Are you still marketing your destination the same way you did last year? And the year before that? Does that mean you're relying on brochures, ads in print media, and static images online?
If the answer is yes, then you need to know that you're missing out on customers. You need to be harnessing the power of social media and SEO - search engine optimisation - so that the people looking for you can find you. And so the ones who don't yet know about you can find you too.
Doing this means working smarter so that you can move up the rankings on Google, which is far and away the most popular search engine. But you can't just place ads to do this. You need your customers to help you spread the word through their social media posts and reviews. This means providing a great experience remains paramount - same as always - and encouraging your customers to post photos on Facebook and Instagram, as well as leaving positive (and constructive) reviews on Trip Advisor. However, even if you do all this, you're still missing one critical element of your destination marketing mix - video.
Almost 70 per cent of people now use video when searching for information about a destination. And that number is only going to grow in the coming years. While people used to look up instruction manuals to find out how to do something, now they go to YouTube and search for a how-to video, with someone showing them how to do it. It's the same for travel. People want fresh, new dynamic content. They want video.
What they don't want so much any more is advertising. Not to say that advertising doesn't have its place in your marketing mix any more - it does - but research shows that user-generated content (UGC) is much more effective in influencing consumer behaviour. People see UGC as more authentic, more real and if it features people like them, it's incredibly powerful and can impact their decision making. People are far more likely to watch user-generated videos than content created by the brand and they trust online peer reviews and recommendations more than professional content and copy.
That's where we come in. Vloggi can help you to build up a library of UGC videos without the exorbitant costs usually associated with video production. Our content is created by travellers in your destination or by your own local ambassadors and characters. It is editorial content so it is authentic and allows someone else to tell your story for you. It harnesses the incredible technology that lives in virtually every pocket these days - the HD video camera that lives in smartphones.
Why do you need video? Because that's what people are searching for and because it can tell a story in a way that still images cannot. Visit Vloggi for Tourism and see how we can help you create compelling video content to promote your destination for less than you think.
