Welcome to Tactical Thinking Regular thoughts on web marketing & winter tourism from Tactic Group

A recent report published by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) contains a number of interesting messages.

Most importantly for our industry, the most popular products/services bought online by European shoppers were travel tickets (54%) and holidays (42%).

With a huge 80% of European internet users claiming to have made a purchase online these figures make a pretty strong business case for investing in online marketing.

Another key finding of the report shows how web users are researching their purchases more. Read the rest of this entry »

The year was 1993 and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) released a new web browser called Mosaic. This wasn’t exactly front-page news to many, but in certain geeky circles it was a watershed moment.

The breakthrough of Mosaic was its ability to display images embedded on pages (rather than in a separate window) - paving the way for the web to metamorphasise from a black-and-white, Times New Roman world into the colourful, visually-rich medium it is today.

Fast-forward 15 years—through the rise of e-commerce, dot-com boom and bust, the blogoshpere, web 2.0 and the social-web—and good imagery is one of the most important aspects of success on the web.

If you are on the web to do business high-quality, relevant photography goes a long way to promote your products or services to potential customers. Along with killer content it can persuade and influence, turning visitors into buyers.

However, one of the trickiest (and often most time consuming) decisions marketers have to make when producing a new publication, whether it be print or web based, is the sourcing and selecting of photographic material. Of course, this becomes even more problematic when it’s a specific ‘niche’ that you’re promoting.

Not that winter tourism can be described as ‘niche’, but the particular image your business is looking to portray within this industry may be just that.

Finding appropriate shots is the first and, in most cases, the hardest step. There’s just so many considerations; quality, file size, colour scheme, cost, legalities of use, the list goes on.

Many of our readers will have come across at least one of these problems before. So we’ve decided it time the Tactical Thinking team bring you a series on how to source, select and utilise photographic images. To kick it off, this first post discusses the different methods of sourcing photographs and the pros and cons of each. Read the rest of this entry »

A fun little link for today. The guys and girls at Netlife Research in Oslo have released this year’s Bad Usability Calendar.

For the last three years they have produced these fantastic calendars; with each month humorously illustrating a usability faux pas to avoid.

The 2008 calendar has a focus on those ‘web 2.0 for the sake of it’ annoyances and is very good. 12 new examples of how not to build your site.

It’s available as a PDF in various sizes and languages and should be on the wall of every web design office. Enjoy…

Just a quick heads-up to our readers… Our Facebook page went live at the weekend. It is a little corner of the ‘social-web’ we have reserved for discussions around our humble blog.

There we will be discussing some of the topics we cover here and other general aspects of the blog itself. We have surveys and vox-pops in the pipeline, and there’s talk of video screencasts in the future.

The group is designed to be interactive and to add another level to the Tactical Thinking experience, so get involved to make the most of it! Read the rest of this entry »

The Chinese aren’t generally known for their snow sports passion. However, with a 70% growth recently projected through a nation wide survey, published online by Mu Xuequan of China View, there’s a certain knock-on effect to be seen in the global winter tourism industry.

China already equates for a large percentage of overseas visitors within the Japanese Ski Resorts. And it seems that booking online is becoming much more widespread. Read the rest of this entry »

Rising temperatures? Thinking about alternative target markets? Then adapt your web site.

With global warming being such a hot topic lately, I thought it time to jump on the bandwagon and take a look at how our somewhat desultory climate is effecting the favourite Tactic Group topic: web marketing for winter tourism. Read the rest of this entry »

As the old proverb goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but in the world of successful websites this only holds true if someone can find it and see it.

When it comes to adding content to your website imagery is an invaluable tool for creating a visual impact, setting the theme of your site (and your company) or showing off your high-quality products. However, all of that is only possible once someone has found your site and decided to pay it a visit.

As Keith discussed in our last SEO feature one of the keys to creating a successful website is making sure it is easy for search engines to understand and describe to the audience. In essence, creating a user-experience that says the right things to your customers but in a way that also talks to the search engines, which in turn will bring those customers to you.

So what part do images play in talking to search engines and getting traffic to your site? Well, only a supporting role it has to be said, but here is an explanation of how they can play that role well. Read the rest of this entry »

… a magazine feature article from our resident writer Keith Stubbs.

Keith’s work in snow sports seems to take him all over the world – lucky him. This article, written by Keith for Whitelines Snowboard Magazine, explores international backcountry/off-piste culture and how it differs from country to country.

You can read the intro to the story here: Whitelines Dec ‘07. But if you want to read the full four-page article, you’ll have to buy the mag.

Ever wondered why it feels good to write bullet points in sets of three? Two just doesn’t seem worthwhile, whereas four can feel a little excessive.

Brian Clark at Copyblogger explains How To Use The ‘Rule Of Three’ To Create Engaging Content. In this rather compelling post Brian describes why the human brain is drawn towards three-part structures. Read the rest of this entry »

• Is your web site reaching its intended audience?
• Is it ‘findable’ through search engines?
• Is it really promoting your business?

This post is an overall description of what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) actually is and why it is so crucial to businesses within the winter tourism industry. Read the rest of this entry »