Smart Talking with Highlands & Islands Adventures

In this week’s Smart Talking, we chat to Catherine Shearer and Euan Wilson, owners of Highlands and Islands Adventures.

Hi Catherine and Euan, welcome to Smart Talking. Please tell us about Highlands and Islands Adventures and about what the company does.

Cat and Euan: Highlands and Islands Adventures is the only company specialising in guided mountain bike tours in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. We’re absolutely passionate (bordering on obsessive) about mountain biking and about offering our customers, the majority of whom come from overseas, the opportunity to experience the true beauty and character of Scotland.

Essentially, we organise package mountain bike tours and we’re meticulous in ensuring the highest quality in every aspect of our customers’ itinerary, only working with local suppliers whose standards of service match our own – and our customers’ – high expectations.

We have a fantastic product here in Scotland, which includes the whole spectrum of accommodation, food, drink, scenery and culture, and we’re delighted when we see our customers coming back year-on-year for more!

The current economic climate is particularly challenging for businesses, not least for the Scottish tourism industry – how is your business coping with that – any positives coming out of the experience and any advice for others?

Cat and Euan: Focus, focus, focus. That’s what we’ve taken from the past few years. When resources are tighter you can’t throw money at every ‘great opportunity’ that comes your way, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We’ve focused on our core business, focused on what our customers are telling us they want, and focused on delivering that, to the very highest standards.

Another very positive outcome for us has been the development of strong relationships with other local businesses. We’ve formed close working relationships with like-minded businesses in the Highlands, which allows us to share resources and ideas for mutual benefit and we’re seeing tangible results from that. So, our advice would be: know what your core business and your strengths are and maximise those, and be realistic and honest with yourself when evaluating or creating new business opportunities.

Do social media and digital technology have a place in your business?

Cat and Euan: Social media has a place in our wider marketing strategy, yes. It isn’t the silver bullet and, whilst it might appear very appealing because it’s ‘free’ in many cases, there is a great danger that you while away many hours of your time for not very much return.

We use Facebook, Twitter, photo and video sites, as well as a blog, as part of our strategy to build relationships with prospective and existing customers. We’re selling an experience, and an investment in time and money, so it’s important for us to build up trust within our target markets.

As a selling tool, our e-newsletter is much more effective, so we use our website and social media profiles to increase subscriptions to our mailing list. We’re also continually striving to improve the content that we offer in our newsletters and social media, and trying to encourage our followers to pick up the conversation to add credibility to that content.

What are HandI Adventures up to at the moment?  Any news you would like to share with us?

Cat and Euan: We’re heading off in a couple of weeks to the Adventure Travel World Summit in Mexico where we’ll be launching to the global adventure market our new ‘Tastes and Trails of Scotland’ mountain bike tour. This, unambiguously, combines the best food and drink with the best trails and scenery in the Highlands. It’s really just a ruse for us to be able to do our two favourite things – eating and biking – and get paid for it!

But it’s not just about the biking. On this tour we’ll take customers from Fort William to Mallaig on the Jacobite (Hogwarts) Express steam train; then aboard the ferry to Skye where we’ll indulge in a Michelin-starred lunch at Kinloch Lodge, and have a distillery tour and whisky tasting; then drive back to the mainland for some coastal walking around Arisaig, and a wildlife cruise off the coast of Applecross. It’ll be a feast for all the senses!

Many thanks for Smart Talking with us, Catherine and Euan, and all the best with the new tour!

For more information visit www.mbtholidayscotland.com or follow on Facebook or Twitter.