No more teasing, no more waiting: you’ve made it! Over the past few months, you’ve fleshed pendik escort out your travel personas; developed your hotel or travel content strategy; chosen the best travel content delivery channels; run an audit on your current content; and had a look at some exceptional examples of travel content marketing. You’ve been patient (thanks for that!) and now it’s finally time.

Yes, it’s now time to create compelling, actionable travel content. It’s time to use your words to paint vivid mental pictures with brushstrokes so bold, they’re almost fluorescent. And it’s time to leverage the principles of travel copywriting to guide your site visitors to click, to sign up, to book, to call – whatever it is you want travelers to do, it’s time to get them doing it.

But before I release you into the writing wilds, I’ll leave you with this travel content marketing checklist – 11 essential elements to include in every piece of your content marketing:

Travel Content Marketing Checklist: 11 Essential Elements

#1: Write Well

In all the do this and do that of content marketing, we hear a lot avcılar escort about calls-to-action, social sharing, and even quality content. But what you rarely read about is şişli escort quality writing. (More on those below.) In travel, it’s not enough to merely share good information: you must write well. Bring your destination to life with your words. Put your readers in the moment. Create gaziantep escort bayan a picture so striking, so completely irresistible, that anyone who reads your words will be convinced – convinced that you are the one, the only answer to the question, “Where should I travel next?”

#2: Pinpoint Your Target Persona

Your content strategy may target more than one travel persona, but each individual marketing piece – each blog post, each travel guide, each newsletter article –  should target just one. Before you write one word, choose your target persona and then write for avcılar escort that, and only that traveler.

#3: Define Your Goal

You should have a specific goal for all your content. Perhaps you want people to sign up for your email list; maybe you want travelers to download an itinerary; or you might want them to click the darn book button already. Whatever your goal, define it clearly before you begin writing a blog post, a newsletter article, or a travel guide. Remember: your end game will define what you write and how you write it. taksim escort
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#4: Insert a Call-to-Action

And speaking of your goal, all content should have a call-to-action (CTA) that guides visitors to fulfill the goal of your content.

#5: Add Internal Links

Link to other blog posts, guides and content on your website – and choose your anchor text (linked words) wisely; the best anchor text is natural (read: not strange phrasing written for the search engines) while incorporating targeted keywords and phrases.

#6: Choose Incredible Photos

Content is better with images, so always add one (or a few) to your blog posts, newsletters, guides and other content.

#7: Forget the Hard Sell

Never, ever forget that your content isn’t about you: it’s about travelers. We live in the sharing economy, and travel content marketing is all about sharing the best of your destination, your hotel, your offerings – but in a natural way.

#8: Boost the Quality

Strategize everything you write to be high-quality. Don’t just parrot what others have already said: pioneer. Write something that hasn’t been written, or improve on something that has already been written a thousand different ways. And after you’ve written something, go beyond simple edits: ask yourself how you can make your piece an even better resource for travelers.

#9: Run the AIDA Test

AIDA is a time-tested copywriting formula; it’s acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. You don’t have to become a top-notch copywriter to do content marketing right, but it is a good idea to keep AIDA in mind as you write. Your headline, your introductory paragraph, your content and your CTA should all pass the AIDA test.

#10: Optimize Your Content

For blog posts, travel guides and other content that lives on the web, be sure to do some basic search engine optimization (SEO): choose your keywords and key phrases wisely, and write optimized titles and meta descriptions. Then get started on check point #8, so other websites will link to your content (backlinks are one of today’s most important factors in boosting your search engine rankings).

#11: Share, Share and Share Again

Content marketing is no Field of Dreams: even if you build it, they won’t necessarily come. You must spread your content across the interwebs – share on Twitter, post on Facebook, add to LinkedIn. You should comment on popular related blogs, especially those that show comment love (share your latest blog post with your comment). Participate on related forums. Leverage your email list, and share new blog posts, latest news, and other tidbits as they come. Build relationships with bloggers, media, and travelers. Wash, rinse, repeat. Never stop.

