Mark spoke at the event last year, which attracted more than 300 businesses from across the region. Next February he will be covering “Encouraging repeat bookers, creating advocates and building your brand for 2024″.

The event is for all types of tourism and hospitality business, with topical updates, news, ideas and insights and each day will have a different theme:

6 February – Tourism priorities, excellence, accessibility and sustainability
7 February – Marketing, digital, social media and AI

You can join Mark on day two of the conference (7^th February 2024) at Westpoint Arena.

Find out more and book here: https://www.westcountrytourismconference.org.uk/

The post MiHi Mark to speak at Westcountry Tourism Conference appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Our Managing Director Mark Worden said “We’re delighted to be able to continue our support for these awards, which shine a light on those leading the way in the tourism and hospitality marketplace. Having been involved with the awards for so many years, we know that the bar is set incredibly high; anyone who wins an award on the night deserves all of the recognition and praise they receive and are instrumental in making the South West such an attractive destination for those not only in the UK, but all over the world!”

We will be sponsoring the Visitor Information category, which fits well with our own work within the industry; we are proud to say that seven of the region’s most significant destinations now use MiHi as their web development agency.

Winners will be announced on the 16th November. Good luck to everyone involved in this year’s Devon Tourism Awards.

The post MiHi Digital continues support for the Devon Tourism Awards appeared first on MiHiDigital.

The MiHi team recently helped Great Eckworthy to launch a website just as stylish as their luxury holiday cottages.

When the new owners of Great Eckworthy moved down to this area of Devon, they knew they wanted to work with an agency who understood the tourism industry like the back of their hand. In other words, Mihi were the perfect fit! With no existing website, they needed a team to create something sleek and sophisticated from scratch.

And the mission was a success, don’t you think?

You can view their website here: https://greateckworthy.com/

The post New website launched for Great Eckworthy appeared first on MiHiDigital.

So, if you’re wondering if you’re on trend, behind or perhaps even a little ahead of the curve, here are our Managing Director’s thoughts on how the South West Tourism Sector has been shaping up in the second quarter of this year…

When are we now comparing to?

You’ll be familiar with the saying you want to be comparing ‘apples with apples’ or ‘oranges with oranges’. It’s certainly no different with website data; you want to be comparing like for like, season with season, year with year. However, Covid has obviously made that very difficult; if you compare 2021 with 2020, you’ll likely be filled with a warm fuzzy feeling. Compare 2019 with 2020 and you’re likely to be brought out in lockdown sweats.

But when should you be comparing to? Up until the start of this year, I had been a strong advocate of comparing your data back to 2019. It was the last year of ‘normality’ and a decent gauge of where you stood against that stasis. However, far too much water is now under the bridge, so it’s time to move that comparison forward and reflect on where you stand against the same period last year.

Although there are of course variances to take into consideration, we can factor those into our own thoughts and feelings on overall performance.

Let’s take a look at the average performance against last year….

Bookings are still being made late

I highlighted at the start of the year that people were making booking decisions a lot closer to the date of arrival. This trend has continued throughout the second quarter of the year, with those looking forward in their booking calendars still seeing gaps where they’d usually not. But, when looking back, thinking to themselves that performance on the whole has certainly not been as bad as they would have anticipated.

Late bookings are an obvious breeding ground for uncertainty and nervousness. However, with website traffic starting to rally, my belief is that bookings should pick up from here, although they will be made later, even as we head into the school summer holidays in some cases (read on for more on that!).

The exception to any late booking rule is repeat bookers; they will always book earlier and more regularly, so if you aren’t already putting in place methods to woo people that have already been with you, then now is the time to get moving.

Your cash flow will look better as will your booking calendar.

Website traffic has strengthened through May

The first four months of the year represented a 10 – 20% drop in traffic for most websites when compared to last year. That kind of makes sense; they’re booking later, so they won’t be looking earlier!

