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They have spent $xx,xxx on traditional media: TV commercials.
I am looking to give this individual some comparisons. Specifically: 1 keyword searcher=How many TV viewers? (100,000 viewers=6 keyword searches?)
How should their budget breakdown be? 50% TV, 40% Internet, 10% Print?
I realize this is somewhat subjective, but nonetheless it would be important to give rough estimate.
Also: Does anyone have any stats for the tourism market on the Internet vs. traditional media?
While I don't have a specific answer for you, I can tell you from some of the Traditional/Internet campaigns I've seen recently for a state tourism board, that traditional advertising companies don't get it - the power of utilizing your Internet dollars differently.
Look at it this way, no matter what amount of cash you spend on TV, you can't exactly get an accurate number of people that respond to it, so you can only make estimates on your cost of acquistion per customer. With SEO & internet marketing, it's a little clearer and certainly more cost effective. Good SEO can bring in infinite amounts of targeted keyword searches in the tourism industry, so it is important to focus efforts there, so it should be a significant portion of the budget, and increased as results are shown over time, and possibly cutting back on other mediums to compensate.
I was told they just recieved a survey...from a consultant. And they don't have any interest in targeting any keywords. They are going to spend $20,000 to shoot some footage for a TV commercial to air in another city to the north. $20,000 is to shoot the footage. Not to produce it or air it!
Instead of looking at some of the keyword stats I gave her...she said they have to use their budget on what the consultants said in their report. What did the consultants say? "People come to the town to shop." Well DUH! Shopping is not the product this city has. It has another product...but the consultants ignored it...and so they aren't pursuing it.
Yes, I'm pretty ticked off. I got nowhere.
/rant
So when are you going to make your own tourist site and sell advertising to local businesses? :)
Definitely a possibility. I also thought about driving 40 miles north and approaching a much smaller city.
It's sort of a 'Beverly Hillbillies' thing...in the opening...where Jed misses some varmint...and strikes oil? Well I've discovered an 'oil' like product that is a natural resource.
Unfortunately it can only benefit the entire city...not just a webmaster. Anyway....the leaders in this city doesn't care about the 'oil'. It could be a MAJOR tourist attraction for our area, but nobody here...'cept me and about 300 other people know about it.
I am just as frustrated as the head of our State agency. I spoke with him about it, HE gets it...but he says the local leaders just don't get it. They want to focus on SHOPPING! YEEHA!
<<camera fades in on our city...crickets chirping...
Announcer: I know you live about 600 miles away, but come to city 'X' to shop!
Why? Because people shop here! Nevermind that the prices aren't lower. Nevermind that you can get the same product in your own city. Shop in City 'X'!
...crickets chirping....Anyone? Shopping? Anyone?...crickets chirping....(a picture of $20,000+ being flushed down the toilet)...>>
You know, you might just try to take another swing at them and say if they can just give you one tenth of their TV budget, to test some of the value of optimizing and/or bidding for keywords, and show them the results, then you could probably get more budget out of them to make it work even better.
Also, good quality film production is, by its nature, extremely expensive, and $20,000 for good commercial quality footage isn't much at all. A dozen or so years ago I was hired to shoot the opening shot of an Alaska tourism TV spot, and the cost of the shoot came to $25,000 for a three-second shot of a train in some scenery, and I wasn't all that well paid.
Ideally, the web and traditional marketing should work together. I get the feeling that clients are finally beginning to catch on about the web... but then every day something happens that makes me think they don't have a clue. ;)
The thought of pitching a smaller city isn't a bad idea. Small and medium sized businesses appear to be getting more serious about SEO than big corporations, and this may be the case with cities too.
The other problem is that the 'consultants' said: "Here's our survey of why people come here...spend money on that"... And so they will.
I am frustrated by that mentality. It focuses too much on the past and existing revenue...and forbids any new streams of revenue. But they are bound by this 'consultant report'. Based on that theory...New York would still be promoting the World Trade Center.. (Not being insensitive..just pointing out flaws in the study.)
I've emailed a town 40 miles ot the North...we'll see what what happens.
I read on the Internet that certain CVB's that have finally understood the value of SEM and SEO have reaped the rewards.
(As a parting shot...this month's Google update puts me in front of one our city's CVB sites...hehe.)
Save yourself from further frustration, Scott. The problem is that media buys on TV and name brand print magazines enhance their prestige within their own circles. Legislators, funding resources, and constituents see those ads. They also do NOT want to be associated with any campaign that has real accountability.
They want me to come up and give a presentation to their Chamber of Commerce AND their City Council.
Not just 'open arms'...but an actual invititation!
RCJORDAN....I studied your older thread for quite awhile. Great stuff there!
It seems my frustration had a LITTLE impact.
I got form/e-mail from an employee of the CVB...they were looking for some info on the resource I suggested.
I'm number 1 for that resource...well DUH!
Talk about about the left-hand not knowing what the right-hand is doing!
They didn't even realize they had e-mailed the guy who had just left their building...
Ah...I have decided on an acronym for CVB's:
<edit> I don't think I can write it here:) </edit>
The local CVB had the consultant return for a more in-depth look at our city.
The result? THE CITY SHOULD LOOK TO E-MARKETING!
Unbelievable!
When I go there and tell them they should do it...they say they can't do it. Now the consultant says 'they should' and now they ARE going to do it.
How frustrating!
The bright spot is that I am probably going to be first in line to do the work.
I SOOOOO tempted to send an "I told you so" message...but what's the point?
