Archive for the ‘Main’ category

Grow locally before growing globally

January 8th, 2010

To often social media is looked at as solely as marketing and business development tool for growing your exposure among those who have never, ever, heard of a product. It is seen as an avenue that will cut down the all the noise and bring in the new.

The same ideas have been applied to meetings, and tradeshows with many organizations these tools in an effort to boost the attendance from new prospects.

However, if that is all Social Media is being used for then a major benefit is being missed.

The greatest power of Social Media technologies lies in the ability to increase your current communities interaction with your product and service. It is a tool for increasing that engagement and increasing incremental spend and use. If you were to grow the value of each of your current customers by 10%, what would that mean for your business and event?


Social Media has the ability to grow your current customers infatuation with your product by providing information that is valuable. The more valuable they find your information, the more likely they are to use your product or service. And all events are essentially a product and a service. Get it?

As you increase their engagement, you are working to elevate their level of fandom. The more they love you, and see value in your product, the more likely there are to recommend you to their friends, family, co-workers and strangers in the line at the grocery store. Word of Mouth is still the best and cheapest for of marketing available and this is an incredible tool for harnessing that form of marketing.

Work to engage your core community: Give these users and fans information of value and you will see a return. Spend your time thinking of how you can get your database to subscribe to your blog and then link to you through Facebook and Twitter. Think about what information would provide the biggest benefit, or even better, ask your customers. Make them feel as if they are a part of the process and let them know how much they mean to you.

Create a plan: The most under-utilized strategy of a business launching a Social Media Strategy is the initial announcement to their current database. An announcement that explains what the current customers can expect from the interaction and invites them to become a part of your success. It’s a great time to ask for feedback and let your core group of consumers know that you welcome their ideas and input.

Spend some time before you launch this and identify the core topics you are going to be discussing. Make this a focus point of this announcement and make sure it is clear what you can be counted on to share. This will help you more easily create content and will help your customer understand when they should turn to you.

Create Measurement: As your new Social Media Community grows, you need to know how and why. You need to understand what is influencing the growth so that you can be flexible and course correct along the way. Identify your top users and work with them to become even greater fans. Be sure and thank all of the community for their input and do so often.

It’s not an easy road and it will not yield immediate results. if you do see them…..count your blessings and be thankful. You are one of the lucky few. Social Media is not a quick fix, it’s a long term strategy and a commitment to your customers to make their lives better and easier. Approach it with a full heart and a focus on giving back and you will increase your business.

What do you think?


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Posted in Event Management, Main, social media

Building interest in your event with Content Marketing

December 10th, 2009

Traditional marketing is crazy aggressive when you think about it. Rather than focusing on information that enriches the lives of others, marketers generally choose methods that interrupt your flow of thought and aim to imprint their message on your psyche. Doesn’t sound like fun to me.

In contrast, you have the idea of content marketing.

Let’ start with the basics….what exactly is Content marketing. I consider it a term that widely describes all marketing genre’s, formats and modalities that involve sharing content as a means of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Or, any form of marketing in which you decide to use valuable information as a means of gaining fans and attendee’s.

As you embrace content marketing as a means of growing interest in you event, you need to realize that you are essentially shifting your focus to delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to definite and prospective attendees. It’s important to understand this point because it can radically change how you approach your communication with your attendees and vendors.

Think about it for a minute……go ahead……take a full minute. I’ll wait.

If you are focused on sharing information, content that is valuable to your attendees, exciting, engaging and different…..where will you get it from? What does it look like? How will you determine what information is valuable?

These questions are only beginning. From there you begin to question every piece of promotional material with a question of value. You begin to ask what the attendee is getting from that piece. How is it making their experience better?

And those are great questions that radically change how you and your attendees interact.

The benefit with content marketing is rooted in the benefits of retaining reader attention, improving loyalty and building excitement. All through the act of engagement.

The idea of sharing your content as a means of persuading decision-making is what drives event professionals to look for information that was deemed “too valuable” to share for free and……well……share it for free. It’s the act of sharing that builds trust.

So let’s discuss the nuts and bolts.

What does content Marketing look like for the event professional.

There are a multitude of mediums and within each medium you are likely to be sharing the same content. Remember though that your audience interacts with each in a different way and expects a different style of communication from each medium.

For example:

  • Social Media: Brilliant tools from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn all allow you to broadcast your message quickly and easily. The tone is often more casual and information is shared in short bursts. Your content should be short or focused on links to websites or blogs.
  • E-newsletters: These have developed a reputation for being a gateway resource to deeper information that often lives on a website. Use your newsletters to share links and teaser info that provides enough knowledge to make them want more.
  • PDF Downloads and White papers: Good for explaining benefits and in depth concepts that may be of added value. The content within these should be very thorough and focused on solving problems.
  • Video: Wonderful for building engagement. Get your speakers or leaders to record short videos before an event and for growing engagement after an event.
  • Webinars: Like video, a webinar is a great way to engage with your audience. A webinar provides an emotional connection to the information we might normally deliver in the written word with a greater ability to share images and tutorials. You can add music, movement and the sound of a human voice. Be sure that you stay focused on concise presentation so that your viewers don’t drift.

