A presentation to the Wisconsin Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus by Bob Hoot and Bill Kennedy on May 17, 2013. All CVBs have website, a social media presence and most produce a visitors guide. This presentation asks if the efforts are effective and applies some basic metrics and evaluations to the efforts. All the media channels must be utilizes to their advantage and coordinated for maximum impact.

1. Decisions, Decisions,
Decisions…
By Bob Hoot and Bill Kennedy

2. Your choice today.
 Do nothing.
 Take action.

4. The Wisconsin Experience
Wisconsin scores a 90 or better
with 48% of visitors compared
to:

Minnesota 45%

Illinois 37%

Michigan 37%

5. Wisconsin’s Stake
$10.4 billion in tourism
184,000 tourism-
related jobs

6. Comparing States
State by State Comparison 2011
- Economic Impact of Tourism
Michigan
• $14.8 billion
• 142,600 jobs
Illinois
• $27.1 billion
• 288,700 jobs
Minnesota
• $10.3 billion
• 135,300 jobs
Wisconsin
• $9.5 billion
• 109,400 jobs
Iowa
• $6.2 billion
• 65,000 jobs
We have got to do better.

7. The Plan
Improve your presence in three most
important media in trip planning

Visitors Guides

Word of Mouth/Social Media

The Web

8. Three Most Influential Media
Objectives
• Lure visitors
• Help plan trip
• Inform visitors once
they arrive
3. Visitors Guides

9. Visitors Guides
38%
38% of visitors cited
Travel Guides as an
important resource
when obtaining
information about
an upcoming trip.

10. Visitors Guides
77%
77% said they enjoy
the smell and touch of
print. Printed guides as
objects created an
experience that digital
cannot replicate.

11. Visitors Guides
80%
An affinity printed
guides with a baby
boomer population
that currently accounts
for roughly 80% of
domestic travel means
there is an enduring
value in offering
printed travel guides.

12. Visitors Guides
Managing Your Guide
• Turn a Profit (or at least break even)
• Advertising 40-50%. Editorial content 50-60%
= Profitability
• Advertising rate model must be correct
• Reverse Engineering
o Advertising/Editorial Ratio
o Proper Budget
o Design
o Content

13. Visitors Guides
Content and Design
• Content must have value for the visitor
• Value for the visitor = Advertiser value
• Good design enhances value
o Reader entry points
o Large photos
o Intriguing headlines
o Photo cutlines
o Sidebars
o Bullet copy

14. Visitor’s Guides
Bad Example Good Example

15. Visitors Guide E-Pubs
E-Publication
Powerful use of Web application
Only 8-15% of print circulation.
• New York Times digital subscriptions
out number their print subscriptions
and Wall Street Journal and LA time
are almost there too.
How to do better?
• Promote the guide through
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
and print advertising.
• Must be on home page
with direct link to e-pub

16. E-Publications
E-Publication
Opportunities
•Run additional editorial in your
e-publication. With printing costs
at a premium, this is an
opportunity to publish
information to niche audiences
and non-essential listings.
•Update the e-publication
quarterly or monthly. Keep the
guide fresh. Promote this feature
on your website and in the print
guide.

17. Three Most Influential Media
2. Word of Mouth (61%)
Every CVB has a Facebook presence, today’s “word-of-mouth”. We need
to find better ways to use it and develop a voice. Run more contests.

18. The Conversation Equation
Original Content
Conversation
Reviews
The New WOM

19. Three Most Influential Media
1. The Web (93%)
93% of visitors say the web is the most influential
medium they use in doing travel research.

20. Pure Genius
• Great Creative
• Great Strategy
• Great Execution
So who is using the web well?
They are not only on the web, they are better on the
web in areas of site integrity, navigation, and results.

21. Pure Execution
Pure Michigan
Scores
86
on their
Internet
Marketing

22. Pure Execution
Most destinations have good
looking websites, but...
A pretty website is not always an
effective website.
Pure Michigan is MORE than just
a pretty website.

