Digital Strategy

For: Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd. (SCDL)

SCDL is the newly formed regional tourism body which covers the diverse areas of Caloundra, Maroochy, Noosa and the Hinterland. The region attracts approximately 2.7 million tourists every year and the local tourism industry is worth almost $2 billion. SCDL invited us to pitch for the creation of their digital strategy in September 2010.

The Challenge
To develop a consumer-focused digital strategy that defines the organisation’s online presence across multiple websites and social media brand outposts.

SCDL specifically asked us to recommend suitable technologies for the future build, including a detailed analysis of content management systems, booking engines and email distribution systems. We would also need to design the site architecture and advise on how content from their 5 existing, but as yet unconnected, websites should be leveraged.

Finally SCDL asked us to come up with an interim solution to increase visits and reflect the new organization while an agency was found to implement the longer-term solution.

The PunkLogic Approach
Firstly, we cheered SCDL for putting the customer front and centre of their digital operations, right from the start of the project. Knowing the value of uncovering genuine, first-hand user insights to digital projects, we were excited by the prospect of carrying out user-research to form strategy.

We adapted our approach from Dave Chaffey’s tried and tested methodology. To ‘define the opportunity’ we:

• Reviewed 20 industry research sources.
• Conducted ninety minute video interviews with 9 real customers in two states.
• Surveyed and held 4 public meetings with industry in all four regions of the coast.
• Conducted a detailed content audit of SCDL’s 5 existing websites and 4 affiliated sites.
• Reviewed 10 competing and 4 ‘best in class’ websites.
• Analysed 5 booking platforms.
• Reviewed 3 email management systems.
• Specified the requirements for a content management system.
• Met with 3 prospective suppliers to discuss their approaches.
• Met Tourism Queensland to ensure relevancy of the proposed strategy.

The next step was then to define quantifiable benchmarks for success and design a well-planned approach which would generate ongoing success in four key areas:

• website performance
• visitation
• quality of experience
• customer relationships

The Result
PunkLogic produced a 150 page document that included best-in-class examples for 11 key destination website features such as mapping, navigation and shortlisting tools. The easy-to-follow document made a concise, well-reasoned and actionable set of recommendations. These have since been used to brief competing web development agencies to ensure easily comparable quotations and approaches are received. Added to this, the wireframe and site architecture plans provide a blueprint for the successful digital agency to follow.

The client didn’t waste any time implementing our interim recommendations. Less than two months after submission, SCDL are mid-way through a series of industry education workshops, encouraging tourism operators to realise the value of social media tools such as Facebook and YouTube. Other industry workshops include:

• Fundamentals of good website design
• Blogging: from zero to hero
• Understanding website analytics

We look forward to following the development phase of the project over the coming months.

Have you invested in strategy to the required level? Please comment below on the way strategy development has impacted on your web presence.

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