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5 step tourism marketing system

As a tourism and marketing professional, you must clearly communicate that you can be trusted and that you are an expert in your field. This is the best way to create an enduring sustainable competitive advantage online.

When it comes to tourism marketing, many of us are suffering from information and technology overwhelm.  And some of us just cannot afford in the immediate term to commission a SEO company to help out. But believe it or not, it IS possible to achieve a robust online presence yourself and within your own team without spending a cent.

As a travel researcher and marketer, I have been experimenting with various methodologies over the last few years since Google switched its algorithm over to semantic search. As a result, we have enjoyed great success as a small boutique agency in ranking for our own site.

I have decided to share this methodology with you. I have narrowed the formula down to 5 tourism marketing tactics that will boost your digital presence.  These tactics do not require a huge marketing budget, but they do require time and effort.  And it is important to understand that they all work together as the sum of all parts and will not work in isolation.

The cost is time, effort and consistency

Implementing these marketing tactics will cost you time and effort, not necessarily money (unless you want to outsource some of these tasks).  What’s more, this methodology is evidence-based. It has been tried and tested on MyTravelResearch.com over about three years with great success.

Aside from the time and effort you put in, you need to be prepared to keep on top of the digital landscape – technology rarely sits still.

To maintain success, keeping your marketing knowledge up-to-date needs to become a priority to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

When you opened the doors or created the website for your tourism business or destination, you signed up as chief marketing officer (CMO).  This means you need to take full responsibility for your marketing.  And whether you decide to D.I.Y or outsource is up to you.

Search and the digital marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years and continues to evolve. We are now in the age of semantic search and machine learning.  This may sound like nerd speak, however, it can mean the life or death of your business in the internet age.  It pays to know a little.

The way people search online has evolved and Google has changed with it.

A few years ago, search engines could be easily ‘gamed’ by those with the deepest marketing budgets.  But when Google switched over to “semantic search” in 2014, it put big and small business on a level playing field for the first time ever.

This is a significant departure from the keyword and fake link building tactics of yesteryear where we saw  many major travel companies seriously burnt by algorithm updates in the lead up to switching over to semantic search. It has seriously transformed online tourism marketing.

The main implication being –  page one of Google will be different for every user, every location and every desktop or mobile device.

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The role of branding in SEO for tourism marketing

Today, everything you do or say online is considered to be a representation of your brand.

Google and other search engines are dedicated to providing the best user experience possible.  For them to present your web pages in a search, Google has to trust your brand enough to do this.  You need to prove you are worthy by building trust, reputation and authority not only with your customers, but in the eyes of the search engines.

So, if you want to realise an enhanced online presence without paying money, you need to create a strong brand that impresses both Google and your prospects.

How do you do it? Build trust, reputation and authority

The answer lies in just these three words: trust, reputation and authority. These three ingredients are key to improving your ranking and ultimately your online presence.

And, the only way to do this successfully is over time on a consistent basis.  So just having one big go at it, is not enough (don’t let any SEO company tell you otherwise)

Simply having a beautiful website with target keywords  and a claimed Google My Business page won’t do.

To attain the robust digital presence that is key to modern tourism marketing success, you have to convince both search engines and your prospects that you are indeed a trusted source, a real authority in your field and a reputable business with integrity.

No customer wants to do business with an entity they can’t trust or are not sure of.  The same goes for Google.

As a tourism and marketing professional, you must clearly communicate that you can be trusted and that you are an expert in your field. This is the best way to create an enduring sustainable competitive advantage online.

Here are three areas of focus:

  1. Great content: Your customers are currently searching for information and answers to their problems. To reach them, you should create quality content around the questions and keywords they may be using online. The content should be genuinely useful, engaging and sharable content that triggers conversations that facilitate a closer relationship with your target audience.
  2. Strong brand:   Tourism marketing and branding are both closely tied to online presence. If you are a well-established business or destination with solid, consistent branding then online success will easily follow. But if you’re a start-up, you have to first work on branding by identifying your customer segments and personas and building your own distinct online identity.
  3. Mobile:  Think 100% mobile from now on.  More users are searching on mobile devices than on desktops. Search engines, including Google and Bing, reward websites that are responsive while penalising those that are not. Make sure your website is responsive and follows Google’s 25  site design principles. The web portal should ensure that your users always have the best browsing experience.

Once you get your business branding and web design in order, it’s time to implement the five small business marketing tactics that will take your online presence to the next level without spending any money.

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