Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Getting The Word Out About Web Sales

Posted by Anonymous on 5/27/2005 at 7:28 PM ET 125 Points
I am a Director of Web Business for a travel company. We are doing tactical sales promotions, and are advertising this primarily through Google searches, web banner ads, and our own customer email lists.

The target market for these varies week-to-week, and includes business and leisure travelers. The prices are very good, and the product (travel) is essentially multiple destinations in North America, with time limits on purchasing and travel.

I am looking for ideas on how I can rapidly increase awareness through "viral" methods. For instance, how do I get the word out to businesses that aren't in my email database, but who would benefit from a given sale? I need to be able to execute on these ideas quickly.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 5/30/2005 at 11:46 AM Accepted
    Consider on market that is always looking for this: Non-profit, not-for-profit and university/education.

    Every University/college in the country has:
    1) An international student association...these people travel regularly and are well-versed in virally sending info to friends and family. It is easy to e-mail the president of each chapter for each country.
    2) Alumni associations. This group of people are so varied as to create a mini-US Chamber of Commerce in one place. Contact the pres or travel director of the assn
    3) Professors. These people are normally traveling with grant money and have serious stake in saving money...if that's the direction you're heading. Keep in mind that grant money has some restrictions on how it can be used...but they also travel for personal and professional growth reasons.

    All of these groups are more open to e-mail marketing than the average consumer as well as being more open to sharing information.

    Hope this helps.
    Michael
  • Posted on 5/30/2005 at 6:02 PM Accepted
    Rather than using discounts as the reward for referrals, I'd suggest considering some travel-related premiums. For example, you can offer luggage with a suggested retail price of $99 as the reward for 3 referrals. Your cost will be about half of the stated retail.

    Another possibility is offering discounts on travel-related merchandise ... say $20 for each referral. That way if a person wants a $99 item they can get it for $39 if they refer 3 people. Etc.

    People who are already prepared to pay full price for their travel will probably be drawn more by the premium items than by discounting the travel. And you get the benefit of the spread between "retail" and "wholesale." (The value to the customer is greater than your cost, so you benefit by offering that value at a cost below what they perceive it to be worth.)

    The challenge will be finding the right items that appeal to your target audience, but there are companies in the business that will help you test your way to those items. They've gotten pretty good at matching premium items to various target markets.

    Good luck.
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