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There’s a difference between copywriters and content marketers. The former sell products, the latter sell stories.
At Peacock Tourism Marketing, our birds-of-a-feather team are passionate about creating good online content and integrating it with digital marketing – in order to “sell tourism products.”
With a background as journalists and screenwriters, we are accustomed to telling stories, and stories sell. With experience as advertising and promotional copywriters, too, we’re clearly in the business of sales.
What do you need to connect to your audience? If you’re an accommodation, attraction or adventure tour company with a great product, you definitely need an innovative marketing plan that delivers your story in a way that makes travellers want to book with you today.
Money spent on hiring experienced content marketers – a team that understands tourism products and how to motivate buying consumers – will be a good investment.
-Principal Peacock Dee Farrell offers her two cents worth on selling a story vs selling a product.
Adventuring in Bali slideshow.
Being a tourism marketing consultant can entail a lot of sitting in front of the screen, writing about places one’s never been. Every now and again the opportunity comes for travel blogging from the field.
I’m currently working on branding Vision Adventures Bali as a concierge booking service for visitors – so I’ve been “testing” the product.
Life’s a daring adventure or nothing, said Helen Keller. Although she never visited Indonesia, her spirit of adventure is a mantra for my client, Vision Adventures Bali.
Hope you enjoy the slideshow. Someone has to do it, so why not DeeTouring Dee?
The recent changes in online marketing top dog Facebook prompted me to go through my recent images and create some albums about my current state of residence.
I’m passing along the advice and hoping you’ll do it, too, to help promote your own business, be it in tourism or other products and services. One photo is worth a thousand words; now they can be displayed even bigger on your Facebook wall and photo albums.
Upload those big, beautiful photos
The new photos are much larger.
When you upload an album you can create a mini-story that is eye-catching and provocative. Post more pictures on your Facebook Page and think about what story you can tell with the photos.
Showcase an event, your products, or (interesting) happenings at your office.
The other great thing about the new photo size is that they take up more space in the News Feed. You are claiming more real estate than a typical post. Remember to add comments onto the main picture in the Album so you can also get your message across, along with your great images.
3 Way Magic
Use these three techniques to get your message out and engage with travellers and travel planners.
1. Showcase your product
Web video is ideal for showing exactly how your hotel or tour works, and why it’s the best on offer at the destination.
Your web video doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s more important to:
Take the time to develop your story
Write a script: don’t wing it
Edit carefully so your video comes in under three minutes
2. Share your reality
Any time you share some of your own reality, your two-dimensional Internet presence becomes more three dimensional, and that makes your company — and its offerings — more appealing to visitors.
Show readers you’re just like them by sharing a little about yourself on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, your blog, and your email newsletter. You can post photos or short videos that show them the real you, both inside and outside of work.
Keep it light, tie it in with a topic you know your audience is interested in, and turn it around and talk about them the first chance you get.
3. Shatter your stereotypes
If your business is typecast a certain way – eg luxury hotel, spa and conference center – accept it and set the record straight online.
Showing your prospective guests a little personality is an excellent way to make your hotel or tour memorable.
A good example is Vision Villa Resort in Bali that now calls itself Vision Villa Bali, the Center of Adventure, with links to its new concierge desk, Vision Adventures. The stereotyped image of a luxury spa resort built for relaxation has been shattered by the “adventure centre” personality, taking advantage of the adventure playground at the resort’s doorsteps.
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About the Author: Pamela Wilson helps small businesses grow with great design and marketing at Big Brand System. Her article has been adapted for tourism operators by Dee Farrell at Peacock Tourism Marketing. Together, we hope your blogs and fan pages will add some personality through your stories.
…it will work wonders for you.
Talking about content management of your website and social media channels. You need magnetic copy and images – clever stuff that will elicit response.
Do you have a fledgling blog, Facebook page or other social media channel? If it’s time to refresh and regroup, consider getting help with the content and all-important photos.
Taking my own advice, this is my once a week minimum blog posting. I often post 3x/wk on Facebook, less often on Twitter, but I’m not always regular with this blog site.
The question most asked by my clients is “How often should I post?” My answer is invariably “As often as you have something to show or say – as long as it’s a short time between postings.”
Don’t let a month go by, or why bother! Here’s what others are saying.
David Verchere writes “Social Media Examiner Research shows you should post once a day.”
The data shows that in most cases posting every day generated the best results. This data applies to blog posts but there are no reason that social media posts wouldn’t follow similar rules. Obviously this assumes that you are posting content that people want to read.
What happens if you post more than once a day? You’ll get a 15% increase in traffic for what amount to a 100% increase in effort. It’s not clear that the extra work makes the increase in traffic worthwhile.
When you share less than once a week you get the same results as when you don’t post at all.
