Sometime in April, the Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau will introduce on its website homepage a "Special Offers" section. This new site will provide local retail establishments, restaurants, spas, theaters, marine sports, floral shops, hotels, attractions and many other participating businesses the opportunity to load online coupons for Internet specials or other great deals for their services aimed at keeping cash registers ringing as we head into spring. And, the best thing about this new offering is that it will be free, absolutely free!
Businesses will soon be able to create their own coupons to be offered to people who view the website throughout the year. This will also allow them to take advantage of special holidays and seasonal events. Unlike print advertising in local newspapers that can often be hit-or-miss for many, the attractiveness of this offer is found in the high monthly online traffic that goes to the Bureau's website, www.visitcarlsbad.com.
Last year, the CVB closed out with 327,140 visitor sessions and the page views exceeded 1 million for the first time, ever. For those who understand and track this kind of data, those are impressive numbers. And, we're off to a good start in 2006, with the potential to look even better than last year. With that said, there are a lot of potential clients visiting the site, which equals opportunity.
"This has been something the Bureau has wanted to do for some time," said CVB Board Chairman, Patrick Fearn. "However, working to get our new Visitors Guide completed, a new interactive online map, issues related to the BID and so on, it's been more a matter of limited staff resources than anything else."
Fearn went on to say that Carlsbad is following a number of other bureaus that have successfully implemented a "Special Offers" addition to their websites.
"What comes to mind when I think of a destination that has effectively used these online 'Specials' is San Luis Obispo County." Fearn says that with some 25 different categories, "there's a lot of opportunity for businesses to capture dollars, not from just visitors, but from the entire community."
That vision is exactly what the Carlsbad CVB sees as it moves forward with these "community coupons." (see www.sanluisobispocounty.com)
There is tremendous potential for area businesses to capitalize on visitors coming to town for special events like ArtSplash, Carlsbad Triathlon, Village Faire, The Flower Fields and to provide special savings to visitors who converge here in the summer months. Additionally, President's Day, Valentine's, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the Christmas season holidays all present wonderful buying opportunities for locals, as well.
"This is far larger than just appealing to the visitor," said Fearn. "We want to provide an effective way for businesses to advertise by partnering with their local destination marketing organization to reach tens of thousands of potential customers."
Here's how the free offer will work. Participating businesses will be required to sign-off on a short agreement that will provide the basic ground rules for the "Special Offers" section and access instructions. Once a business has added their special offer coupon through the password-protected "members only" section, the offer will go online within 24 hours. What's advertised, the duration of the 'special,' pricing and so on is controlled by the advertiser and can be changed twice monthly. All content will be reviewed and approved by the Bureau prior to being made available to the public.
The Bureau also plans to include participating businesses, at no charge, on Carlsbad's map page that will also go online in early April. Being a 'point of interest' on the map will eliminate the need for online users to have to access Google, Map Quest or other mapping programs for directions! Courtesy of the Map Network, which is also the official mapping source for USA Today, the map is nearing completion. This six-month project will make Carlsbad the first city in San Diego County to use this innovative, interactive mapping source (see, mapnetwork.com).
Businesses interested in knowing more about the Carlsbad "Special Offers" can call Frankie Laney, Public Relations Director of the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau at (760) 434-6093.
Businesses will soon be able to create their own coupons to be offered to people who view the website throughout the year. This will also allow them to take advantage of special holidays and seasonal events. Unlike print advertising in local newspapers that can often be hit-or-miss for many, the attractiveness of this offer is found in the high monthly online traffic that goes to the Bureau's website, www.visitcarlsbad.com.
Last year, the CVB closed out with 327,140 visitor sessions and the page views exceeded 1 million for the first time, ever. For those who understand and track this kind of data, those are impressive numbers. And, we're off to a good start in 2006, with the potential to look even better than last year. With that said, there are a lot of potential clients visiting the site, which equals opportunity.
"This has been something the Bureau has wanted to do for some time," said CVB Board Chairman, Patrick Fearn. "However, working to get our new Visitors Guide completed, a new interactive online map, issues related to the BID and so on, it's been more a matter of limited staff resources than anything else."
Fearn went on to say that Carlsbad is following a number of other bureaus that have successfully implemented a "Special Offers" addition to their websites.
"What comes to mind when I think of a destination that has effectively used these online 'Specials' is San Luis Obispo County." Fearn says that with some 25 different categories, "there's a lot of opportunity for businesses to capture dollars, not from just visitors, but from the entire community."
That vision is exactly what the Carlsbad CVB sees as it moves forward with these "community coupons." (see www.sanluisobispocounty.com)
There is tremendous potential for area businesses to capitalize on visitors coming to town for special events like ArtSplash, Carlsbad Triathlon, Village Faire, The Flower Fields and to provide special savings to visitors who converge here in the summer months. Additionally, President's Day, Valentine's, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the Christmas season holidays all present wonderful buying opportunities for locals, as well.
"This is far larger than just appealing to the visitor," said Fearn. "We want to provide an effective way for businesses to advertise by partnering with their local destination marketing organization to reach tens of thousands of potential customers."
Here's how the free offer will work. Participating businesses will be required to sign-off on a short agreement that will provide the basic ground rules for the "Special Offers" section and access instructions. Once a business has added their special offer coupon through the password-protected "members only" section, the offer will go online within 24 hours. What's advertised, the duration of the 'special,' pricing and so on is controlled by the advertiser and can be changed twice monthly. All content will be reviewed and approved by the Bureau prior to being made available to the public.
The Bureau also plans to include participating businesses, at no charge, on Carlsbad's map page that will also go online in early April. Being a 'point of interest' on the map will eliminate the need for online users to have to access Google, Map Quest or other mapping programs for directions! Courtesy of the Map Network, which is also the official mapping source for USA Today, the map is nearing completion. This six-month project will make Carlsbad the first city in San Diego County to use this innovative, interactive mapping source (see, mapnetwork.com).
Businesses interested in knowing more about the Carlsbad "Special Offers" can call Frankie Laney, Public Relations Director of the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau at (760) 434-6093.