Ken, thanks for the update. I'd be interested in your "per seat" price for the tours.
Also, regarding drumming up business, I like what you've outlined above. I would also have you consider the following "local" advertising techniques. I'm not familiar with your town so some techniques may not be applicable to your location.
1) Groupon.com From speaking with local small business owners, Groupon can be a great option for driving awareness and building a "book of business". I believe Groupon has no up-front cost to use. They do, however, take a significant chunk of the Groupon revenue (>60% or so if I recall). The nice thing about Groupon is that it has no up-front costs and a lot of people use it. So even if they don't purchase your Groupon, they still saw your ad and you've just increased visibility.
2) ValPak (
www.valpak.com) is a neighborhood physical coupon service (Business-to-Consumer: B2C). I spoke with the "Grout Medic" when he did some work on our bathtub. He said he used the service and he is book solid. From our conversation, he did mention pricing and I recalled it being surprisingly affordable. This may be another great advertising channel to drive local business.
3) Google+ local business listing: It's free and I really think you should create a Google+ business account. That way, if (when) someone Googles, for example, "Montana off-road tours", your business can showup in the results. People can also provide ratings here. I think ratings are important as MANY consumers now purchase based on ratings. I sure do!
4) Check out Montana-specific travel guides (and tourism guides), especially the ones on-line. They have areas for vendors to post a listing and even advertise. People looking for entertainment on their Montana trip can find you and click the link to your online booking plugin (you can probably get a Wordpress plugin for this).
5) Co-promote with local venues such as a sporting goods store. Perhaps consider giving them coupons for X% off for their customers. I wouldn't waste time on co-promoting with businesses that don't have any alignment to off-roading. For example, I wouldn't recommend that you co-promote with a salon or deck builder.
6) This isn't an advertising method, rather a process workflow: Be sure you really detail out the workflow for how someone becomes a customer. Is the process easy? Could it be even easier? Think start-to-finish. Think "what happens once someone sees an ad for my off-road tours and they want to sign-up? How does that process work"? Can they visit your site, fill out a sign-up form and even pay online? Is there a phone # they call? Do you send them a confirmation email and reminders? Etc.
---> This can get cumbersome if you don't have a plan. Feel free to reach out to me for assistance and a "brain buddy".
7) I almost forgot: You should contact your locals press (news stations and newspapers) and see if they're interested in running a COOL story about a new local business. You have something unique and interesting for them to share with their viewers. And news outlets are ALWAYS looking for news! It's a great way to get in front of your local audience and it costs you NOTHING!
Take care,
Brent
