R2: Responsible for Results

Enhanced Incentives - Michael Weaver, SMITH

Discounting lodging as the basic incentive for opting-in to a visitor promotion is like the 18th-century practice of bleeding the patient to make him well.  We’d like to describe it better than that not only because it’s…indelicate, but also because there still is a place for judicious discounts in destination incentives.  Our point is that it cannot be the steady diet.

What the Direct Mailers Knew

When we’re breaking new ground in the digital media environment for tourism and destination marketing, we are sometimes brought back to things the old-time experts in direct mail discovered.  They found that the two most powerful variables in the response to an initiative were (1) the list and (2) the incentive.  Since we are usually building up the quality of our visitor databases today – validating them with email addresses and segmenting them by interest – it’s the incentive that becomes the ground on which we can make the greatest gains.

Why Discounts Are Not Enough

Discounts, especially lodging ones, not only apply more pressure on one of the cornerstones of our industry, but they also blend into the woodwork in the online media environment.  Everybody’s doing them.  Successful destinations in our region are bringing more to the table.

Convenience, Consideration and Concept

Offering a vacation incentive that gets click-through means touching the prospect with an idea they cannot ignore.  So putting the things that interest them into an easy package, showing an understanding of what the prospective visitor likes, and then giving them an insight that matches your destination to their passion uniquely – that’s the kind of incentive that is taking the pressure off discounts today.

Some Examples

During a unique, three-day festival, one DMO added more attractions for each additional night a visitor might stay.  Each of the three packages was named and themed to connect with the visitors’ interests.  Special tours, personal guidance and VIP treatment at certain festival events were added for each additional night the visitors stayed.  Even little amenities, like corsages for dinner guests, counted as considerate touches that did a big job of connecting without cutting big into revenue.

Passports, field guides, treasure hunts, yardage booklets – all these are costumes that marketers have used to wrap up.  They’ve been one of the highest scoring incentives.  They contain, but do not depend on, considerate discounts at retailers, attractions, services and so forth.  Much of their value, though, is the insight they show into the visitors’ interest and the guidance they give on how to enjoy their visit even more.

Where Partners Come Together

DMOs who work on assembling packages of attractions, values and amenities, rather than relying on lodging discounts to get their prospects to opt-in, have found a huge additional payoff.  Their constituents become partners and their partners become more involved – and more satisfied.  The effort it takes to line-up thoughtful themes, relevant experiences and related values as opt-in incentives brings with it a tighter-knit, more cooperative destination. 

Putting incentives together is like a gymnasium for strengthening the cooperation within a destination.  Resorts who reach out to their surrounding communities for the same purpose uncover the same additional benefit.  The effort pays off all around.