ChatGP wrote my bio, and I love it
Like many people I have been playing around with ChatGP to learn more about how it works, what it can do, and if it is capable of writing with emotion, and reflecting a brands personality.
Today I asked ChatGP to write my bio, and I'm impressed with the result. It's a great start, and has saved me significant thinking time.
Bio written by ChatCPT - Alison McDowell, Director Roadmap Strategy
Alison McDowell is a strategic marketer and proven brand builder with a passion for creating strong, meaningful and lasting relationships between organisations and their customers.
Prior to founding her own business, Roadmap Strategy, she had a successful career in marketing, sales and strategy at organisations such as BIG4 Holiday Parks, RACV and Zoos Victoria.
Her expertise in brand building, customer engagement, strategic planning and business development has seen her recognised as a judge of the Victorian Tourism Awards, and appointed as a non-executive director of The Otis Foundation.
In addition, she is the founder of Live Love Work Port Phillip, an initiative that works to connect and support local businesses in the Port Phillip area.
Alison is an experienced and successful leader with a track record in developing and executing strategies that result in growth and success for her clients. She is passionate about helping businesses to understand their customers, build strong relationships and develop strategies that deliver real value.
Alison is an enthusiastic advocate for small businesses and the potential they have to make a real difference in the community. She is committed to helping businesses to grow and thrive in a competitive market, and her passion and enthusiasm for the success of her clients is evident in her work.
Brief provided to ChatGP
Who is Alison McDowell - write an article please
- Strategic marketer
- Passionate about building brands
- Judge - Victorian Tourism Awards
- Founder - Live Love Work Port Phillip
- Director - Roadmap Strategy
- Non-Executive Director - The Otis Foundation
Celebrating Victoria's Top Tourism Towns
Top Tourism Town Awards recognise and celebrate towns that offer amazing visitor experiences.
This year is the first time Victoria has participated in the Top Tourism Towns Awards, and we are thrilled that 22 towns across Victoria chose to enter.
These awards are an opportunity to showcase the value of tourism to towns and communities across Australia and celebrate the diversity and outstanding regional destinations Australia has to offer.
For the first time the Top Tourism Town Awards will also be included in the Australian Tourism Awards. So not only will towns be competing at a state level, the Gold winner in each state will judged at a national level and recognised as the Top Tourism Town in Australia.
The Top Tourism Town Awards recognise and reward towns that:
- Demonstrate a strong commitment and encourage tourism and increased visitation to their destination
- Offer an excellent visitor experience, and
- Exhibit collaboration between tourism operators, local businesses and the community as they work together to make their town the best destination it can be
Submissions from entrants have been through a judging process, and are now open to public voting. The judges score and the consumer vote will then be combined to determine the winners.
Public voting is an ENORMOUS opportunity for entrants to encourage their community, their visitors and their followers to VOTE for them.
Towns who actively promote voting are not only increasing their chances of winning the award, they promoting and reminding their locals, their visitors and potential visitors what a great place their town is to visit – and that can only be good for their visitor economy.
Congratulations to the following towns who are finalist in the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards (VOTE NOW):
- Aireys Inlet
- Apollo Bay
- Avoca
- Ballarat
- Beaufort
- Bendigo
- Dromana
- Dunkeld
- Fingal
- Frankston
- Great Western
- Halls Gap
- Heathcote
- Jamieson
- Lakes Entrance
- Mallacoota
- Nagambie
- Paynesville
- Port Fairy
- San Remo
- Swan Hill
- Timboon
All the very best to all entrants in the 2021 Top Tourism Town Awards.
Our founder, Alison McDowell has been a judge for the Victorian Tourism Awards since 2015, and a judge for the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards since 2021.
What do resilient businesses do differently?
Why did some businesses bounce back more quickly after Victoria’s year of double disasters? What did these businesses do differently?
Victoria University and Victorian Tourism Industry Council collaborated to investigate the impacts of crises on the Victorian visitor economy to develop strategies to help the industry build resilience to future crises and shocks.
So why did some businesses fair better during 2020 the year of double disasters – bushfire and pandemic? What did they do differently? The report identified that the most resilient businesses had strengths in planning, were connected and collaborated – working on their business before the double disasters put them in good stead to the resilient.
We believe the learnings from this report can be adapted to any business and any industry, and provide us all with an opportunity to build resilience in our own businesses and industries.
The top-line learnings from the report were:
Resilient businesses are;
- Accredited
- Connected and Collaborate
- Technology users
- Planners
- Leaders
Resilient destinations have:
- Strategic Tourism plans
- Collaborative leadership
- Regulatory support
- Stakeholder engagement & Communication
Beneath these findings it was also identified that businesses and destinations that had a Risk Analysis within their suit of business planning tools where more likely to bounce back more quickly. While no one would have considered a pandemic as a risk, having considered other risks to their business and how to manage these was a learned skill that these businesses were able to quickly adapt to the pandemic.
It should also be noted that businesses who had previously entered the Tourism Awards were more agile, resilient and also bounced back more quickly than other businesses - another testament to businesses who have business and marketing plans in place were better prepared, able to pivot and weather the storm.
