Evaluating Effectiveness
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE
Strategy & timeframe is fully outlined below. The activity will focus on driving business into the region for visitation during the following dates:
o August to October and December up to Xmas, first two weeks of January o Highlight September deals many extended through January exclusive of
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
• Examples include trade show schedule, media schedule, social media
calendar, PR calendar, Co-op marketing calendar, etc.
See below highlights of outline activity & calendar indicating timeframe:
DATE EVENT/ ACTIVITY LOCATION/ Market
Oct IGTM - Global Golf Trade Show Italy – for global reach
Nov WTM London
Dec VIP Fam Invitational with Virgin Atlantic Paradise Coast
Jan Visit USA Meet the Media & Awards London
March V Florida co-hosted Tour Operator, Media event France
March Social Media Advertising and Competition UK / Ire /France
April VIP Co-Hosted Media - Wedding /Honeymoon Market UK/Ireland
May Visit Florida Tour Operator & Media Luncheon & Meeting UK/ Ireland
May/June IPW Orlando
June IAGTO N. American Convention (NAC) USA
July V. USA Independence Ball London
July Sports activity UK
Year USA Discovery Program with Brand USA UK/ Ireland
Year Media calls & outreach meetings
UK/Ireland/France/ Scandinavia
Year Promotions major brand UK/ Ireland
Year Memberships: Visit USA UK/ Ireland / France UK/ Ireland/ France
Year Membership IAGTO
All Markets – Global reach Event Oct N D J F M A M J J A S Trade Shows & Events Training Events & Brand USA Discovery Program PR & Media
Events PR & Media Social Media Campaign Social Media Co-op Marketing Co-op Adv Visit USA Memberships
B: Public Relations
OBJECTIVES
• To generate exposure of Florida’s Paradise Coast in the right target media – online, print and broadcast & social media
• To increase awareness of and engagement with Florida’s Paradise Coast region
• To increase visitation and length of stay to Naples, Marco Island & Everglades.
Campaign measurements:
PR (To be measured on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis):
• Coverage generated (reach)
• Coverage generated (value)
• Press/Blogger trips
• Key message evaluation
• Hitting key media targets
Social Media (To be measured on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis):
o Increase in number of page likes o Increase in number of comments o Increase in fan interaction o Increase in number of shares
o Increase in number of followers o Increase in number of retweets
STRATEGIES
Florida’s Paradise Coast Key Messaging for PR and Social Media 2014/15
Florida’s Paradise Coast key assets include, but are not limited to the list as above for our overall activity (page 13). These factors will become central to all our activity forming the basis for our key messaging for the destination:
Through media relations we can build brand reputation for Paradise Coast in all target media areas. Our written and verbal communication will capture the spirit of the destination and ensure that Florida’s Paradise Coast holiday product is not only noticed and heard, but discussed, experienced, shared and ultimately visited.
National press, trade publications, broadcast media, lifestyle, cultural and consumer, key regional newspapers and online and social will all be part of our media targeting ensuring we are communicating the right messages to the right target groups.
Strategy
Our PR activity would explore all media channels including:
• An innovative new generation and press release programme, to ensure a steady stream of angles to the best media
• An active media relations campaign, securing maximum coverage for Paradise Coast within round up features, travel news updates, photo stories
• Media meetings, to build relationships with key media and educate them on the Paradise Coast offering
• An active trade media campaign, to educate and inspire agents and tour operators
• A visiting journalist programme, including individual visits and potentially a group trip
• Arrange interviews when appropriate e.g. at WTM
• Create a quarterly newsletter to keep the tour operators/ associations and airlines informed about any new developments. This can also be tailored to send out to consumers and media.
• Update the live database of all relevant contacts within the travel industry and media As a matter of course, we ensure:
• proactive interaction with all relevant media • dissemination of tailored press information • online press office monitoring
• monitoring of trade features
• sell-in exclusives/angles on new initiatives • raise share of voice in round-ups/features
• meet and build strong relationships with top media • Trade specific PR
Consumer and media trends
Being aware of consumer behaviour and media trends that have been identified for 2013/14 so that we can ensure we are targeting areas that are front of mind with media, of relevance to consumers and are potential areas of growth within the UK and Irish markets. As a summary these include:
• Adventure Tourism
• Off-Season Travel
• Multi-generational travel
• Sports Tourism
• Voluntourism/learn a skill e.g.: cooking / golf
• Luxury travel
•
Social Media
Social media is already part of our overall marketing strategy and we use this as an additional tool to reach trade & consumers together with traditional above & below the line campaigns. Our aim with social media is to choose the correct social media interface for the specific messages & the target audience.
We will continue to create competitions in order to engage with our target consumers both trace & consumer - as the influence of social media on holiday decision making growing and replacing word of mouth.
It is interesting to note with Social Media – consumers are now a sound means of communicating a message – see below the worldwide reach of social media:
Objectives:
• Create relevant, timely and engaging content
• Use inspiring imagery and video to reach a wide audience and create affiliation with our region
• Grow the number of fans and people interacting with Paradise Coast through social media
• Share partner content and interact with industry partners to create conversation and give wider reach to our messages.
To add information to the Paradise Coast Twitter accounts on a weekly basis, find and retweet items of interest or value in the general feed, reply to tweets with full responses and engage new people to follow back and spend time in polite two-way chit chat. To always use the hashtag #florida so that anybody searching Florida can find Florida’s Paradise Coast.
To add information to the FaceBook page weekly, post releases on this page using some of the images from the online image bank to drive traffic to paradisecoast.co.uk and check in on birthdays on the home page, respond to any comments on the wall, post a status message, something engaging or interesting, comment on at least a few people’s status messages or updates, share interesting updates, leave new comments on other group or fan pages.
Strategy:
In order to direct our efforts appropriately rather than diluting them across many channels, our focus this year will be on both FaceBook and Twitter – two of the key channels with large user numbers in the UK/Irish markets. We will engage with our audiences as frequently as possible throughout the week – aiming for a post every other day to keep audiences interested.
Launch a series of FaceBook adverts in order to grow the fan level to a critical mass. Once we have reached a reasonable number of fans on the page we plan to launch a competition in co-operation with our industry partners to encourage more followers and generate interaction and engagement. It could be a stipulation of the competition that the winner agrees to allow us to use some of the photos they take on their trip or write a blog about their time, or similar.
BUDGET
• See attached UK & Ireland Office Event/Activity & Travel Budget
Summary
The above plan will achieve the core objective of the Naples, Marco Island & Everglades UK & Ireland office which is to drive immediate business and new & incremental bookings to Florida’s Paradise Coast.