Thank you to everyone who has read our posts or followed our blog. We’ve moved our blog to http://www.audioconexus.com/audioconexus-blog.php. We look forward to seeing you at our new site and to your comments and feedback. We’ve also created a blog button. If you’d like to add our blog button for your blog you can copy and paste the code below. Thank you!

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We’d like to thank everyone who has subscribed to this blog and we also appreciate all of the relationships we’ve developed over the last 3 years because of it. We have appreciated your comments and your visits and look forward to continuing our blog on our main website – http://www.audioconexus.com/audioconexus-blog.php

Over the next few weeks we will be reposting some of our most visited blog posts in between new posts and look forward to hearing from you at our new site.

Thank you once again for visiting with us. We hope to hear from you soon.

All the best from all of us at AudioConexus.

Many of us have been asked to do work that falls outside of our focal point. And some of us take on this work to keep the cash coming in – even if we know that it’s not a great fit for the company. We did this in our early days – in start-up mode in 2006. And while we did good work – and delivered completed projects to satisfied clients – we knew that the job fell outside of our intended purpose as a company. The reality was – we had to feed the burning cash in R&D – and keep everyone committed to our longer term goals.

With that said – we never took on a project that fell outside of our competency areas – and we never committed to a project that we knew would fail. Now we’re completely committed to our cause and have the fortunate opportunity to fuel our passion by working with great organizations in the industry we love – tourism. But that doesn’t mean we don’t say no anymore. In fact, we said no to a tourism project yesterday. Why? Because we knew the application of technology was the wrong choice for the client. The old adage that the client is always right simply does not apply here. We were asked to work on a project we knew would be fraught with operational challenges and issues – and ultimately – would inevitably fail. This is because our technology, while designed for mobile tourism, wasn’t the right fit for the application. While the opportunity presented short term gain for our organization, a new project – the operational issues, and ultimately an unhappy client – was not worth it for us. While our expertise in GPS and mobile applications and audio tours means that we’re contacted often for new projects – it doesn’t mean we have the right to propose technology that might do the job?

I wasn’t surprised to hear that the prospect had received proposals from other companies presenting wireless technology and services to get the work. We just find it a shame. Whether it’s due to inexperience, ignorance or just the fact that these companies want the job (and the cash) – why sell something that will inevitably end in failure? What purpose does this serve, or in other words, why fuel a self-serving purpose?

We took the time to outline point by point why the project was destined to fail with our prospect. After a 90 minute call – we had worked ourselves out of a job and a new client. So what’s the upside? Building value and relationships is more important than taking in short-term cash. Do the job right or don’t do it at all. If you know a project is destined for failure – take the time to articulate why? You won’t get the job – but you’ll earn the respect of a possible future client.

Pat McCarthy shares his view on why stories work (and create Word of Mouth). Here’s his five reasons:

1. People desire social acceptance and recognition – Stories about brands (and everything else under the sun) help show common interests, which leads to closer bonds.

2. People want to distinguish themselves – Stories also help distinguish a person’s uniqueness.

3. People want to be the authority – Being known as a specialist is a huge driver for telling stories. You might call this the Influencer Mentality.

4. People want to help – If you care about someone and you know a story that might help them, you tell it.

5. People like to share experiences – There is a reason “What’s up?” is asked millions of times per day. We like to talk about what we have been doing.

Source: WOMMA – 5 Reasons Stories Work

Like other forms of media and communications directed at your target markets, Internet marketing efforts must be integrated with your overall marketing strategy and managed to capture the greatest potential benefits. Your venue needs to create an Internet/Online Marketing Strategy that will integrate the Internet into your overall marketing plan. The purpose of the strategy is to generate and maintain traffic to your Website, while providing trip planning information to potential tourists, tour operators and other travel influencers’ in your key target audiences. Additionally it will establish ongoing relationships with these users to increase visitation to your venue and destination. Some of your online marketing objectives should include:

