Let’s face it – you aren’t getting enough tour bookings by creating more content.
Everyone talks about creating content, consistency, sharing, and producing, to entice travelers to book the latest tour, escapade, excursion, or planned getaway. So you find yourself taking on the task of:
- Creating Facebook posts
- Writing blog posts
- Writing weekly newsletters
- Sharing useful information on social media
- Posting beautiful travel photos on Instagram
- and more…
Your problem isn’t creating content, your problem is that no one seems to care about your content. Your content isn’t attracting travelers to purchase more tours, escapades, excursions, etc. You have high monthly visitors on your website and your email list is growing, but when it comes time to convert your audience into clients, something doesn’t work.
One problem could be the amount of content that you’re actually putting out!
Remember all those marketing professionals who keep telling you: CREATE MORE! CREATE IT ALL! SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!
I don’t agree. Creating MORE content could actually be hurting your conversion rate for tour bookings. Let’s break it down to see how you can fix this:
You’re creating for the sake of creating
You consume content from other travel influencers, marketers, and businesses – and what they’re creating looks amazing! You suddenly are inspired to create something similar and now new content is being added to your editorial calendar.
You’re publishing blog posts a few times a week, sending out weekly newsletters, and sharing on Instagram at least 3x a day. You want to stay on top of the game and share as much as possible because the market is saturated and you want your tourism company to stand out from the crowd. But now you’ve found yourself creating for the sake of creating. It’s gotten to be overwhelming how much content you’re pushing out and if you don’t publish, you feel scared that someone could forget about your tour company.
When you’re creating for the sake of creating, your content loses its goal and becomes a sea of “nonsense”. The Internet is already extremely saturated with endless “inspirational” travel posts or photos. How can your content be different, if you’re consistently in the hamster wheel of creating, creating, creating?
DON’T –> Create for the sake of creating. You’re wasting your time and you will ultimately be led towards burnout.
DO –> Sit down and create a content plan around the types of tours you offer, in relation to your marketing plan and the peaks and lows of the high or low season for tourists in your country.
There’s no intention or purpose behind the content you share
Related to the problem above, if there is no intention or purpose behind the content you share, your audience won’t know what to do next. They also won’t feel “called” to take action to:
- Learn more about the tour you’re offering
- Learn more about the destination you’re offering the tour
- How tours can provide a unique experience as opposed to “DIY” tours
When creating any type of content that is shared on any platform, it needs to be optimized for the TYPE of audience on that platform. If you’re sharing the same content on every platform, it won’t be connecting to the audience in the same way. Each of our posts (blogs, social media, etc), newsletters, photos, etc. needs to be targeted to the type of audience on the platform that we’re sharing on.
This means that each post we create, every blog we write, or newsletter we send needs to have a separate intention, purpose, and goal.
DON’T –> Copy and paste all of the same captions, copy, or photos from platform to platform without changing at least SOMETHING to match the audience you have there. For example Instagram captions to Facebook posts – two different audiences so they’ll want something different.
DO –> Create one goal for each of the posts that you share online. These goals should be simple, measurable, and straight-forward, so you’re not confusing yourself or your audience.
You’re DOING THE MOST and actually doing TOO much
Playing into the overarching problem of creating for the sake of creating, if you’re doing #allthethings on #alltheplatforms #EVERYWHERE… well, you’re doing too much.
Content marketing only functions when you have a clear and strategized plan to share and create.
If you’re doing everything everywhere, how do you know what actually works for your tour company? If you’ve got your hands in Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, newsletter marketing, Google Ad Words, etc. how do you know what’s actually working for your business and understand what your audience wants?
Step back and decide which 2-3 platforms are working in your favor. Start with questions like:
- What is working for your tour company right now?
- What platforms do you actually enjoy using?
- Most importantly, where do your travelers hang out?
DON’T –> Try to be everywhere, all the time, with all the things. It’s better to NOT do anything than try to do EVERYTHING and hurt your brand’s image.
DO –> Analyze your marketing data to see what is working and what’s not. Use this information to understand your audience and create content that they are really interested in.
Your audience isn’t your type of travel buddy
If you’re offering luxury tours to your travelers but post content like:
- Explore XXX country quickly, without breaking the bank
- Photos of hikers, backpackers, and “getting a little dirty”
- Group photos with cheap beer and large quantities of food
And you’re unsure WHY your audience isn’t interested in the luxury tours but jump at the offer for a free ebook about the destination, you’ve targetted the wrong type of travel buddy for your tour company.
It’s essential to understand WHO your ideal clients are first, THEN audit your audience – if you’ve realized that you haven’t reached the right type of traveler. Dig deeper into your ideal client profile and see what they’re actually looking for. If you’re offering luxury tours, your travelers might prefer:
- Exploring XXX country in style, without worrying about a thing
- Photos of beautifully adorned interiors and architecture
- Group photos with wine and carefully curated dishes of fine dining
DON’T –> Be afraid to start fresh on social media and delete or ask the WRONG audience members to unsubscribe or unfollow if they don’t want to learn about your services. I always think it’s better to have a smaller audience of targetted people than trying to convert someone who isn’t interested in what you have to offer.
DO –> Use the data that you have to understand who your audience is, what they prefer, and how you can provide value to them. Send out surveys, use polls, etc!
How to fix your content creation problem
If you’ve realized that you’re heading down the path for burnout, adding to the abyss of Internet content, without any goals or purpose – here’s what you can do to fix that today:
- Take a step back from creating. – It’s hard to implement change if you’re knee-thick in the problem. Take a step back and reexamine/reevaluate what you’re creating to see if you’re just on the hamster wheel.
- Audit your content. – When you’re taking a small break from creating, go through your content data to see what was more popular, what was less popular, and what generated high engagement.
- Hire a professional content strategist. – Working with a professional content strategist can take the weight off of you and give you an outside view of what is working, not working, and how to improve.
- Establish your goals and purpose. – Define CLEAR and CONCISE goals for each of the content that you create, publish, and share.
What do you think? Are you on the hamster wheel of content creation?
Are you a tour company needing help with creating the RIGHT content for your audience?
Let’s chat to see how we can work together! Schedule a clarity call with me to discuss what you’re struggling with and how we can develop a content plan that aligns with your message and audience.
Imagine having your tours BOOKED and SOLD OUT during peak and low tourist season!
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How to Increase Engagement Organically
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