Ten tourism companies completed the two-day Tactical Sales Initiatives & Online Marketing training course held in Larnaca on 8-9 October 2019.
The training was co-organised by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and the Cyprus Hotel Managers Association, with the support of the Human Resources Development Authority of Cyprus. The training was delivered by Philip Ammerman of Navigator Consulting.
Tourism companies face a range of challenges today. Hotels have long faced a decline of pricing ability in the face of online tour operators (OTAs) such as Expedia and Booking.com.
Tour Operators face customers who are able to bundle different tourism services independently, creating their own travel packages using low-cost flights and OTAs.
The global tourism sector continues to grow, yet standing out and achieving profitability in this environment is becoming more difficult than ever for many hotels and tour operators.
The objective of the Tactical Sales training programme was to support hotels and tour operators in Cyprus address the challenges of gaining online customer share and direct bookings.
The training curriculum was custom-developed by Navigator Consulting, and was based on four main components:
How to identify online customer segments and micro-segments based on customer location, demographics, source and destination market factors, transportation links and unique selling propositions.
How to develop unique online sales offers designed to result in direct bookings. Twenty sales tactics were presented, including methods for costing discounts and additional services designed to result in direct bookings.
How to communicate with customer groups using social media advertising and promotion, with a specific focus on Facebook engagement, Facebook advertising, Facebook retargeting and related tools.
How to communicate directly with customers using Mailchimp, including database management, database integration, database segmentation, and personalised offer mailing. The role of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was also covered.
Some of the key issues raised in the training included:
Capturing customer data at check-in and during the stay;
In-stay and on-tour marketing;
Developing high-impact newsletters using Mailchimp;
Effective Facebook advertising, including retargeting and lead marketing;
Improving direct online sales via better special offers;
Improving online sales funnel performance and user / customer experience.
The 2-day training is now being followed by consultancy visits to each company.
For further information on Navigator’s services in online marketing and profitability analysis in the tourism sector, please contact us.
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