23. Web Marketing Scores
CVB Score
Minocqua- Woodruff- Arbor Vitae 24
Manitowoc- Two
Rivers
32
Sheboygan 32
Escape to Wisconsin 34
Prairie du Chien 39
Real Racine 41
Eagle River 41
Oconomowoc 42
Tomah 42
CVB Score
Platteville 42
Stevens Point Area 43
Elkhorn 43
West Bend 45
Sun Prairie 45
Janesville 46
Waukesha 46
Green Bay 49
Hayward 49
Waupaca 49
Here is a list of how a third party marketing program rates each of the
sites of the Wisconsin CVB’s. 100 is optimal, Pure Michigan is 86, and
target is 70.

24. Web Marketing Scores
CVB Score
Door County 85
Bayfield 79
Eau Claire 79
Elkhart Lake 78
Oshkosh 72
Middleton 69
Wisconsin Rapids
Area
67
La Crosse Area 65
Ashland 63
CVB Score
Kenosha Area 63
Milwaukee 63
Marshfield 59
Wisconsin Dells 59
Beloit 53
Brookfield 52
Fond du Lac 52
Lake Geneva 52
Greater Madison 52
Fox Cities 50
Wausau/Central
Wisconsin
50

25. Pure Execution
Pure Michigan
has 10
programming
errors. It's not
perfect but
better than
35 Wisconsin
CVB sites.

26. Error-Prone Wisconsin
341 > 10
CVB Errors
Elkhorn 341
West Bend 208
Stevens Point Area 205
Elkhart Lake 185
Beloit 174
Hayward 158
Milwaukee 139
Escape to Wisconsin 127
Wausau/ Central Wisconsin 121
CVB Errors
Fox Cities 120
Green Bay 107
Wisconsin Dells 95
Manitowoc- Two Rivers 80
Platteville 75
Door County 74
Fond du Lac 65
Greater Madison 64
Janesville 56
La Crosse Area 55
The World Wide Web consortium has established standards in Web
programming. They score a site based on how many programming errors it
contains. Some of the errors attributed here are minor, like a typo on a letter.
Other could cause search engine to leave your site and hurt your rankings.

27. Better Programming
CVB Errors
Tomah 1
Middleton 5
Kenosha Area 9
Eau Claire 14
Marshfield 14
Real Racine 15
Waupaca 15
Bayfield 17
Wisconsin Rapids Area 19
Ashland 24
CVB Errors
Brookfield 25
Prairie du Chien 34
Waukesha 37
Eagle River 37
Minocqua- Woodruff-
Arbor Vitae
39
Sheboygan 41
Oconomowoc 42
Oshkosh 45
Sun Prairie 47
Lake Geneva 53

28. Immobile Wisconsin
Only 7 CVB sites use responsive
Web design. 34 ignored it.
Responsive design is the easier
way to leverage mobile.

29. Pure Failure
Only 13 Wisconsin
CVB sites have
something as
simple as alt tags.
26 of the sites audited do not.
Alt tags are an opportunity for search engines to
“read” a picture on your site. Done correctly an alt tag
can help your site show up in search.

30. Analytics
Are you measuring your
online performance?
Many sites have analytics. It is in using and understanding the data that
will allow you to efficiently allocate your resources to maximize your visitor
counts. The key to successful marketing is embracing the data that will
help you improve your efforts.

31. Paid Search
• 15 Running Paid Search Campaigns
• 24 are doing NOTHING to generate
traffic to their websites
No website stands alone. Even if you have an error-free design and
know everything about your traffic, every site will benefit from promotion.
Whether it is from including your website on everything you produce or
through search engine marketing, you can grow your traffic with a fully
integrated approach. We can even help you write a JEM grant.

32. No site stands alone.

33. Your choice today.
 Do nothing.
 Take action.

34. How do you get started?
2. Get an audit for $99.
1. Make a decision to
change. (No matter how
painful.)
3. Grab your piece of
the tourism pie.
We can help you find out what’s right
and what needs fixing on your
marketing presence for a pittance.