"There's Just Too Much Demand"

April 12, 2014 Steve Wellmeier

Avalon Tapestry. Photo: Avalon Waterways — *Avalon Tapestry*. Photo: Avalon Waterways

“There’s Just Too Much Demand”

So said a European river cruise executive at a travel show in February about current market conditions, as reported recently in an article entitled "Selling River Cruises? Better Get On Board Early" in Travel Market Report.

But something seems to be missing in this and other recent articles, both in the statements from the riverboat operators themselves and also in the reporting by the travel media. For me, there are two major disconnects between what I’m reading on one hand and what I’m actually seeing in the marketplace on the other.

Marketing Lessons from the Obituaries

March 18, 2014 Steve Wellmeier

Richard Grossman obituary, New York Times, February 1, 2014 — Richard Grossman obituary, *New York Times*, February 1, 2014

My close friends and colleagues know I love obits.

I probably bore others talking about them. I tweet them. And I send them as emails to acquaintances I think might be interested in the subject’s life or work.

My mother may have been responsible for this mild obsession, as she never missed what she called “the death notices” in the Dayton Daily News or Journal Herald. But then again, she used to read the newspaper from the back to the front. At least I don’t do that. Perhaps that’s a subject for another blog post.

Well-written obituaries—such as those I read daily in the New York Times—are like onions. They have layers that can be peeled back to learn just a little, or a lot. Many obits have great lessons for marketers, and that’s what I’ll explore in this post.

The Rising Power of O in Travel Marketing

March 5, 2014 Steve Wellmeier

Magazine image courtesy of Webomator, with title help from Mark Babushkin

Where does your tour or small ship cruise product fit in on the O Continuum?

No, this isn’t something out of pulp science fiction. I learned about it recently in the January–February issue of the Harvard Business Review: “What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews,” by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen.

If you’re a marketer like me, you’ll likely apply the principles to your own product or service as you peruse the article. In my case, that’s the marketing of specialty cruises and tours. It’s a quick read and I recommend it. But I’ll summarize some of the major points and add a few of my own in this blog post.