We would also suggest that successful brands didn't ‘go dark’ during 2020 and maintained relationships with their customers, and increased their share of voice in the market will result in bouncing back faster. We know that brands who go dark loose share of voice in market, and their space is taken up by competitors. The result - brands that go dark are slower to recover and often never really catch up. On the other hand brands that maintain or grow their share of voice in market during difficult times are more likely to thrive in sales and profit growth.
If you’d like to learn more, click on the link to the report. Or if you would like to chat though your business resilience and how we can help you give Ali a call on 0411 135 317 or email alison@roadmapstrategy.com.au
Victoria University - Building The Resilience of Tourism Destinations to Disasters:
The 2020 Victorian Bushfires and COVID-19 Pandemic - April 2021
https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/tourism-resilience-report.pdf
Brands getting it right
No question, 2020 has been a shocker for many brands, and as we enter 2021 we will need to come to terms with how we navigate the recession.
Research of the past four recessions shows each has followed the same pattern, some businesses don’t survive, most take three years to get back to where they were, and 9% flourished.
So what did those who flourish do differently:
- Balance between cost cutting and operational spend
- Increased marketing, R&D and new assets
- Cost cutting focused on improving operational efficiency rather than cutting staff
- Stayed closely connected to their customers needs
- Increased their share of voice
Businesses who maintained or grew their advertising spend during recessions not only set the company up to survive the recession, but they thrived in the period that followed.
This result has nothing to do with the recession, it has everything to do with advertising share of voice. Simplistically, if you are the only brand in the market advertising and promoting yourselves, your brand becomes the only brand in the segment for the consumer.
While during the recession it is likely you will experience a reduced return on your advertising investment, you will likely increase market share, and once the economy improves your chance to maintain market share is strong.
The choice is yours, you can stay brand bright, maintain and grow your market share, and attract customers from your competitors………..….. or you can go dark.
What are you going to do?
Business marketing needs are changing
Businesses are reviewing their operation and their marketing performance, we are seeing demands of marketing effort fluctuate, freezes put on staff, and adjustments made to budgets.
An emerging trend from this change is the rise of Marketing Partner Agencies.
So what is a Marketing Partner Agency? It’s an agency that provides marketing operational and/or management staff together with specialised support services ie marketing and brand strategy, social media, creative, media buying, web development, and PR.
The benefits of having a Marketing Partner Agency is flexibility, on-call support and access to marketing specialists. A Marketing Partner Agency can provide a safe set of hands for your day-to-day marketing operational needs, staff for one off campaigns or project work, access to a strategic team and specialists when you need them.
Roadmap Strategy is a Marketing Partner Agency. If you would like to know more about how we work, or chat through your marketing challenge and explore how we can help, give Ali a call on 0411 135 317.
Darrell Lea - a brand getting it right
An Australian family owned business established in 1927, and after nearly collapsing in 2012, Darrell Lea is shining brighter than ever before.
With strong brand equity and awareness, Darrell Lea owned a place in the hearts of older Australians. And while the brand wanted to maintain those relationships it needed to build relationships with a younger audience to ensure its future.
From asking questions and listening, Darrell Lea developed a deep understanding their customer, and responded accordingly. A new brand identity, new packaging, new products, and sharing their journey with consumers resulted in stronger relationships, increased trust, and brand advocacy.
Next, they demonstrated their commitment to sustainability. In 2019 the brand moved to 100% sustainable cocoa, and last week they announced Darrell Lea is PALM OIL FREE, the first Australian chocolate supermarket brand to do so.
The Darrell Lea brand understands and cares about what it’s customers think, want and need from a brand and responds.
There is nothing about Darrell Lea that is going dark.
Congratulations to Marketing Director Tim Stanford and the team at Darrell Lea, we can’t wait to see what’s next.
The risk of going dark
It might be tempting, easier, and maybe even save you a few bucks by letting your brand go dark, but the result could be catastrophic for your business.
Your customers care about your brand, and personally invest in your business and what you do. They want your brand to be successful, they want to share your story, and their experiences with your product with their family and friends.
However, if you go dark, you risk a competitor or alternative product grabbing your customers attention, and the place in their heart that you once owned.
Increasingly, your Marketing Partner or agency are critical to help guide and support you through this period of change.
Consider the following
1. Do you need to adjust your business goals?
2. Have your customers’ needs changed?
3. Does your product need to be adjusted?
4. Can your marketing effort deliver better results?
We encourage all businesses to bring their external Marketing Partners to the table to work with you help you review your approach and reach out to your audience with the right message, at the right time, in the right place to achieve your marketing and business goals.
Marketing in a recession
Australia is about to go into a recession, we have been warned, we have been there before and know how it plays out. Albert Einstein once said “If you want to know the future, look at the past.”
So let’s have a look at the past.
Businesses who maintained or grew their advertising spend during recessions not only set the company up to survive the recession, but they thrived in the period that followed.
This result has nothing to do with the recession, it has everything to do with advertising share of voice. Simplistically, if you are the only brand in the market advertising and promoting yourselves, your brand becomes the only brand in the segment for the consumer.
While during the recession it is likely you will experience a reduced return on your advertising investment, you will likely increase market share, and once the economy improves your chance to maintain market share is strong.
The alternative is your brand goes dark, loses market share, loses customers to competitors and has to start again.
What are you going to do?