SMP interview with Dominic Speakman from Destinology
Dominic Speakman, CEO and founder of Destinology on marketing a luxury travel operator brand
Social Media Portal (SMP): What?s your name and what do you at destinology?Dominic Speakman (DS): Dominic Speakman, CEO and founder of
Destinology, a luxury tour operator.
SMP: Briefly, tell us about destinology (for those that don?t know), what is it and what does the company do? DS: We?re a luxury, tailor-made tour operator, offering holidays worldwide to four and five star hotels and resorts. We tailor each holiday so our customers get exactly what they want. We sell over 10,000 luxury holidays every year. Our key destinations include the Maldives, Dubai, Caribbean, Far East, USA and Europe.
SMP: When did you start the company, how is it funded and how many people work there? DS: Destinology was founded in 2004, and nine years later we recorded a turnover of £48 million in 2013. This year is our tenth birthday and we?re looking forward to breaking £50million. We?re privately owned and today employ around 90 people in our head office, with a further 10 in our first retail store in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
SMP: Who are your target audience and why (how do you differentiate the brand and services)? DS: We target affluent holidaymakers looking for a luxury break. By only offering four and five star properties, we differentiate from the mass-market brands. We retain customer loyalty through dedicated customer service, where each client is looked after by their own personal consultant.
SMP: What are the challenges that you?ve encountered and how are you overcoming them in what you have been doing so far at destinology? DS: Initially, we entered a highly competitive marketplace as a new and unknown brand, but our strong contacts in the travel industry and lack of overheads, marketing only digitally in a travel world at that time still consumed by brochures, kept overheads low and gave us the competitive advantage on price.
SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far? DS: Moving into our current, bigger, office and subsequently filling it has been satisfying to oversee. We have a great team at Destinology and our expertise has allowed us to expand with such success. Initially a long haul operator, today we offer destinations worldwide, with Europe now a top seller, as well as flight only and accommodation only. In the same way, opening our first retail store in Wilmslow, Cheshire, was a high point. Totally different from any other travel agency, it features huge 80 inch screens, touch screen displays, cinema style presentation areas and incorporates features such as an ?expert bar? for one to one chats with Destinology?s knowledgeable staff. We?ve had great feedback from customers and the industry alike, including winning a local business award.
SMP: How did you initially attract users to your website and how do you do it now? DS: A combination of targeted online marketing combined with national and regional PR to build brand awareness. A wide reaching marketing campaign started on day one and continues today ? we continually evaluate to see where our new customers are coming from and alter spend accordingly. Profile brand building such as PR partnerships on The X Factor, Britain and Ireland?s Next Top Model delivers new customers, as does more targeted online activity.
SMP: How do you think marketing in the travel industry has changed and what sort of impact is it having? DS: Traditional in person word of mouth from someone you know personally has been overshadowed by social media word of mouth ? and both are still the most influential in getting new customers to try us. Recommendation, in whatever form, is still the best tool we have, and channels such as Facebook and Twitter have been an asset in engaging our customers to spread the Destinology word to their networks.
SMP: What are the main social channels are you using, why and which are the most effective for? DS replies with:
All of our accounts are effective as each one brings us a different kind of engagement or opportunity to ?reach? people. Thinking of our followers as people rather than just as a number, is key.
SMP: There are quite a few different channels there, how do you manage them?
DS: We have an in-house social media team, engaging constantly, plus every member of Destinology is active on social media. The social media manager sits next to product teams and marketing experts who are at the core of our business and know every new hotel opening, as well as what our customers are talking about. Our combined knowledge is what our networks want to know first and why they follow us. We ensure we keep them in the know, not only on our products, but also what?s happening in the world of luxury travel.
SMP: What sort of activity / engagement are you receiving across the social channels that you use and how do you create / sustain this? DS: We have the UK?s seventh largest followed Google+ account, which we are really proud of, with over 1.1m +1?s and around 900,000 people having us in circles. We regularly see our individual posts engaging between 200-800 people, most of them wowed by our impressive images of exotic destinations. Google+ is more international focused in terms of our followers, which is fantastic for our brand.
Twitter and Facebook perhaps bring us closer to our direct and potential customers. We regularly receive feedback from holidaymakers as well as travel questions through these mediums. LinkedIn allows us to business network and Pinterest is a great tool for promoting our wide range of holidays, giving us a license to be creative and intuitive with images. Finally, YouTube videos of our hotels and destinations is where we get a lot of hits and some good comments on there too.
SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities for the service given the challenging economy? DS: The economy is challenging, but in the luxury sector we are fortunate that we find our customers still want to go on holiday. They may make sacrifices in other areas of their lives, but holidays are important to people. Everyone needs a break at least once a year! With that in mind, we pride ourselves on offering competitive pricing, which we source through our direct contracts with hotels worldwide. We are then sensitive to which offers we channel through social media.
SMP: What is the most challenging part of building upon the brands presence in digital environments (including social media) and sustaining interest? DS: Keeping it fresh and not boring your followers. We have a regularly updated
travel blog where we post news and resort updates plus engaging, creative content and feed this through our social media platforms. We like to surprise by mixing it up and keeping away from a regular pattern of activity. We?re lucky to work in such an exciting industry, with holiday partners keen to engage with our followers too. Stunning prizes, such as a holiday for 10 to Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in Dubai, that we offered a while ago, grabbed the attention of just about anyone who?d ever followed us.
SMP: What are your top five digital / social media tips for travel companies?DS replies with:
- Engage customers with each other. We?re the experts and it?s good to inform about new hotels and resort news, but its discussion between customers that drives engagement and comment
- Forget brochure speak. The travel industry can be very glossy, but this has no place on social media
- Be approachable, people like to know that they?re engaging with a person behind the corporate image
- Don?t sacrifice your brand to get ahead. Stay true to your principles. Avoid being controversial on sensitive subjects. In fact, stay away from sensitive subjects altogether. Social media is fun, but it can be unforgiving too
- Finally, add a little sunshine! Some of our most popular posts are simple, but amazing pictures from a particular resort?s bedroom window, or a stunning infinity pool or beach. These posts, either on a Friday as we dream of leisure plans, or Monday morning as we start a new working week, add a little welcome sunshine into our follower?s lives!
SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?
DS: Not yet. We have plans but like surprising our customers and they?ll be the first to know!
SMP: Best way to contact you and Destinology? DS: Drop us an email to marketing @ destinology.co.uk or drop us a tweet! Alternatively you can phone us on +44 (0)1204 821599 or you write to us via our postal address below:
Destinology
Hall Lane
Lostock
Bolton
BL6 4BL
Now some questions for fun
SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch? DS: I was healthy and had a protein shake. The office has been heavily populated with people looking to start the New Year as they mean to go on, including myself.
SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone? DS: I like to think I do good things every day, especially as I have a family and many employees to keep happy. Also, I recently swam the Salford Canal to raise money for a diabetes charity that is close to my heart.
SMP: If you weren?t running or working on destinology what would you be doing? DS: I have the entrepreneurial gene, so I would possibly own another business, maybe even a luxury hotel in the Indian Ocean or South Pacific.
SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday? DS: February 2014. Jumeirah Vittaveli in the Maldives, I travelled here with my family for a much needed break
SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning? DS: Catching up with our managing director, Liz on the previous day?s trading and checking the traffic statistics into our website.
SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why? DS: It would be nice to be able to fly. Although probably harder to enjoy a cool beer mid-air and that is a great start to any holiday, so maybe not!
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