So the takeaway here is that if you’re not going to post at least a few times a week then you might as well not bother to post at all.
How often do you post? No time? Hire a copy writer! Peacock Tourism Marketing does this best.
My brother's lanai view every day on the Big Island
Studies indicate that images are the second factor right behind pricing in terms of influencing the choice of a property to stay, or tour to take. For some, the perceived experience may be first and price second.
My rule of thumb is: experiment with types of photos, with people or animals first, your rooms, exterior and pool second.
With today’s technology, taking a good picture is easier than ever. Facebook is great at sharing pictures and engaging users – every day 100 million photos are tagged on facebook.
So, ask your guests if you can take pictures with them, then tag them on your Facebook page. Your property, tour and event will be seen by many of their friends.
PS Include a great caption and good descriptor of the image. Not “img 78643321″ but “Kona Coast Sunset.”
With more websites on the Web than humans on Earth, you can no longer simply put a website online and sit back waiting for travel consumers to find your business.
If you have tours or beds to fill, online marketing is Job #1- or should be. According to SEO expert Mike Owen (who runs RainbowComm Communications & Marketing in Vancouver, Canada), “Organic Search Engine Optimization should be considered a crucial first step for all business websites.”
How Optimizing Your Website (SEO) Will Benefit You:
Generate long-term traffic growth from the major search engines
Receive relevant, targeted visitors which convert into guest night and tour seats
Grow your brand awareness and name recognition
Spend less compared to other forms of digital marketing
Let’s be honest, who cares if you “rank #1″ for a keyword no-one searches for, or if visitors leave your site as fast as they arrive!
Some additional factors to consider when evaluating your website include:
Sensible and easy-to-use navigation (usability)
A clear purpose, message and Call-To-Action
Original content containing important keyword phrases
What clients like about RainbowComm’s approach is that it is holistic in nature and goes beyond simple keyword ranking. Mike takes into consideration all of the factors which can impact your search engine traffic and conversions. For more information about meta-tags and SEO, contact Peacock Tourism Marketing for a copy of his forthcoming article.
Using social media to enhance your travel, tourism or attraction marketing is a great idea.
Recently, a destination consultancy posted an article titled “Top 10 reasons why your social media campaign is failing” There is food for thought in the essay, and the key point is…”to ensure success on the back end, make sure you have established clear guidelines and benchmarks on the front end.”
Peacock Tourism Marketing, with more than a quarter century of experience in travel, hospitality and event marketing, has a start-up kit for tourism operators new to social media networking and who want to engage with travelers to their destination, hotel or tour.
Start your social media marketing on the right foot
Contact the Birds of a Feather team for more information on the how-to-get-started-on-right foot kit. How big is your footprint? Click here for an example of a savvy planning advice offered by niche web publisher Rainbow Tourism.
What content tips and tricks do you need to know?
What will give you the edge over your competitors?
Whether you’re a luxury travel startup or established tourism operator, you probably need a social marketing strategist on your content/marketing teams. Someone to advise and train you on how to maximize your exposure on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube – not to mention creating postings for your blog and website.
We all have heard it before – content is king! Speak to any SEO expert and they will confirm that having the right content on your website is essential to get good rankings. When your website is constantly being updated with new content and images, it helps increase your site’s retention, bookings and enquiries, encourages repeat visits, and increases the browsing time.
But it is important to get the right balance of content as too much will overwhelm your visitors; too little and they will just go elsewhere. Just as it is important to get the right balance of social media pages working together.
Since the birth of social media, the type of content expected by potential customers has dramatically changed. Nowadays, when people visit your website, blog or Facebook they want to see reviews, videos and photos from other people who have used or experienced your service or product as this is believed to be more trustworthy.
Tip for New Media Novices
1. Seek an experienced web content writer/online marketing manager, someone who is a savvy strategist. This will not cost you an arm n a leg.
2. Work with the marketing writer to develop your Social Media Startup kit, something that complements your online and traditional marketing plan and budget. A savvy plan won’t break the bank.
3. Start with Facebook or a Blog, then progress to Twitter and You Tube if your destination/accommodation/tour/service warrants more interaction with your guests/customers. Monitor these daily, and reply with those who make comments.
4. Develop the content. Images (including videos) are as important as words – for the search engines and because users click on them a lot. If your content or marketing team does not have this material for the content writer, create and collect this first.
5. Create a template that suits your style, tone and story. The Blog and Facebook images can be different or close to your website design. A good web graphic designer will help you with colours, images, easy-to-read layout, great navigational buttons and useful widgets that help distribute your content and message.
For more tricks of the trade, ask Peacock Tourism Marketing’s Birds-of-a-Feather team. They’ve been involved in travel themselves, and creating content for other operators for many years.