However, May was the first month that we saw most sites rally above their 2022 traffic levels; sometimes only marginally but some are up by 10 – 15%. These are certainly encouraging signs for those still looking to fill the months ahead and do buck the trend of lower traffic often seen on bank holidays (if you’ve forgotten, May was rammed full of them!).

Further evidence of the late booking culture is the level of traffic seen during school holidays; this is riding higher than usual and does suggest that some are looking for a holiday during the actual period of the school holiday. Very last minute indeed.

The July and August divide

Funny one this; if I tell you that people are booking later, then logic would suggest that July is booked before August. Not the case for many; several of our clients are busier in August than they are in July. If I cast the data net wider, that’s not necessarily uncommon and we’ve often seen a trend of August booking before July in the past.

However, if you’re reading this and thinking you’re the opposite, then you’re also not alone! Several of our other clients are seeing strong July performance with a more hollow August.

The only common denominator here is that there are still gaps in these school summer holiday months when there are usually not. Remember though, later bookings suggest that not all is lost here.

Deals aren’t gaining traction

We’ve seen a poor response to deals and offers. Why might that be? It’s important to remember that a deal or special offer is there to nudge someone over the line; it won’t change their mind completely. What I mean by this is that if someone is wanting to stay during July, when they can get time off work or it’s during school holidays, offering them a discount for June is not going to work. Having an offer that makes your price competitive for when they are staying will.

But what I would say there is that that is more about price than the offer itself. We’re undoubtedly in a strange pricing stage; we had Covid and the resulting period where prices went up purely because demand was so high. Since then, the input costs for you as a business have soared, so the temptation is to now rise again. That’s understandable but getting your pricing right now will mean you’ll gain more than any deal or special offer you have to resort to down the line.

Our overall feeling?

Reasonably optimistic. We’ve had a slow start to the year and all indicators are suggesting that the late booking trend will continue into the busiest part of the year. The growth in traffic during May and into June gives definite hope that demand is picking back up (although there is still too much in the way of supply on the market), so getting your pricing and proposition right now will stand you in good stead for what’s to come.

If you’re a business in the tourism industry that needs help from experts in the field, then get in touch with the team. 

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q2 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Because we work with more than 100 accommodation and hospitality providers in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, as well as some of the major destinations, we’re fortunate to have a front row seat to overall trends in the industry in this part of the world is seeing. 

Here’s what we’ve noticed….

A drop in early traffic levels during the year

Many sites within the South West Tourism Industry have seen year-on-year traffic for Q1 drop by somewhere between 5 – 25%.

There are two core reasons for this:

• January of last year was at the back end of the post-Covid traffic surge of 2021 (brought about by a lack of international travel and people seeking their first opportunity to get out after lockdowns). This means that figures were artificially higher last year, and you would expect to have some drop off this year.

• However, there has been a noticeable drop in demand since last year, which has been exacerbated by people booking closer and closer to the date of their arrival. This means, as an example, that traffic that would commonly be booking for the summer may currently be booking for Easter. As a result of that summer booking traffic levels (which are often higher) are being pushed to later in the year.

In terms of good news, the majority of the 5 – 25% drop is usually found in January, with February and March traffic levels rallying against and sometimes above last year’s numbers.

My overall feeling is a lot more positive now than it was at the start of the year.

Uncertainty leads to a delay in decision making and bookings 

We’ve mentioned that people are booking closer and closer to the time of arrival, but why are they doing that? As humans we like certainty, and many people need it when planning. Over recent months we’ve faced what seemed like a long winter, economic difficulties, a cost of living crisis, a war in Europe….the list goes on and on….

All those factors bring uncertainty and that in turn delays decision making. For you, it means their booking comes into your booking engine closer to when they’ll be joining you. That in turn brings you uncertainty, as you look at your calendar and feel that it’s not as full as it usually would be by now 

My view on this is that bookings will come, but they will come later; I’ve every expectation that if your marketing is right, booking revenue this year shouldn’t be dropping by any large amount.

