Trip to BC

Last weekend I drove to BC to visit with Joanne O'Connell. We are developing a workshop for sometime in the Fall. The focus will be on making strategic choices related to planning for 2025. More on this in a future blog post and newsletter.

Joanne lives in B.C. Tukaluk Campground is in BC. My sister lives in BC. Worth a trip.

As a result, my plan was to “do three visits in one trip”. My itinerary was to leave Longview on Saturday and drive to Fauquier which is where Tukaluk is located. On Sunday morning I would drive to Kelowna where my sister lives. Then on Monday morning drive up to Enderby and have lunch with Joanne. The trip went as scheduled, other than the shock of paying $2 a litre for gasoline. Yikes.

Tukaluk Campground and Cabins

The campground is secluded. Some sites are in the open but most are nestled nicely in the trees.

This couple is enjoying one of the three cabins at Tukaluk. 

The owners (along with David) and managers of the campground are Allison and Sean. They are delightful. We had a wonderful conversation on Sunday morning before I left for Kelowna.

The tenting campsite that I stayed in was in the trees and by the creek. I think this is the first site that had running potable water right by the picnic table. A nice touch and very handy.  

Kettle Valley Rail Trail

On Sunday, my sister, Tricia, took me, along with her son Noah, to the Kettle Valley Rail Trail for biking. I had never been here before. There are 18 trestles on a one-way trip of 11 kilometres. Most of the trestles were restored after a huge fire in the area in 2003. We did the ride in about 2 hours - to the end and back. I rented one of the bicycles that were available ($50 per day). 

I have to say that this was the best 2 hours of cycling that I have ever had. The trail and the views were outstanding. 

Lunch with Joanne

On Monday, I drove to Enderby. Joanne has a wonderful “cabin-in-the-woods” - classic BC living. She prepared lunch and then we talked about marketing strategy until 5:00 pm. More on this in a future blog post and newsletter.

Past Articles

In our first article, Step 1: Asking Important Questions, we laid the groundwork for understanding key questions before starting this project. This article followed our previous series, "10 Things I Learned from Joanne," which began with Each Level of the Model Must be Measurable.

In the second article, Step 2: Design the Model, we took a look (pun intended) at designing the customer acquisition model. This step is critical for defining the levels of the model and the marketing channels. The financial aspects of the model are implied, but not listed explicitly. We will get to this later. 

In the third article, Step 3: Collect the Measures - Visits, we looked at how to find and collect the measures to add to the model.

In the fourth article, Step 4: Calculate the Metrics, we looked at the task of using 2 measures to calculate a ratio. In general terms, as defined in our book, all calculations using measures are called metrics. 

In the fifth article, Chipping Away at Revenues, we calculated the absolute maximum revenue ($796,795) that was possible and then identified various external forces that whittle away at this optimistic number. Eventually, we arrived at the realistic maximum ($234,623) which is significantly less. The rest of the article focused on options for achieving this level of revenue. For this year, we decided that social media marketing was the best tactic. 

In the sixth article, The Intensiveness of Marketing is a Choice, we looked at a 2X2 that Joanne and I developed. The matrix compared % of Reach for the Selected Market on the y-axis and the Intensiveness of Marketing on the x-axis. I answered a series of questions on behalf of David Cooper, the owner, and concluded that the strategy moving forward is to focus marketing on a few reliable channels (low % of reach and low intensiveness).