It’s no secret that with multiple smart devices and constant connectivity comes an insane amount of information overload.
Just take this: On average, we now consume 74 gigabytes of data everyday—the equivalent of 9 DVDs!
With this increasing amount of noise, is it still possible to attract, engage, and, ultimately, convert your ideal customer via a content marketing strategy?
Absolutely. However, if you’re going to stand out amongst the clutter, you can’t continue to produce lackluster content (or worse, no content at all.) Instead, it’s time to start thinking like a media company.
When you begin to think like a media company, you start to create and distribute content that people will want to engage with and share. You move from just being a hotel, destination or tour operator to becoming a brand and lifestyle that your ideal customer deeply identifies with.
Customers don’t want to just engage with businesses, but with those brands that embody what they are most passionate about.
In order to create important, customer-centric content, you must continually strive to better understand your customers. That includes knowing their interests, hobbies, desires, pain points, etc. Yes, it does take a bit more work. But the rewards are well worth the efforts.
We’re always shocked by how many tourism businesses are still exclusively publishing their latest press releases and travel discounts on their blog and then wondering why their content marketing isn’t working.
As Edelman so eloquently explains, you need to be creating, curating and aggregating relevant content—at the right time, in the right channel and to the right customer.
An excellent example of a tourism business that is thinking like a media company is Jetsetter. From articles like 5 Great Weekend Getaways From Washington D.C. to 9 Dreamy Waterfront Hotels around The World, their Digital Magazine nails the media mindset to a tee.
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Gary Vaynerchuk also recently posted an article about the necessity of thinking like a media company. In it, he states that the content you produce doesn’t even need to be related to your product.
We agree with this to a certain extent. However, what we also find is that when a lot of beginning marketers or business owners hear this, they start to create fun and compelling content they would like to read or watch—but then they completely forget about their content marketing goals.
We would argue that you shouldn’t post content just for the sake of posting content. As noted at the beginning of this article, we are all already inundated with information overload.
However, you CAN create content intelligently that both builds your brand, is exactly the kind of content your customer wants to read, watch and/or share, and still builds your bottom line.
How can you create insanely valuable content that connects with each traveler at their stage of the buying journey—ultimately moving them closer to making a booking and thus reaching your vision and goals?
Different tourism marketers will tell you there are different numbers of stages in the traveler’s journey. We tend to stick with these 5 Stages of Travel by Google:
How To Think Like A Media Company In Your Tourism Marketing
When you begin to think like a media company, you start to create and distribute content that people will want to engage with and share. You move from just being a hotel, destination or tour operator to becoming a brand and lifestyle that your ideal customer deeply identifies with.
Customers don’t want to just engage with businesses, but with those brands that embody what they are most passionate about.
In order to create important, customer-centric content, you must continually strive to better understand your customers. That includes knowing their interests, hobbies, desires, pain points, etc. Yes, it does take a bit more work. But the rewards are well worth the efforts.
We’re always shocked by how many tourism businesses are still exclusively publishing their latest press releases and travel discounts on their blog and then wondering why their content marketing isn’t working.
As Edelman so eloquently explains, you need to be creating, curating and aggregating relevant content—at the right time, in the right channel and to the right customer.
An excellent example of a tourism business that is thinking like a media company is Jetsetter. From articles like 5 Great Weekend Getaways From Washington D.C. to 9 Dreamy Waterfront Hotels around The World, their Digital Magazine nails the media mindset to a tee.
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That Said, Don’t Forget About Your Tourism Marketing Goals
Gary Vaynerchuk also recently posted an article about the necessity of thinking like a media company. In it, he states that the content you produce doesn’t even need to be related to your product.
We agree with this to a certain extent. However, what we also find is that when a lot of beginning marketers or business owners hear this, they start to create fun and compelling content they would like to read or watch—but then they completely forget about their content marketing goals.
We would argue that you shouldn’t post content just for the sake of posting content. As noted at the beginning of this article, we are all already inundated with information overload.
However, you CAN create content intelligently that both builds your brand, is exactly the kind of content your customer wants to read, watch and/or share, and still builds your bottom line.
How can you create insanely valuable content that connects with each traveler at their stage of the buying journey—ultimately moving them closer to making a booking and thus reaching your vision and goals?
The 5 Stages Of Travel For Tourism Marketing
Different tourism marketers will tell you there are different numbers of stages in the traveler’s journey. We tend to stick with these 5 Stages of Travel by Google:
1. Dreaming
Whether it’s inspiration from social media, advertisements, word-of-mouth or content, this is the first ‘aha’ moment when the traveler begins dreaming about their next trip or vacation.2. Planning
The traveler is ready to move from just dreaming about their ideal trip to planning it. This is the research phase when people visit multiple websites, read reviews and weigh your business against the competition.3. Booking
Now the traveler knows where they want to go and what they want to do. It’s time to finalize the plan with their reservations, either through your website or a third-party booking site.4. Experiencing
It’s travel time! The traveler is experiencing your offering, enjoying once-in-a-lifetime memories and experiences.5. Sharing
Sharing occurs both while the traveler is on their trip and once they have returned home. They are writing reviews, sharing photos on social media and otherwise spreading the word about the amazing (or not-so-amazing) experience they had with your business. As you begin to think like a media company, you want to ensure that you are creating content that meets the traveler at each stage of their journey. What questions, desires, interests or pain points will the traveler have in regards to your tourism business during each stage of their journey? When you can find the sweet spot between thinking like a media company without forgetting about your business objectives, then your tourism business will begin to see massive results from your content marketing strategy. Finally, remember that 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. For more tips on how you can get more out of your content marketing efforts, be sure to read our article on: What The Smartest Tourism Marketers Do To Get Stellar Content Marketing Results Want even more goodies? Download your FREE Content Marketing Editorial Calendar BELOW to plan out a content strategy that thinks like a Media Company without forgoing your tourism marketing objectives.[et_bloom_inline optin_id=”optin_5″]