The importance of repeat trade

There’s one thing that trumps the trend above (of people booking later) and that is the beauty of repeat guests; they book earlier, they come more often and they’ll also tell people about you too! 

There’s never been a more important time to be on your game when it comes to getting people back to your property than now; if you’re not doing it then you’re going to be paying more for new guests (see my next point) and you’re going to have the stress of them booking later. 

Levels of supply are still high 

Another factor affecting the market is the level of supply. During the Covid period, and just after, the number of cottages on the market through platforms such as Airbnb soared. That wasn’t a problem when supply was also soaring and there was a limited amount of international travel. 

However, there has been a drop in demand and because supply is still high in South West Tourism, it means that demand is spread across a wider range of options. Just like spreading jam on a loaf of toast rather than a slice, it means that booking coverage is being stretched and effective marketing to a defined audience is becoming more important. If you don’t market, you’re likely to find yourself often being the ones with the gap.

My summary: 

• Traffic to sites was down in January but has begun to rally.
• Levels of supply are still very high, and demand has dropped slightly.
• People are generally booking later.
• A focus on repeat trade can insulate cottage owners from market fluctuations.

if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q1 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

If you’re creating content sporadically, not only is this taking your time, but you’re probably seeing a few more typos than you’d like and maybe even a change in tone across your platforms which ultimately isn’t the best look for your business. So, planning ahead and creating a social media calendar would be a much better use of your time as well as giving you the opportunity to proof your posts before those blasted keyboard warriors pick up on every typo or inaccuracy in the book.

What the heck is a social media calendar?

By creating a social media calendar, you’ll be able to plan your posts, manage whole campaigns and give yourself some sort of structure for creating content that week, or that month if you’re feeling brave! It’s also a good place to find any gaps in your media library that might need filling.

Depending on what floats your boat you could be setting up your calendar in a spreadsheet or in Google Calendar or some sort of over-expensive social media management tool. But our favourite is the Meta Planner because it gets the job done and even better, it’s free!

So, where to start when creating your social media calendar?

A good place is to take a proper look through your current social media profiles. See what kind of content worked before (and what didn’t) then have a good nosey at some of your competitors to see what they’re up to because odds are, you can use their ideas for some inspiration.

Next, you need to think about what social media platforms you want to focus on, do you have a photogenic, hands-on business that would work perfectly on Instagram and Facebook? Or are you more of a B2B organisation that would have value in Twitter and LinkedIn? Remember, you can start small and build up to more as you learn more about your audience and customers.

What should you be including in your calendar?

Well, this totally depends on what your business needs for example a small business might need a few details and a picture whereas a big organisation may need full tracking links budgets and management approval. but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s likely that you’ll just need the basics like:

·      The platform you’re posting to

·      The date and time you’re posting

·      Your caption

·      Any media – images or videos (or a link to where they’re stored)

·      Or just a link to an already published post or webpage.

If you wanted to go into more detail, you could label what your posts are, remembering the social media rule of thirds:

·      1/3 of your content should be relevant news and tips that are beneficial for your followers.

·      1/3 of your content should be promoting your product or service.

·      1/3 of your content should be interacting with others and be personal.

Now fill that calendar with some crackin’ ideas!

Start with noting your ideas for each day and build those into captions, then plan how you’re going to create the media for your posts.

Take note, it’s always a good idea to proof your calendar with another member of your team too, just remember to schedule your posts in when they’re ready!

And that’s it, we make it sound so simple right? As with everything social media, the more you do, the more you learn about your audience and the easier it will be to get that spot-on content in your calendar!

If you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow on social media, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Top Tips for Creating Your Social Media Calendar appeared first on MiHiDigital.

We know it has its downsides from definite limitations when it comes to categorising your business to the fact that anyone anywhere can write, well, anything about you, your service and your staff, even if they haven’t experienced it first-hand! 

