The efficient use of content marketing in the travel industry can help your bookings grow tremendously. By properly maximizing content like blogs, social media posts, articles, and site text, you can help your travel brand set itself apart from the multitude of competitors out there, like travel agencies, booking sites, OTAs, and alternative accommodation options like Airbnb. It’s essential to properly and quickly illustrate why a traveler should choose you when it comes to booking their next trip.
Showcase the Possibilities
Before they even finalize their plans, many travelers are daydreaming about their next vacation or business trip. By aligning content with the sort of experience they can hope to enjoy at your bed and breakfast, for instance, you can influence the vision a traveler has for their vacation. By the time they get around to booking their trip, there’s a good chance they will opt for your property, since you set the tone for their vacation as they planned it.
Travelers want to explore destinations, learn about cities, and engage in memorable experiences. You can lead them to what they need through your content. And you can do it before they have even settled on what they want by using high-ranking SEO keywords and well-placed social media content that speaks volumes.
Rely on Micro-Moments
According to Google, all travelers rely on a series of micro-moments when planning a trip, from the initial daydream stages to booking (and rebooking). Micro-moments are powerful tools when it comes to winning bookings. Use your content to lead buyers toward the realization that your company provides exactly what they’re looking for on their next vacation or business trip.
Convince travelers that your brand can uniquely meet their emotional, physical, spiritual and other needs. That said, don’t try to be all things to all potential customers. Sell your company as it truly is, and let the beauty of your reality impress buyers.
Blog posts are especially powerful for letting your travel company’s personality and unique offerings shine through. Is your brand playful and edgy or upscale and exclusive? Do you offer a customized travel encounter or connect consumers with authentic local activities?
You can even use blog posts to showcase unique hints of local flavor, to interview local chefs or curators of art galleries, or to highlight annual events that bring in tourists. Blogs allow you to really showcase what is wonderful about your brand and the area it’s situated in so travelers can envision themselves enjoying your slice of the world.
Understand, too, the reluctance some consumers may feel when it comes to visiting your property or broader geographic area. This may stem from geopolitical stereotypes or prejudices, or just an aversion to trying new things. When crafting a content marketing travel industry strategy, consider the psychology of trying something new and address any relevant points of reluctance in your content. Acknowledge these fears, then state why what you have to offer is worth overcoming them. Prove through your content why it will benefit guests and help them achieve personal growth and satisfaction to book with you.
Identify Your Audience
Know what your brand represents and who you are targeting before investing time in a content marketing strategy. Go beyond speaking specifically to your ideal customer, though. Dare to get personal with potential buyers.
Recent research revealed that 57 percent of travelers would like brands to tailor information offered to them based on factors such as personal preferences and past behavior. Further, 36 percent of travelers would consider paying more for a vacation experience tailored to their unique preferences and behaviors. As such, taking a customized approach is definitely a worthwhile move.
Whenever possible, share the firsthand experiences of other travelers in your content, as well as images and videos to showcase what your brand has to offer. Create a sense of inclusion so travelers feel like they are joining an exclusive group when they book a vacation with you. Exclusivity is a driving force for consumers to book a trip and be a part of something special.
Make Change Work for You
The travel industry and marketing itself are currently in the throes of great change. Experiential travel and image-driven inspiration on Instagram are just a couple of examples, both of which have resulted in tremendous shifts in how travel and tourism marketing is completed. Though all trends ebb and flow, there is one constant that can be relied on for travel content, however – the love of a good story.
Consumers want to know how they’ll feel in a certain place and how their lives will be better after having been there. They’re eager to learn about new surroundings and people. Travelers look for ways they can make a difference and find meaning in their lives.
Content marketing for travel – in particular blog posts that dive deep into a locale, culture, or special aspect of travel like sustainable or adventure travel – is a travel brand’s chance to tell a story that matches offerings with meaning.
Use SEO to your advantage. Research popular search queries and create blog posts that speak to traveler’s concerns for your destination. For instance, if many guests are searching “what to pack for a trip to Mallorca,” where your hotel is located, post a blog that uses those keywords and answers the question in a detailed checklist that travelers can print and use in their planning. In doing this, your brand establishes its status as an authority in the tourism industry, as well as locally.
Set Your Brand Apart
Content marketing for travel gives brands a tool to break through the noise and be more than just another business holding their hands out for booking dollars. Travel buyers know that there more than enough ways to arrange and pay for travel. As simple as it is to choose a provider, though, they’re looking for more. Inspiration, education, trust and a unique travel experience are just a handful of the buyer desires you can address through your content.
Use your blog posts to show travelers why your hotel is better than the one half a mile down the street. Engage in creative storytelling to depict in colorful imagery the free happy hours you offer or how beautiful your seaside balcony is at dusk. Highlight stories from real guests and let them share their experiences with your property. Making clear why a traveler should spend their hard-earned destination budget with you is a big part of content marketing for the travel industry.
Rely on Imagery
Your words should paint a well-crafted picture of the experience travelers can expect to have at your property. Be sure to delight your readers through sight, sound, touch, scent, and taste. Describe the feelings and thoughts they will have when they book with you, curating in their minds the perfectly decadent day they can expect during their vacation.
At the same time, however, you should also be sure to include plenty of stunning photographs to further drive the point home. More than ever before, imagery is a crucial aspect of an effective content marketing travel industry campaign. Professional photographs and videos of amazing places resonate with readers. The words and images remain in their memories, piquing their interest in future excursions. Compelling images coupled with actionable content have become a surefire way to increase bookings now and in the future.
Conclusion
Creating colorful travel content is not a simple feat; it requires a good deal of time, effort, and research. Finding the time to devote to this task can be difficult for many travel and tourism industry marketing departments. SEO and content experts in the industry, Galileo Tech Media can help your company every step of the way. From branding to creating content that leads to bookings, our talented team of content professionals knows what it takes to catch the attention of travelers in an increasingly congested online booking space and close the deal.