And that’s all, folks! You’re ready to write targeted content that gets shares, builds loyalty, instills trust, and drives bookings. Good luck, and please let me know how it goes!

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy
Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels
Part 4: Run a Content Audit
Part 5: 9 Examples of Exceptional (but Doable) Travel & Hotel Content Marketing

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The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 6: 11 Essential Elements of Travel Content Marketing appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. And while I wouldn’t recommend copying or duplicating your favorite travel content marketing, you can certainly take inspiration from others. After all, travelers like what they like: they click and share and follow for epic photos and awesome checklists and free content so good, they probably would have paid for it. (Stuck for inspiration? Here are 26 travel content ideas to get your creative juices flowing.)

Because here’s the secret: content marketing isn’t magic. It isn’t taksim escort as hard to understand as SEO. And it certainly isn’t new: companies have been using content to market themselves for more than a century. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just have to decorate the wheel with your own brand of creativity.

One of the best parts of my job is digging up sparkling gems of content marketing from around the globe. In Part 3 we discussed travel content channels, so I thought I’d showcase some of my personal favorites in travel blogging, free guides, and downloadable ebooks. These companies are kicking butt and taking names. Call them my content marketing crushes.

And did I mention I saved the best part part for last: scale. The following aren’t examples of pricey, over-complicated campaigns that require a team of marketers, writers, designers and publishers. No; this is simple, effective travel content marketing mecidiyeköy escort that you can replicate – in your own way, of course – for under $1,000 a month. So get started on getting inspired – and please share your favorites in the comments!

Travel Blogging

Oyster Hotels

Oyster Hotels [disclosure: a client of mine] publishes one of the most enjoyable travel blogs out there. Equal doses inspiration and fantasy – think Caribbean locales without Caribbean crowds and cozy mountain lodges halkalı escort for your last winter hurrah  – infuse fun into reading about beautiful places and incredible things. And if you’ve always wondered how to weave your product into your blog without being too self-serving, have a look: Oyster always manages to link at least one of their hotel or destination offerings. But it’s helpful, not pushy – just as it should be.

The Standard

The Standard, a group of boutique hotels, has really taken content marketing to the next level: community. Their Standard Culture blog is a place for Standard guests and area locals – there are hotels in New York, L.A. and Miami – to voice their love of the city, celebrate modern tastes, and buzz about culture. The blog features vibrant photography, traveler contributions, and original features, plus hotel-centered kartal escort content like upcoming events and a look behind the Standard curtain.

Guomon Hotels Blog

Maybe it’s because I love London – fine, I’m obsessed – but the Guoman Hotels blog really draws me in. Their posts are a lovely blend of London-themed posts, like Secrets From London’s Foodies, and English culture (how cute is their post on Dickens at Christmas: A Walking Map of London?). What I particularly love is that the blog is completely approachable – you can do this, no joke. Just post, one week at a time. bahçeşehir escort

Free Travel Guides

Tennessee Vacation

I simply cannot get enough of Tennessee Vacation, the state’s official trip-planning website. If you’ve never visited, prepare yourself: the site features beautiful design, interactive features, and a boatload of content. And by boatload, I mean an entire pirate ship full of treasure. Go ahead and mouse over their Things to Do tab and choose your favorite; it’s like disappearing down a rabbit hole of content so good, you can’t help but explore, plan and daydream until you drop.

Costa Rican Vacations

Costa Rican Vacations [disclosure: a client of mine] is one of my absolute favorite examples of content marketing done right. Though small (less than 50 employees), CRV sees the value in content and dedicates time and resources to creating truly awesome and fact-filled info for Costa Rican vacationers. Take their newly refreshed Costa Rica travel guide, which covers topics from destinations to packing tips, written by people who know and love Costa Rica.

Airbnb

Airbnb’s Neighborhood guides are a pretty spectacular blend of local knowledge, sparkling photography, and real-life quotes from past visitors – not to mention, helpful links to rooms and homes for rent in each neighborhood. Oh yeah, and a call-to-action encouraging neighborhood gurus to contribute their own knowledge to the guide. It’s an informative, interactive and well-integrated approach to free travel guides.

