Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness James F. Petrick, Ph.D. Chief Problem Solver Tourvey

Academic vs. Practitioner

Marketing…  “…Marketing battles are fought in a mean and ugly place. A place that’s dark & damp with much unexplored territory and deep pitfalls to trap the unwary. Marketing battles are fought….?” (Rice & Trout, ’86:169)  = image is a key construct Also “sets”, and positioning  AIDA is-a-da-key Attention, Interest, Desire & Action (How?!)

Tenured Research Philosophy (Quest for Knowledge)  Research needs to answer Mgt.’s questions  Research must be done scientifically  Temporal differences need to be examined One-shot studies give little insight  Knowing how you’re doing is not enough  Research must fund graduate students!

Methods Used to Seek Knowledge  Team of Grad Students (6 Ph.D.; 4 M.S.) Seeking state of the art knowledge  Partnerships L.I.S.T., SoluServ, eBrains, etc.  Great Clients States, CVB’s, NPS, USDA, PGA, HA, First Tee, etc.

Case Study Example  Websites as a tool for destination marketing 55%+ of travel decisions are Web-based!  New methods needed for evaluating the effectiveness of destination websites  How do you know what’s “good”? No known benchmarks = benchmarking needed

What is Benchmarking?  “ The continuous measurement and improvement of an organization ’ s performance against the best in the industry to obtain information about new working methods or practices ” (Kozak, 2002, p. 499)  It helps to: Learn your own strengths and weaknesses, Identify best practices or processes, Make changes and set realistic goals  Tourism Benchmarking Forum (2004)

Purposes of Study  To establish methods for conducting benchmarking analysis of State and City tourism websites  To measure conversion of Website & Materials  To synergize academic and practitioners' strengths in one project  To provide “real-time” reporting & data access  To allow initial & follow-up’s to be paired

Metrics Development = What items do states/cities need?  Use Nominal Group Technique (NGT) With State & City Tourism People A&M researchers as facilitators  Continual Analyses of “State of the Art”

What Makes a Website Good? - Key Metrics to Predict “Impressions” “Informativeness” = Variety & Useful Information “Usability” = Info is EZ to Find & Understand “Inspiration” = Inspires a Visit & Represents “Credibility” = You are trusted & Keep promises

Beyond Impression…  How important is your web info?  How did your website visitors find your website?  Why are people visiting your website?  What decisions made prior to visiting your website  What info do visitors hope to find on your website?  What website info was most valuable to visitors?

Other Knowledge Needed  Market Profiles (web v. + V + NV)  Conversion (Net & Gross) & R.O.I.  Differences Between Visitors & NV’s  Tripographics  Satisfaction, Value, Quality, Intent!  Image  Benchmarks for all the above!

Research Design Website Visit (1) Information Request Phase 1 4 months later = sent Visited Destination (2) Visited Destination (4) Non-Visit Destination (3) Non-Visit Destination (5) s fed Into system Hard links & pop-ups -Website eval -Decisions made -Profile -Influence of Web -Tripographics -Economic Impact - Image & Desires -Sat./PV/Intent -Influence of Web -What did they do -Image & Desires -Intentions -Information eval -Decisions made -Tripographics -Influence of info -Economic Impact -Image & Desires -Sat./PV/Intent -Information eval -Decisions made -Influence of info. -What did the do -Image & Desires -Intentions Phase 2

Ongoing Progress  (Past Study) Has included 23 states  Approximately 300,000 Phase-One responses and 15,000 Phase-Two responses last year  Questions reviewed every year  Recently started its city version (12 participating)  Real-time Reporting and Data

All members are given a user name and password = they just input them here to start the process

Select Any Dates, and Any Partners for Analyses!

Limitations & Conclusions  Coverage error Not everyone has internet access  Special type of respondents? Answer two surveys  Collection methods not standardized…yet

Implications & Recommendations  For participating destinations: information regarding self and competitors Decision making, travel behavior, and preference profile Longitudinal changes by season, and over time Future travel trends Conversion, ROI & Economic Impact  For researchers: A feasible tool for benchmarking destination website performance via a set of measures and metrics Data on travel motivations, vacation decision-making, travel trends, and tourist behavior

Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness James F. Petrick, Ph.D. Chief Problem Solver Tourvey