A talk given at WTM Africa by - Oliver Gradwell (TBU) - Mariette du Toit-Helmbold (Destinate) - Meruschka Govender (Mzansi Girl)

1. How Travel Bloggers
Impact the Booking Funnel
Oliver Gradwell, TBU
Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, Destinate
Meruschka Govender, Mzansigirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

2. Traditional marketing funnel
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
Tuesday, 6 May 14

3. Social marketing funnel
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
Reach
Engage
Activate
Nurture
Tuesday, 6 May 14

4. Travel blogging Content marketing
“ Your customers don’t care about you, your products
your services..they care about themselves, their wants
and their needs.
Content marketing is about creating interesting
information your customers are passionate about so they
actually pay attention to you ”
Source: Rob Yoegel
Tuesday, 6 May 14

5. A NEW
ERA FOR
DESTINATION
MARKETING
Tuesday, 6 May 14

6. How do we stand out?
Tuesday, 6 May 14

7. A changing world
Tuesday, 6 May 14

8. A new breed of traveller
Tuesday, 6 May 14

9. Digital age
Tuesday, 6 May 14

10. The story has become the
unique selling point
Tuesday, 6 May 14

11. Get social!
skye 0
sky
Ra
site
net
roo
con
bud
Tuesday, 6 May 14

12. MobileMobile revolution
Tuesday, 6 May 14

13. Citizens and travellers are the marketers
Tuesday, 6 May 14

14. Increased need for personalisation
Tuesday, 6 May 14

15. A deep need to connect emotionallyA deep need to connect emotionally
Tuesday, 6 May 14

16. Get off the bus!
Tuesday, 6 May 14

17. Socially aware & connected Millennials
Tuesday, 6 May 14

18. Cape Town’s story
Tuesday, 6 May 14

19. From beauty to inspiration
Tuesday, 6 May 14

20. Cape Town’s iAmbassadors
#LoveCapeTown
Tuesday, 6 May 14

21. Reaching
1,193,086
people
Over
37,053,224
impressions
#LoveCapeTown
We spent R261,710
and our ROI was
R5.6 million.
That’s a ROI of
21:1
Tuesday, 6 May 14

22. “The engagement of Capetonians in the
#LoveCapeTown campaign was impressive, I haven’t
seen this in any other blog trip campaign”
Melvin Boecher (@Traveldudes and traveldudes.org)
Tuesday, 6 May 14

23. best-practice
in first ‘International White Paper
for Travel Bloggers’ launched at
WTM 2012
Tuesday, 6 May 14

24. 5 – 9 May 2014
#Stellenblog Blogger Campaign
Tuesday, 6 May 14

25. Tuesday, 6 May 14

26. Nostalgia is the worst business model
Tuesday, 6 May 14

27. CONTACT US
info@destinate.co.za
www.destinate.co.za
@Destinate_co
@MariettedTH
Tuesday, 6 May 14

28. THANK YOU
Tuesday, 6 May 14

29. How travel bloggers impact the booking
funnel
Meruschka Govender
@Mzansigirl
WTM Africa
Tuesday, 6 May 14

30. MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

31. Sharing the Mzansi love
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

32. • 2007 Couchsurfing – travel community
• 2008 Facebook - friends
• 2010 Twitter
• 2011 Instagram
• July 2012 Start blog
• 2013 First blog trip invites #MyMauritius,
#LoveCapeTown, #Perocks;
Founded African Travel Bloggers
Network and #Afritravel hashtag
• 2014 #KeralaBlogExpress,
#MeetSouthAfrica, #GLAadventure
Mzansi journey
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

33. How bloggers impact the booking
funnel
THE FUNNEL
Inspiration
“Johannesburg never ceases to amaze me! So
much energy, culture and heritage in this city ”
Influence/endorsement
“If you’re travelling around South Africa,
you really shouldn’t miss Johannesburg!“
‘The final nudge’
“I’m sure you’ll love it there! Don’t forget to visit
the Constitutional Hill Museum”
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

34. MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

35. #MyMauritius
• Pre-trip
• Real time tweeting,
instagram, Facebook
• Post trip blog posts,
video
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

36. MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

37. #MyMauritius
• Power FM interview
• 5 months post trip
• 10 minutes of
coverage on one of
Johannesburg’s
biggest radio
stations
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

38. WTM Africa / Cape Town –
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

39. Mercedes Benz,
not a travel brand but…
• ss
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

40. How bloggers impact the
booking funnel
• Planning/ research
• Inspiration >> Action
• In destination tips
• Trusted source
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

41. How bloggers impact the booking
funnel
• Specific, measurable objectives
• brand exposure
• online content
• drive engagement
• grow social media base
• sales
• Monitoring tools
• tracking codes
• vouchers/downloads
• tracking systems
MEASURING THE IMPACT
MzansiGirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14

42. Travel blogging Content marketing
“ Traditional marketing and advertising
is telling the world you’re a rock star.
Content marketing is showing the world
you are one ”
Source: Robert Rose
Tuesday, 6 May 14

43. CONTACT DETAILS
Oliver Gradwell:
oliver@travelbloggersunite.com
@oliver_gradwell
Mariette du Toit-Helmbold:
mariette@destinate.co.za
@Destinate_co / @MarietteTH
Meruschka Govender:
meruschka@gmail.com
@mzansigirl
Tuesday, 6 May 14