3 tips to improve your email marketing

Look at your inbox. Chances are that it is packed with emails - all screaming for your attention. So how do you cut through all that clutter and deliver an engaging email that gets opened and produces results. Below are a few tips that will help you do exactly that.

Give subscribers what they want
The most impactful thing you can do to improve your email marketing is to send relevant and interesting emails. When your subscribers know that there is something valuable in your email, your open rates and conversion rates will dramatically increase.

So offer something of value in every email you send, such as industry research, tips and tricks, discounts etc. Not only will this establish your credibility, it will also reduce spam complaints.

Get to know your readers
In order to deliver relevant content, you need to understand what your subscribers care about. If you don't already know the answer, you can find out by conducting online surveys or by asking for specific information on your web forms. 

Once you know what individual readers want, you can segment them into groups based on their interests. This will help you send relevant messages to each person.  

Be consistent
People (and remember, your prospects are people) gravitate toward things that are familiar. Campaigns that have a consistent look and feel will be more effective in helping your prospects absorb information. That's not to say you can't get creative and mix things up, but you should maintain brand standards in design, tone, and personality, and use the same sender name and address throughout your campaigns.

For more information about email marketing, or if you would like to try the fastrack email system for free, visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Best practices for hotel website design

Does your accommodation website read like an online brochure or does it still offer dead, stale content and outdated visual images? 

Today’s hotel and accommodation websites now carry the burden and responsibility of generating the bulk of bookings for your property. Across the industry, in 2010, Direct Online Channel sales (via the hotel website) will exceed 62% of total online hotel bookings.

According to research, in the first quarter of 2010, 71.7% of online bookings for the top 30 hotel brands were direct via the brand websites. The Direct Online Channel is by far the most cost-effective distribution channel and provides accommodation businesses with excellent ROIs, immediate results, and long-term competitive advantages.

The property website has become the backbone of the hotel marketing mix and is the main digital asset of any hotel. In this age of multi-channel marketing, any type of hotel marketing initiative (from search engine optimisation (SEO), Google Adwords, email marketing and social marketing) ultimately should drive your customers to your website.

Approximately 83% of all travellers plan and research travel online. There is no doubt the hotel website has become the “first point of contact” for the majority of customers. Unfortunately, on many occasions a visit to the website turns out to be the “last point of contact.”

Accommodation businesses must realize that the hotel website has become not only the main revenue driver for their property, but also the main influencer for making travel purchase decisions. Therefore, enhancing and optimizing the hotel website to meet and optimizing it to meet and exceed industry best practices and customer expectations should be a top priority.

Here are some important things to take into consideration:

If your hotel website is over 2 years old:

• So many things have changed over the past 24 months that hoteliers no longer have a choice of whether to re-design their website or stick with their old and tired site. This is a matter of “life and death” for any hotelier!
• The new website should reflect 2010-2011 industry’s best practices for an optimum revenue generating website. It should be user-friendly, search engine friendly, have an easy to use booking system and it should also be Web 2.0 friendly

If the site is over 12 months old:

• Ensure you hire a reputable company that only specialises in Search engine optimization (SEO. Get your website ranking now for specific keywords and phrases
• Web 2.0 optimization is now due to improve customer engagement on the site.
• Ensure your website is targeted towrads your key customer markets. Eg. content, images or menu tabs that cater to meeting and group lanners, corporate or leisure travelers, families, weddings etc

Best Practices for Today’s Hotel Website Design
When re-designing your accommodation website, you need to understand that website design is not an art and it is certainly not rocket science - it is a creative solution to a business problem. If your hotel website’s bookings are down, that's a business problem. If your visitors can't find your website, that’s a business problem. Your website is hard to navigate and functionality does not work? That's a business problem.

Obviously the new website design needs to also take into consideration other criteria, such as industry best practices, site usability and booker-friendliness.

Your site needs to “meet and exceed” user objectives and not provide any obstacles to achieving these objectives. If the hotel site has a solid, professional design layout that is supported by easy-to understand navigation, helpful functionality and relevant content and visual images, users will stay longer and will explore the site deeper—ultimately resulting in bookings.

Today’s hotel website should reflect 2010/2011 industry’s best practices and should be:

• User-friendly - The website should be easy to navigate and have the necessary information/core products laid out in an easy to read format.
• Search engine-friendly - The search-engine friendliness of the hotel website is important not only for organic search. Good SEO on a website improves the Quality Index for paid search as well. The Google Quality Index determines how much you pay per click (PPC) and the ranking of your PPC listing, and is based on keyword relevancy, quality of the marketing message and relevancy of the landing page (i.e. the website and its SEO). With a lower Quality Index you pay more per click and your ad is ranked lower.
• Booker-friendly - the booking engine is easy to use and lets them book quickly and without hassle. Users should also feel safe that the booking system is secure.
• Web 2.0-friendly (customer engagement-friendly) - The Web 2.0-friendliness of the hotel website is dependent on how well the website can intrigue users and enable them to provide comments, share information, upload content, and interact with various features and functionality. Eg customer reviews on the website, blog on the site to share the latest news, photos, a newsletter that they can view or sign up for, social media share bar, and Facebook 'I like' buttons and links on your site so they can share your webpage with their friends
• Mobile-ready - Travelers are already using their mobile devices to plan and book travel and hotels. Features of a mobile-ready hotel website include - fast download speeds, efficient and simple navigation, short and concise textual content, scaled-down visual content, a one-click map and directions to the hotel

Conclusion
The hotel website is not only the main revenue generator for the property, but also the main influencer for making travel purchase decisions and enhancing, optimizing and re-designing the hotel website to meet and exceed industry best practices and customer expectations should be a top priority for any hotelier. If the website is visually appealing, provides the customer with all the necessary information, they will be more likely to book directly on the site.

Before you start redesigning your website, choose your website design company very carefully, as this is the most important decision you will have to make. With 45% of all hotel bookings in being made online in 2010, the capability of your hotel website in generating bookings will determine the overall success of your property.