But we still believe that the good far outweighs the bad when it comes to making the most of your TripAdvisor profile.  First things first, it’s largely free. There are very few other spaces in the online world that still offer such reach and marketing capabilities for nothing at all. But really making TripAdvisor work for you goes beyond simply claiming your free profile and hoping for the best.

Here are some easy things you can do right now to supercharge your TripAdvisor page:

1. Follow up and ask for honest reviews…

If you don’t ask, you don’t get and it’s just good business sense to ask every guest who visits for their feedback. Send a personalised ‘thank you’ email to every visitor with a link to your TripAdvisor page, asking for a review.

Most booking systems and CRM systems allow you to automate this so it’s super easy, simply set it up to send the first message between 24 and 72 hours after the visit and follow up with a reminder a couple of weeks later.

2. Tell them what you want to hear…

TripAdvisor of course wants its reviews to be the most useful to its users so don’t be afraid to prompt your guests on what to include in their feedback. Questions like ‘what was the highlight of your experience?’ and ‘how easy was it to book?’ for example could elicit a much richer review which will go down well with the TripAdvisor algorithm.

3. People can be lazy, make it easy…

Trust us, no one wants to search out a way to offer their feedback unless they’ve had a dreadful experience. So make leaving a review as easy as possible by including direct links anywhere you can and incorporate it into your website by adding your rating widget to your footer and booking pages.

Make sure you include any TripAdvisor certificates or awards logos into your website footer with a direct link to your profile too for extra ways in.

4. Train staff to ask…

Guests always respond better to a personal, verbal ask than an email so if you get a chance to have a conversation with your visitors, don’t be afraid to ask!  And make sure your staff are trained up and feel confident to have those conversations too especially your front-of-house team.

5. Have 10+ high quality images…

TripAdvisor is a pretty effective digital shop window, so make sure you’re setting it up just right. It’s been proven that businesses with 10 to 15 high-quality photos on TripAdvisor get double the customer interaction, so take some time to find your best images (or get some taken), get them uploaded and show off your business. It’s also a great way for reviewers to confirm they’re reviewing the right place and encourage photos in their own reviews.

6. Interaction is key…

Like every other social media platform, being social is non-negotiable. Make sure you’re setting aside time to respond to reviews, even (some might say, especially) the negative ones. People need to see that feedback is being heard to encourage them to leave reviews in the future. Thank them and remember to be respectful and professional, as you well know – it’s all very public! But don’t be afraid to let a little personality shine through.

7. Add physical signage…

Add some signage with a QR code to your TripAdvisor account around the place but especially at exit areas as a priority. If guests have had a great time, they’re more likely to leave a review as they leave. 

Check out some great examples on the TripAdvisor website

8. Lean in on your regulars…

Reach out to your regulars and membership base, if they’ve visited recently email them and ask for a review. If they’ve signed up to be a member for example, you know they love what you’re doing and they’re likely to leave you a good review.

9. Use reviews in your marketing…

Take advantage of this by using authentic, positive reviews and images on your social media, in physical marketing and on your website – just make sure you thank the reviewer! This fires up the concept of social proof in your followers and potential customers while also encouraging new reviews too! It’s a win-win!

10. Keep it positive…

Even when dealing with a negative review, keep things upbeat but don’t be afraid to challenge factually inaccurate reviews. Visitors are really wising up to the unqualified negative review now so if you find yourself on the receiving end of something like this, be professional but clear in your response. Visitors will see that you’re really engaged with your business and customers. If a negative review has merit, again, holding your hands up, apologising and outlining what you’ll do to rectify the problems raised is so much better than simply leaving it unanswered. 

Doing all the above consistently will start to see your business creep up the TripAdvisor algorithms and gain more visibility in a very busy space. Just remember the three pillars of the TripAdvisor algorithm, Quantity, Quality and Recency. So, make sure you’re getting regular reviews, of a good quality (not just ‘nice place’) and that they’re recent as reviews from 2 years ago won’t do anything for your account!

if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Boost your TripAdvisor ranking with these 10 Proven Tips appeared first on MiHiDigital.

