential audience for travel products.
• 40% of all clicks to travel websites are from paid search results (Travel is the highest percentage - all other internet industries average 12% from paid results).
• 88% of Travel Category conversions take 0-60 days - this is the longest purchase cycle of any online industry. (Cruises take the longest, while airline tickets take the least amount of time to convert online)
• 30% of all internet users delete cookies (within the 60 day period) and evade most online conversion tracking used to measure Return On Investment.

I'll talk more later about findings from this conference, but with these stats we can once again show a strong tendency to really look at the internet as a mainstream way to generate qualified leads from qualified consumers in a quick and efficient manner.

The concept of branding yourself isn't a new one - in fact Tom Peters introduced the full concept of personal branding in 1997. In a nutshell, Peters says that your image determines your level of success and your future in today's business world. Peters says the same image building principles that apply to major corporations like Nike and Coca Cola apply to the way people choose an accountant or other business professional.

What better way to craft your image as a cruise specialist than blogging? Writing authoritatively on a variety of cruise topics allows you to put your expertise on public display. Clients researching topics you're writing on will stumble across articles you've written and if properly done - your blog will lead that consumer to you and your cruise website.

As a bonus, you become a recognized authority by consumers and journalists alike. Journalists often quote bloggers as experts on various topics.

Blogging isn't difficult...anyone can build one by filling in some short online forms. What's standing between you and new and improved brand of you? Not much....Blogging takes minimal technical expertise. All that's really required is a time commitment of at least 20 minutes a week to write your blog. For more info on blogging see our Business Center presentation under Marketing > ECommerce > Blogging> Blogging 101.

A good blog will expose your talents and skills to your best clients, and all are sure to benefit from what they learn about you. Brand yourself with a blog and watch your business boom.

If you haven't heard of LinkedIn, it's definitely something you should look into. LinkedIn is a networking website where you place a profile and make online profile connections with other members you know.

Why network online? It's a great resource. For example when a vendor now calls me pitching his product I will often do a quick check via LinkedIn. If nobody recommends him, well chances are not even his own mother is proud of his work. On the other hand, if I find that many people call this guy an invaluable resource, then I tend to trust him a bit more. Even better, if I find that someone in my extended network knows this guy, I'll email my contact quick question about this guy's skill set.

How big is my network? Well I've made 21 Linked In connections over the past year or so and my 21 connections have created an extended network of 4100, and if you add in another level of contacts it extends out to 394,400. So you can see that my tiny little 21 connections quickly expand my reach quite well.

LinkedIn really facilitates in-person networking via an online search able interface. It's easy to use and IT'S FREE. As you collect business cards from chamber of commerce events, you rarely know anything more than an name and a title. In LinkedIn you can post your background and qualifications, even a work history. I often will type in names from business cards and find people with linked in profiles and usually learn much more about them quite quickly. People know as little or as much as you want them to know. During in person events you might be surprised to find out that if you ask people if they're LinkedIn how many will say yes.

In today's marketplace it's important to know who you're doing business with, and in the cruise business referrals are gold. Good online networking can overcome the credibility gap and help you build referrals like nothing else - so market yourself using a full and complete profile, and collect real world contacts that connect your online life with real people. If someone has provided you good service, recommend them - you'll find others within their network will also want to try your services.

National Conference was great ! Preperation from conference caused me to miss some postings that I would have normally done to my blog, and I'm finally through most of the emails and phone messages....so once again I'm ready to focus.

Conference was an outstanding opportunity to meet many of our agents and franchisees, there were quite a few that I haven't met with in quite some time. The HQ staff had a great opportunity to discuss what's working and what isn't with all of our agents. I'm truly amazed at the diversity of our agent's marketing plans and the unique niches that they target.

The one theme I heard loud and clear from many different people was the increasing role that technology is playing in the sales process. Consumers have truly raised their expectations and now expect to read reviews, see virtual tours, be sent shore excursion info and perhaps even view videos prior to stepping aboard a cruise ship. The trick is integrating all of this technology in a relevant way that doesn't lose the personal touch. Blogs are a piece of this puzzle, but we'll be working on other innovative solutions as well... stay tuned.

Another key take-away from conference was the desire of our agents to learn more about the technology we use everyday. Agents want to become more tech savvy - even if they don't necessarily want to be Cruise Geeks. :-) We're working right now on increasing our tech training and have even proposed some advanced in-house training sessions to help our agents take their web & email skills to the next level....stay tuned for that as well.

Personally, One of my favorite parts of conference is the marketing panel. Many of our agents heard the Marketing Panel speak - and the ways each panel member grew their business was truly different. One of Marketing Panel's key points, and the one thing that the entire panel agreed upon was to focus on your marketing plan.

Now is the time to ask yourself, do you have a marketing plan ? A written plan will have goals, objectives, milestones and a media plan. Where do you want your business to go? Would you leave on a road trip without a map? Don't let your business get stuck driving in circles, let your marketing plan be your GPS.

One of the first things I tell someone starting in the cruise business is to collect contact info (email and mailing address) of as many people who like to cruise as possible...especially those that don't currently buy from you.

That sounds odd to some....collect the addresses of people that don't choose to do business with you? I've had people tell me ....but they didn't book with me why would I bother? The greatest indicator that someone will cruise in the future is that they've cruised in the past. So even if they choose another agency over you, put them on your email and mailing list. Remember, cruises are like potato chips...nobody takes just one. If someone has booked previously with someone else don't write them off.... they are likely not loyal to anyone...yet. Loyalty is earned, and while a competitor may have won business from a client in the short term, in the long term you may end up winning more business from that client if you're persistent.

When I was at Royal Caribbean, I was privy to some amazing consumer research. My favorite study involved calling consumers 1 week following their cruise on a Royal Caribbean Ship and asking the client the following questions (answers were fill in the blank) :

• What cruise line did you sail? ________________
• What cruise ship were you on? ___________________
• What agency did you book your cruise at?________________
• What is your travel agent's name? ________________

An overwhelming percentage of consumers got the answers to each and every one of those questions WRONG, and the question with the lowest percentage of correct answers was "what is your travel agent's name?." The question with the highest percentage of correct answers was "what cruise line did you sail?", and below 50% got this question correct. The study found that people remember features, benefits and logos much better than names, and few people recall their agent experience.

This makes a strong case for cycle marketing to consumers before, during and AFTER the sale in order to keep a client. Those that aren't doing this are losing business to those that do. Make sure you're one who constantly markets to your clients via email (it's free) and via direct mail. The overall cost is tiny compared with the return on investment.

By the way....can I have your email address?