Work with a website design company that understands best practices in hotel website design, uses state-of-the art technology, has proven results in the form of prestigious designs and have transformed clients’ hotel websites into their most cost-efficient revenue generator for their property.

If you would like more information about our website design capabilities, to view our portfolio and get an obligation free quote on a new website design, speak to one of the marketing consultants on 07 3040 3588 or email us directly on email@tafastrack.com.au.

E-mail Marketing: Is your property capitalizing?

Does your property have an effective and comprehensive email marketing stragey in place? Do you send consistent email messages that match your brand and build relationships with customers and drive revenue? 

Email marketing has evolved from simple confirmation messages to being an important component of your online marketing strategy.  If your property doesn’t have a plan or the right messaging, you could be missing the boat on additional bookings and repeat guests.

According to a survey conducted by HSMAI and VIZERGY, email marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) are the two most effective online marketing channels. Approximately 74% of hotels use some form of email marketing.

Below are some tips on how you can get started with email marketing and what you should do when sending out your email messages:
 
Your database 
It starts with your property’s database. Compile past, current and future guests, along with other contacts you’ve gained, to form your email database.  You can build this database via your website by including a contact form and newsletter sign up form. You can also use the contact forms to gain specific stats from your visitors - ask them their location, travel intentions, etc. This will allow you to target and cater messaging to specific groups.

Sell the benefits of your property
Emphasize the amenities, local attractions and convenience of your property via emails.  Professional photos and copy, information on local demand generators, guest testimonials, and special promotions will help.  Partnering with local attractions or businesses such as restaurants, spa/massage or events can help you add discounted packages to your emails… and upsell to guests.

Should you do it in house or outsource?  
Once you’ve reviewed your database, consider whether to tackle email marketing in house or outsource to professionals.  Having a comprehensive program can be fairly time consuming, but the bigger issue is expertise.  Can you afford to have an employee trained on the nuances of email marketing - from design, to copy, to tracking, to SPAM laws?  It may even be less expensive to outsource to an experienced hotel Internet marketing company.  If you elect to send out e-newsletters and edms in house, be sure that your staff is properly trained.  If you do decide to outsource, make sure the company you hire has the experience, expertise and have a plan in place for your business.

Subject lines are important
An over the top or a subject line that is too long is equally ineffective as an uninspiring one.  Keep it short and sweet (preferably 8 words or less), and it's easy to read. 

State the benefit or offer first, and entice them to read more.  The “from” address should identify your property (eg. “A Hotel [specials@ahotel.com.au]”), so it’s not necessary to repeat your name in the subject line. 

Below are some examples for subject lines:

• Too over the top, too long and no true benefits - “Stay at our breathtaking hotel in June and be enchanted with our lovely room views”
• Uninspiring - “Stay with us this summer”
• Just right - “20% off your long awaited romantic getaway…”

Content 
Email content should be brief, easy to read, state the offer or news early, provide links to your website and have bold calls to action for what you’re promoting.  With the huge number of emails that people receive, they will most likely scan your email message quickly and not read word for word.  If an offer appeals to a reader, it should be simple for them to take action or contact you straight away.

All messages should be professional, proofread by at least two people and tested in both HTML and text formats, to ensure the content displays properly. Send a test email to your Outlook, hotmail and gmail account to ensure that the email displays properly.

Experiment with “personalizing” the e-mail too, for an added touch.  Most services allow you to insert the name of the person (“Dear Sarah,”), assuming you have their first names.  And remember that you must abide by the CAN-SPAM act, which essentially requires that all recipients are “opted in” to your e-mails, and that there must be a clear “opt out” option in the email design (usually at the bottom).  Study up on this act, or make sure that your provider has it covered.

Design
Design is subjective of course, but let’s look at three objective elements that all email designs should include.

• Branding - Every message should be branded to fit your property’s website.  It doesn’t have to be identical, but it should at least include the logo and your corporate colors.  This will make it easier for recipients to remember your branding in the future and makes it more consistent
• Imagery - E-mails should have photos that connect with readers.  Amateur photos look second rate, and don’t convey professionalism.  Corporate photos of an empty hotel look high quality, but don’t cultivate a sense of comfort or inviting.  Use professional photos with real guests or stand ins to show that people visit and enjoy your property.
• Layout - Keep it clean, simple and scannable.  Again, recipients want to scan over the excessive amount of messaging they’re exposed to.  Use a header with links to your site, a main content area and a footer with your property’s contact information.

Build relationships with your guests and generate Revenue. Email marketing is a vital component for hotels, resorts, bed and breakfasts and any other type of business in the accommodation industry.  It enhances your website, SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising by reinforcing your property with past and future guests. 

Besides a great guest experience, email marketing is the best way to increase repeat bookings and generate additional revenue.  You must encompass every aspect mentioned above if you want to fully realize its potential. 

If you would like help with email marketing, speak to the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today. Call 07 3040 3588 or email us on email@tafastrack.com.au.

12 Reasons Why People Buy Travel

People travel for a reason and those reasons are not the same for everyone. Below are 12 simple motivations on why they might:

1.    To increase enjoyment of life
2.    To escape reality
3.    To keep up with the Joneses
4.    To feel younger and carefree
5.    To be entertained
6.    To be trendy
7.    To gratify curiosity
8.    To become informed
9.    To pursue a dream
10.  To spend time with family
11.  To satisfy an impulse
12.  To get away from the family

Understanding why people buy makes it easier to appeal directly to your customers needs. Therefore, consider how you could apply the above reasons to your marketing message; whether that is in your website, social networking or any other marketing activity you undertake, so that it captures the attention of your viewer and resonates with them.

How to use social media and email marketing to spread your message further

The integration of social media and email marketing now makes it easier to extend your content beyond your database. Subscribers will share your messages with their friends and family on twitter or facebook which will allow you to find prospective customers and members more quickly.

Below are some best practices for integrating social media and email marketing and expanding your reach.

