10 tips to change the ‘credit crunch’ challenge into an opportunity

The tourism industry has recognised that rising costs combined with falling consumer confidence will affect prospects in the coming months. But it is not all bad news, as consumers persuaded by a weak pound and higher fuel costs to stay closer to home represent a real opportunity for local tourism businesses.

Here we offer you 10 tips to help raise the profile of your business and respond to the challenge of attracting customers during the current economic downturn.

1 Start with PR

If you have a limited marketing budget a good place to start is PR.

Court your local or regional media journalists and get a feel for the kind of stories they look for. What story do you have to make your business stand out?

Perhaps offer a familiarisation trip or organise a photo call if you have a new addition to your business you want customers to know about.

If you have a story of national importance, work with the Enjoy England PR team, who ‘sell in’ stories daily to national travel journalists.

You can also organise an interview with a local radio station or TV channel. Online media outlets, such as Times Online or Guardian Unlimited, also now have huge coverage.

2 Decide on your USP

Successful businesses often focus on a specialism to help them stand out from the crowd –referred to as their ‘Unique Selling Point’ (USP).

USPs might include special facilities or services for walkers or cyclists or a particular welcome for customers with pets or families with young children. Special quality assessment schemes can guide you in making necessary changes if you’re interested in these audiences. See www.enjoyengland.com/quality for details.

Think of your customers by lifestyle type – real people with real needs that you can meet. Writing a brief portrait of your preferred target markets will make your marketing sharper. It may also make you think about tweaks to your product to appeal to these customers, eg sustainable toiletry products for ‘green’ customers.

3 Add value

Paying attention to the little touches can take time but is worth it to generate satisfied customers, positive comments in your guest book/website and the all-important word-of-mouth recommendations. Here are some quick suggestions, but brainstorm others for your business: A welcome basket Local leisure club pass Wi-fi Internet accessGames for children while dining Business card prize draws A pick up/drop off service.

4 Make paid advertising work harder

When budgets are limited make every penny work.

Official tourist board directories and publications have a very long shelf life so can offer good value.

Niche and special-interest magazines can be better value than more mainstream publications. Think about the USPs you pinpointed and relevant publications that target these audiences.

Make sure you negotiate a good rate and remember to track effectiveness. Use a response code or set up separate web entry points – yourbusiness.com/fm if advertising in Family Magazine for example.

5 Use the web effectively

As a quality-assessed accommodation provider you are automatically entitled to a free entry on enjoyengland.com and visitbritain.com. Web users will lose confidence in your product if the information featured on your site isn’t current. Work with your data steward at your regional tourism organisation to ensure your details are completely up to date.

With more people being influenced by others’ recommendations, get involved with social networking websites (this is free).

Monitor what people are saying about your business through sites like TripAdvisor and by setting up Google Alerts. Go to www.google.com/alerts for details.

Seed out information about your website and special offers in relevant blogs and forums but be careful not to spam those sites with your information. You can also set up your own blog, using free, easy-to-use websites such as Blogger and encourage people to leave comments about their stay.

6 Add Google Adwords

Although there are many other search engines, Google is acknowledged as the market leader.

Speak to your web editor about ‘search engine optimisation’ techniques to ensure your site comes high in the search rankings on the main/left hand half of a Google page.

On the right hand side are the ‘paid’ results. Purchase your advert via Google AdWords. You choose words or phrases related to your business so when people search using one of your ‘keywords’, your ad may appear.

7 Link with local events

Events will often spur on customers to revisit a location. Speak to your local Tourist Information Centres (TIC), tourist board or check your local newspaper for events coming to your area. Is there any chance of organising a package deal with the event organiser?

8 Package with other businesses

Talk to local partners about providing a combined accommodation/ attractions/ transport/ food deal. The easier you make it for customers to save time searching and make an impulse purchase, the more successful you can be.

What about non-tourism partners? Can you agree a contra-deal with local retailers or pubs to promote each others’ businesses?

Your local tourism body, Business Link or Chamber of Commerce can put you in touch with potential partners.

See the Holiday Packages section of this site for more information on the legislation linked to packages.

9 Work with the TIC network

Tourist Information Centres in a region often come together to share ideas and swap information across a nationwide extranet. TICs with Enjoy England Official Partnership status also offer information on the whole of England.

Ensure your local TIC has a steady supply of your brochures or leaflets. Organise a familiarisation trip so staff know your business first-hand when making recommendations. If your newsletter may be relevant for TIC visitors, add them to your distribution list.

10 Work with your tourist board and Enjoy England

Enjoy England works very closely with your regional tourism body, local authorities and destination management organisations. Provide as much information as possible to them as they will, in turn, ensure it is used at a national level wherever feasible.

Enjoy England are planning an Autumn campaign that will address the economic downturn and position England as a value-for-money destination. Let your regional tourism body know if you can provide great offers or added value to customers in line with some of the suggestions in this feature.

Download this pdf file to find out more about Enjoy England’s ‘Going away at home’ campaign and how to be involved.