Newsletter : September 2013
Written by Steph Kendall
Welcome to the New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz September 2013 issue. If you have news or comments, please email us news@tourism.net.nz.
In this September newsletter:
'More Magic' A Huge Success
The 2013 ski campaign 'More Magic in Every day' has achieved huge success in promoting New Zealand winter holidays. Exceeding all campaign objectives, the key annual campaign saw Australian arrivals grow by more than 17 percent in June. It also generated over 114,000 visits to the tailored ski hub pages on newzealand.com, with an overall referral rate of 31 per cent.
The campaign was a collaborative effort between Tourism New Zealand, the partners in the Ski Marketing Network (Ski TMN), Flight Centre and Air New Zealand. The Australian campaign showed keen skiers the breadth of activities and experiences within close reach of the ski fields, while occasional skiers and winter holiday makers could see a winter holiday in New Zealand brought to life.
A television commercial kick-started the campaign and alongside the traditional marketing approach, Tourism New Zealand also focused on bringing key Australian media to town, through the International Media Programme. The resulting media coverage has been extensive, continuing on well beyond June through to the Winter Games in Otago during August.
History Made in Wellington
“I now pronounce you married.” With those words history was made in New Zealand, as the first Australian same sex couple married in Wellington on the 19th August. The ceremony took place at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. The couple wed under the Marae which depicts a series of carvings encompassing the main tribes in the wider Wellington region.
“It recognises peace and neighbourhood, it's meant to embrace everybody, where people are treated with dignity and respect,” said Rhona Paku, a representative of Te Papa Museum.
“I'm quite proud to be a New Zealander. It's really moving,” said David Perks, CEO of Positively Wellington Tourism. “Wellington is proud to be a liberal, welcome city.”
It’s estimated that nearly 1,000 couples are ready to cross the Tasman now same-sex marriage is legal here and some are also expected from Asia. Tourism NZ believes this country earns about $160 million a year from between 30,000 and 45,000 couples who come for honeymoons, and an extra 1,000 honeymooners might spend about $4 million to $5 million. However, New Zealand's advantage in the gay wedding business might be short-lived; a gay marriage bill is expected to be passed in the next few months in the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) if Labour wins the election. New Zealand has, of course, a scenic advantage over Canberra.
Top Indonesian Travel Mag Profiles South Island
The South Island's ‘spectacular landscape’ has been profiled across ten pages of popular Indonesian travel magazine, Jalan Jalan this month, providing an opportunity to grow visitor numbers from this emerging market. Jalan Jalan has a circulation of approximately 35,000 readers.
Jalan Jalan staff followed a self-drive itinerary from Greymouth to Queenstown in June to ‘enjoy the charms’ and all that the West Coast has to offer. The resulting article highlighted how accessible New Zealand is as a holiday destination, with a single transit flight via Singapore.
Indonesia is one of three emerging markets to have been identified by Tourism New Zealand as having enormous opportunity for New Zealand in the longer-term. Tourism New Zealand's activity is focused on investing early to both build demand and accelerate the development of quality visitor arrivals from Indonesia, alongside the other emerging markets India and Latin America.
How to Create a Press Release for Your Business
Compiled by Steph Kendall
If you want to generate some free publicity for your business, create a press release for the local media – newspapers, radio or TV stations or websites sending out newsletters to a readership relevant to your target market. (NZTG, for example, is happy to accept press releases from its members and may publish details from in its Traveller Newsletter. Simply email the NZTG editor or news@tourism.net.nz with your press release for consideration.)
What is a press release?
A press release is a standardised way of communicating with journalists and editors. If written well it will quickly tell them what the story is – making it much more likely they will include your news in their publication.
What should your press release be about?
The most important thing about a press release is its content. What you are writing about has to be of interest to the editor and the intended readership. First and foremost it has to be newsworthy and you need to talk about what’s happening now or what’s about to happen. This might be:
- the launch of a new product, service or offer
- new information about your business
- details of an event or activity
- appointment of a new staff member
- human interest story (about your clients or staff)
Top Tips
- Know your media – read your local paper, listen to your local radio and watch your local TV so you know how they report stories and what type of stories they like. Ring them up and check which journalists cover your issue and when their deadlines are.
- Keep your press release short and to the point– preferably all on one page or maximum two.
- Send your press release in the body of the email – don’t send it as an attachment and don’t include logos. Emails with attachments often get bounced back.
- Follow up your release – ring the news desk to check they have your release, whether they will be covering the story and if they have all the information they need.
- Pick your time to ring journalists - try not to ring close to deadlines as they won’t have time to chat. You can find out their deadlines by ringing the news desk.
- If the journalist isn’t interested in your release, ask why – it will be useful learning for your next one.
