Tourism Pemberton: Adventure Begins Here. Now On Video!

In July 2010, Tourism Pemberton hired Betsy Linnell Marketing Management (BLMM) to provide Project Management for two exciting projects to market Pemberton & area as a tourism destination and to promote Tourism Pemberton members. These projects included the development of a Promotional Video as well the implementation of a comprehensive Internet Marketing Campaign.

Made possible by funding obtained through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Community Tourism Opportunities (CTO) program and the Pemberton Economic Development Commission, BLMM was challenged to provide the greatest marketing value possible with these funds.

BLMM defined and documented the project objectives, developed a detailed creative brief and RFP documents and managed the project to completion on time and on budget.

Promotional Video Development

Randy Lincks Custom Photography in conjunction with local writer Lisa Richardson and Whistler based editor Darryl Palmer were contracted to write, direct and produce the video portion of the project. This included the development of one 6-minute feature video, one 1-minute summer vignette and one 1-minute winter vignette. Associated with the project Tourism Pemberton developed intro and extro segments for each piece and now has a stock of B-Roll footage to maximize future media opportunities.

These video segments will be used for the ongoing promotion of Pemberton as a tourist destination. They will be used on tourismpembertonbc.ca as well as in the Visitor Info Centre here in Pemberton. Copies will be distributed to our tourism partners and made available to Tourism Pemberton members for additional promotional use. To footage will allow for the maximization of many future promotional and media opportunities.

Internet Marketing Campaign

Custom Fit Communications Group of Pemberton were contracted to manage the Internet marketing portion of the campaign. Targeting late summer and winter visits, the campaign was developed to drive traffic to tourismpembertonbc.com and increase engagement levels through the use of social media. Key components of this campaign included pay per click advertising, ongoing social media activities, link building, content development, data collection and e-mail marketing. Overall, the Internet Marketing campaign resulted in an increase in total website traffic to tourismpembertonbc.com of 32% over the same period last year.

See for yourself why Adventure Begins in Pemberton.

Feature Video: “The Ultimate Destination”

Vignette: Pemberton Summer Magic

Vignette: Pemberton Winter Thrills

Hope to see you here soon!

Choose Squamish: A new brand and website for Realtor Lisa Ames

A move to a new town means change all around. For Realtor Lisa Ames, that meant evolving her brand.

When Pemberton resident and Realtor Lisa Ames decided to move her family and business to Squamish, she contracted Betsy Linnell Marketing Management to help her evolve her brand and launch her business in this new market. The project included brand strategy development, logo development and website design.

As a successful Realtor, Lisa has lots to offer her clients. Having lived and worked in the Sea to Sky corridor for over 24 years, she has a demonstrated commitment to the region, experience, a wealth of knowledge and professional resources in the Sea to Sky community and a proven track record of delivering results to her clients. The challenge was how to best leverage all these strengths and deliver a benefit to her new clients. "Choose Squamish. Choose Lisa Ames." is the result.

The logo, developed in conjunction with Sumire Design works towards building brand awareness for Lisa in the Squamish Market. The tag line demonstrates her choice to make Squamish her home too.

ChooseSquamish.com was the ideal url to communicate Lisa’s new brand. Designed by Sumire Design, the new website design incorporates brand elements with new graphic standards. The resulting website is strong, professional and easy for potential clients to navigate.

Holiday Happiness from Betsy Linnell Marketing Management

Free digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Is social buying a good fit for your business?

Social buying is pretty hot right now. Sign up for 'Groupon' or other social buying sites and you will be bombarded with screaming deals on goods and services in your geographic area. Sounds like a great way to boost business. It is right for yours? It can be - if you use it wisely based on your strategic direction and tactical objectives.

Social buying is based on volume. Businesses provide a substantial discount on a product or service to members of the network. The 'offer' is based on achieving a minimum number of purchasers. When the minimum is met, the offer is "ON". From a revenue perspective, the assumption made is that additional volume generated will exceed the cost of the discount provided. That depends on your strategic direction and your tactical objectives.

