Who are SKYE and LOCHALSH MARKETING Ltd?

History

The Skye and Lochalsh Marketing Group ‘steering committee’ was set up early in 2002 by request of the industry, disheartened by the trend of centralisation in tourism marketing, with a perceived loss of a local marketing voice and messages.

Skye and Lochalsh Marketing Groups remit was to ‘generically promote business in the Skye and Lochalsh area for the benefit of all businesses and the wider community.’ We sought to exploit the world famous identity of Skye and market this as a brand. Consultants were brought on board to work with the steering group to create and establish the brand, a brand identity, raise funding, undertake PR on behalf of the area and to restructure and brand www.skye.co.uk as a brochure style website.

The Skye and Lochalsh Marketing Group became Skye and Lochalsh Marketing Ltd, with committee members becoming directors in 2003.

In 2003 the brand logo was launched. Shortly later an overhaul of skye.co.uk was complete, and marketing was well underway, with numerous magazine and newspaper articles commissioned. The ‘pebble’ logo was cast into the limelight, causing huge ripples of interest in the media and amongst neighbouring tourism regions. Our successful cutting edge initiative has inspired many others to follow the lead.

The Current Position

The structure of tourism marketing has been in the ‘melting pot’ and very much at a point of pivotal change. Skye and Lochalsh Marketing Ltd offers an exciting opportunity for a business driven local voice to lead the way in marketing of the Skye and Lochalsh region to the wider world.

In 2004, the move was made to see all directors being nominated by constituted local business groups, seeking to ensure true representation of the local business needs. They are all volunteers. A number of groups have been unable to nominate representatives, however new nominations from such groups will always be welcomed. The company has a non profit making policy with all income and funding going directly back to promoting the area. Wherever possible we harness local skills in implementing our marketing plan and believe that this will ensure the message leaving Skye and Lochalsh is passionate and authoritative.

The position of the business was assessed and an updated marketing plan compiled, outlining our unique selling points, marketing objectives, marketing targets, marketing tools and media, a programme of marketing for 2006, and budgets & funding summaries. This became the basis for a funding application to the Visit Scotland Challenge Fund, Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise and Highland Council which saw the launch of a new website with improved functionality and more administrative flexibility.

With the continual change in tourism and marketing funding it was decided in 2007 to consolidate the business by focusing on our clear business objectives and to lessen our dependency on grant funding. We have moved further towards the position of self sustainability and only use fund aid for developing new projects. We have already implemented the following work outlined in our current marketing plan, which has been largely funded by local members and advertising. Corporate advertising opportunities are currently being researched.

• Development of the brand logo and brand values
• Creation of a generic brochure
• Improvement of content on skye.co.uk
• Improvement of site functionality including better control of members database, visitor registration and incentives, and site searchability.
• Establishment of a subscribers e-newsletter that circulates to almost 10,000 subscribers monthly.
• Established ourselves at No.1 in a Google search for Skye
• Secured our webhits at 65,000 per month in summer and 45,000 + in winter
• Over 1 million web-page views per month in summer in 2008
• Undertaken niche campaigns, in areas like birding, wildlife watching, photography, walking with more coming online soon
• Prestigious advertising for example in; BBC Wildlife magazine, Scottish Field, National Geographic Traveller Magazine, In Britain, BBC Country File Magazine, Onboard Superfast Ferries, Scottish Mountaineer, Scottish Hosteller, British Birds and others
• Assisted in features in magazines, and sponsorship of competitions in prestigious magazines and high profile websites such as BBC Wildlife.
• Brochure distribution at all Scottish Airports, Ferry Terminals and all major routes throughout Scotland
• Advertising panels in Inverness Airport arrival lounge

Significant new web development is proposed in Autumn – Winter 2008, to see new pages coming online:

• To enable higher member profile during topical niche campaigns
• Generic information brochures available online
• A non-commercial visitor attraction database online
• A new interactive home page
• Maps, guidebooks, local CD’s and films shot on Skye available to buy online.

There are many opportunities for you and your business to participate with SLM Ltd, through membership at a number of levels, advertising and for members through our promotional partnership programme.

Please do join us and get involved in our promotional programme, its your local marketing company, and you can help make Skye and Lochalsh... unforgettable!

Get Involved

Membership and Advertising policies, applications, and guidelines are available online.

Corporate Sponsorship packages are available and further details are available by emailing marketing@skye.co.uk

FOR CORRESPONDENCE PLEASE USE THE INFORMATION ON, http://www.skye.co.uk/contact.php or http://www.skye.co.uk/advertising.php
Our Registered Company Details are as follows: SKYE & LOCHALSH MARKETING GROUP, t/a SKYE & LOCHALSH MARKETING LTD.
Registered Office: SKYE & LOCHALSH MARKETING LTD, KING’S HOUSE, THE GREEN, PORTREE, ISLE OF SKYE IV51 9BS
A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE, REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND NUMBER 242931