Welcome to Gather!
Attract & delight more visitors to North Yorkshire - what to do now
You'll receive some simple, easy-to-action marketing tips, and prompts for collaborative social media.
Make sure you action each of the tips below as they appear. They'll be replaced by new tips every week or so - once they're gone, they're gone!
These tips are designed to help you attract longer-staying, higher-spending visitors during uncertain times, without heavy discounting.
You need to implement all of them for best results - the impact is cumulative.
Scroll down for the social media post ideas
Marketing Manifesto
The marketing tips below are based on these key principles:
1. Visitors need reasons to visit. Just saying here we are doesn't work.
2. Everyone is busy. Yet we can magically conjure up time for the things we enjoy or to spend time with loved ones. Show how visitors can enjoy time with you and you'll encourage longer stays and dwell time.
3. Plenty of people still have money. They'll spend money on things they enjoy or to spend time with loved ones.
4. Most people see something good and think I'll go one day. Specific actions are needed to turn this into sounds great. I'll book/visit now so I don't miss out.
5. Last minute bookings are common. Uncertainty makes them more likely. Get advance bookings by giving reasons to advance-plan. Make last-minute gaps an unusual opportunity.
6. You'll always have competitors. You've got 3 options: 1. Discount so heavily visitors can't resist (until you go out of business) 2. Spend lots of time/money on marketing, shouting into the void for attention. 3. Do something to stand out and be better, different or special. 3 is the most effective, easiest and cheapest option.
7. Discounts and tactical pricing are two different things. Get your prices right and you won't need to discount. Show value for money to replace discounts.
8. Value for money and value for time are essential. You probably already offer one or more. You just need to show it!
Hello, I'm Susan.
Please note: I'm currently offering this support without any funding, so I'm donating my time and paying all the costs myself.
I'm sorry I don't really have enough voluntary time left to answer individual queries but you can get extra one-to-one support via a Power Hour.
Marketing tips - do them now!
Stop visitors from procrastinating
If you've noticed that people are liking your social media posts, looking at your website and asking questions but not booking or visiting, procrastination may be the issue.
We all procrastinate over decisions that matter. Think about it - some one has a couple of precious days' holiday. We're asking them to spend money, spend their free time, travel - it's all a leap of faith if they've never visited before. This is an emotional decision. When one person decides to visit, they're often making the decision on behalf of several others.
They need to know it's going to as relaxing as they hope, that the children/friends will enjoy it. That the place will live up to the photos. That it will be value for money...
If they have a lot of choice, they will fear making the right choice so they postpone decisions.
Clear photos, strong descriptions, good FAQ responses, reassurance and reviews can all help.
Think:
What do potential visitors need to know?
What might they be concerned about? (I've just booked a weekend in the Lake District with my husband and a dog. I looked at masses of sites and didn't find a single one where there was any info about a garden being secure or where any accommodation had walks straight out the door - that's an example of the next-level concerns people have but don't actually ask)
What would make them feel like their time/money was going to be spent well.
Now consider:
What information, words, images can you use to answer these questions. Where, when?
Show how you offer value for money
Start a list of all the ways you offer great value for money.
Don't just think about them. Write them down and keep adding to them.
Don't worry if some sound silly. Just add them to the list for now.
Example: bed and breakfast
You could include the quality, quantity, range of your breakfast and perhaps the names of your suppliers. Perhaps your breakfasts are so good, visitors barely need lunch?
Example: an activity provider
One of the ways you offer value is through your expertise. What do you know about? How did you learn? How many years' experience do you have?
Example: holiday cottage
You may offer great value because of your location. How many great walks are there? Where do they go and what can people see? Which wonderful attractions are you near?
1. List as many ways as possible that you offer great value for money. Keep adding more whenever you think of them.
2. Try to see your business through the eyes of your happiest visitor. You might get some extra ideas by reading your reviews.
3. How could you incorporate this info into your website?
4. Could you write individual social posts about the different ways you offer good value?
Commit right now: think through all the ways you can convey your value for money. Make a list, and do them all. You can't do too much of this!
Are you teaching visitors to expect discounts?
When we market our businesses - through social media, word of mouth, mailings, websites, advertising etc - we convey messages designed to attract the attention of potential visitors. We give them information, and hopefully inspiration.
That information essentially 'teaches' potential visitors about our businesses.
Usually it's positive, and we tell visitors what we/they want to know.
Sometimes we convey information that contradicts what we actually want to tell visitors.