You can now share your newsletters on Facebook and Twitter
When sending a e-newsletter to your customer base, you can also automatically share a link to the web version of the email with your Facebook fans and Twitter followers. This will get your newsletter content in front of both your subscribers and all of their social media connections at the same time.

Include a Social Share Bar with all your outgoing email newsletters
Adding a Social Share Bar to your e-newsletters makes it easy for subscribers to share your message with their friends and family, thus helping to spread your message well beyond your original distribution list. It's word-of-mouth marketing made easy.

Social media is more than just buttons
You have to remember that social media is more than just about adding Tweet and Like buttons to your e-newsletters. You have to give people a reason to connect with you and interact with your content on social media sites.

You may also have to tell people who are less social media savvy than you are, to click the share buttons or connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc if that's what you want them to do.


If you want to find success on social media, below are some other best practices to follow:

Use your subject line as a tweet
When your email message is shared through social media, the subject line is often the default text that gets published, especially via Twitter. Make sure your subject line is appealing to both email recipients and those who might be seeing a link to your content via social media sites.

Don't forget to take into consideration Twitter's 140-character limit, which will help keep your subject lines short and succicent. (We recommend you try to keep it shorter than 120 characters so your followers can easily retweet it.)

Drive the conversation
Your content should be engaging. Add a social call to action, such as a question at the end of your newsletter article, that directs readers to your Facebook Page to respond. Tell recipients to tweet their response along with a hashtag of your choice.

Track your social shares
With Social Stats, you can track how many subscribers shared your email with their social media connections and see how many people clicked to view your message via social media. It's a great tool to for seeing how far your message is distributed beyond your original contact list. You can then see which social networks are most popular with your subscribers.

Don't forget to listen
Social media is a great way to spread your message and to reach new prospects more quickly. But in addition to generating share-worthy content, you have to remember to listen to your customers.

Take the time to read what your customers and members are posting on your Facebook Page. Monitor Twitter for mentions of your company name, products, or services to see what people are saying about you. By listening, you may also find new trends or great pieces of content to share with your newsletter subscribers and social media followers. Social media is a two-way street of content.

Keeping a close eye on social media can be resource consuming, but tools such as TA Fastrack Social Monitor can help cut down on the time spent on the task and allow you to respond quickly to those with a complaint and thank those with compliments.

When the year started, business and organizations were using social media and email as almost separate marketing entities. As we enter 2011, they're a complimentary team that can help power any organization's marketing efforts.

Excellence Combined With Integrity

How to set standards for excellence and back them with total integrity.

A Commitment to Excellence
Leaders have specific responsibilities and must fulfill certain requirements. One requirement of leadership is the ability to choose an area of excellence. Just as a good general chooses the terrain on which to do battle, an excellent leader chooses the area in which he and others are going to do an outstanding job. The commitment to excellence is one of the most powerful of all motivators. All leaders who change people and organizations are enthusiastic about achieving excellence in a particular area.

Be the Best!
The most motivational vision you can have for yourself and others is to "Be the Best!" Many people don't yet realize that excellent performance in serving other people is an absolute and basic essential for survival in the economy of the future.

Many individuals and companies still adhere to the idea that as long as they are no worse than anyone else, they can remain in business. That is just plain silly! It is prehistoric thinking. We are now in the age of excellence. Customers assume that they will get excellent quality, and if they don't, they will somewhere else that is willing to give them excellence.

Have A Vision of High Standards
As a leader, your job is to be excellent at what you do, to be the best in your chosen field of endeavor. Your job is to have a vision of high standards in serving people. You not only exemplify excellence in your own behavior, but you also translate it to others so that they, too, become committed to this vision.

It is the commitment to doing work of the highest quality in the service of other people, both inside and outside the organization. Leadership today requires an equal focus on the people who must do the job, on the one hand, and the people who are expected to benefit from the job, on the other.

The Most Respected Quality
The second quality, which is perhaps the single most respected quality of leaders, is integrity. Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty with regard to everything that you say and do. Integrity underlies all the other qualities. Your measure of integrity is determined by how honest you are in the critical areas of your life.
Integrity means this: When someone asks you at the end of the day, "Did you do your very best?" you can look him in the eye and say, "Yes!" Integrity means this: When someone asks you if you could have done it better, you can honestly say, "No, I did everything I possibly could."

Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings. It means that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. Integrity means that you tell the truth, and that you live the truth in everything that you do and in all your relationships. Integrity means that you deal straightforwardly with people and situations and that you do not compromise what you believe to be true.

Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, identify the area of your work where excellent performance can contribute the very most to productivity and profits. Focus all your efforts in this area.

Second, do your very best on every task. Imagine that everyone is watching even when no one is watching. Imagine that everyone in your company was going to do their work exactly the way you do yours.
Never compromise your standards!

Looking back on 2010

As I sit in a very crowded airport, I find myself reflecting back on this past year. For the Interactive Marketing/Search industry, 2010 was very active with mergers/acquisitions, partnerships, innovation and constant change. Although it’s been a wild ride, as we look toward 2011, advertisers should leverage the knowledge learned this past year and prepare for what’s ahead.

Here is a sampling of some of the more eventful happenings from this year:

    * Google Caffeine, Instant & Preview
    * Partnership between Yahoo & MSN/Bing
    * Promoted Tweets
    * Facebook Pages to “Like” not ‘Friend/Follow”
    * LinkedIn Company Page Feature for “Products/Services”
    * iPad and entry of the Tablet
    * Introduction of Droid and Windows Phone
    * Remarketing Ads
    * Invasion of all things Mobile
    * Enhanced features (extensions) in AdWords for more robust ads.

As we finish out the year and prepare 2011 marketing budgets and goals, here are the areas I predict will be on most company’s radar:

    * Measuring Social Media Results and Monetization of Those Efforts
    * Crafting Multi-Device, Robust Mobile Strategy Beyond Basic Visibility
    * Improving on Analytics and Integration With Other Important Data
    * Refining Paid Search Campaigns – More Experimentation With Other Engines, Portals, Networks, etc.
    * Multi-Channel Strategy Development & Execution … Holistic Marketing
    * Content Maximization for Enhanced SEO Value
    * Experimentation – Multivariate Testing
    * Identification of Metrics & Goals

As an incentive to companies who are looking to get a Jumpstart on 2011, we are offering 10% off any consulting program initiated by December 31, 2010. Let us help with a laser-like focus on search and interactive marketing.