The purpose of the information shared is not to spout the virtues of your  own products or services, but to inform your customers and prospects about key industry issues, trends and exciting announcements. And yes………sometimes these bursts of information do involve your products.

The major motivation of a content marketer is the belief that educating your customer results in recognition as a thought leader and industry expert.

Information builds Trust.

What do you think?

Photo courtesy: http://www.urban-ninja.com.za

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Posted in Main

New Technology changing the Face to Face Meeting

December 1st, 2009

face to face meeting

One of the great joys of our business is the development of new technologies that transform and enhance the landscape of our industry. The development of FaceTime was one such technology.

From it’s inception for our own use at the Elite Meetings Alliance through the most recent IT&ME, we have seen it change the way that suppliers and buyers interact. It has provided a space for more open communication and more effective use of time. The key qualities that technology has promised.

What spurred this post though was recent letter we received praising the system.

“We had a great experience with using the Elite Meetings International (EMI) FaceTime appointment scheduling technology at the 2009 Motivation Show and plan to continue its use in the 2010 Hosted Buyer Program next October”, said Pete Erickson, Managing Director of The Motivation Show (IT&ME).

“As we expand our Hosted Buyer Program in 2010, it’s critical that we provide a streamlined technology tool for helping buyers and exhibitors manage their appointments at showtime. FaceTime makes the process of requesting, confirming and managing appointments in real time as simple as possible. And the additional features for printing schedules and receiving alerts makes FaceTime the most effective appointment planning tool available today.”

Like a proud parent we shared the praise among the team and in the process discovered a pretty interesting fact.

We were helping to build the case for Face to Face meetings by providing a technology that makes them more effective. By enhancing the process by which people meet and helping them to be better prepared, we were justifying and fortifying the belief that it is important to meet with those you do business with.

In todays economy, everyone should be tighter with their dollars and more focused on results. We must also not lose sight that business is personal and that trust is still a foundation to successful partnerships.

By embracing technologies that help us effectively manage our time and resources, we are proactively taking charge of the situation, building a better network and defining the future of meetings and events.

Thanks for letting us be a part of that.


If you want to learn more about Elite Meetings, SpeedRFP, FaceTime and all that we offer, check out the Elite Meetings website at www.elitemeetings.com.

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Posted in Event Management, Main, New Technology, social media

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5 Reasons every hotel should adopt FourSquare

November 30th, 2009

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When asked about FourSquare, Dennis Crowley (a founding member), described it by saying “What we wanted to do is turn life into a video game. You should be rewarded for going out more times than your friends, and hanging out with new people and going to new restaurants and going to new bars–just experiencing things that you wouldn’t normally do.”

Having just read that statement, you’re probably now wondering. “Why should I adopt a social video game to promote my hotel and restaurant?”.

I say, why not?

If the medium is attracting new users, promoting venues, providing additional exposure, free and gaining momentum….why wouldn’t you want to to be involved.


Four Square is one of the newest and fastest growing Social Networks available today. It was recently featured on the front page of the New York Times, but my favorite article came from the New York Observer back in March. Both provide excellent background on the technology and concept.

It is at once a city guide for explorers and a game that drives locals to fight for their favorite establishments. However, it is the adoption by travelers who are looking for insights that should peak your interest.

It is described as a social experiment, grass roots marketing and real life video game to name a few descriptives. But remains to be largely an untapped market by the hospitality industry…outside of the bar scene. Funnily, it greatest success will most likely lie in our willingness to adopt it as a tool for promotion.

Which is why I’d like to present five reasons you should adopt a FourSquare strategy today.

  • It’s easy to set up – this may seem simple, but in age of overcomplicated technology, simplicity is the key to success. Log on to FourSquare, set up an account, search for your hotel/restaurants and add them if they are not there. For Bonus points, add some fun tips that make you sound exciting and engaging!

  • Supports Special Offers vs. Advertising - Once you have your hotel/restaurants loaded, contact FourSquare about setting up promotions. In todays world of non stop advertising, the vast majority of us are turned off by traditional messages. FourSquare battles that with promotions that are directed at those who check in to locations in your area,Potentially drawing business away from your competitors.

  • Supports a sense of Fanaticism – A key aspect of FourSquare is the ability to own a location you frequent often. From a business traveller to a meeting planner, or a barfly to a restauranteur, all have the ability to become the mayor of their favorite location by checking in there more often than the next. A simple search of Twitter will show the growing fanaticism people are feeling over their mayorship.

