Content marketing is a crucial piece of any tourism marketing strategy. However, it’s not an overnight success plan. Smart content marketing takes consistency, time and effort—three things that we know are difficult for entrepreneurs and business owners who are already juggling a multitude of tasks.
So if you’re going to invest said time and energy into content marketing, it makes sense that you would want to get as much ROI from your efforts as possible!
Here are five of the most important things smart tourism marketers do to get stellar content marketing results:
Once you know where you want to go with your content marketing strategy, then you can begin to build out the path that will help you arrive there. For example, do you want to improve your organic search results and keyword ranking? Develop brand awareness in a specific niche or demographic? Drive bookings of a specific offering or during a certain time of year?
We have a simple method we call ‘The Outcome Expressway’. You can learn more in our post about SMART goals that dives deeper into setting a strategic framework for all your marketing efforts.
Seventy-two percent of travelers with smartphones agree that when researching on their smartphones, they look for the most relevant information—regardless of the travel company providing the information.
Smart tourism marketers show up where their target customers are searching, and then over-deliver on answering their questions and meeting their needs.
The easiest way to do this is to deeply understand your ideal customer. Don’t just guess, but actually talk to people! Head to social media and ask your followers what information they’re searching for. Use FAQs as a source of inspiration. Monitor UGC and see what discussions come up as a result.
Once you know what your audience wants to hear, then relate it in a way that stays customer-centric. Remember, the spotlight should always be on your customer, not on your tour, hotel or destination.
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You already know that stunning photos and videos are crucial in the travel + tourism industry. But if you’ve been hesitant to invest in great videos, here are a few stats from Think With Google to consider:
We know just how much time goes into crafting compelling and meaningful content. So why not repurpose this content on multiple marketing platforms? Not only will you get more results out of your initial effort, but this will also ensure you’re showing up everywhere different segments of your target audience are searching for you.
For example, one blog post can also be repurposed into a downloadable or guide, an email sequence, a YouTube video, and even used in your offline marketing strategies.
These are five steps we recommend everyone incorporates into their tourism marketing strategy.
Okay, we want to hear from you! What are other steps the smartest tourism marketers are taking in their content marketing? Share your thoughts below!
Now that you know how the best marketers approach content marketing, you need to be sure you have a plan that will set you up on the road to success. Get access to our exclusive Content Marketing Editorial Calendar below!
1. Have A Strategic Framework
If there is one mistake that small business owners make when trying to market their company online, it’s having zero measurable and attainable goals. It might seem simple, but taking just a few extra moments to go through this step and set the right kind of goals can make a massive difference in your content marketing ROI. After all, what you can’t measure, you can’t manage—and you can’t improve upon.
Once you know where you want to go with your content marketing strategy, then you can begin to build out the path that will help you arrive there. For example, do you want to improve your organic search results and keyword ranking? Develop brand awareness in a specific niche or demographic? Drive bookings of a specific offering or during a certain time of year?
We have a simple method we call ‘The Outcome Expressway’. You can learn more in our post about SMART goals that dives deeper into setting a strategic framework for all your marketing efforts.
2. Create Deep and Meaningful Connections
The power behind content marketing is its ability to foster real connections with prospects and customers. Rather than bombarding people with more advertorials, content marketing provides a real opportunity to show up with useful, interesting information that actually meets the user’s needs.
Seventy-two percent of travelers with smartphones agree that when researching on their smartphones, they look for the most relevant information—regardless of the travel company providing the information.
Smart tourism marketers show up where their target customers are searching, and then over-deliver on answering their questions and meeting their needs.
The easiest way to do this is to deeply understand your ideal customer. Don’t just guess, but actually talk to people! Head to social media and ask your followers what information they’re searching for. Use FAQs as a source of inspiration. Monitor UGC and see what discussions come up as a result.
Once you know what your audience wants to hear, then relate it in a way that stays customer-centric. Remember, the spotlight should always be on your customer, not on your tour, hotel or destination.
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3. Seamlessly Incorporate Visual Storytelling
You already know that stunning photos and videos are crucial in the travel + tourism industry. But if you’ve been hesitant to invest in great videos, here are a few stats from Think With Google to consider:
- Sixty-four percent of people who watch travel-related videos do so when thinking about taking a trip
- Three in five travelers who watch online video use it to narrow down their brand, destination, or activity choices.
- Over 100 million of YouTube’s unique visitors are travelers.
4. Promote Your Content Like Crazy
You’ve spent hours creating a fun vlog or an amazing article that meets #1-3 above. You go to hit publish and feel a surge of accomplishment. You’ve created something of value, and now you can sit back and watch as customers roll in…. Well, not exactly. Many small business owners tell us they gave up on content marketing because it simply didn’t work for them. But when we ask them what they were doing after they hit publish… You guessed it: nothing. While content that’s crafted with SEO in mind will yield organic traffic over time, great tourism marketers know they need to get their content in front of as many of the right people as possible. If you really want to succeed with content marketing, then you have to be willing to promote your content everywhere your ideal customers are engaging. For most tourism businesses, we find that means Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and an email list. For more on how to promote your content efficiently across social media, check out these other guides: ~Our Top 10 Tips To A Creative + Effective Instagram Strategy ~What Every Tourism Business Needs To Know About Facebook Marketing ~4 Crucial Reasons Your Tourism Marketing Strategy Needs Pinterest5. Repurpose Everything
We know just how much time goes into crafting compelling and meaningful content. So why not repurpose this content on multiple marketing platforms? Not only will you get more results out of your initial effort, but this will also ensure you’re showing up everywhere different segments of your target audience are searching for you.
For example, one blog post can also be repurposed into a downloadable or guide, an email sequence, a YouTube video, and even used in your offline marketing strategies.
These are five steps we recommend everyone incorporates into their tourism marketing strategy.
Okay, we want to hear from you! What are other steps the smartest tourism marketers are taking in their content marketing? Share your thoughts below!
Now that you know how the best marketers approach content marketing, you need to be sure you have a plan that will set you up on the road to success. Get access to our exclusive Content Marketing Editorial Calendar below!