7 Secrets to Getting More from Google AdWords

Everyone knows that Google's Adwords service, works something like an auction. For example, if your Google Adwords budget is $5,000 a year and you're competing against other larger companies in the same industry as you that have budgets ten times larger, they can bid much more than you on the keywords or phrases where you want your ads to appear. But you're not necessarily out of luck here. By raising your Quality Score, you could spend less, while still getting more customers to your site and compete with the other larger companies.

Google assigns each ad a Quality Score - a number between 1 and 10 that reflects whether Google thinks its users will like your ad and whether it is relevant to their search and the web page it links to. That number influences how high your ad will rank in an auction.

A higher Quality Score means you can outrank competitors with higher bids, and get much more bang for your advertising dollar.

Below are some tips on how you can raise your Quality Score.

1. Don't run ads users won't click on
Let's just try this ad and see if anyone clicks on it. After all, since it's pay-per-click, if they don't click on it, it won't cost you anything. That may seem like good logic, but it's a big mistake. Click through rates (CTR) is one of the most important elements of Quality Score. If an ad for your business runs and users don't click it, it can lower your Quality Score, thus costing you more to run the same ad or even other ads in future.

Google actually assigns Quality Scores to ad groups as well as advertising accounts, so a bad CTR can hurt you in many ways.

Constantly testing slightly different wording and picking the ads with better CTR will help you not only by bringing you more customers to your website, but also by lowering your cost per click.

2. Divide and conquer
Don't just lump all your keywords and phrases into one group of ads that sends people to the same page. What works best is if you divide your keywords into groups that relate to a common theme and then send users to a dedicated landing page. For example, if you are in the holiday accommodation business, instead of grouping 'Hotel,' 'Motel,' 'Affordable Accommodation' and 'Holiday Accommodation' into one ad group, it is best if you break it down. You would have one ad group that relates only to holiday accommodation and if someone who clicked on that ad, they would be directed to a landing page for your various room types. Another ad group would be set up for 'Motel' etc.

3. Get rid of keywords that aren't helping you
Avoid keywords that, although may fit your market, are too general. If your market is very competitive and your keywords used are too general, you may find that bigger companies might outbid you and your ads won't appear on Page 1 of Google. Home in on your market and be specific with the keywords if you want your Adwords campaign to be successful.

4. Add content to your website and landing page
Having useful content is one of the big things that will help your Quality Score. And don't copy and paste content from other sites onto your page as Google will penalise you for duplicate content. Your pages need  unique content, a variety of content, and frequently updated content. This will lead to a better user experience.

5. Give users choices
You may want your landing page to urge users toward a strong call to action, such as "Click here to learn more about our product" or "Sign up for our free e-newsletter." But Google wants users to have a wide array of choices, and having a menu of navigation options on your landing page will improve your Quality Score.

If users go to a landing page, they usually want more information. If they can't find the information they want, become frustrated and leave, this will be reflected in a poorer landing page Quality Score.

6. Tell about yourself
Does your site have prominent links to an "about us" (or "company") section? And does it offer a privacy policy where users are asked to enter information such as their e-mail addresses? If the answer to either question is no, your Quality Score will suffer.

Google recommends transparency. If users are going to give you their data, Google prefers to see a good privacy policy and a no-spam policy in place.

7. Make sure your pages load quickly
If a webpage loads too slowly, that's not a great user experience. Change hosting companies, or change the graphics on the page, so that the page loads quickly.

Site up time is critical. Even small down times that are otherwise unnoticeable are picked up by Google's automatic quality checks. If Google checks a landing page and it's down, by definition it's not relevant and there's a high probability of a Quality Score penalty.

To keep this from happening to you, consider using a site monitoring service, or if necessary, change your hosting provider.

TA Fastrack can assist you with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and  Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services. To find out more, visit www.tafastrack.com.au or call 07 3040 3588 for more information.

Looking Back on 2010

As I sit in a very crowded airport, I find myself reflecting back on this past year. For the Interactive Marketing/Search industry, 2010 was very active with mergers/acquisitions, partnerships, innovation and constant change. Although it’s been a wild ride, as we look toward 2011, advertisers should leverage the knowledge learned this past year and prepare for what’s ahead.


Here is a sampling of some of the more eventful happenings from this year:

• Google Caffeine, Instant & Preview
• Partnership between Yahoo & MSN/Bing
• Promoted Tweets
• Facebook Pages to “Like” not ‘Friend/Follow”
• LinkedIn Company Page Feature for “Products/Services”
• iPad and entry of the Tablet
• Introduction of Droid and Windows Phone
• Remarketing Ads
• Invasion of all things Mobile
• Enhanced features (extensions) in AdWords for more robust ads.

As we finish out the year and prepare 2011 marketing budgets and goals, here are the areas I predict will be on most company’s radar:

• Measuring Social Media Results and Monetization of Those Efforts
• Crafting Multi-Device, Robust Mobile Strategy Beyond Basic Visibility
• Improving on Analytics and Integration With Other Important Data
• Refining Paid Search Campaigns – More Experimentation With Other Engines, Portals, Networks, etc.
• Multi-Channel Strategy Development & Execution … Holistic Marketing
• Content Maximization for Enhanced SEO Value
• Experimentation – Multivariate Testing
• Identification of Metrics & Goals

As an incentive to companies who are looking to get a Jumpstart on 2011, we are offering 10% off any consulting program initiated by December 31, 2010. Let us help with a laser-like focus on search and interactive marketing.

Contact me for more details.

Keep Online Marketing In-House or Outsource?

The goal of this article is to share practical suggestions to help you figure out whether to keep your marketing efforts in-house or to outsource them.

