“Most business owners know that a significant percentage of their annual revenue comes from tourists, but I found it staggering that the World Travel and Tourism Council is indicating that travel and tourism generates $8.8 trillion in revenue; and created 319 million jobs globally,” said Colleen DePasquale, President of the Estes Chamber of Commerce. “Granted, Estes Park is a small piece of that global travel pie, but it’s important for our local businesses to know how to maximize their marketing efforts to gain as much as they can in our limited tourist season,” she added.
Here are 5 tips for local small businesses to elevate their marketing:
Know your audience: The cornerstone of effective marketing lies in a deep understanding of the customer base. What do they like to do? How do they find information about Estes Park? Where are they coming from? What frustrates them? How does your business’s unique selling points and core motivations align to make their trip better and easier? Knowing their attitudes and beliefs helps you speak to them in a relatable way that drives action. It doesn’t have to mean spending lots of money on research either. The state, local marketing district, and local organizations maintain regular reports on visitor demographics, booking behaviors, and preferences to craft persona that will help tailor your marketing strategies to meet consumer needs and ensure your marketing and products resonate with them.
Get comfortable with digital: Every business, no matter how small, needs a strong online presence, from an experiential website optimized for mobile users to active engagement on the top social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Utilizing these digital tools enhances visibility, engages potential visitors, and drives sales. Being mobile optimized is key in a tourism-based town when you consider that Google reports more than half of visitors planning their trips and booking during travel on their mobile devices. Websites should be simple, visual, exciting, and easy to navigate on mobile, quickly. Social media should be vibrant, compelling, and behavior-driven. Similarly, every business should take ownership of their Google business listing and update it regularly with hours, responses to reviews, and inviting images. This is the first step toward optimizing the ability for people to find you in searches.
Show and tell: Regularly producing engaging content, whether through video posts on social media or email campaigns, keeps your audience informed and engaged with your business which increases the likelihood that they will visit or order from you. This also boosts your SEO (Google ranking), drawing more traffic to your website. When you consider that Instagram has a billion active monthly users, it underscores the need for every business to have a clear strategy to find and engage with potential customers through compelling content, searchable hashtags, and great reviews.
Embrace the trends: Catering to your audience goes beyond stocking their favorite items. It also mean speaking their language and taking advantage of trends in social media to keep your business top of mind. Trends can include the latest Instagram craze or a focus on current hot topics, that can be logically applied to your business. Incorporating these trends into your marketing efforts can broaden your appeal and set you apart from competitors.
Tap into the power of reviews: The best marketing is word-of-mouth. Every person who has a great experience can tell 10, 100, even 1000 people online and drive business for you, in a second. Review sites like Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are perfect for building up an online presence and reputation (depending upon your type of business). Instagram and Facebook reviews and posts are also amazing behavior drivers. Ask customers to leave positive reviews. Make sure to respond to all reviews – both negative and positive – to acknowledge that you’re listening and grateful for all feedback. Reviews increase consumer confidence in your business and user-generated content can help boost your reputation and website ranking.
“For businesses impacted by the construction, the Chamber is also administering a marketing match grant to support our local businesses in getting the word out and increasing traffic to their locations,” DePasquale added. “If businesses need additional marketing support or research-based information to plan their marketing, we can help connect them with the right resources and experts,” she concluded.
For more information on the marketing match grant, please visit https://esteschamber.org/events/awards-grants/
For more information on resources and marketing support please contact the Chamber directly at director@esteschamber.org
