Australian’s have never been more hungry for travel than during this COVID restricted time and you have the opportunity to fill their belly with inspiration drawn from your very own traveller experience.
While Australia’s insatiable thirst for travel is not being met, a unique opportunity exists to engage travellers in the dream and future plans of travelling to your part of the world... and indeed your frame in that picture. Now is the time to take the time… to write and share, offering inspiration and information to the staved travel bugs of Australia.
Every tourism business has the opportunity to stimulate and tantalise the senses of starved travellers through authentic articles (blogs and video) that uncover the secrets of your destination - local knowledge that takes people off the beaten track to far reaching nooks and backstreet bars. The information that only a local knows, that only you know.
Embrace these 10 steps to engage and inspire your ideal travel bug:
Engage your team in the vision and purpose behind this quest of value adding through the sharing of local knowledge. You need to start a movement with genuine intent to assist and inspire. If your lens is sales you will not succeed
Map out your Content Plan. Brainstorm a list of “top 5” secrets to share with thirsty travellers. Your personal top 5 restaurants; bars, walks, picnic spots, galleries; etc. You could review local markets and events, share moments of the seasons or anything that draws out the unique character of your destination and visitor experience
When creating your content ensure to personalise stories by using owners, staff and partners as the local author. You may have some staff who don’t wish to be involved and that’s ok… but next time you recruit keep this role in mind when selecting the right personality type
Refer people to your local contacts and haunts, the business owner or bartender, your favourite restaurant table and market stall. The more specific and personal the better
Create three levels of content i) free content for anyone visiting your website or social page ii) content that you can offer as a free download in return for email i.e. The Definitive Guide to Backstreet Whisky Bars in Hobart iii) free subscriber content that people must enter their email to receive either on the website subscriber page or via eNews
Offer gifts that people can use before they arrive such as recipes using Tassie produce or guides on preparing for adventure in cooler climates. The sooner people can engage with your content the sooner they will appreciate you and your efforts
Send an eNews (I'm sure you have a better name) every quarter that celebrates the season and the upcoming moments across your region. By placing varied content in your eNews such as food / romance / family / adventure you can track which items each subscriber clicks. In future emails you can select a segment with pin point targeted material. For example those who have clicked on the blog "Cairns Top 5 Family Friendly Restaurants" will receive a special eNews with 100% family relevant material
This program doesn't stop once someone has booked with you. The most powerful content to inspire dreaming travellers is content from past travellers (referred to as UGC - User Generated Content). Design a program to stimulate travellers while on holiday to create and share content with your hashtag. Offer a monthly prize for the best tagged photo or video which includes permission to use as your own marketing material
Make sure you have a Keyword Plan so you can SEO optimise each blog post with the highest value keywords and search phrases. Blogs are the most powerful on-site SEO tool so ensuring a high value keyword count is essential to maximise ROI
Still on SEO, involving other businesses with a link to their website (in return for a link back) is the most powerful off-site SEO strategy. Two way links, referred to as back-links are the number one SEO action for any business.
We all seek local advice when travelling to unlock the secrets of a destination. By offering high value, inspiring content, with no sales agenda to potential travellers you can engage the starved travel bug to place your experience on their bucket list for future holidays.
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