What is the Instagram Explore Page?

Before you can get your content on the Instagram Explore page, it is important to understand exactly what it is. If you’re already familiar with the Explore page, you can skip this bit and head straight to the how to get your content on the Explore page section below!

The explore page brings together content that Instagram feels a user will be interested in based on their activity. For example, if a user likes a picture of a cat, the algorithm will take note of this and show a user more cat related content. As it is so individual, no two Explore pages are alike, meaning you’ll largely be competing within your own industry for a target audience that is likely to already be interested in seeing content like yours. The explore page includes photos, videos, reels and even stories. More than 200 million accounts visit the Instagram Explore page daily, that is 50% of the platform user base! This is a huge audience to tap into and a great place to generate more leads.

How to get your content on the Instagram Explore page

Understand Your Audience
Understanding what your audience is interested in is the key to generating content that delivers results. As your audience informs so much of what you do, it’s best to make sure you’re clear on who is following you and what they like first. If you’re not entirely sure who your audience is, take some time to analyse your current followers. Go to Instagram Insights and take note of information like age, gender and location. This will help you to craft the most appealing content for your audience. You can also look at which of your current posts are the most popular and create content that is similar in style.

Post at the best time
For the algorithm, what time the content is posted is vital. Recent posts that are getting immediate engagement are more likely to appear on the Explore page as Instagram will perceive them as high value content that others will also enjoy. To establish the best time to post, again look at your Instagram Insights and see when your current audience is the most active. You can also Google the most popular days/times to post in your location and base your posting times on that.

Encourage engagement
Whilst you’re hopefully posting interesting content your users want to engage with anyway, you can use a call to action (CTA) in your caption to help encourage this. For example, ask your users to leave a comment, visit your website or watch your story. There are also story options like polls and questions where you can encourage your audience to interact with your content. This can also be a great way to gauge what content your audience wants to see more of! Don’t forget to engage back with your audience by liking and responding to comments.

Stay on topic
It can be tempting to jump on every social media trend that is gaining traction, but the reality is that not every single one of these trends is going to suit your specific business. To generate engagement and build an audience that you want to convert to customers, consistency is essential. This also relates to the algorithm, for example, if you post about fitness one day, travelling the next and dogs the day after, Instagram won’t know what your account is about and therefore won’t recommend it to an audience. Keep your message consistent and only use trending audios, challenges, etc, that work for your business.

Use all the content formats
We all process information differently and prefer different formats, so it’s important to take advantage of Instagram’s different post formats and post stories, reels and pictures, as well as create opportunities for interaction, for example, story polls. More recently, Instagram has revealed that video content, such as reels or IGTV is highly favoured and is more frequently shown than pictures. With this in mind, it is important to create reel and video content for your brand. If you don’t yet have video content for your brand, you can be sneaky and use still photos in reels instead.

Use tags
Hashtags, geotags and account tags give you the opportunity to expand your posts reach as the Explore page allows users to search for hashtag, location and topic. By adding relevant tags, you can help your audience find you. Statistics show that accounts that use tags receive more engagement on their posts than accounts that don’t. Make sure that you’re only using relevant hashtags. It can be tempting to jump on hashtags that are trending or popular, however, this can have the opposite effect of your post receiving less exposure and engagement as it appears spammy or is showing up in searches where it’s not relevant.

By using a combination of the above, you will be well on your way to featuring on the Instagram Explore page, expanding your audience and bringing in new leads for your business.

Struggling with social media and need help with your digital marketing strategy? Give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Explore the Instagram Explore Page appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Increase website traffic
A study by HubSpot Marketing showed that businesses with a blog get up to 55% more website traffic. Blogs are a great way to answer questions, solve problems your customers have, advertise new products/services, and allow your audience to get to know your brand on a more personal level.