Travel eBooks

Hong Kong Tourism Board

Tourism Boards are really good at free eBooks, and Hong Kong does a great job of it. They offer all their downloads in easy pdf format, and the guides cover a wide range of topics, like the Best of Culinary Rewards and a Guide to Family Fun. They also have more general guides to Hong Kong, but those targeted niche guides are where the money’s at.

Visit Florida

Say what? Visit Florida has it going on – big time! I absolutely love their free Florida travel guides that cover a range of traveler interests – think hiking, biking and LGBT travel – all in downloadable eBook format. And while yes, they’re a big state tourism board, no, this is not something that you can’t do, too. All it takes is some creativity, writing chops, and maybe a few hours of quality design (or familiarity with your favorite publishing software). My suggestion: offer your eBooks in exchange for an email address.

Visit Iceland

Did you know that brochures, done right, can be repackaged as downloadable guides/eBooks? Take Visit Iceland’s beautiful brochure, which has an eye-catching mix of spectacular photography and introductory information – real, helpful and non-promotional content – to Iceland. I love the Top 5’s peppered throughout, and I’ll bet Iceland tourists do, too. (Bonus points to Visit Iceland for providing downloads for different dialects, like British vs. U.S. English!)

So there are a few of my favorites. What are the best examples of travel content marketing you’ve ever come across? 

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy
Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels
Part 4: Run a Content Audit

The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 5: 9 Examples of Exceptional (but Doable) Travel & Hotel Content Marketing appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Well, you’ve done it! You’ve developed your travel content strategy. You’ve dug deep to develop your guest personas. And you’ve discovered where travelers congregate online. Believe beylikdüzü escort it or not, it’s time to actually talk content.

Exciting, I know! But just a hot second. Close that blog prompt. Step way from Twitter. We’re not to content creation quite yet. Before you write one new word, you must first review everything you’ve already written – your existing content. Because unless your company is brand new, chances are you have some good content already floating around – brochures, newsletters, attraction information, and other text just begging for some attention.

This is the week of the content audit: the week you sort through all your raw materials and evaluate each on its performance and effectiveness. This is the week of repackaging, reworking and rewriting the best of the best. This is the week your content ataşehir escort marketing team puts their heads together. And this is the week you ask yourselves:

• Does our content speak to travelers’ pain and passion points?
• How engaging is our content?
• Is our content sharable?

What is a Content Audit?

So what, exactly, is a content audit? In a nutshell, a content audit consists of: eskişehir escort

1. Inventorying your current content, or content “assets”;
2. Analyzing content performance; and
3. Evaluating content potential

The goal: Understand what kinds of content you’ve already created, determine whether this content is effective at driving sales and engagement, and figure out what content gaps must be filled.

Inventory Your Existing Content

The first step of a content audit is to take an inventory of your existing content. mecidiyeköy escort And I mean that literally – an actual accounting of all your content.

Gather up ever scrap of content – digital and paper – your company has ever created:brochures, travel guides, packing lists, destination & attraction descriptions, blog posts, welcome emails, videos, photos, etc. (Do remember that content is not just text; it includes photos and video, too.) Everything. Then call a content team meeting and spread your content assets out in front of you. Now begins the inventory.

If you have a great database system already in place, go ahead and use that. If not, any spreadsheet program (MS Excel, Google Drive, Libreoffice, etc.) will do the trick. Create columns to account for:

• Unique ID: You can give each content asset its own ID, or categorize by type. For example, blog posts could be 1.x; videos 2.x; brochures 3.x, etc.
• Item Type: Blog post, pdf doc, Word doc, image, video, etc.
• Item Title: The title of your document, image or video
• Location: Web address, central database file, or physical location
• Age: When the content asset was first created
• Update Status: Last update. At the very least, you should update travel content at least once a year.
• ROT Status: A content ROT status determines whether content is Redundant, Outdated, or Trivial.
• Page Views [all time]: From Google Analytics
• Page Views [last month]: From Google Analytics
• Total Unique Visitors: From Google Analytics
• Goals: Every piece of content should have a goal or purpose, whether it’s to drive newsletter signups or direct sales via the Book button.
• Notes: A field for any notes/thoughts your team may have

There are many other fields – reach, social shares, conversion rate, etc. – you could include on your spreadsheet. Here’s a good overview, complete with a downloadable spreadsheet already pre-loaded with some great fields.

