Tag Archives: Multimedia

Royal Caribbean and the next wave of communication

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By Tom Stieghorst
When cruise lines have something to say to the world, there are a growing number of channels to deliver the message.

An example is the Google Plus Hangout session that Royal Caribbean International used to tout its entertainment program on the Quantum of the Seas.

I wasn’t familiar with Google Plus Hangout, although a (younger) work acquaintance said she used it heavily to plan her recent wedding. It is a mash-up of several Google products that enables 10 people to have a video exchange, while being able to display content on the Internet and holding a simultaneous chat conversation with a (world) wide audience.

I think we’re going to see more of these and less of traditional announcements, media briefings, press releases and the like.*TomStieghorst

They allow for both the social media component, important for attracting users who swim in that ocean, and a lot of multimedia morsels, such as videos, live webcasting and audio.

Royal reached several audiences at once with its Hangout, including past passengers, the media and interested travel partners.

Those audiences were reflected in the half-dozen people that Royal picked to participate on video feeds, such as an editor from Backstage magazine and a Crown & Anchor Society member.

Also included was a social media “influencer” (someone who is tracked and followed by many devotees of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like) and a former Royal cast member who has moved on to a touring production of “The Book of Mormon.”

It was evident throughout that the Hangout was aimed in part at recruiting new performers. Broadway singer Kristen Chenoweth, the Quantum’s godmother, lent her credibility to the effort, describing how Royal’s entertainment innovations work for the performers as well as for the guests.

Nick Weir, vice president of entertainment at Royal, noted that unlike Broadway, entertainers don’t even have to take a taxi to get to their jobs on a ship.

Las Vegas entertainers were also in Royal’s sights. Weir and Chenoweth twice mentioned the Hyde nightclub at the Bellagio Hotel, which hosted the chat. Along with a full-length Broadway production of “Mamma Mia,” the Quantum will offer acts such as Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns, a band popular in Las Vegas that will appear remotely on video screens in Quantum’s Two70 lounge.

So the Google Plus Hangout, for those who saw it, provided an intriguing new launch pad for Royal’s Quantum entertainment package. Royal may have been first to explore it, but I’m guessing it won’t be the last.

Tips for using holiday downtime

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By Carrie Finley-Bajak

Carrie Finley-BajakDuring the downtime before the new year, travel agents can improve their technology skills. Mastering technology can include figuring out how to use your smartphone or tablet or, better yet, invest some time exploring how to use social media to take advantage of current trends like context marketing.

Context marketing has been around awhile, but for some travel agents it could mean new business opportunities. The goal of context marketing is to create marketing strategies that are both personal and relevant to the consumer.

We know consumers are spending time online researching trip ideas and reading reviews about airlines, destinations, vacation packages, hotels and cruise ship vacations. In fact, in a tracking study commissioned by Google to better understand the role of travel in the lives of U.S. consumers, it was reported that 68% of the respondents began researching online before they decided where or how to travel, vs. 65% in 2012. Travel agents need to be where consumers are online early in the planning phase to offer guidance and expertise (see the “2013 Traveler” study at www.google.com/think/).

While consumers are researching online, agents can take advantage of the information they leave behind.

To get started, agents can perform searches on their clients’ and prospects’ social media accounts to gain an understanding about their audience and how they consume content for use in highly personalized marketing campaigns.

Because most travel agents lack the resources needed to retain the services of third-party consultants to help them design context marketing strategies, I have compiled a list of best practices to get you on track for success. Below, you will find suggestioins for how you can integrate context into content that drives results.

Try linking your Facebook account to TripAdvisor.• Be your own data analysis expert. Spend time analyzing and gathering demographic data about your audience. Figure out their likes, dislikes and topics that interest them. Once you have sufficient data, create targeted email campaigns or social media updates that are personal and relevant.

Savvy travel agents are learning how to use the vast amounts of user-supplied data left on social media sites like Facebook. Spend time reviewing information in your friends’ newsfeeds and discover what interests your clients and prospects who follow you on Facebook. Study their likes, dislikes and interactions with travel suppliers for context clues. This information is helpful for creating custom marketing materials to match the right travel product to the individual, which adds value and creates business opportunities.

• Take advantage of Facebook’s custom list feature, which enables users to organize Facebook friends into categories. This feature will come in handy when looking for context clues to use in future marketing campaigns.