Take the time to research what questions your audience is asking/what they’re interested in and try to answer these questions and provide a solution to any pain points. Content that offers value will help to attract potential customers to your website and increase your leads.

Good for SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. Optimising your website is important to ensure that it ranks higher in search engines and is therefore more visible to potential customers.

Some of the factors that go into ranking in search engines include new content, keywords, the number of indexed pages and backlinks. By updating your website with high quality blogs on a regular basis, you can cover all these areas, which will help to improve your search engine rankings and attract more customers.

Creates content for social media
Blog content is great for repurposing as social media content, helping you to fill up spaces in your social media content calendar, as well as encourage users onto your website.

You can simply link to your blog as a whole or turn it into bite sized chunks of information, reels, highlights, infographics, or videos. You can even repurpose it to go out via email as a newsletter. The possibilities are endless!

Establishes authority within your industry
Not only does a blog allow you to connect better with your audience and give them a greater insight into your brand, but it also positions your business as an authority within your field.

Having a blog that is consistently updated, well-written and offering high-value content tells your customers that you are a credible source of information. We all like to purchase from brands that we can trust, and a blog will go a long way in helping to establish this trust with your customer base.

Drives long-term results
The good thing about blogs, particularly those that cover certain topics or answer specific questions, is that they continue to generate traffic. This is why it is so important to make sure you’re providing relevant content that is helpful to your target audience. Many businesses find that a large percentage of their organic traffic arrives on their site via blogs, this means that a blog is still working hard for you weeks, months or even years after you uploaded it.

We hope this has inspired you to get blogging but if you’re wrestling with your writing and need help with your digital marketing strategy, give us a call on 01566 232323 or email us at hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post 5 reasons you should be blogging for your business appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Here we explain exactly what that means and how you can avoid potentially costly mistakes.

What exactly is copyright?

Whilst we’re not lawyers, we’re going to give you a quick overview; if you take a photo, then you own the copyright to that photo and can choose where it goes and who is able to use it.

You could choose to use it on your own website, or you could allow someone else to use it on theirs if you were happy for them to do so.

The key point is that you have control of the image and you’re happy for someone else to use it.

Where problems arise is if someone uses that image without permission. If you were browsing the internet and found that someone else was using your photo and hadn’t asked, you’d probably be annoyed and rightly so.

And this is where people are being caught out when they (hopefully innocently) use a photo that they don’t have permission to.

When can you use an image and when can’t you use an image?

You can use an image if:

–        You took it yourself.

–        You have asked for and gained permission to use it.

–        You have purchased a license to use it (usually from a stock photography website, such as iStock or Adobe Stock).

How about images you see on Google?

When you do a google image search you will see an option to allows you to select USAGE RIGHTS (you can get to this by tapping on ‘tools’ under the search bar).

There are two types of image copyright you can choose from:

Creative commons licences:

Creative Commons licences are free licences that a rights holder might attach to an image. It lets people know how they can reuse an image without having to go back to the rights holder to ask for their permission.

Commercial or other licences:

Commercial or other licenses: These images have non-Creative Commons licenses and can be from either site available at no charge or commercial sites that require payment.

The latter would need checking in terms of whether or not you can use it, but if in doubt, simply don’t.

What happens if you use someone’s photo without permission?

If they find that you have been using their image then you’ll likely receive an email from a company such as Alamy, who will detail the page and place you’ve used the image without permission. This will also include a fee they would like you to pay in compensation. This fee can run into hundreds of £’s, so the key point here is never to take images unless you have permission, have bought them or have taken them yourself.

Please note this article is not providing legal advice for image copyright and is only an introduction to the topic area. Always seek professional legal support should you wish to discuss or learn more about this subject.

if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with Mark and the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Staying on the right side of image copyright appeared first on MiHiDigital.