Good Sam Lost in Cyber Space

New Digital Bundles Miss the Point

Earlier I offered the opinion that the new printed national campground directory for 2013 Good Sam Travel Guide and Campground Directory was a hit...maybe a home run. But looking at the digital advertising available from Good Sam, I doubt that the increased pricing is justified. Here are some issues I have with the way Affinity group, now Good Sam, have structured the ad programs on their sites.

The major issue is almost a deal killer for Good Sam’s online services: to most consumers the major access point for internet searches is not the GS web sites. It’s all about Google search. Note that Trailer Life and Good Sam are buying ads on Google(!) because they can't place on organic searches.

Here’s the test you can execute to prove Good Sam is not better than Google. Open your web browser and search the words beach RV park. (on your favorite search engine). The result: about 11,200,000 results. But no Trailer Life/Woodalls/Good Sam web sites will come up. Why? Because the algorithm used by Google finds relevant pages with content that matches your search terms. But Google is a directory of pages, not a directory to other online directories. They do not return a list of other web directories that will cause you to leave Google. Good Sam is a directory, not a web page.

To find the Good Sam directory on search engines you’ll need to google for the keywords ‘trailer life’, ‘woodall’s’, or ‘Good Sam’. Then your search results will return the respective web site—which is a branded directory.

Wrong Choices Online
In a perfect world, Good Sam would craft a search engine or RV user portal that was better than Google. Make it the very best resource for consumers to rely on as a ‘go-to’ source of RV travel info, and therefore a great place to advertise online. But they’re not making the right choices. Let me explain:

1) Searching Good Sam By Map Internet advertising is about keywords but Good Sam is about your postal address—just like in the print directory. Organized by State, then by City, in alphabetical order.

1. Google goes right to the destination city with no need to select the state first.
2. lesser-known city names will be seldom-searched, and are harder to find
3. if you’re not IN the searched city (just next to it), your listing will not show.
4. major destinations get 10-20 times the value, compared to ‘Nowhere, USA’
5. spelling the city name wrong means GS can’t find it, but Google can match it

2) One Size Fits All Bundles Pay per click advertising is the new norm but GS web sites charge a flat fee.

1. GS web bundles are ‘one size fits all’ you pay the same whether you get 10 clicks or 10,000 clicks. Most click-thru programs only charge when clicks occur.
2. if your locale is not a popular search term you'll have little traffic, few clicks, but pay full price for the bundle.
3. giant parks pay the same as tiny parks. There’s no moderation in the budget. Only large parks can afford the new digital pacakges.

3) Mediocre Statistics Reporting and Tracking

1. Web site statistics provided by the Good Sam Family for their services are minimal, inconsistent, and available only if you request them.
2. Most of the page impressions and click-thrus are clicks from one page on the Good Sam directory to other pages on the directory—not to your web site.You want the GS consumer to click thru to visit your web site, not stay on GS.
3. Google offers Analytics which are ...incredible. But Good Sam directories have not developed any analytics.

4) Directory Displays Incomplete Campground Info

1. Non-advertiser’s listings are missing web site and email contact info, so the directory is less valuable to consumers (but promotes GS’s branded parks)
2. 25% of www.trailerlifedirectory.com users go to Google after visiting TL.*
3. Good Sam Parks get listed before non-GS parks on results pages
4. To find neighboring cities with rv parks, you have to click a small link "Neighboring Cities".

*Compete.com data.

Web Insight on Local vs Location

Google has changed 'local' for travel search.

Campers searching on the internet for places to go are generally intending to travel outside their zip code. They're NOT searching for travel in their own back yard. The whole purpose of vacationing is to get away for a bit.

Campers who use search engines to find campgrounds are really not doing a 'local' search; but all the search engines presume that consumers intend to find businesses close to them. This is based on the assumption that you're looking for the closest convenient local restaurant, brake shop, or pizza joint.

The search engines are now able to identify the approximate geographic placement of your internet service provider, and assume you are in that geographic location. With that location as part of the ‘search algorithm’, combined with the general keyword phrase ‘rv parks’ the search engine returns local results. Camping customers are searching by location, but your nearby neighbors are mostly not your prospective customers. You want to connect to prospects who are searching OUTSIDE of their home area, but searching for accommodations INSIDE your property's location.

Try this exercise on your computer:

1. Open your browser and go to Google or Bing.
2. In the search box type in the key words ‘RV parks’.
3. The displayed results will list RV parks near your home.
4. Now search for 'rv parks in Yosemite'.

To find campgrounds at a specific location you'll need to put "rv park" PLUS a "geographic term"; for example 'rv park' PLUS 'Yosemite' (or any other destination keywords).

