The strongest brands-the brands we all admire-share one common trait: focus. They each place great value on guest insights, strategic vision and disciplined execution.   Put the Destination Experts to Work for You. For more than two decades, Russell Herder has been doing just that-developing some of the smallest marketing solutions for gaming and destination clients around the country. Our expertise in intelligent creative, strategic marketing, online solutions and media planning has delivered measurable, meaningful results and continues to drive revenue for our clients. Our senior team encompasses a wealth of experience in the field. With seasoned brand specialists, loyalty marketing experts and researchers, our staff delivers powerful, effective strategies and insights that will help your organization grow.

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When you work with RH, we’ll be focused on your challenge, not learning about your industry. We know how to invest wisely in customer acquisition, retention and share growth. Moreover, we understand the relationship between your organization and the area you serve, and how to manage internal strategy and tactics, as well as external perceptions. Because of our experience within destination and gaming, we’ve retained and continue to grow target market insight. We constantly stay on top of the latest trends in the industry to keep our clients at the forefront. What We’ve Done for Our Clients. Russell Herder has developed marketing programs for all facets of hospitality-from loyalty programs to targeted promotions. We know what draws guests in and, more importantly, what keeps them coming back.

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At RH, our culture boils down to this: we’ll treat your business like it’s our own. We nurture strong partnerships made possible through solid strategic thinking, excellent creative, and-perhaps most important-a sincere understanding of and appreciation for our clients’ business goals. Let’s talk. See Russell Herder Destination Services.

TOP 10 TRENDS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR DESTINATION MARKETING

1. Green Is Gold.
Eco-awareness is skyrocketing, driven in large part by consumer demand. Businesses that realistically identify and tout their environmental and energy-savings initiatives should gain ground in 2008, as will those who help educate consumers about smart, easy ways they can make a difference. MORE...

1. Green Is Gold.
Eco-awareness is skyrocketing, driven in large part by consumer demand. Businesses that realistically identify and tout their environmental and energy-savings initiatives should gain ground in 2008, as will those who help educate consumers about smart, easy ways they can make a difference.

2. Marketing Is Becoming More “Engaging.”
Media “engagement planning” is key in that marketing dollar effectiveness can best be achieved by determining the most relevant touch points or brand intersections with potential buyers. For 2008, effective magazine ads will take a more comprehensive approach using strategies that create a continuous “conversation” with prospective spenders. That can mean above the line (traditional media), below the line (guerilla tactics) and new media (online videos, blogs, mobile). But to do it well, it’s mandatory to research and know your customers’ needs and behaviors.

3. Emerging Markets Represent Strong Prospects – If You Know How to Reach Them.
Affluent working women are growing in market strength, say the trend watchers. So is the market potential with recent college graduates – some two million of them who purchase $40 billion in goods and services annually. While they have different purchasing motivators, the two groups share at least one thing in common: reaching them online is the way to go. According to “The Media Audit,” published by Texas-based International Demographics, Inc., some 94 percent of affluent working women with family incomes of $75,000 or more access the Internet during an average month. Nearly 80 percent of young college grads are online shoppers. It’s imperative that hospitality professionals 1) know how to appeal to these emerging sectors and 2) revitalize their online initiatives to give consumers the information they want.

4. Consumers Take Control.
Reaching prospective guests will become more and more an interactive dialogue. Recognizing that consumers now have the power to control how and when they will interact with your brand messages, it is critical to reinvent your approach to focus on information convenience and access. Did you know that 70 percent of Web users watch TV while online? And consider the value of consumer-generated content – a successful tactic embraced heavily by such brands as Nissan, jetBlue and MasterCard. Bottom line: developing meaningful opportunities for your guests to interact with your messages online will move from “important” to “critical” in 2008.

5. Loyalty Will Matter More.
In an ever-expanding universe of brand options, it will become even more important in 2008 to understand what your guests feel, want and do in their hospitality decision making. How do you best increase repeat purchasing? Three strategies are essential. Engage in dialogue-based marketing to deepen your market understanding and encourage two-way communications. Second, enhance the richness of your database and leverage it through personalization and experiential tactics. Third, clearly achieve brand differentiation. What are your core competencies and, more importantly, why are they relevant to your target markets?

6. Power of Influence Will Deliver Revenue.
It’s long been recognized that word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is one of the most effective tools at your disposal – and something worth strategically cultivating. In 2008, there will be a growing emphasis on reaching the “Social Persuaders” and “Influencers” among your guests and prospects. Who are they? They are at the top of the WOMM pyramid – some 10 percent of the population who influences the social choices of the remaining 90 percent because they are considered experts and well networked by their peers. How do you reach them? A recent national survey said these consumers read product reviews, visit manufacturer Web sites, seek out information from store employees and – once their opinions are formed – share what they have learned via e-mail, phone and at social events. Demographically, women and those earning $100,000+ are more likely to share a positive experience.

7. Authenticity = Brand Soul.
Consumers are now in constant communication/dialogue with their brands and therefore are looking for authenticity – companies that share their values. Brand “soul” is usually related to ethics and integrity. Buyers are feeling more and more that brands without “soul” are those that rely on the hard-sell, pushy positioning statements and forgettable payoffs.

8. Growth for Interactive Marketing.
Interactive marketing spending will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012, according to Forrester Research. To put this into context, interactive marketing, which currently accounts for just eight percent of all ad spending, will increase to 18 percent of marketers’ total advertising budgets in five years. Interactive encompasses new marketing channels such as e-mail and search marketing, online video ads and social media. Mobile marketing, also a form of interactive media, is getting hotter as consumers become increasingly comfortable using personal computing handsets. Other emerging channels, including game marketing, podcasts and RSS feeds, will claim increasingly larger shares of marketers’ budgets.

9. Get Social.
Wise marketers will capitalize on the growing appeal of social networks. Besides the obvious market leaders (MySpace and Facebook), social networks exist in niches from teens (e.g., Pizco and Tagged) to seniors (e.g., Eons) to photographers (e.g., Flickr), and even B2B (e.g., LinkedIn and Plaxo).

10. Focus on the Experience.
The need to focus on integrated marketing approaches is not new, but what will be new this year is how brand experiences will move to the top of the integration priorities list, becoming the driving force of marketing communications.Trendcup Events and online initiatives were once treated as below-the-line afterthoughts, but marketers increasingly realize that interactive brand experiences can be far more effective than advertising and should be the starting point of a customer conversation. Source: CRM; Entrepreneur; Consumer Lab

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