Analyze Your Content Performance

When it comes to content, there’s a big difference between quality and quantity. Simply having content does not mean that you have effective content: in order to be effective, your content should always work for you.

A major goal of your content audit is to gather the information you need to make good content decisions – in other words, to determine what types of content work best for your business. Several metrics can help you determine content performance, among them:

• Engagement: Does your content touch on travelers’ passion and pain points, to the point that they comment, ask questions, and otherwise interact with your brand?
• Searchability: Does your content rank well in Google, Bing and other search engines?
• Sharability: Do travelers share your content on social networks or via email?
• Branding Consistency: Does your content adhere to your brand goals and message?
• Accuracy: Is your information accurate and up-to-date?
• Awesomeness: Yes, this is a stick you must use to measure your content: how awesome is it? Does it kick your competitors’ content butts? Because if you’re not dedicated to creating absolutely incredible content, then you should spend your time and resources elsewhere.

Evaluate Your Content’s Performance & Potential

The next step in your travel content audit is to evaluate current performance:

• Internal Links: An internal link strategy is integral to link-building: where does your content currently link, and where else could it link?
• Broken Links: Run a URL validator to find broken links – then correct them.
• Meta Information: Make sure to optimize your on-page SEO, including meta description, title tags, and meta keywords.
• Keep Current: You should update travel guides, destination & attraction info, and other content at least once a year. Do the required legwork – call attractions, double-check phone numbers & emails, etc.
• Calls to Action: Be sure that all your content has strong calls-to-action that target your current goals.

Once you’ve checked and corrected any problems with your content performance, it’s time to talk potential. Brainstorm with your team the who, what, where and when of your content:

• Which personas will each content item best engage?
• How should you repackage each item into content that touches on traveler pain and passion points?
• Which content channels are most appropriate for distribution?
• When should you roll out your revitalized content?

Now ask yourself, what content performs best? What has the best conversions or sign-ups or social shares? And what content needs more development? What are your content weaknesses – do you blog too sporadically or do your travel guides need a complete overhaul?

Because these questions – your best performances and greatest weaknesses – are the foundation of new content creation. But that’s a story for another week…

Homework

This week’s homework is pretty straightforward: do a content audit. Organize a meeting with your content marketing team, and go through the above bullet points one-by-one. Let me know how it goes!

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy
Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels
Part 5: Exceptional (but Doable) Travel Content Marketing

The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 4: Run a Content Audit appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

By now, you know your audience. You’ve started developing your travel content strategy. So it’s time to talk content types and distribution channels. We’re getting close – so very, very close! – to actually ataköy escort writing, snapping photos and shooting video. I promise.

First things first: You absolutely, positively must keep your content goals in mind throughout this process. What is the purpose of your content marketing? One of them must be to build your email database. Remember that with social media accounts and even RSS followers (if you still have any), you don’t own your follower list. You don’t have access to their direct email addresses or phone numbers.  But with an opt-in database – say, when customers exchange their emails for travel guides or their phone numbers for customized itineraries – you slowly build this incredible, amazing business asset: a list of warm leads from travelers who have sought you out.

The second thing to always keep in mind is that your content strategy for each channel is a miniturized version of your overall travel content strategy. Before you launch (or revamp) your blog, your newsletter, your travel guides or any other content channel, ask yourself these halkalı escort questions: hatay escort

1. Who is my target audience? These are the personas you developed back in Part 1.
2. What are my personas’ pain points? These are your audience’s concerns and anxieties – the problems that you will solve.
3. Where are my customers? What social networks and other distribution/marketing channels are ideal for this type of content?
4. What is my story? This is the message you want to communicate to your readers.
5. What’s the point? What are your goals for this content? sakarya escort Do you want to attract subscribers, build your reputation, or promote your destination?
6. Are you passionate? I mentioned back in Part 1 that 80 percent of corporate blogs fizzle out before reaching 5 posts. Find topics and channels that make you excited to write – or, at the very least, passionate enough to hire a writer.