• Promote your destination brand and multi-lingual offerings with prominent positioning on your Website linked to online ticket sales. Promote your tours in the languages you serve. A Japanese tourist needs to be able to understand your product offering in Japanese.
• Force yourself to design your Website with one primary objective – ticket sales. Develop a partnership with an online ticketing service supplier.
• Cross-promote venues in your destination. Promote a variety of complimentary experiences available in your destination in multiple languages by working together with local partners.
• Attract and retain traffic to our Website by users from your target markets and get engaged in social media applications such as Twitter and FaceBook.
• Allow consumers to interact with your venue about their current and future travel needs.
• Integrate our Website as strongly as possible with the key search engines and directories used by your potential customers.
• Create greater awareness of your venue in regional markets, so that your presence and market share match the competitiveness of your products.
• Use video to help tell your story.
• Tell an authentic story that captivates the imaginations of your potential customers. Tell your story.
• Distribute your tour offerings through a variety of online channels such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz.
• Use high-quality photos that will engage your audience and support your story.
• Integrate your marketing communications and website using a consistent look and feel and story.

The waiting is over. After negotiations that began in Dec. ‘09, China sealed the agreement on Approved Destination Status (ADS) for Canada June 24.

Getting ADS in China opens the door to many opportunities for the Canadian tourism industry. Figures from a recent Conference Board of Canada survey point to a 50% increase in travel numbers to Canada from China by 2015. CTC News spoke withMichele McKenzie, president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), who put the agreement in context.

Q&A: CTC CEO Michele McKenzie on Canada and ‘Approved Destination Status’ in China.

Source: CTC Media Centre

Scott Bedbury, former VP of Marketing for Nike and Starbucks Coffee, in his book “A New Brand World” describes the investing in the consistent improvement of your attraction or sightseeing[brand] experience as:

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy. It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads that somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best employee – the shining star in the company who can do no wrong – as well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made. It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are subjected to when placed on hold. For every grand and finely worded public statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overhead in the hallway or in a chat room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become the psychological concepts held in minds of the public, where they may stay forever. As such, you can’t entirely control a brand. At best, you can only guide and influence it.”

While Scott wrote this book awhile ago – we can’t think of a better way to describe your brand experience. Your brand is defined as every interaction with your company – inside and out.

Introducing a multi-unit iPod charger and Synchronization Dock designed specifically for tourism operators, museums and historic sites.

PARASYNC Charge & Synchronization Dock for iPod

Simultaneously charge and synchronize content to 20 iPod devices from one iTunes library. With this durable, attractive and lightweight docking solution managing large quantities of iPod devices has never been easier.

How it Works

Connect the dock via USB to your MacBook. Open iTunes. All docked devices will appear (they must first be registered to the iTunes library). Drag and drop content from the iTunes library onto the devices to sync them. It’s that easy!

No installation of proprietary software is required to sync the devices.  The process described above is best done with a Mac (running OS 10.4 or higher and iTunes 7.1 or higher).  PC users experience fluctuations in performance when syncing to a large quantity of devices due to limitations in the PC’s USB interface.

To learn more, please visit with us on our website at iPod Multi Unit Charger Rack.

Your website is more than an online ticket booth – it’s an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with locals and travelers alike prior to arriving at your venue. One of the most important aspects of your website is your content. If you’re looking to learn more about writing effective copy – we recommend subscribing to copyblogger. This is a great resource and you’ll find that every post if worth a read. The site offers a variety of writing resources, including:

• Copywriting 101
• Headline Writing
• SEO Copywriting
• Landing Pages
• Content Marketing

and more. If you’re looking for more effective ways to reach your audience – this is an excellent resource. Subscriptions are free and the best thing of all is – you’ll get some valuable insights into writing better content. Click here to subscribe to copyblogger.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that international visitors spent an estimated $10.8 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of March—nearly $1.1 billion more (11%) than was spent in March 2010—marking the second consecutive month of growth in U.S. travel and tourism exports.

• Travel Receipts: Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $8.4 billion during March, an increase of nearly 13 percent when compared to last year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.
• Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by U.S. carriers (and U.S. vessel operators) from international visitors increased by nearly 6 percent to $2.4 billion for the month, an increase of $126 million for the month when compared to last year.

International visitors have spent nearly $31.8 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through March), an increase of 4 percent compared to the same period last year. Americans have increased their spending, too, spending nearly $25.5 billion abroad year to date—resulting in a $6.3 billion trade surplus for travel and tourism.

The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating international travel and tourism statistics for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Statistical System. Click here for more monthly travel and tourism-related trade data dating back to 1992.

Source: Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.