If you are advertising on the web, you can improve your ad value scores and avoid wasted click-thrus by changing the geographic settings in your ad campaign settings, and use keyword phrases which serve ads to customers searching for your destination. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, Google, Bing, and Yahoo have wonderful online documentation and tutorials to study. It's a learning curve and will take time, but you can put your ads in front of people who are searching for parks in your area.

If you’d rather ‘outsource’ Google Adwords you might like to know that Strait Answers is Google Certified for Adwords and Search, send me an email: mailto: strait@straitanswers.com

Branding for the Little Guy

Some of the strategic hospitality marketing advice found in newsletters and blogs seem to forget that small companies lack the resources which big businesses enjoy. Small businesses are often fully engaged in day-to-day stuff with no spare time for new programs or introspection. One of those "Madison Avenue" marketing strategies that keeps coming up is 'branding'. Here is a link to a very complete definition of branding, and all its permutations. Wikipedia: Brand

Branding can be defined as the group of facts and practices which help define a company's image in the minds of the public and consumers. Simply put: your brand is your 'public image'.

Elements of Branding
Marketing elements like advertisements, logos, company colors, press releases, brochures, and social media presence are some of the obvious parts of branding. In hospitality marketing the property's physical characteristics are part of your brand too. Among these brand elements I'd list your property's physical appearance, phone manners, staff appearance and attitude, and guest services policies. These shape the consumer's experience, so will effect public perception.

Features and Amenities:
Branding comes in at the property level as property owners make decisions about facility amenities (hot tub v.s. playground; tent sites v.s. RV sites etc.). "That's the park with the [insert special feature here]". "Big Rig Friendly", "Pet Friendly", and many other features can be part of your brand.

In the travel industry a key piece of who you are is WHERE you are located. In many cases location is the primary reason why consumers choose a property. Parks that are near major destinations will be branded as "that place near (major destination").

Does Branding give you a pain in the backside?

Little Guy Branding
The small business person can benefit from some of the principles of branding, without sweating the major issues. Consistent use and repetition of your brand message creates awareness of it. Here are some useful branding principles for action:

1.) Be consistent with your color scheme and photos. Direct all the vendors who do your marketing stuff to use the same color combinations. Resist the tendency to re-invent yourself in each ad.
2.) Have a 'catch phrase' or 'motto' or 'slogan' that increases understanding. Use the same phrase all the time, in every ad, web page, brochure, and business card; on signs in the park, on registration slips, site maps...every thing. A recent favorite of mine: Orangeland RV Park--California's Friendliest!
3.) Communicate honestly. Your branding must ring true to the casual observer, or it will not stick in the mind of the target audience. If you untruthfully 'over-hype' a feature it is like making a promise that you don't keep. You don't want to be branded as a liar.
If your business is small you have limited resources. You may not be able to sponsor the Olympics or do sky-writing at a ball game, but you CAN work to have a core vision of your brand, and use that as a guiding principle as you create things, direct employees and vendors, and communicate with your customers.

Other Resources: Book: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. Al Ries, Jack Trout, 1987 (A Google Book too)

Good Sam Super Directory: Super Brand!

I’m of two minds on the advertising opportunities offered by Good Sam for the coming 2013 publication year. I love the direction taken with the printed directory, but I hate the online stuff. I’m advising my clients to stay in the print book, but to hold back on the digital bundles (priced from $1,495 to $5,995!!!)

This is the inaugural year of the new Good Sam “Super Directory” which is really a combination of two major print-and-web directories--currently published as Trailer Life Directory or Woodall’s Campground Directory. The widely expected consolidation of the two books into one was a natural outcome of the economic downturn and the rise of the internet.

Good Sam a Good Name It was nothing less than a stroke of brilliance to consolidate the books under the Good Sam brand name. The parent company, The Affinity Group, was faltering financially and had no brand awareness with consumers. While the names Trailer Life and Woodall’s each had a consumer following, neither brand name was as strong or broadly recognized as the Good Sam Club, which has it’s roots in the post WWII expansion of the recreational vehicle craze. Of course Affinity managers had to make hard choices as they cut back spending and eliminated the equivalent of one whole company. A solomon’s choice to choose NEITHER the TL or the WD names as the new brand. The Good Sam smiley-man is probably the most recognizable icon in the camping industry—other than the KOA teepee icon.

The new book will be titled the Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory. The sales representatives tell me the expected print run for this first year is 470,000 books. The directory books are for sale in retail outlets, promoted to Good Sam Club members, and will be distributed to AAA auto club members, too. Thus continuing the partnership started last year between AAA and Woodall’s. The audience reached will be a substantially targeted group of RV travel consumers. Although the new display ad rates are about 20% higher than either of last year’s books (TL or WD), the increased circulation alone justifies the price increase for a consolidated directory.