Once you’re clear on your answers to these questions, it’s time to talk content channels – and decide which ones will work best for you:

Your Blog

Blogging is one of the most versatile content channels in existence, and is especially powerful for travel and hotel content marketing. It is an informal, fun and visual platform that allows you to build community and rapport, establish thought leadership, promote your destination and services, execute sophisticated SEO strategies, and so much more.

Done right and leveraged well, blogs are an incredible tool to reach the traveling masses. düzce escort  I promise we’ll get into the nitty gritty of your travel blog in a future post, but for now, here are a few pointers:

• Write killer headlines: Don’t know how to write a must-click headline? Check out Jon Morrow’s genius headline hacks.
• Focus on pain points. These are the problems your blog posts will solve.
• Weave in your keywords. Keywords aren’t dead, and a blog is great way to create awesome content about target keywords and phrases.
• And whatever you do, don’t forget your call to action! Ask them to sign up for your email list, leave a comment, download a travel guide, request a brochure/itinerary quote, etc. Remember that most of your blog visitors will never be back. Find a way to capture their contact information.

Travel Guides & Other eBooks

Travel guides are a spectacular way to market your business and destination. Almost every, single traveler reads a travel guide, in some form, somewhere along the travel-planning process. Creating these guides –how-tos, top 10s, insider secrets and destination information – help you help your travelers, while you build authority, establish trust, and get the word out about your business.

And the great thing about your blog and other content channels is, you may be able to repackage them as travel guides. Just remember, these informational treasure troves are a little more sanitized/formal than a blog, and are often much longer.

Email Newsletters

Travel newsletters are a type of permission-based marketing: regular communications that travelers opt-in to receive. They’re usually emailed weekly or monthly, and may also be available online. And more and more often, e-newsletters are a way to redistribute your blog posts (as I do with The Travel Copywriter). They can be informational or promotional in nature, and are a wonderful way to stay in regular, direct contact with prospects.

But just because e-newsletters are opt-in doesn’t mean you don’t need to make an effort. An incredible, amazing, pull-out-all-the-stops effort. There are lot of travel newsletters out there today, so you have a lot of competition. Remember to write killer subject lines (headlines) so that your newsletter gets opened, and fill your newsletter with valuable content your readers won’t find anywhere else. Don’t be spammy. And always, always offer an opt-out at the bottom of every newsletter.

Testimonials

Testimonials are social proof. You can’t brag about yourself (well you can, but it’s not very attractive), but you can certainly let your travelers do so on your behalf. Then, scatter your most glowing testimonials all over your site.

So how do you get customers to consistently write testimonials? You need to develop a process to encourage testimonials, and even to reward your loyal clients for their service. One of my clients, the awesome Costa Rican Vacations, runs a monthly $100 Amazon gift certificate raffle for clients who have posted a Facebook testimonial that month. Needless to say, they get a lot of testimonials!

Other Content Channels

Content marketing for the travel industry is incredibly diverse and a lot of fun. If you can imagine it, you can probably do it. Here are a few more channels you might consider:

• Podcasting
• Video Publishing
• Guest Blogging
• Custom Print Magazine (or the digital Flipboard alternative)
• Print Newsletters
• Contributed Articles & Brand Journalism
• Mobile Apps
• Printed Guidebooks
• Infographics

Outsourcing Your Content Marketing

According to the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs research, nearly 50 percent of all companies outsource at least some part of their content marketing (North American | U.K. | Australian benchmarks).

Why? Because while content marketing is a major task, it’s also one of the most cost-effective to outsource. You can get your travel blog off the ground for as little as $500 a month. You can publish a short monthly newsletter for under $1,000. In traditional marketing terms, where one print advertisement can easily run you five figures, content marketing is cheap. And very, very effective.

Homework

Woohoo, assignment time! This one’s fun: Tell me, where do your travelers live online? What do you think are the most effective content channels for your business?

