Luxury faces its first recession in six years in 2009 but Bain & Company study reveals long-term optimism as ‘new luxury markets’ projected to surge.

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Sources: Citigroup Inc./Bloomberg News (www.bloomberg.com), LiveRail (www.liverail.com).

StarCite founder and industry veteran, John Pino recently launched an industry-specific social network: www.i-Meet.com which is one of the first social sites that combines the meetings and events community with a business overlay, allowing its planner and supplier members to interact freely, while adding value through the ability to find relevant information and build new business and personal relationships.

Now with over 5,000 members from more than 80 countries around the world along with 80,000 supplier listings in the database, i-Meet is a relevant business community and is growing rapidly. Unlike the mega social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and Plaxo, ALL of their members are in the meetings and events industry!

Concept 1: An oversized postcard that can be printed or attached as a pdf. Going after the idea that the property is the most cost efficient property for a meeting right now, highlighting the Complete Meeting Package. The headline is eye catching and a play on words…

Headline: Rates as Flat as this Post Card, initiating the thought that this is a ‘bargain” without using those words.

Concept 2: Format is a traditional 8 ½ x 11 flyer with fun graphics, using humor to get to the point that this property is a ‘no frills’ property. This goes head on with resorts and the AIG effect.

Headline: Fluff, a great addition to a peanut butter sandwich. But not to a meeting.

After all, when money is tight, consumers are constantly looking for deals. And that means they are going online to search for better prices, selection and services.

Marketers will follow.

eMarketer estimates that search spending will increase through 2013.

By then total US search marketing outlays will surpass $23 billion, and marketers will be spending more on search engine optimization (SEO) than on contextual advertising.

• Know your customer and where are they blogging, if at all
• Be authentic
• Provide useful information, educational information
• Don’t overdo it; pick the right blogs for your business and be consistent with your message
• No sales pitch; this is a conversation, not an elevator pitch
• If not done right, it can have a negative affect

  That being said, I think it’s worth 1-2 hours a month to get into this space and see what happens. It does help with search (if done correctly), but there are no promises this will equal sales. Look at it like being a cocktail party, networking, getting your name out there, having a conversation with others interested in the same things as you….only in cyberspace

Comparing 2008 to 2009 (January 1- February 12), the number of visits is about the same; but the Page Views are up 8% since we revised the site, and the average time on the site is up by 15%, from 3:41 minutes to 4:14 (a healthy increase). Visitors are looking on average about 6 pages per visit, an increase over last year.

E-letter sign up on the web site is visible and the list grows through the site about 5% each month. Importing new guests e-mails would increase the response rate dramatically.

This shows customers and prospects are very loyal, opening and reading e-mails at a consistent clip. We can improve the open rate with new fresh names.