I am a fan of the Good Sam ‘super directory’ at least for now. Important to note that while I support the decision to advertise in the printed guide, it is essential to understand that this is not the only place you can advertise to promote a campground, so the budget you allocate to the GS Super Directory should be only a percent of your overall program.

Next: Good Sam lost in [cyber] space?

Marketing in a Digital World

Digital Age Changes Marketing Thrust

Now that most consumers are using the internet to plan vacations and travel, managers are compelled to change the focus of their marketing and advertising. Now we’re focused on bringing customers to our web site.

Advertising is expensive so you want to maximize the results from the investment—there always needs to be a strategy behind ads. Ads should be designed with the intention of producing a desired behavior from the consumer. Your ad needs to have a ‘call to action’ to direct the consumer to take the next step: “Call now for a FREE brochure”, or “Book now to get this deal”. Intelligent managers have designed their ad messages with the intention of causing the consumer to take a specific action.

Before the world wide web became the focus, hospitality properties relied on print advertising, brochures, directories, and word-of-mouth to drive consumer traffic to make a phone call. Then the 800 toll free boom hit and became the must-do marketing edge. All customer communication came through the telephone—the phone was the technology.

Fast forward to today, and you’ll realize that now all of your marketing focus is placed on your web page. As I work with clients to design their ads and brochures, we mention the phone number, address and zip code, but the action we want them to take is to ‘Visit our web site to see more!”. Now that you have a web site, with pages of engaging content and useful information, the value of an inbound phone call is secondary. The majority of customers who do call will have first checked you out online before they make the call. (Many will book online without calling at all). The phone call is now a secondary action, with most of your marketing mojo focused upon causing the action of “visit my web site”.

Social Media
The entrance of social media on the landscape does not cancel out the importance of your web site, for several reasons. Social media has limited search and local placement capabilities, and is really a forum for connection and community. Facebook pages are increasingly crowded with ads which are competing for attention. Your Facebook page is not under your control even now. You can be sure Facebook will continue to try to compete for the attention of your customers, diverting them to games, user profiles, competitors ads. You really don’t want to drive traffic to your Facebook page. Rather, your Facebook page wants to drive traffic to your web site. Social media presents a real long term strategic opportunity—if properly implemented in a marketing plan.

Print ads in directories, brochures placed in RV dealerships, ads in RV Travel magazines, and listings in local visitor guides all still have an important role in advertising and marketing. But the coming of the digital age has changed the tone and focus of our marketing messages.

Feel free to contact me for a lively discussion of hospitality markeitng: www.straitanswers.com

The Coupon Police Are Not Comming

When a customer comes in with a coupon that's a year old, should you honor the coupon? Coupons and offers should be given an expiration date, and come with limitations. You want to be done with the program at some point, and to minimize the negative impact on revenues. However, the worst thing that can happen is an argument between customer and staff over the expiration date. The customer will stay this time anyway but they will probably not be back. If you have a successful marketing program that brings people in, be careful how you limit it. I'm big on using modest exclusions to deter abuse, but I'm soft on enforcement once the customer is at the front desk.

Sometimes we forget why we offer coupons, and in doing so we negate the original marketing purpose. Coupons (and special price offers) are intended to give consumers a reason to buy right now. The special offer 'tips the scale' of the value proposition for the prospect, causing them to take action. They find the coupon/offer in their hands, it motivates them to call/go online to close the deal. The property paid money (out of the marketing budget) to conceive/approve/design/distribute the offer in a way which maximizes exposure. When the consumer takes action in direct response to your marketing piece your mission is accomplished. That's the way it intended to work.

Marketing Benefit
For the property the benefit is getting a new customer from the offer, and keeping them as a repeat customer for the future; the lost revenue gains you a repeat user. Then the customer becomes a regular repeat customer--that's gold for hospitality properties. So enforcing the fine print on a coupon in order to be coupon police seems counter productive.

One principle of good customer service is to empower your front line employes in order that they can be responsive to customer requests. No need to get approval from management to give them an extra towel, for example. Empowering the front line staff does not mean giving them the power to be coupon police. They can have the power to be generous, sometimes.

Key Take-Away
The key is in coaching and training the staff. Firstly, inform them of the promotion and train them to track the marketing source in your reservations program. Secondly, give them the discretion to allow a customer to buy your service, even at a discount, even if the coupon is expired. Overall, creating a culture of open generosity is going to take you further than if your staff feels it's their job to keep the rip-offs down. Don't worry...if you satisfy the customer they'll be back, without a coupon, and may bring a friend!

The 5 Pillars of AdWords Success

This video from Google gives an overview of the keys to success on Google's advertising service "Adwords".