All things being equal, it is very appealing for a company to maintain internal control over their SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics efforts. There ought to be a multiplier effect from having someone with those skills be able to interact on a daily basis with the rest of your team and as a result, be able to execute in a highly efficient and “dialed-in” manner. A perception also exists that it’s cheaper to manage inside than pay a firm to help you. That may or may not actually be the case.

As I look back on our past 8 years in the marketing industry and the great clients we have worked with, I can point to many examples where we have essentially trained that in-house person for an organization through months or years of working together. We have always tried to teach as we go and recognize that a transition from out-of-house to in-house works well for certain companies. The key is finding and retaining an individual(s) who understands the key disciplines and who can effectively execute on behalf of your company.

Besides the difficulty in recruiting in-house talent, another challenging aspect centers around the fact that there are so many different skill sets involved which ultimately need to be mastered. SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics all overlap, but are each unique disciplines. When we work with a client, their main point of contact within TA Fastrack is their Client Strategist, but our Client Strategist then interfaces with subject matter experts internally on SEO, SEM, Analytics, etc. It’s a lot to ask of most individuals to become proficient in each of these areas.

If you hire an individual who already has some of these skills (and or is highly trainable), then this path can work. You may also need to consider hiring multiple individuals. What tends to be less effective is adding interactive marketing responsibilities to a person on your staff who already has a heavy load or who doesn’t demonstrate enthusiasm about the opportunity, as the results are typically underwhelming.

The bottom line, I believe, is that companies need to be incorporating SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics, plus possibly Affiliate Marketing into their overall marketing mix. In-house or out, someone needs to be constantly thinking about and acting intelligently in these channels on behalf of your business.

At TA Fastrack we have the resources and most importantly the best experts in each marketing channel who will always think strategically about improving the current results you get from each channel. To discuss the benefits of outsourcing your marketing, please contact me directly via email or call me on +61 7 3040 3589.

Enjoy more success with your marketing!

Adrian Caruso - CEO, TA Fastrack

Being a Better Listener

Many business people have trained themselves to receive and process very high loads of information very quickly - it's almost a survival skill in the early days of business when you might have to do everything yourself!

There is also evidence (email me for a copy) that people who are made to think quickly report feeling happier, more energetic, more creative, more powerful, and more self-assured.

Strangely, that fast information processing skill can become an issue when you come to communicate with staff, family and others. As the gap information processing speed grows, so problems appear. Some fast thinkers find it almost painful to slow down to the speed at which others talk and process, and they can become impatient and/or appear disinterested, bored or distracted in the most inappropriate circumstances such as staff meetings, dinner conversation, or even a client or sales interview.

Diagnosing Yourself
If you find yourself being easily distracted when others are talking; or developing the habit of doing other things while people are talking with you (because you have spare bandwidth and can follow what they are saying and complete another task); or of losing the train of thought in another's presentation, then the following tip may be for you.

Simple Solution
If the root of the problem is that you need a higher flow of information than is being delivered by your audience or other party, then broaden your focus to take in a much wider bandwidth of information than just the spoken words.

After all, words form only about 7% of our communications, with the other 93% being provided at the level of voice and body language. So, broaden your attention beyond words, and start interpreting voice tone, pitch, pace and timbre, and the whole spectrum of body language from posture and gestures to facial expression, skin tone, eye movements and breathing pace and location.

Once you start to develop some facility at this you will be amazed at how easy it is not only to "stay in the moment" with your audience, but also to acquire a much deeper understanding of what is being communicated at every level in that moment.

The bonus is that your audience will quickly sense your engagement with and focus on them, rapport is likely to deepen, and the confidence that engenders is likely to see them speed their delivery quite naturally. Then everyone is happy.

Test this in an aware way at your next opportunity. If it works for you, develop it as a habit.

Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choicest words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech. ... Edwin H. Friedman

If you would like more business tips, or would like more information about TA Fastrack's business coaching, business training and marketing services, call 07 3040 3588 or email us directly on email@tafastrack.com.au. 

How to get your hotel's facebook account to stand out

Avoid using Facebook simply to post your room specials and packages available on your website. You need a carefully devised strategy to attract fans, rally them into action, get them to spread the word and engage them in continuous conversation and keep them coming back to your page.


According to research, there are over 11 million users from Australia that use Facebook. There are nearly 8 million monthly active users in Australia, of which, only 1 million of these are under 18 years old. The biggest segment is the 25-34 age group with 29.3%, followed by the 18-24 age group, with 28.8%. The 35+ years segment accounts for about 30% of the Australian Facebook population and is according to Nielsen Online, the fastest growing segment. The average time spent on Facebook in a given month is 8:19 hours - 7 and a half hours more than its closest rival site, YouTube.

According to Facebook, more than 30 billion pieces of content (including web links, blog posts, news stories, and photographs) are shared through the site each month.  The average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.

With all of this activity, why are you having such a hard time getting people to “like” your business page?

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Your posts are boring. And you’re doing all the talking.  
Get your customers involved and ensure they feel a part of your hotel community. Encourage your guests to post comments, pictures and videos of their stay at your hotel directly on your Facebook wall.

A successful Facebook page listens to and actively engages its customer with organized, quality content and brand new, up-to-date information from not only its administrator but also its followers. 

2. Have a social media roadmap. 
If you don’t have a map, chances are you won’t make it to your destination, especially if it’s in an unfamiliar area.  Social media works the same way.  No plan and, before you know it, you’re lost. 

Every marketing plan should have a section dedicated to social media. By outlining your objectives, you can coordinate your marketing efforts and cross-utilize the various social media applications that will work best for each of your targeted markets.  It is essential to know what you plan to do, how you plan to do it and, most importantly, why you are doing it in the first place. 

