| Launch Pad: Results-Driven On-Line Vacation Package DiMario & Associates Teams with Award Vacations to Create and Launch Results-Driven On-Line Vacation Packaging for DMOs Research tells us that over 70% of consumers are going to the internet to shop and buy their travel. Will you be on the sidelines or at the front door to greet them? This three step program is designed to help the DMO create new, cost-effective portals for consumers, improve marketing opportunities generate new incremental business and produce measurable results. Step 1: Exploratory Work Interviews will be conducted with all those in the DMO who will be engaged directly or indirectly in creating, managing, supporting and marketing the vacation packaging program. The information collected lays the groundwork for working with the DMO team through the Product Development and Coaching steps of the program. Step 2: Vacation Packaging Development This step in the program focuses DMO attention on developing their best and highest performing package opportunities. In addition, strategies and tactics for selling and marketing the packages, metrics for measuring performance and positioning package concepts to the marketing partners, funding sources, the Board and others to whom the DMO is responsible, will emerge. Step 3: Coaching the DMO and Marketing Partners to Vacation Packaging Success Your greatest and most valuable resource, your marketing partners, will now be invited to explore and participate in the DMO’s vacation packaging program. Presented the next day, the DMO will make the case for on-line Vacation Packaging by proposing a powerful combination: compelling research, exciting package concepts, a first-rate delivery system, Awards Vacations, and an overview of the DMO’s plans for marketing and promotion. Conclusion A collection of packages, complete with marketing strategies and tactics, will be identified; vendor benefits, logistics, delivery and fulfillment; a synopsis of all meetings and conclusions will be created and transmitted within three days. |
| Brand Tune-Up Your destination or City adopted an official Brand. Now what? Consider this: Whether your Brand emerged from a local effort, an Advertising Agency or a community branding company, your Brand is, and always will be, more than just a new logo and strapline that you use in advertisements and on banners. For your Brand to take root and flourish in your community and with your target customers, your Brand must be completely integrated into the fabric and daily working lives of those engaged in delivering the Brand Promise. Your Brand must define you. Your Brand must live in the visitor or customer experience. Your Brand must be a way of doing business. After seeing cities and destinations struggle to launch and sustain their brands, I created the Brand Tune-Up to coach lead organizations and stakeholders through the rewarding process of taking their Brand from concept to reality, from a logo and strapline to a way of doing business, from a Plan to a Promise. If you think your Brand has failed to effectively launch, take root or flourish, or you think the Brand may be under performing or underutilized, the Brand Tune-Up is your best and most affordable solution to help you integrate or energize your Brand or get it back on track. Use the Brand Tune-Up to:
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| Convention Sales Tune-Up Every destination is under pressure to produce more room nights for their destination. How do you know when you have hit the threshold? Is your destination changing? Are you confident that your convention sales productivity is all it could be? Do you wonder if your sales managers are using their time effectively, their resources efficiently and their skills wisely? What new or improved internal and external strategies and tactics might deliver an improved result? This three day program explores these questions and more. While each program contains some standard components and best practices applicable to all destination selling, each program is customized to meet the needs and expectations of the destination and its unique facility and product configuration, political, cultural, environmental and geographic complexities. Step 1: Exploratory Work Interviews will be conducted with all those in the DMO who are engaged directly or indirectly with the conduct, execution and marketing of the convention sales and work and work habits, processes and protocols will be assessed and analyzed for compatibility with goals. Step 2: Convention Sales Development Information collected will be evaluated and formatted to guide the sales team through a group development exercise designed to re-charge the sales batteries, re-tool the sales arsenal and identify new and innovative tactical advantages. Step 3: Convention Sales Process, Policies and Protocols In this segment of the program, the CVB’s sales operation will be evaluated for best practices and a scope of recommendations will be offered. Conclusion At the conclusion of the three day Tune-Up program, the CVB will have a fresh perspective on their destination, their competition and their sales capabilities. The Tune-Up will identify operational and strategic areas requiring attention or re-tooling, identify strategic and tactical advantages and make recommendations for policies and procedures to improve performance and accountability. |
| Breaking Out from the “Shadow” Program Summary Destinations trying to distinguish themselves from the “shadow” of a larger city, an urban area or a better known destination are forced to confront special challenges. Sometimes those challenges can seem overwhelming. Or sometimes, those challenges become the platform for breaking out and breaking in. Whatever your motivations or goals, this program is designed to help the DMO operating in the “shadow” to identify its own unique strengths and purpose and put them to work for the destination. Conducted by a veteran of selling and marketing “shadow” cities – Oakland, Tucson, Long Beach and Arlington – this workshop, or individual DMO exercise, focuses on how to recognize and take advantage of areas of strength, points of differentiation and competitor vulnerabilities while identifying the most productive and effective marketing opportunities available to the destination. The workshop or individual exercise covers:
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