I've recently had lots of emails from business owners saying that more and more visitors are looking for discounts. There are many reasons for this:
state of the economy - we can't change this
uncertainty - this is almost as bad as the state of the economy - but we can actually help with this (I'll explain in a future blog)
other platforms like Booking.con promoting discounts - there are things you can do about that (I'll explain in a future course)
we've taught visitors to expect discounts - and we don't always realise we're doing it!
Are you teaching visitors to expect discounts? Here's a very quick test:
1. Go to your website. Do words like offer, special offers, discounts, deals, last-minute availability appear anywhere on your home page or other prominent pages?
2. When you ask someone to sign up to your newsletter or mailing list, do you mention special offers, discounts, deals etc?
3. Go to your social media and scroll through your last 20 posts. Do any of those words appear anywhere in those posts?
If they do, then you're actively offering discounts and teaching visitors to expect special offers...
Tough love: I've looked at a lot of websites recently and 90% of the people complaining that visitors expect too many discounts are doing at least one of these things. Enter your text here.
Why should anyone visit your business?
Does this sum up your marketing?
Here's my business. Here's a photo of it. Please visit.
This is what I see on many websites, social media posts and mailings. There's nothing really wrong with this approach but there is a reason why it doesn't always work.
You're leaving it to the potential visitor to: look at what you're saying, maybe remember it for later, consider why your business might be worth a visit.
Most of us are too tired and busy to do all that.
At the moment, many tourism businesses are struggling for exactly this reason.
It isn't just because people don't have money in their pocket. They don't know why they should spend it. And they're tired, busy and overwhelmed. It's like there's a collective inertia.
So you need to do something very concrete: give them clear reasons to visit your business. Make it easier for them to make a decision.
If I show you a cardboard box and say here is a cardboard box, do you want it for x price, you're likely to have these reactions:
why would I pay that for a cardboard box?
what do I want with a cardboard box?
that looks like a nice cardboard box but why should I want to buy it?
don't know why they're telling me about their cardboard box. I'm too busy, tired to pay attention to things like that.
Here's my business. Here's a photo. Please visit is a similar type of marketing.
Let's make it easier for visitors to make a decision to come to your business.
Think of all the reasons anyone might visit. Don't just think them. Write them down.
This is something you can use again and again. You can mention each reason on your website (in different ways), write a social media post about each reason.
When someone reads a reason that chimes with them, they pay attention. They get interested. It gets easier for them to imagine being in your business. Promotion becomes easier. They also start to think when can I do that?, not why would I?
Some reasons can be so compelling, the price even becomes less important.
Some examples:
to recreate lovely family memories from childhood, or create new memories to look back on
to enjoy a challenge
to spend time with friends and stop putting off fun times until you've done all the boring stuff
to really relax close to nature
to take photos and make your friends jealous
to enjoy being away from home so you don't need to look at all the jobs that need doing in the house
When you read these examples, were there any that made you smile? Or made you pay a little more attention?
Chances are, they were the ones that sounded a bit less obvious and more human?
They're the kind of reasons you should aim for.
Social media prompts
Join in this easy collaborative social media activity! See below for the prompts for the next four weeks
How does it work?
Every week for the next couple of months, I'll suggest a different social media prompt. It's up to you whether you use it on facebook, instagram, tiktok etc. You can choose when to use it, and whether to repeat it during that week. You can incorporate it however you want. It's just a prompt to get you started.
Why does it work?
If many of us use similar themes at the same time, the impact is likely to be stronger. Most people need to read something 8-15 times to take proper notice of it. If we all write about the same topic (in our own way so it's authentic and original) during that week, the chances of persuading visitors is higher.
Who are we appealing to?
For this activity, we're appealing to nostalgic, loyal visitors who already love Yorkshire.
We know that there's a lot of loyalty for North Yorkshire. Research shows that many previous visitors say they'd love to return and that they are very willing to recommend the area to others - we just need to remind them! These social media posts are designed to encourage them to add comments (other visitors will see these as endorsements and recommendations) and share with others. This is known as social proof and is very powerful.
What do you need to do?
Look at the social media prompt for that week (pls don't use the one before or after - the power comes from using the same one). Write one or more social media posts during that time-frame on that prompt. Do this in your own style, with your own photo or video, and make sure you tailor the content to your area and your business, being as specific as possible.
Where-ever you can, tag in other local businesses - this is collaborative activity! Please do tag me in on @Yorkshiretreasures on facebook
Here are the next few social media prompts:
This week: rain-can't ruin activities - what suggestions can you make to help visitors enjoy their visitors, regardless of the weather. Here's a sample post- if you share it, remember to add a comment about somewhere in your direct area, or add an extra idea
Next week: (starting 15th June): long summer evenings, stunning sunsets and rewarding sunrises - ideas for ways to enjoy all these.