3. Your promotions are just like everyone else’s. 
There are more than 3 million active business pages on Facebook, so how do you get your promotions to stand out from all of the others?  Avoid using Facebook to just post room specials and packages that are advertised on your website. Give your followers special perks, discounts or a sneak peek that they can’t get anywhere else.  For example, get a free upgrade for the first 10 people that make a booking using a code that is only available through Facebook or have a Mid-Week Mania sale on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

4. Guests have no reason to keep you in their primary news feed. 
They might come once and check out the page, but will they stick around or make a repeat visit?  Take a good long look at your business page.  Are the posts lively, compelling, unique and timely? 

If you take photos of your followers attending events at your hotel, tag them on Facebook.  Most people have notifications that deploy an alert when they have been tagged in a photo album.  Make the most of your page’s tab settings by distributing special offers and coupons or holding contests (be sure to follow Facebook’s full terms and conditions).  The idea of winning something is a great incentive to keep your guests coming back for more, and also encourage them to refer your page to their friends and family. Reward your loyal supporters and don’t forget to remind your guests to like and share.

5. If you can’t commit, then don't set it up!
Your Facebook page is a daily commitment, so if you aren’t ready to commit to posting updates and interacting with guests on a daily basis, then don't set up a page.

According to Social Media Examiner, for most business pages, there is a direct correlation between the frequency of posts and the number of followers.  If you strive for one post per day, you’re on track to creating a successful business facebook page.  Watch the activity on your page and post when your followers are most active, which is usually between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. 

If you don’t know what to post, then mix it up with observations (for example, what you see from your room balcony, or the great weather), tips, travel-related topics, breaking news and, open-ended questions to inspire observations and feedback from your followers.   

If you want to be liked, you have to be likeable.  Test various approaches to determine what works best with your fans.  Show your personality, be warm and inviting and have fun with your page.  It will create that sense of community so essential to social networks.

If you would like to learn more about social media, how it can work for your business and for more information about social media monitoring, speak to a marketing consultant from TA Fastrack today.

Where do you stand on advertising?

In recent times I am getting asked this question a lot. Specifically business owners want to know if they should be advertising or cutting back in the light of the current challenging economic conditions.

I think that we should always advertise according to what we can afford to spend, but stopping all advertising because we are panicking about what is happening around us is not really a smart move in my opinion. We all know that it is more important than ever to market and actively work on growing our businesses in tough times. So surely stopping all advertising is not going to help. Think back to my BULLET last week about the Hot Dog stand that sent itself broke after 40 years because the was told to “cut back” on everything.

I am a big fan of the Apple Corporation. Whilst other leading computer companies have been slashing their advertising budget, Apple increased their advertising spend by thirty percent. Their view was that now was the time for them to build their client base by increased advertising especially as their dollar was going further and their competitors were doing nothing. Has it worked? Absolutely. Now the competition has realised what is going on and Microsoft and Dell have ramped up their advertising activity.

Now I know that you may be thinking that how can I compare my small business to Apple but you really can. The exact same principles apply, just on a smaller scale. In fact I encourage every small business owner to check out what the large proactive companies are doing - and follow their lead, at your own scale.

So, to close, I have two key recommendations. Yes - keep advertising. Sure cut it back if you are concerned about your cash flow but whatever you do, don’t stop. Secondly, everyone is negotiable at the moment, especially advertising media - so negotiate and make your dollar work harder for you. This is a great time to get creative, do some clever advertising and attract new customers to your business with some smart advertising. Remember, the actions we take today in our business will pay off tomorrow. Do nothing today - expect nothing tomorrow.

If you would like more business and success tips, or would like more information about TA Fastrack's marketing services or business coaching and consulting services, visit www.tafastrack.com.au or email email@tafastrack.com.au.

What really makes customers grumpy?

The Australian consumer watchdog, CHOICE, has just released a survey detailing exactly what drives customers crazy. The overwhelming winner was hidden costs and I have to say I agree totally. There is nothing worse than being told a price only to find out that there are hidden charges and you have to put your hand in pocket for more money.

The reality is that any business that fails to be completely forthright about how much an item or a service will cost (and this means the full cost), is being misleading. Why do they do it? Because they are looking for an unfair competitive advantage or they are scared that if they give the customer the real cost they won’t make the purchase. Whatever the reason, it is a sure fire way to lose customers and in some instances it is illegal.

CHOICE identified the following specific irritations that will drive customers awa:

• Hidden fees and hidden commissions
• Not including GST in quoted prices (which has been shown to be misleading and deceptive in the Courts)
• Extra charges that were only made obvious after the purchase
• Ongoing costs that were not made clear at the time of purchase
• Costs creep, where costs rise on a project or service but the consumer was not made aware that the costs could rise.

So what is the moral to the story?

Simply make sure that your business discloses the FULL cost of any products or services that you offer in a way that is open and completely clear to your customers. The more upfront you are with your customers the better it will be for your business in the long run and any sales you make will be “clean” sales, which means that the customer won’t come back to complain. They will get what they expect and most importantly what they are paying for.

Integrity is vital for business success. To build a long term, successful business, you need to build trust with your customers and transparency is an essential part of this process.

For business coaching, marketing consulting or other business success tips, visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

If you want referrals you need to let people know EXACTLY what you do and what you WANT.

A while back I moved out of an office where I had run my marketing business for a few years. The day we were physically putting the boxes into the back of the truck, the lady who ran the business in the office next door came over to say goodbye. I saw her every day and we had one of those nice kind of “how are you going?” relationships. She asked me a question as we were saying goodbye - she asked what it was we actually do?

Now this question almost floored me, especially as we were neighbours for so long, but it made me realise that just because I knew what my business does it certainly doesn’t mean that everyone else knows. And after all, it is our job to let them know, it’s not their job to find out.

This concept under pins the entire word of mouth referral process. How can people possibly refer us if they don’t really know what we do? We need to be proactive in telling people (and by people I mean all people including our family, our friends, our suppliers, our neighbours, our existing customers and anyone else who will listen) exactly what it is that our business does. Assuming that the name says it all is really a little risky.

