Along for the Ride: Content Marketing for Travel Brands
It’s a head-scratcher. Although most people work hard, not everyone is willing to play hard, at least when it comes to taking their earned vacation time. According to the U.S. Travel Association, American workers fail on average to use nearly five vacation days a year. This not only results in less productive employees, but it can also cost companies billions when workers have the option to roll over unused paid time off.
So how can you use content to help turn that trend around and inspire folks to make travel — whether it’s a weekend getaway to Miami or a 14-day Mediterranean cruise — a priority? Show them how seamless and affordable planning their dream trip can be, offer resources and guidance, and make them feel like they’re getting expert travel advice from a trusted friend.
Ready to learn more? Here are five ways content marketing can help you:
Attract new customers
Travel is fantasy, right? By writing blog posts, you can remind your readers how magical, beautiful, and exceptional their trip will be. A carefully crafted blog post can get customers excited about planning their vacation, whetting their appetite with destination guides and sample itineraries. Don’t forget to include popular keywords that vacationers search for. This will improve your search engine rankings and help new customers more easily find your site.
Demonstrate expertise
Make yourself the go-to source for travelers searching for advice, insights, and the best deals. Consider creating a series of e-books on a range of topics, including how-to tips for dealing with potentially cumbersome aspects of travel, such as different airline policies, TSA requirements, and the arcana of booking the cheapest flights. By offering potential and returning customers educational resources and assistance with planning, you give them solid reasons why they should call upon your expertise to make their dream vacation a reality.
Focus on your audience
Address the needs and concerns of your key demographic. Do you cater to business travelers? Create content that make business trips easier for them. Specialize in international travel? Let potential customers see how you can help them explore the world. You know what makes your brand special, and you know what you do best. Let your uniqueness come through in your emails, on your website and blog, and in all other places where your brand comes in contact with prospects and customers.
Impress with your travel expertise
People travel for many different reasons. Weekend getaways. Overseas holidays. Visiting a bucket list destination. Display your brand’s expertise about what makes a memorable trip by publishing a guest article bylined by a company executive in a premiere travel or adventure magazine. Write engaging editorial content with a unique point of view that customers can’t find anywhere else. Potential topics can include things like seasonal travel concerns and current hot spots. If you make a great impression, readers of those publications will likely seek more information about your brand.
Engage with social media
Content that’s short and designed for social media is amazingly effective. Repurpose your blog posts into bite-sized information nuggets. Rework destination guides and how-to tips you wrote months ago. Post information about new services and travel offers. If you provide content that’s good, to-the-point, and fantasy-inducing, your followers will be sharing it in no time — and your phone will start ringing.
By using great content to ease your customers’ travel anxieties, you can fill your pipeline with people who are excited about having you plan their special getaways. If there are any steps in this process that sound overwhelming to you, Prose Media can help. Sign up today for free, no-obligation access to our platform. We’ve got a team of experienced travel writers and experts on the industry who know how to draw in your customers. Remember, great content can get your customers dreaming — which is what travel is all about.