• Another source for finding context cues is on TripAdvisor. Try linking your Facebook account to TripAdvisor. Once you have done so, log in to TripAdvisor with your Facebook credentials.

Do some destination research and pay attention to the sidebar on the right (see screenshot above), which displays recommendations from your Facebook friends. This information can come in quite handy for trend spotting and for seeing which Facebook friends are sharing on social platforms.

Knowing how to leverage context about your audience, prospects, leads and clients in your digital marketing campaigns enables travel professionals to present content in a frame of reference that is more likely to result in a response to take action.

• Research what is trending on your favorite supplier’s Facebook pages and then create Pinterest boards that reflect those trends to tell the story. Then share links to your Pinterest boards with your audience, and share your expertise about the topic. Your goal is to offer guidance that helps people learn the unique selling points regarding the products you sell.

• Be flexible and willing to adapt marketing efforts. Knowing what interests your audience online is just one piece of the context-marketing puzzle.

• Another area travel agents can focus on is metrics. Having a system in place to track conversions is necessary to determine if your marketing efforts are successful.

• Be sure to track conversions and measure your return on investment per campaign.

• Keep track of website traffic and correlate with content marketing campaigns.

Finally, use and measure traffic coming from social channels. Pinterest is great for referral traffic and with specific Product and Places pins now available, it is easier than ever to take advantage of the third largest social network.

Tenn. agent proves timing isn’t everything

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Tenn. agent proves timing isn’t everything

By Laura Del Rosso
InsightMuffett Grubb is one travel agent who made lemonade from a load of lemons, as the saying goes, when the economy plummeted along with the stock market five years ago. It was 2008 when Grubb decided to follow her dream and open a Cruise Holidays franchise agency from her home in Knoxville, Tenn. The following months were a test of her commitment to the business.

“I bought my franchise two weeks before the market crashed and I looked it at this way: There was nowhere for things to go but up at that point,” she said. “I took the attitude that the slow time was a good time to get my feet wet and gradually learn the business.”

LauraDelRossoSince then, business has been all up for Grubb, who previously worked in purchasing and marketing for a national retail chain. She recently received Cruise Holiday’s “Best Customer Service Award” based on an incident that took place in Alaska last summer when a cruise ship was idled by propulsion problems. Unable to leave port for four days, Grubb’s 20 clients were left with nothing to do, along with 2,000 other passengers who scrambled to book excursions.

Using industry connections and Cruise Holidays programs, Grubb booked her clients on shore excursions to make the most of their four days in Alaska. She also rebooked their future cruise, which was fully paid for by the cruise line as part of a compensation package.

It’s part of the services that Grubb says she provides that she hopes set her apart from direct, online bookings. “I often have to explain to people how a travel agent works, that it doesn’t cost them more money to use a travel agent. This is the value I provide. These are the things I do for my clients. Once I have a client they generally are my client forever.”

Grubb credits her success with networking. Shortly after opening the franchise, she joined a local business group in Knoxville and spread the word among a wide circle of family and friends that she was open for business. Many people already knew she loved to plan travel, long before she opened the agency.

“I used to plan trips for friends or friends of friends just because I had a passion for it. A few times I planned cruises and just put the word out and got as many as 16 people signed up for a cruise. That’s when I started thinking of making it a second career.”

Grubb looked at different types of business models for her travel agency and settled on Cruise Holidays because it matched her cruise expertise. Also, she said, the franchise system offers the technology and back-office systems that enable her to concentrate on sales and not administration. Now her business has grown to the point that she is considering expanding and hiring staff. And office space may also be in the picture at some point.

“The beauty of starting a home-based agency is that there was a low initial outlay because I’m not paying rent. It afforded me time to build my business. Now I’m at the point that I realize I can’t do it all myself.”

In the last couple of years, Grubb has evolved her social media marketing and has gained new customers, mostly on Facebook. However, she doesn’t promote herself with a “hard sell,” she says.

“I do a lot on Facebook, but it’s mainly posting about my trips and sharing what my clients have done on their trips. It’s not an aggressive marketing technique but a casual way of saying ‘here’s where I’ve gone’ to generate a conversation. Then people will call and tell me they saw I went somewhere that interests them, and I’ve got a sale.”