Travel and tourism are all about being able to share your moments. You broadcast the fun and exciting things done while in a different city, country or continent. At its very core, it is a social activity.
Sharing with friends and family over social media or otherwise is how people relive the experience over and over again.
The Right Time for Video Is Now
In 2019, people spent an average of 7-hours per week watching videos. This was almost a 59% increase over the last three years. This indicates that the demand for video is only going in one direction, upwards. Having said that, when people are looking to travel to a destination or make a hotel booking, they watch a video.
Almost 66% viewed videos when thinking about taking a trip and 65% saw videos for which hotel to stay at. Videos rule and as a travel and tourism business you should make time for video too.
Effective Video Marketing Strategies for the Travel and Tourism Industry
Travel is an extremely subjective experience. Sharing that experience with others is the best possible way to get more interested and engaged.
As a business, you want your customers to ‘live the experience’ so that they get interested in actually wanting to book the experience. In that case, videos are a great way to pique the interest of your customers. They will make them likely to respond to your services and offerings.
Whether it’s an unforgettable place to eat, a must-see spot, or an ‘adventure you must do’, we all value the multi-faceted aspects of any tourist destination.
For any travel and tourist-oriented businesses, video marketing plays an influential role in communicating such experiences to the would-be traveler.
Here are various video marketing strategies for your business:
1. Tell a Story
First and foremost, you must tell a story.
A story is a great way to connect with your audience and reel them in. A video adds dimension in the form of audio, text overlays, and visual aesthetics. It essentially tells a story. This storytelling is made even more engaging when the viewer enjoys the process.
A 5-minute travel video about the experiences of a traveler can make your readers a lot more interested than a 5-minute long blog would do. Using an online video editor, even beginners can craft captivating visuals without the steep learning curve of professional software. The convenience of editing on-the-go means that you can tweak your content anytime, anywhere.
Ensure that the story you are telling is compelling and strikes an emotional chord with your customers while retaining your business values. The better the story you tell, the more likely for your customer to be engaged. They are thus more likely to respond to your promotions, ads and offerings.
2. Length and Quality of Your Videos Matter
The key is to not lose your customers’ attention at any point in time. So, choosing the length of your video becomes essential.
Say, for instance, you are making a video about an upcoming tourist destination. Here you would want to make short and mid-size videos on the places to see, where to eat, hotels to choose, etc.
These short clips are an excellent way for any potential traveler to go through and gather a lot of information quickly.
It is crucial to understand and choose what you’d like your videos to talk about. This will determine its length.
Usually, the first 10-seconds should be eye-catching. This is because that is the amount of time any viewer checks to see if a video is worth their time.
Overall, attention-grabbing, smaller pieces of content work better.
3. Mobile First
Today more than half of the content we see on the web is consumed over mobile, and this includes videos too. So, you must consider the ‘mobile-friendliness’ aspect of it.
For best results, you should make your decision based on the content of your video.
Certainly, you wouldn’t like to shoot a beautiful, picturesque landscape using your front camera, right? Furthermore, consider optimizing your video for orientation and aspect ratio. Also, use subtitles to ensure your videos reach a large audience.
4. Plan Your Distribution Strategy
No marketing strategy is complete without a distribution plan. Your video needs to reach the broadest possible audience. That can be only done when you have a proper plan in place.
If you start with a distribution plan, you can make a more informed decision on what the content of your videos should be.
The best possible distribution channels are social media channels. Social media pages, groups and playlists are a great way to ensure your videos reach the right set of people who might be looking to travel soon.
Regular video content is more likely to get you higher engagement than simple written posts or images.
Another plan is to use paid advertising to reach out to new leads.
5. Make Your Videos Share-worthy
If you want to see real results from your videos, you need to produce high-quality, consistent and relevant travel and tourism videos. These videos need to be crisp, attention-grabbing and entertaining.
Each video you create will tell a story that needs to resonate with your target customer. Every time you do that, they will be motivated to share the video content you put up. The more likes, comments, shares you get, the higher the engagement.
Conclusion
The audio-visual medium is perhaps the most effective when a business wants to create more leads, and engage more customers.
Generally, people look for exciting travel experiences. Your travel videos can provide them with the answer for their travel needs. The role videos play today is more than just content pieces. Rather, they are marketing tools. Use these tips to effectively utilize videos for your travel marketing strategy.
Image source – DepositPhotos
