ALVA Webinar | How Attraction Marketing has changed under lockdown

Digital Visitor is the official digital partner of The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) and last week our CEO Anthony Rawlins presented at the ALVA Marketing Seminar on the changes in Digital Marketing for Attractions since lockdown. 

This presentation contains content from our whitepaper An Industry Renewed, download your free copy today. 

How has Attraction Marketing changed under lockdown? from DigitalVisitor on Vimeo.

What has changed

Audiences – For attractions, it’s important that are the people that are going to visit in the next 3-6 months, the same people as your historic audience? There has likely been a shift, so don’t overly rely on historic data to determine your visitor behaviour. 

International vs Domestic Travel – The UK is one of the only countries in Europe with a tourism deficit – that is more money is spent abroad from UK tourists than money earned in UK tourism. Therefore, depending on what restrictions are in place, UK attractions may be able to make up for lost international visitors by focusing and drawing in domestic tourists. 

What we offer – While we were in lockdown, attractions have been very good at innovating new ways to appeal to stay-at-home audiences. Even when we re-open our doors, it’s important to not forget about all the initiatives that have been created. Review and adapt them to fit into your business to create additional revenue streams. 

How we communicate – Before the pandemic, Visitor Attractions were investing a majority of their budgets into traditional channels such as OOH and Press Media. We have seen a significant and seismic shift from these channels, with many attractions inverting their budgets and now exclusively using digital channels. 

What we are – Many attractions have taken this time to pivot their brand and work out who they will be once visitors return. It is these brands that will do well, as they have developed their communications to ensure they are relevant and will resonant with audiences in the changing world.

How should we adapt?

Communications agility 

• Short term planning is integral so you can be agile with your strategy.
• Instead of annual plans, move to a quarterly focus so you can adapt as the world changes. 
• Invest in channels that have flexibility and transparency so that you can switch on and off when you have to. 
• Channels will have to work harder than ever before, if the benefit isn’t clear – don’t risk it. 

Digital Innovation 

• Develop your online offering and develop e-retail if possible to create additional revenue streams
• Look to upskilling your internal teams with the array of creative management and automation tools that are becoming more accessible and affordable.
• Online booking is here to stay, so ensure that you have a seamless booking process to make it easy for your customers to visit.