Further to this most businesses change and evolve over time. They develop new products and services, they expand their area of operation, they stop offering certain things - in other words they change. We all need to make sure we keep this information flowing. The more informed, up to date and aware all of the people are who are in our sphere of influence, the more word of mouth referrals we can and will get.

Most importantly of all, we need to spell out what kind of customers we really want. Define the “PERFECT” customer and let our network know that these are the kind of people we are looking for and we would really appreciate their help in referring these specific kinds of people our business.

Being too vague makes it really hard for friends and fans to recommend your business because they don’t really know what you do or what you want.

The secret weapon in the world of business success is communication. We have so many ways to communicate that it can be a little daunting, but if you want to grow your business through word of mouth referrals, you have to become exceptional at communicating and disseminating information to everyone in your ever expanding network.

For assistance with business coaching or business and marketing consulting, call 07 3040 3588 or email email@tafastrack.com.au.

TA Fastrack Makes Online Reputation Monitoring Easier

TA Fastrack today launched to the industry Fastrack Social Monitor, an online monitoring and reputation management tool with the ability to monitor the strength of brands online.

Fastrack Social Monitor can show businesses exactly what is being said about their brand, industry and competitors within social networks and online communities.

‘Thanks to social media, one angry customer can tarnish your brand's reputation on a local or global scale,” said Mr Adrian Caruso, CEO of TA Fastrack. “One negative post to Twitter, Facebook, Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon or to an e-mail list and people far and wide know about that customer's experience,” said Mr Caruso. 

“Readers might chime in with their own stories, potential customers hear the bad buzz. Soon, you've alienated a giant customer base. The most frightening part? Without monitoring your brand online, you may never even know it,” continued Mr Caruso.

With Fastrack Social Monitor travel, tourism and hospitality businesses will now be able to monitor and effectively control their online reputation. “It’s more than just a piece of software! Fastrack Social Monitor with dashboard access will track sentiment, creates a database of key influencers and allows you to keep on top of the buzz with email and RSS alerts,” said Mr. Caruso.

“There is a huge need for this kind of service in the industry right now and we’ve created the perfect tool to be able to deliver Australian-specific, world-wide content or both,” said Mr Caruso.

Fastrack Social Monitor will allow travel and tourism businesses to never miss a conversation about their brand, as it not only monitors the entire travel, tourism and hospitality website spectrum, it also monitors most newspapers, TV, news websites and social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, forums, MySpace, Trip Advisor and much more.

Visit http://www.tafastrack.com/social/monitor/ or call 07 3040 3588 for more information about the Fastrack social monitoring system.

Five Qualities of Top Teams

Over the years, exhaustive research has been done on top teams. There seem to be given characteristics or qualities of peak-performance teams that you can incorporate into your own business.

Here they are:

Shared Goals and Objectives
In a smoothly functioning team, everyone is clear about what the team is expected to accomplish. The goals of the team are shared and discussed by everyone. Each team member gives his or her ideas and input into how the goals and objectives can be best achieved. Each person feels like a part of a larger organization.

Shared Values and Principles
In excellent teams, there is regular discussion about the values, principles, and behaviors that guide the decisions of the team. The leader encourages values such as honesty, openness, punctuality, responsibility for completing assignments, quality.

Shared Plans of Action
In this phase of team building, you go around the table and have each member of the team explain exactly what part of the work he or she is going to accept responsibility for completing. At the end of this discussion, each member knows what every other member is going to be doing and how his or her own work fits in with the work of the team.

Lead the Action
There must always be a clear boss or leader in any organization. Democracy is a fine concept, but it goes only so far in business. Someone must be in command and take charge. And that someone is probably you. On a good team, everyone knows who is in charge. The leader sets an example for the others. The leader becomes the role model.

Continuous Review and Evaluation
In this final phase, the team regularly evaluates its progress from two perspectives. First, is the team getting the results that are expected by its customers or other in the company? In dealing with customers, does the team set up mechanisms to continually ask customers, "how are we doing?"

Bringing the Team Together
One of the most important things you do in building a peak performance organization is to hold regular staff meetings. Bring your people together weekly, at a fixed time, to talk, discuss, catch up on progress, learn how the company is doing, and generally share ideas, opinions, and insights.

Action Exercise
Conduct a values clarification exercise with your entire team. Then mutually agree to live and work by the common values.

For information about business coaching or if you would like to get other business and success tips from TA Fastrack, sign up for our newsletter.

Get your website found with SEO

Many businesses are opting to have a website developed to present their products and services to as wide an audience as possible.

However, having a beautifully designed and presented website does not guarantee an immediate increase of customers begging for your offerings.

The secret is to provide a way that your potential clients can find your website amongst the billions of pages on the internet when they are searching for information when they are considering a project or a purchase.
And of course that secret is the search engines, who, when your potential client types in certain keywords i.e. words that describe your business, display a list of results to the searcher that matches those keywords as closely as possible.

However if you are in the same business as many others, eg: a used car sales business, a workshop, a spare parts house or a marine dealer there may be hundreds of competing businesses who, because they are in the same industry as you, use the same keywords as you do.

This means that all of your competitor's information will be displayed to your prospect as well as yours. Even worse, the number of results displayed at once [on one screen] in most search engine search results is set to 10 by default. This means that your listing may turn up deep into the search engine results. It is a well-known fact that most searchers will not look past page three of the search results; therefore if your listing is displayed after page three there is a good chance that few searchers will ever see it.

There are several ways that you can increase your rankings in the search engines, including Google Adwords, and SEO [search engine optimisation] services. Some SEOs provide a guarantee that your site will be listed in the first one or two pages of Google's search results within six months but they are not shy when it comes to charging for the service. Google Adwords also work but could cost you thousands as you pay for everyone that clicks on your ad in Google's sidebar regardless of the value of the "clicker" to you as a client.

So how do you achieve high rankings - ie: page one in the search engine results without spending a great deal of money.

By taking advantage of the free kicks provided by listing sites on the web, by promotion in Government and Trade association websites, by requesting that your suppliers link to you and by utilising the use of reciprocal links from associates who own websites and who are in the same industry as you but not competitors.

