Mat Newton and Mitch Bach dive deep into the world of marketing, website design, and customer experiences. Mat shares his expertise on building effective websites and lessons learned from working with operators. From the importance of well-written itineraries to understanding the mindset of visitors, this episode is packed with valuable information to help you create memorable experiences for your customers.
00:00 Experienced tour operator and marketer, Matt Newton.
04:46 Australia’s market is interesting and similar to the US. OTA bookings, like Viator, are important for local operators. The international market is critical for day tours. Australia is a big multi-day market.
08:48 Ingenious idea for multi-day tours with easy alignment.
10:26 Friction barriers can improve quality of customers.
14:35 Complexity in marketing not necessary for success. Focus on well-written itineraries and authentic content. Use nurturing through email and organic social media.
18:34 Emotions around websites; effective principles to follow.
21:07 Effective writing critical for selling trips, addressing objections. Answer questions with relatable photos of average people.
25:18 FAQs, take people on a journey, avoid flowery adjectives.
28:11 Save money on design, use Viator. Passionate operators win with personal touch.
30:43 Optimize customer journey by evaluating booking software.
36:18 Recruiting people to make money is easier.
38:15 Offline sales mechanisms still work, though difficult.
42:28 Touchpoint: every interaction, decision, choice matters.
Energy flows: optimize itinerary for high energy.
43:50 Designing energy management for multi-day experiences.
49:05 ActiveCampaign offers robust customer management features, unlike other email programs like MailerLite. WP Fusion WordPress plugin allows tracking website behavior and retargeting.
50:36 Patch Adventures: Crazy automations, good retargeting, well-organized.
53:15 Northwestern Australia: magical desert with popular swimming spots.
57:56 Creating friction, lean in harder for results.