Sea Weeds

Thanks Phil,

Again, you raise some excellent points.

Travel and Tourism is the largest industry in the world.

And Ecotourism, by its very nature, offers fewer barriers to entry and less overhead then most other related ventures.

Let me kick another tire within it that offers endless opportunities.

Namely, working with local tour operators to conduct front-end PROSPECTING and back-end FOLLOW-UP marketing campaigns.

Prospecting, for example, by:
1.) Picking a specific geographic area to farm (say Texas)
2.) Compiling a list of likely prospects in Texas to contact (say subscribers to Outdoor magazine, with three or more credit cards, $75,000+ income, who travel 3+ times a year)
3.) Developing a shared ad campaign (Postcard, Brochure, Booklet, etc.) to mail three to six times to your list.
4.) Charging local tour operators to be a part of your mailing.

(Here in the NW a friend of mine with vacation rental homes does a lot of business each summer with folks escaping the heat in Texas)

Following-up, for example, by:
1.) Creating a series of thank you, referral, birthday, and holiday cards to the new customers that resulted from your mailings to reel them and their friends back in.

Taking this basic formula you could bore down into virtually endless local to international markets.

Right now, I’m actually working on a project like this to promote a region in the south of France here in the U.S. and, hopefully visa versa with Air France starting direct flights to Seattle.

Which brings up another related niche – simply TRANSLATING tourism packages.

Ok, that’s enough tire kicking for now.

But I think I might contact a local oyster farm to see what they are doing with their ‘slug’ shells - excellent idea!

Cheers,

Rod