  • Crosses multiple Social Platforms easily - This is not only important for time, but also exposure and search-ability. FourSquare links with Twitter and Facebook, prompting users to update their networks with their latest activity. This provides maximum exposure for your hotel and amenities.

  • it’s interactive - By offering promotions, sharing tips and recommendations you are creating a conversation with your most loyal guests who are using the platform. You are also opening yourself to a new selection of potential customers. I regularly use the program when I travel to source restaurants, pubs and hotels. Since the program links to Yelp and Google maps, I can also look outside of the tips users have left and get additional information. FourSquare targets locations within a close proximity and gives me a better insight into what the location offers. If someone is proud enough to own it….well, thats gotta say somethin!

As technology and social mediums continue to grow and evolve it will remain important for the hospitality industry to look for ways to adopt new technologies. We should not be standing by and waiting for them to come to us. The survivors will discover the ways to help the technology adapt to us.

What do you think?

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Posted in Main, New Technology, social media

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Travel Innovators excited by SpeedRFP

November 19th, 2009

_MG_0166PhoCusWrightBloggerPodiumsTeilnehmer_MED_000

Such an amazing week at The PhoCusWright Conference! We met some amazing new friends and got some fantastic feedback on SpeedRFP.

Here’s a quick re-cap!

Our buddy Stephen Joyce (@stephenjoyce) wrote a blog post for “Tnooz” and picked SpeedRFP as his sleeper product of the conference. He was quite impressed by SpeedRFP’s ability to create such a common sense solution for an overly complex and tedious task. Check it out here.

Scot Gillespie writes a blog on Travel sourcing and procurement. He also found SpeedRFp to be an exciting concept and you can read his thoughts here.

Twitter was a major conduit for information and perspective at The PhoCusWright Conference as well. We discovered some great new sources ourselves in the travel industry. When you have a moment we highly suggest you check out the following innovators. They are consistently discussing cutting edge changes and have some great products themselves.

Bloggers

@genequinn

@kevinlukemay

@etravelproject

@torrenegra


Travel Professionals

@lynnerosie

@carolmusy

@ValynP

@GoApril


Travel Products

@UpTake

@OpenTravel

@zipsetgo

@SEKeener

Lastly, while we did not take home coveted trophy this year…..we will be back!

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PhoCusWright Conference 2009 – Travel Innovation Summit

November 18th, 2009

We really didn’t know what to expect when we entered the Travel Innovation Summit this year. Would we be chosen as one of the 32 presenters that are able to demonstrate their latest technologies? If so, how could we possibly pack everything we had to say into only 10 minutes of a presentation?

We were about to find out. Word was delivered that we were chosen to present and we immediately began brainstorming. We filled whiteboard after whiteboard and had meeting after meeting about how to convey exactly what we were doing and why it was such a revolutionary idea for the meeting planners and hotel group sales people.

We’re happy to share the final presentation with you. We’re anxiously awaiting the results of the judging to find out who the finalists are for the Innovation of the Year award.

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Why introduce a new RFP system?

November 8th, 2009

Without a doubt, this is the question we hear the most. Why would you tackle an industry that already has heavy hitters delivering a widely used product?

Essentially, we can do it better!

Current online RFP systems have not proven popular with meeting professionals. The largest hotel chains receive only 20-30% of their RFPs through online forms, meaning both planners and hotels continue to deal with unnecessary inconvenience, administrative cost, and inefficiencies. we are developing SpeedRFP to bring as many of these professionals as possible into a community of users that benefit from quicker, easier, and more cost-effective transactions.

We developed SpeedRFP to overcome the tremendous barriers to adoption of online RFPs. It dramatically reduces the amount of data rekeying required of both buyer and seller. It offers a form that adheres to APEX’s recognized industry standard. It increases the quality of RFPs and the subsequent communications by making it easy to exchange complete event information.

Additionally, SpeedRFP is the first and only online Request For Proposal (RFP) tool that is completely portable—if you’re planning an event, meeting or incentive trip, it lets you take your RFPs with you anywhere on the web, and submit an RFP on any site that accepts SpeedRFP, in as little as 3 clicks.

The home site, SpeedRFP.com, also allows users to submit an RFP to any hotel in the world, whether or not that hotel’s website is SpeedRFP enabled. Making it incredibly easy to adopt and manage.

Because SpeedRFP is free and brand-neutral, its unique combination of features and benefits makes SpeedRFP an RFP solution with the potential to generate the benefits of adoption and efficiency expected of a true industry-wide standard.

Bottom line is, we can do it better!

So, check out SpeedRFP.com and sign up today. Help us beta test the system as it comes online and let us know how we can improve. We want to hear your feedback and we want to build this together!

SpeedRFP in a few words…

SpeedRFP is the only online Request For Proposal (RFP) tool that is completely portable – it permits planners to take meeting, event and incentive RFPs anywhere on the web, and submit an RFP on any SpeedRFP-enabled site, with as few as 3 clicks.

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