- Don’t be put off – there might be a whole host of reasons why your release isn’t used – a bigger news story might have squeezed it out, they may have just run a similar story or it might not have grabbed the editor of the day. Keep trying.
- Interesting photo opportunities might generate media interest – particularly for TV, which needs something to film. For example, if you meet the council you could make it more interesting to the media by organising a photo opportunity outside.
- Make your release relevant to the readership.
- Google ‘press releases’ to view sample press releases that may help you get started.
Press Release Format
There is a fairly standard format for creating press releases. It will help your credibility and chances of being published if you present your material this way. Each press release should include the following:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
These words should appear at the top left of the page, in upper case. If you don't want the story to be made public yet, write "HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL ...." instead. |
Headline |
Just like a headline in a newspaper. Make sure this describes the content of the story. |
City, State/Country - Month Day, Year |
These details immediately precede the release. |
Body |
This is where the actual release goes. There should be more than one paragraph, each paragraph no more than a few sentences. If there is more than one page, write "-more-" at the bottom of the page. |
Company/organisation info |
Include any background information about the company or organisation featuring in this press release. |
Contact Information |
Include contact person, company name, phone/fax, email, physical/postal address. |
ENDS or ### |
This indicates the end of the press release. |
10 Tips to Improve Business
Written by Steph Kendall
- Are you always tweeting, posting and blogging? Before you end up spending too much time on social media, stop and review your stats. Focus your energy on the most effective avenue for reaching your specific target audience.
- By 2015, 100 million Chinese will travel abroad, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. They are the world’s biggest spenders…If you want to find out what Chinese travellers want hire a Chinese speaker to browse online blogs and forums – typically the Chinese love using social media.
- Ensure you have a few, preferably New Zealand-made souvenirs featuring your business for your guests to buy – not only can you benefit from the sales, but your business gets promoted world-wide without any overheads.
- If you are an accommodation provider, spend a bit of time putting together an up-to-date and interesting ‘Guest Information Book’ including your recommendations for local activities – it shows much more attention to detail than simply presenting guests with brochures.
- Offer ‘refer a friend’ incentives to your customers such as discounts, monetary rewards (on completed bookings) or ‘freebies’.
- Use a reputable marketing agency or start a think-tank in-house on how you can promote your business in a memorable and appealing way through online and print media.
- What does your printed ‘tone of voice’ say about your business? The easiest way to review it is to read every piece of text out loud and ‘listening’ to how you sound. Does the spoken version sound friendly or overly formal? Natural or stilted? Passionate or bored? If in doubt, ask other people what they think about it.
- Ensure you respond promptly to emails. A customer left waiting may well turn to the alternatives on offer.
- Never under-estimate the importance of a friendly welcome and a smiling face. Every member of the staff has a role to play in showing the business off in its best light.
- Read what people are saying about their experience with your business on forums and review websites such as TripAdvisor. Use their comments (both positive and negative) to improve your product or service.
More Business Tips
You'll find more business tips in our newsletter archive, alongside:
Top Tourism Site of the Month
This month's Top Tourism Site Award goes to 35 River Road.
35 River Road is a luxury accommodation available for weekend breaks, short and long term stays near Havelock North. The website is elegantly styled with lots of clever, but understated touches. However, sometimes it’s just one little detail on a website design that really sings out. On the 35 River Road website, it was the button name that really sung out - ‘Picture Us Here’. What a refreshing, enticing and unusual way of titling the ‘gallery’ for both the property and the local area. Other features that were particularly well done include:
- Easy to use navigation in a beautifully clear layout
- Friendly ‘tone of voice’ throughout the website in the page text, as well as button names
- Attractive floral background echoed in the navigation ‘marker’ above the main menu
- High quality photography and eye-catching home page banner
The only drawback for visitors keen to make a booking is that they have to wait until they send an email and have a reply, as there’s no booking engine. Not much of a disadvantage perhaps as all good things come to those who wait!
Nominate a Site
If you think a New Zealand travel or tourism website deserves a 'Top Tourism Site Award', let us know about it. (View further information about the award criteria).
About the Top Tourism Site Award
The New Zealand Tourism Guide confers a Top Tourism Site Award to websites that:
- Enhance New Zealand as a travel destination
- Publish useful and informative content
- Are laid out in a professional and aesthetically-pleasing manner
- Are designed effectively for the World Wide Web
- May demonstrate easy functionality, interactivity, originality, outstanding graphic quality and marketing reach.
We welcome any feedback — send your comments to: news@tourism.net.nz
Kind regards,
The Team
Ph 0800 14 65 49
www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Guide
Head Office: Level One, 534 Colombo Street, Christchurch