LetMeGo I18N Challenge: Strategies to attract new lodgings

The aim of this report is to describe the strategies to find and invite lodgings to use the LetMeGo service.

Summary
This report could be considered as a strategic B2B marketing plan and will contain the target market, goals we want to achieve, strategies, tactics, budget and how to measure the results. In addition, we should have a B2C marketing plan to attract travelers.

Target Market
Our customer is the owner or the decision maker or a staff member of all types of lodgings. Typically the lodgings could be categorized as apartment building, bed and breakfast hotel, boarding house, condo-hotel, gated community, hostel, hotel, lodge, motel, private home / guest house and resort. The customer can be a single person or an organization and he needs to promote their business to increase the occupancy rate. Our target is the Portuguese speaking markets with main focus on Brazil and Portugal. The primary market will be Brazil due to market size and fastest-growing internet users. In 2007, the number of lodgings in Portugal was 2.031 1 and Brazil had 25.700 2 lodgings. Market Segment Strategy Its important to segment the market in: Independent - private lodging owners (pay attention to the ones that are not using travel agencies) Chain organizations like Hilton or Sheraton that offer the same standard and procedures

Goals
The main objectives that we want to achieve: Attract over 8,000 lodgings on the Brazilian market by the end of year one Attract over 600 lodgings on the Portuguese market by the end of year one Achieve an annual growth rate of at least 20%.

1 2

Portugal Tourism Statistics - 2007 Turismo no Brasil - Dados do Turismo

Marketing Strategies
These are high-level statements of how potential customers will be reached: 1. Develop a marketing mix designed to target the Brazilian and Portuguese market 2. Generate qualified leads 3. Increase awareness and build credibility through public relations

Implementation Tactics
These tactics are a set of activities required to implement the marketing strategy and is a mix of online and offline methodologies.

Marketing Database
The marketing database is a fundamental tool for relationship marketing. The database should include the companies or people who can adhere to the LetMeGo service. To start we will need to look to external sources and we can buy some databases from online providers. For Portugal and Brazil we can include the following: Country Brazil Brazil Brazil Portugal Portugal Source http://www.malafacil.com http://www.alfapropaganda.com http://www.alfapropaganda.com http://www.lojadosoftware.pt http://www.apavtnet.pt Name Lista de emails Hotis, Moteis, Flats, Pousadas Hotis Brasil Inteiro Listagem de Pousadas Hotelaria Associados Efectivos e Aliados Qty 1.754.160 12.211 500.000 4837 ?

Another source is using data scraping. This is the process of collecting relevant data from particular websites. Some of them could be: http://www.brasilpaginasamarelas.com.br http://www.pai.pt

Its important to keep this database up to date and clean up on an ongoing basis to make sure we are marketing people who are there to receive our messages.

Direct marketing
The most common direct marketing media for B2B are direct mail, email and telemarketing. With these methods the main goal is to generate leads. Direct Mail postal formats like letters or postcards Fax direct messages to lodging managers (verify spam regulation) Email marketing - use the LetMeGo system and the marketing database to prepare the campaigns.

Telemarketing need to evaluate costs, but using this tactic we could reach several lodging owners especially in the Brazilian market.

Online marketing
Online marketing tactics includes websites, internet advertising and search engine optimization. Search Engine Marketing increase the chances of attracting visitors to our website. Use the analysis and results from the 4th test of the LetMeGo challenge. Landing Pages Third-party websites building a presence on third-party websites like portals, association sites, directories, tourism and travel publications and community sites. Online demos provide demos to lodging owners to show how the system works and the benefits for them. Webinars regularly invite potential customers by mail and e-mail to small webinars

Social Media Marketing

Online news release distribution Profiles on professional or social networks like facebook, twitter and linkedin o LinkedIn Create a polished and personally branded profile on LinkedIn Join LinkedIn groups where your customers gather and participate Post relevant content on groups Answer questions posted on LinkedIn Create your own LinkedIn group and share relevant content o Twitter Send mini survey question and got answers quickly Promote new blog posts and upcoming webinars Share articles, resources, and blog posts Discover some useful resources by using tweetscan o Facebook Create a facebook application around LetMeGo Create a survey of fans Blogging on the Portuguese LetMeGo blog Forums or discussion groups in Portuguese Advertise on blogs or social networks User reviews or ratings in traveling sites

In-person events for Portugal

Trade shows Feira Internacional do Turismo - BTL Conferences - INVTUR 2010: 'Investigao em turismo: o Estado da Arte e perspectivas de futuro

Additional tactics
Viral Marketing in B2B Viral marketing campaigns can work for B2B lead generation with the right media and promotional methods. Online games, contests and video clips are some examples. Links to award-winning B2B viral campaigns from MarketingSherpa: Viral Hall of Fame 2007: NetQoS' Netcosm Viral Hall of Fame 2007: The Gobbledygook Manifesto Viral Hall of Fame 2007: Exeros Inc. Some tactics could be: Getting mentioned by relevant and influential bloggers Campaign cited in online publications Social media and social tagging sites such as Digg and del.icio.us are the most effective means of spreading viral content. This includes sites like YouTube for video; iTunes for podcasts; and Insight24 for B2B webcasts, video and podcasts Producing video-linked press releases, then sending them along with personal notes to individual reporters and distributing them online.

Affiliate Marketing A B2B affiliate program can be a valuable channel helping our business driving leads. Starting on Q4 2010 the LetMeGo system will support this method. What could be done? Run lead generation campaigns where we pay per lead, or online/email campaigns where we pay per click

Print Advertising
If we still have some budget we could invest in the business section of local newspapers, in industry magazines or association magazines.

Mobile marketing Mobile is a personal communications channel and our messages are more likely to be read. Identify Mobile Marketing Tools and costs.

Word-of-Mouth

Budget
How much will the activities defined above cost?

Evaluation of Results
What are the success criteria? How will you measure success of the plan? By monitoring progress, we can judge the success of the marketing plan.

Best practices to consider for email marketing campaigns Content which addresses the needs of the customer o Having fewer calls to action works better than multiple options o Bullets are heavily read Consider Email Clients o Test in different clients because they render HTML differently. o Make it top-heavy content wise and optimize for mobile devices Best Content to Use o Tactical how to articles o Best practice lists Subject Lines and Titles o Use four to six words in your subject o Use action words such as Download or Watch The Right Target o Send targeted messages according to lodging type and geography o Segmenting the email database The Right Time o Use behaviors to determine which links are clicked or what web actions are taken Start a Dialog o Build the relationship over time Automate o On-demand marketing automation