If you would like more information about the TA Fastrack SEO service and how SEO or Adwords can help your business, speak to one of our marketing consultants now on 07 3040 3588.

Get smart!

Creativity is your key to the future. All progress comes about as the result of finding better, faster, cheaper, easier or different ways to do things and this requires the continual honing of your creative thinking skills.

Your Key Job At Work
One of the key functions of the executive is problem solving, which takes up as much as 50 percent of executive time. It can be said with some confidence that your ability to deal with problems creatively and effectively is the key determinant of your success as a manager. It would be hard to imagine an effective executive who could not solve problems and make decisions with a high level of competence.

Step On Your Own Acceleration
I've studied and lectured on creative thinking for years and I've come to the conclusion that there is virtually no problem you cannot solve, no goal you cannot achieve, no obstacle you cannot overcome if you know how to apply the creative powers of your mind, like a laser beam, to cut through every difficulty in your life and your work.

Earn More, Faster
The benefits of functioning with more creativity can be enormous. Each of us wants to earn more money, be promoted faster, and enjoy greater status, prestige and recognition. In most cases however, we can only earn more by producing more or of better quality or cheaper or faster - and this requires doing things differently, using creativity.

Step On Your Own Acceleration
The good news is that creativity is a skill and a talent that can be learned and developed through practice. With this skill, you can dramatically accelerate your personal and professional growth. By sharpening your thinking skills and exercising your natural creative powers, you can multiply the value of your efforts and rapidly increase the quantity and quality of your rewards.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to be more creative.
First, see yourself as a professional problem-solver and look upon every difficulty or challenge as an opportunity to develop your creative powers.

Second, look for problems you can solve and obstacles you can overcome. The more you seek for answers and ideas, the smarter and more creative you become.

Attract and Keep Your Clients Online - write content that is relevant to them

Content is King

It takes more than great pictures to attract and maintain email subscribers. Your content has to planned, written and edited specifically for email delivery and eReading.

You know the old adage: Pictures speak louder than words. Well, this is not always true in the email environment.

According to specialist online research firm Eyetrack, 78% of users look at website text before they look at graphics on the same page.

Stop for a moment and consider your own online behaviour ... I can guarantee you will admit that you go online looking for information and that you scan pages until you find what you want. The web is a jungle and we are all just foraging for what we need!

Writing for an eAudience

So what does all this mean for those of us trying to write for an eAudience?

1. It means that content is king. The world's greatest graphic designer will not save you from the delete button if the content that your reader wants is not front and centre. In fact, overly complex graphics could be a hindrance if your email is slow to download or so large that it crashes your subscribers' email system. Try rebuilding a business relationship after that!
2. Give your audience what they want. Remember, people are scanning for information online and less than 20% of people will read word for word. As you are writing, think less about what you want to say and more about the person who has subscribed to your eNewsletter. Work out what they are looking for and give it to them!
3. Keep it simple. Screen reading is about 25% slower than hard copy, so you need to make your copy easy on the eye and easy on the brain. 50% of your eReaders drop off after 300 words and about 80% by 500 words, so keep your copy short. Use simple sentences and plain language too; would you read Shakespeare off a computer screen?

If you are stuck for content, check with your front line staff. What are they being asked? If it is enough of an issue to bring people to your front counter, or FAQ section, the chances are that it will interest a broader audience.

For the first few issues of your eNewsletter, run your copy by someone who is not involved in the business but is in your target market. Is it readable? Is it interesting? Would they act on the information you have provided? You may not like what you hear, and you may need to rethink your content, but the final product will register more unique opens than your first draft.

For assistance with copywriting or to set up an email marketing system to keep in touch with your customers, speak to TA Fastrack on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au for more details.

The Top 30 New Year’s Resolutions for Business

In general, I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I highly recommend turning many of your resolutions into goals that you can focus on during the entire year. Goal setting is much more focused, deliberate and success-driven, and that’s why I find it more effective (see the links to a series I wrote on goal setting at the end of this post).
But, having said that, resolutions do have their place. While I consider goals to be measurable accomplishments that are frequently complex and made up of many different mini-goals, resolutions are simpler, behavior-driven activities that typically do not require advanced planning. Resolutions are almost mantra-like, in that they are meant to give you motivation and encouragement as you work at bettering yourself.

For example, a business goal may be to increase profit by 5%, and includes a number of actions from attending more networking events, asking for client referrals, and launching a new marketing campaign. A resolution may be something as simple as: I will respond to all client emails. See the difference?

So in that vein, here are 30 of the top business resolutions you can make for 2010.

1. I will be more focused.

2. I will stop procrastinating.

3. I will listen more (and better).

4. I will be willing to get out of my comfort zone.

5. I will do better with managing my business finances.

6. I will work to be more productive.

7. I will not let email rule my day.

8. I will work harder.

9. I will work smarter.

10. I will work less.

11. I will work more.

12. I will communicate better.

13. I will keep an open mind.

14. I will get to know my clients.

15. I will embrace social media.

16. I will start a business blog.

17. I will think positively.

18. I will hold myself accountable.

19. I will back up my data.

20. I will try new marketing activities.

21. I will stop shying away from networking events.

22. I will remember why I love what I do.

23. I will get out of the office.

24. I will provide better customer service.

25. I will follow through.

26. I will keep my desk clean.

27. I will make a plan.

28. I will give back.

29. I will learn something new.

30. I will keep it all in perspective.

While these resolutions are meant to give you focus and motivate you for the New Year, they are too simplified to include measures for your success. But you can create goals out of any of these resolutions that truly resonate with you. It’s simply about staying focused and excited about all you’re able to achieve.

Have you made resolutions for your business for 2010? What tops your list for 2010? Email them to me at adrian@tafastrack.com.au and I will send you a free whitepaper on the Top 5 ‘Must Do’ Sales Strategies for 2010.

Here's to achieving all of your resolutions in 2010.

Adrian Caruso - TA Fastrack