How to do successful content marketing for the tourism sector? From PED to the most immediate strategies, here are some valuable tips to get your business. A thriving tourism content marketing strategy requires a plan. It will detail what content to prepare, where to publish it, and when to distribute it. Therefore, it is a question of designing a multi-media publication system to gain online visibility, generate new contacts, and create a market niche in which your brand and your ‘voice’ must be recognizable. A process that takes time and effort. Let’s see now how to get started.
Creation Of The Blog
The first tool we recommend starting with is the travel blog. Whether you are a tour operator, the owner of a hotel, or a tour guide, a blog is essential to promote your property and your business. Being a versatile tool that can integrate with other online marketing techniques, from SEO to social media marketing, a precise roadmap is needed before realizing it.
First, answer the following question: “What do I need it for?”. The functionality that the site/blog must have depends on the answer; for example, an integration with the online booking program could be needed. Then proceed with the design part, paying attention to consistency with the other elements that distinguish your brand, such as name, logo, and company colors. Further steps in the design phase of the blog/site for tourism are:
- Analysis Of The Type Of Tour And Services Offered: useful for obtaining indications for the segmentation of the target.
- Competitor Examination: Looking at what competitors are doing well in their tourism content marketing is a great place to start.
Editorial Calendar
The PED ( Editorial Plan ) is a calendar that serves as a reference guide; it is programmed which contents to publish, on which medium to distribute them and when to proceed with the release. The elaboration of an editorial calendar is essential to the coherence of the production to come and keep track of what has been published. This will make it easier for you to proceed to identify measurement metrics that are useful for verifying:
- what is working best;
- where are you performing, i.e., on which medium (for example, blog or social network);
- when it is convenient to publish, or if there are days/times it is easier to intercept your audience.
Keyword Cluster
The contents, as mentioned, must be planned: you need to be clear on what to publish (post/photo/video) and where to publish it (site / social). The topics you will address represent your editorial line, and how you deal with them is your voice on the Web. For example, if you are a travel agent specializing in family tourism, the content, style, and tools you will use to promote them will differ from those used by a tour operator such as World Adventures. From this premise, it follows that even the SEO strategy and the keywords to choose must be in line with the main topics of your business.
To identify them, start by playing the role of your target audience: what are they interested in reading the most? This done, it is possible to start working on the search for keywords to have the contents indexed by the search engine. Since Google has become very demanding, it is vital to find ‘keyword clusters,’ that is, sets of keywords relating to the same topic and the same query. Using similar terms, which concern a specific topic rather than filling the text of the same keyword (risking being penalized for keyword stuffing ), makes the contents more natural and, therefore, more attractive for the search engine.
Storytelling
Travel and tourism content is perfect for storytelling. For this reason, tourism content marketing is closely connected with the storytelling technique: a powerful and effective tool to promote your tourism business, whatever it is. Each place has a story that can intrigue, excite and interest the public. Research is needed both on the areas of destination and the reasons that push people to choose one business over another. The data from these analyses can play to the advantage of your tourism content marketing strategy.
Let’s take some examples of how stories could intercept audiences segmented by interest. For example, let’s say you’re targeting people passionate about the outdoors and gardening. You could tell them which are the most beautiful blooms to witness: from the flowering of Castelluccio di Norcia to the tulip fields in Holland, to the Far East and the flowering cherry trees of Japan. If your audience is sensitive to environmental issues, why not set up a content marketing program for sustainable tourism if the audience is exposed to environmental problems?
Social media lend themselves as a tool for direct audience engagement, thanks to the essential visual component (think of Instagram). An idea that can be declined in various ways could be to publish impactful photos of how wrong behaviors can harm the environment and, on the other hand, to give a positive message and show what each of us can do to provide their contributions.
What Are The Benefits Of Tourism Content Marketing?
With the blog optimized, the PED set up, and sound (thematic) stories to tell, you already have a basic set to start your content marketing strategy for the tourism business. What are the benefits that your business can reap? We have summarized them as follows:
- Lead generation: an essential aspect is that good content generates qualified leads. The goal is that users, seeing the photos and videos and reading the posts, also want to be part of the experience you offer. You will allow them to contact you, both through the site (for example, with a contact form ) and directly through social networks.
- Increase of online visits: the regular publication of new content is one of the parameters evaluated by the search engine to classify a website. The contents must therefore be frequent, of quality, unique and original.
- Creating a community for your brand: content is the home’s foundation where your community finds itself. Blogs and social channels offer people what they are looking for, whether exciting information, ideas for dream destinations, or advice for naturalistic or cultural trips. The community will first be a consumer, and then, why not? An active part in content production, with comments and sharing on social networks and perhaps by sending photos and suggestions.
What Matters Most In Content Marketing For The Travel And Tourism Sector?
Before concluding, here is some food for thought on the fundamental principles of content marketing in the tourism sector. First of all, this is a long-term strategy and not a direct marketing action – you are creating value, working on the brand, and building a community, which takes time. Once you have entered this perspective, it will be easier to understand how to approach the reference public and become the trusted expert, the consultant, who can help them in their specific need. Customers will be waiting for answers to their inquiries through the relevant, entertaining, and accessible content you provide and the valuable information found on your online channels.
All this is impossible without assimilating the experiential marketing concept, vital in the travel and tourism sector: experience is critical in the traveler’s decision-making process. A hotel, just like a tour operator, is not selling a product/service but is offering its customers a unique experience, an irresistible mix given by the location, the welcome, and the various pluses of the stay. Finally, two words on the importance of the synergy between the copy part (i.e., a text-based also, but not only, on studied keywords and targeted and personalized hashtags) and the visual aspect (with quality photos). A post that manages to find the right balance between these elements has a much better chance of staying impressed, being shared, and ultimately hitting the web users.
In conclusion, setting up a long-term content marketing strategy will allow you to segment your audience and their needs. By providing adequate answers and satisfying solutions, you can create a loyal community within which it will be easier to ‘catch’ profiled leads. Whether you are a tour guide, an Airbnb host, the website of a hotel chain, a travel agent, or any other type of business that offers tourism services to end consumers, the objectives will not change and will always remain the same: to achieve increased visibility, increase user engagement and improve your brand image.
Also Read: Three Actions To Increase Your Visibility On The Internet