Some reasons to participate include:
- Attract new customers
- Generate trial of a new product / service
- Increase traffic to your location (awareness, exposure to your other products and services)
- Move inventory
- Fill white space (generate business during typically slower times)

Sounds great right? Now we just have to develop an offer that will deliver on your objectives - here lies the challenge. Fortunately, you have lots of variables to play with to ensure that you are not simply discounting sales to your existing customer base. Product, time of day, location, and valid dates are just some of the tools that you have to craft an offer that meets your needs.

When used strategically, social buying is a really exciting new marketing tool that can help to boost business. If you are thinking this might be right for your business, give me a call. I would love to work with you to ensure your business gets the boost you want.

Leveraging your Fan Base

I frequently advise my small business clients to start blogging. It’s a great way to add content to your website and provide additional information to support your brand position and key messaging. Blog posts also tend to be a bit less formal so they have a different feel. A voice that is consistent with your brand can go a long way towards deepening the reader’s connection with your brand / product / service.

More often than not, clients are reluctant to blog. At first, I interpreted this as a fear of technology. That’s not what it is – it’s time. Small business owners are already doing a little bit of everything and don’t want to take on one more thing. That is where leveraging your fan base comes in.

As consumers, we already know that a 3^rd party product endorsement is seen as more authentic than messaging direct from a particular brand. So, why not leverage the power of your fan base to help develop content for your website? Invite your customers to contribute!

Whistler Blackcomb is in the process of doing just that. In a recent ad in Pique Newsmagazine http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_Classifieds&content=careers+1745, Whistler Blackcomb advertised “Bloggers Wanted”. In exchange for weekly blog posts about their Whistler Blackcomb experiences, successful bloggers will receive a season pass, VIP access to special events and WB swag. What a great way to engage your fans, develop website content and benefit from 3^rd party endorsements!

The goal is to deepen the relationship that customers have with your brand. Putting your customers to work and rewarding them for their efforts is a great way for small businesses to benefit from social media AND save time.

Marketing Tips from the Yellow Toilet.

There is a yellow toilet on my front lawn! I didn't put it there, I didn't ask for it, yet I am about to pay to have it taken away. I'm also glad to do it!

I LOVE this campaign. A local group of Pemberton women who call themselves "The Good, The Bad and The Bubbly" are participating in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life. They have set an aggressive goal to raise $20,000 and this is one of the ways they are doing it. Here's how it works: The yellow toilet arrives on your lawn with an note telling you how you can help to "Flush Away Cancer". For a minimum donation of $25, the toilet can be removed and you get to decide where it is delivered next.

This is a great fundraising initiative. It is also a great marketing tool in action. The yellow toilet is raising awareness, involving community, demonstrating support AND generating revenue. In practical terms, we can learn a lot from the yellow toilet. The team has created a need for their toilet removal service and have priced it well to appeal to their target market. They have built a compelling story that their target market can relate to and they have made the campaign fun so that people want to be involved.

There is a lot to be said for being true to your brand, meeting the needs of your market, keeping the message simple and having fun. What is your "yellow toilet" going to be?

Cutting Through the Idea Clutter

Betsy Linnell Marketing Management is pleased to announce that Betsy will be participating as a "storyteller" in a really interesting workshop that is being offered next Tuesday May 4th by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce and the Women's Enterprise Centre.

"Path Clearing: Cutting through the Idea Clutter" is about helping you determine your most direct path to achieving the business results you want. The session is being facilitated by Heather Martin of the Women's Enterprise Centre and will include "stories" and real life examples from several local business women including myself. Also participating are Kendra Mazzei of Burnt Stew Computer Solutions and Connie Millard of Millard Consulting Group. We had an opportunity to speak with Heather earlier this week and discuss the content to be covered and I'm really excited about it. You will leave with some practical ideas as well as a few different strategic tools to help you put the theory into practice. This is a great opportunity to learn from each other. I hope you'll join me!

For more information and to register click HERE.