Stories that connect

Is marketing your tourism business your biggest headache?

Maybe you're struggling to attract the kind of clients you want. Or perhaps you've heard you should be using a funnel (trouble is, you're not totally sure what a funnel is, apart from a handy way of getting whisky back in the bottle when you've accidentally poured yourself too much). And will anyone notice if you use AI to generate your marketing content?

I never conclude a Tour Pro Talks without learning something new, and last Thursday's broadcast was no exception. In fact, last week's guest, Holly Phillips, packed so much value into our short discussion that my head was spinning afterwards.

Holly has worked globally for some of world's leading brands, from L’Oréal to Johnson & Johnson and Nestle, and has years of experience in producing digital content. She is the co-founder of a strategic video marketing agency, @ForDigitalSakes, which specialises in luxury hospitality that supports the full funnel and user experience, turning viewers into guests.

If you missed it, please do watch the replay here, as the summary that follows here simply skims the surface of a fascinating 30 minutes.

Holly and I began by discussing the afore-mentioned marketing headaches. In Holly's opinion, there are two key challenges. The first is resource allocation: many tourism businesses stretch themselves thin by trying to be present on multiple platforms without having enough expert support. And the second is platform overload, where businesses jump onto new platforms without a clear strategy, leading to poor engagement and brand dilution.

I'm always in the camp of fewer, bigger, better and doing one or two channels really well instead of getting excited by all of them.

Strategic Approaches to Digital Marketing

Holly emphasised the importance of focusing on fewer platforms where the target audience is most active. Not only is this approach more manageable, it's also likely to yield better results than spreading efforts thinly across many platforms.

Understanding your Audience

Knowing where your target demographic spends their time online is also key. Recently, Holly has seen newer platforms like the video-led app Unravel show potential for direct engagement and bookings in tourism.

Content Strategy

Establishing a solid content strategy and community management are also vital, especially when handling consumer interactions and potential crises online.

It's understanding your audience who you are trying to talk to. How can you effectively reach them? Where are they most present?

A word about luxury...

Holly works with leading luxury hotels, so it seemed appropriate to pick her brains about the concept of "luxury". With so many luxury brands vying for attention in the online space, how can tourism and hospitality businesses set themselves apart? And how can the luxury of the end-experience be reflected throughout the whole buyer journey?

Holly believes that luxury should not just be a label but an experience reflected through seamless customer interactions from the first point of contact to post-service engagement.

Video marketing has an important role to play in the luxury sector too. For example, Holly advocates for video room tours over traditional photo displays on hotel websites. A room tour provides a much more engaging and realistic view of what the guest can expect (a view I strongly endorse, after a few experiences where the photo collage on the Airbnb listing did not, in reality, assemble itself as attractively as it had done in my imagination!).

Storytelling: a narrative with intention

Holly explained that effective storytelling in marketing should guide the audience through a cohesive experience, ensuring that each piece of content serves a purpose and supports the overarching business goals.

Again, knowing your audience is important here, as it allows you to tailor your content to suit their interests, while connecting with them on an emotional level.

Storytelling has a start, a middle, and an end. But it's a narrative with intention... It's really important to have a red thread through that asset where you are taking your user through an experience.

AI: saviour or scourge?

For time-poor tour operators, AI can seem like a real life-saver, pumping out fast, polished copy in seconds. And no one can really tell if you're using AI to generate your content, can they?

Unfortunately, they can. As Holly pointed out, AI-generated copy often gives itself away through its overuse of emojis, sentence structure and formal-sounding phrases. Simply put, it lacks that human connection. And if you don't connect, you won't convert.

Having said that, Holly isn't completely down on AI, believing it can be a great way to generate ideas, content pillars etc. The bottom line? Use with caution.

Top Take aways for Tour Pros:

• Start with the 'Who': Understanding your target audience is fundamental.
• Content Pillars: Develop 3-5 key themes that resonate with your audience and focus your content around these pillars.
• Test and Learn: Continuously refine strategies based on feedback and performance, ensuring content resonates well with the intended audience.

If you'd like to learn more about Holly's work, you can follow her on Instagram or have a look at the For Digital Sakes website.

And, if you'd like to hear more of what Holly has to say about marketing (and who wouldn't?) then here she is being interviewed on @DavidArraya's The Conscious Hospitality Podcast, talking about the power of rituals, education in marketing and much more!