The effectiveness of TNT Travel Show’s website and evaluating their on-line presence.

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TNT’s website for the travel show is packed with all the info you will need. It is eye catching and uses bright colours such as light blues which can be an anecdote for the light blue skies you will be able to look forward too when you book your holidays, this is further supported by the oranges and reds which are the feature colours for this year’s shows logo, these colours remind us of warm weather.

The previous year the logo was sky blue, showing that they are using colours which are associated with positive attributes of holidays, using this technique of marketing looking at the psychology of colour is very appropriate as explained in article I found written by June Campbell.

“While visual appeal is an important consideration, your colour choices could be sending a specific message to the people who view them. You'd be wise to consider the psychology of colour when designing your marketing materials. Colours not only enhance the appearance of the item -they also influence our behavior”.

Looking at objectives of the webpage it is clear that its main purpose is to inform attendees and gain new attendees. The homepage advertises the pros to going to the event. It uses sales techniques such as promoting the huge savings you will make and the benefits of going such as the number of exhibitors who will be attending. Across the other pages there is also this type of encouraging advertisement, there is a full list of exhibitors to encourage visitors and there is always a mention of the fact the event will be free for those who book a place online.

An important part of the website which I thought was done well was the information about the event with the basic time date and location clearly there on the homepage so visitors don’t have to spend their time searching for the info!

On top of that though there are literally pages of all the information that any guest would want to know before they go.

Their target audience will be the people they want to attend or who are already attending and according to TNT Travel Shows media pack 2012, “The show is attended by young people (18-35 year olds), who on average spend more than £2000 per year on travel. 

The audience is predominantly from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, although we have seen increases in the number of other nationalities attending, including British, American, Canadian and European”.

The diagram below taken from TNT travel show media pack shows exactly who the audience is, it separates the visitors into their age groups, it is clear from this that;

- Their target audience are aged between twenty-five and thirty-four as this takes up 71% of the total audience!

- Australians are the nationality that will most likely attend, with a high percentage of 49.

- On average Europe is the most popular location with a share of 69% of attendees.

     Last year’s show brought in more than 12,000 visitors which was more than a 25% increase on the previous year’s attendance. 

Advertising:

TNT travel shows webpage have very suitable advertising in their pop up ads.  The first ad that appears is along the top of the screen and is for an excess baggage company based in England. http://www.excess-baggage.com/?utm_source=TNT-Online&utm_medium=leaderboard&utm_campaign=ebc-tnt-2011

This company is very relevant and probably do well by advertising on the travel shows page due to its appropriateness and the convenience for customers of the travel show who may need there service, they will not have to look far as it is  advertised on their homepage.

The 2^nd company that advertises on their webpage is also very relevant as it is Anderson tours which is a banner at the foot of the homepage. 

http://www.andersontours.co.uk/

They are a company that offer a wide range of short breaks, weekends away, and day excursions aimed at the independent traveller. They are based in the center of the west end.

There are also other associate sponsors which will be a part of the show possibly with their won stall or offering merchandise etc.

There is also a page in the media pack which talks about the sponsor oppertunities at the show itself. It’s very insitful because it not only pprovides lots of information on how well sponsors have done for themselves through been connected to the show but also how much it costs which is normally information that I would not have access too. 

The search engine optimisation is very good as TNT appear 1^st on almost every occasion when using different key words and different engines.

On Google it has been found that 72% of users prefer organic/natural listings, this means that the paid advertisement searches (the links that appear in a yellow box) are not always, and in fact rarely effective and at 5x the price per click, by using natural search and not paying to be the 1^st listed TNT travel show have made the right choice as there search optimisation is effective on its own.

The site is also clearly laid out and gives all the information needed without writing too much. The pages are nice and simply presented using relevant colours and pictures. The writing and font are also well done and overall the pages are nice to look at.

A feature of the site I particularly liked was a bar that appeared all the way down the page as you scrolled. Its placed at the left hand side of the page and gives people the opportunity to pretty much get in contact any way possible! 

It’s very convenient to put all these links together, especially on the homepage as people like the accessibility and not having to search around for it. It hosts all the social media sites with links to them/likeing them so the visitors can really feel part of the show and have all the convenient info only a click away. Plus any questions people do have they know exactly how to ask them, there is the option of e-mailing, ‘faceboooking’ to name a few.

References:

Psychology of Colour - http://www.nightcats.com/samples/colour.html