What Travel Brands Need to Know About Content Marketing

Content marketing for travel brands is all dreamy photos of palm trees and beaches, right? Not quite, says Storyation’s head of content Lauren Quaintance.

It won’t be news to anyone that travel brands were doing content marketing long before it was called content marketing. It’s a natural fit – people love to read about travel.

It’s no hardship to spend your evenings browsing the web when you’re planning a holiday which explains why recent Expedia research suggests their customers visit travel sites a staggering 38 times before booking. And unlike companies who are selling vacumn cleaners – or mortgages – travel brands have the luxury of talking directly about what they are selling and (usually) finding an audience that wants to listen to what they have to say.

As a former general manager and editor-in-chief of Travel for Fairfax Media – and the head of content for an agency that counts Tourism New Zealand and Tourism Australia among its clients – I spend a lot of time thinking about travel (and less time actually travelling than I would like.)

Speaking to travel operators and tourism boards big and small about content strategy and creation almost every day for the last four years, I’ve concluded that there are a few things that every travel company needs to know before they plunge into content marketing.

Understand How You Will Inspire Your Audience

Inspiration is one of those words that is so over-used it is almost meaningless. But according to Google/Ispos 70% of people don’t know where they want to go when they start researching a trip so every travel brand needs to understand how their content strategy will target consumers who are still weighing up different destinations.

This audience is not ready for a guide to Sydney or Santorini – they are still busy searching “What are the world’s best beaches?”. They want to be wooed.

Provide the Tools for Planning a Trip

As your potential customer moves along the travel consumer journey (it’s not a ‘funnel’ anymore) you need to help them to plan their trip with destination-specific content.

Now is the time to upskill them on the geography (yes, Perth is really five hours flight from Sydney and no you can’t drive from Auckland to Queenstown in a single day) and to give them specific ideas of what they can see and do on their trip underpinned by practical information.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Human Beings

Countless studies tell us that word of mouth is the most powerful driver for travel decision-making. As well as listening to people you know whether they are real like friends or the social media kind, studies show almost every traveller reads user generated reviews.

It’s no wonder that TripAdvisor receives more than 250 million unique visitors a month. This can be particularly effective during the booking stage as the audience “sense checks” the tentative decision they have made. Brands can easily repackage and repost the best user generated content provided they have the correct permissions to do so.

So while on one hand content marketing for the travel industry seems easy (lots of swaying palm trees and white sand beaches, right?) it’s crucial that travel brands understand what role their content plays in the consumer journey and tell stories that directly address the questions that a would-be traveller has as they move towards conversion.

Once they do, eager tourists should follow.

Lauren Quaintance is a former award-winning journalist, editor and media executive. She is Co-Founder and Head of Content for Sydney content marketing agency Storyation.

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