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy
Part 4: Run a Content Audit
Part 5: Exceptional (but Doable) Travel Content Marketing

The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

If you think this is the week we gallop into content creation, whoa izmir escort there. I hate to disappoint, but the truth is, developing a thoughtful – and successful – content strategy for your travel biz takes time. And not the kind of time you can squeeze into the commercial breaks during your favorite shows: I’m talking hours, days and probably weeks of brainstorming, refining and consideration.

But it’s worth it. I promise.

This week, we’re delving into the details of your content strategy. Not content marketing, but content strategy. (Say what? Is there a difference?) Mais oui, there is!

Content strategy is not the same as content marketing. Think of it like an orchard: every seed you plant is the promise of a future harvest. If you sow haphazardly, your orchard will grow up to be a crowded, poor producer. But if you plan your orchard carefully and nurture it along the way, you can create a space – big or small, depending on your goals – that is fruitful for years to come. The way you plan your seed-sowing and and ankara escort nurturing is content strategy; how you use the fruits of your well-tended orchard is content marketing. So let’s get into it:

What is Content Marketing for the Travel Industry?

Before you can define the strategies and goals for your travel content, let’s clear this elephant out of the room: just what is travel content marketing?

There are many definitions of content marketing. Most of them are good, so choose whichever calls out to you. A few of my favorites:

• “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” (Content Marketing Institute)
• “Content marketing is a pull, rather than a push, strategy. trabzon escort Content doesn’t interrupt, it attracts.” (Rebecca Lieb, Advertising Age)
• “Custom publishing marries the marketing ambitions of a company with the information needs of its target audience. This occurs through the delivery of editorial content – via print, Internet, and other media – so intrinsically valuable that it moves the recipient’s behavior in a desired direction.” (Custom Content Council)
• “Content Marketing is creating or curating non-product content—be it informational, educational, entertaining, etc.—and publishing it to contact points with customers to get their attention, to focus on the topic around your solution, and pull them closer to learning more about you.” (Sam Decker, Mass Relevance)

Travel content marketing is the content you create – blog posts, travel guides, photo slideshows, newsletters, etc. – to build relationships with travelers, nurture leads (and lead conversion), create brand awareness, and promote your travel experience. elazığ escort

Notably, content marketing is not inbound marketing. Inbound marketing gets visitors to your site, usually via sources like search engines and your social media accounts. Creating great content certainly gives you great fodder for inbound marketing, but the goal of content marketing is not to create inbound links. (This is a very rize escort important distinction, when it comes to both strategy and metrics like ROI.) Inbound is complementary to content, but they are not identical.

So What’s Content Strategy?

Content strategy is not a single solution. It’s not a content marketing deliverable, like blog posts and travel guides and posting your links on Twitter: travel content strategy is the entire process, starting from the beginning – the mission statement, your raison d’être, the editorial calendar, all of it. Travel content strategy is the why and the how of creating information that is eminently sharable and completely inspirational.

Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy

Now that we have that sorted out, it’s time for some action.

1. Define Your Content Marketing Goals
Your content marketing goals are the foundation of your content strategy. Ask yourself, why am I making the investment in content marketing? Why do you want to reach your target audience, and what do you  hope to achieve? Do you want to build brand awareness – get your name out there? Do you want to build your email list, so you can nurture and convert warm leads? Are you trying to establish yourself as a market leader? Or do you simply want to up your guest engagement?

Your goals are the key to defining your content strategy. Going back to my orchard metaphor, this step is the equivalent of mapping out your orchard before the first seed is even purchased.

2. Take a Content Inventory (a.k.a. Content Audit)
Chances are, you started creating content before you even heard the term content marketing. (That’s a good thing; it just shows how natural this kind of marketing is.) Now’s the time to organize all of your previously created content, from travel guides and blog posts to newsletters and photo galleries. There are some great (and free) content inventory templates floating around; I like this one and this one.

3. Get Your Team in Place (or Hire a Team)
There are many keys to successful content marketing, but none is as important as your team. A good strategist and talented content marketer can make the difference between rock-the-world travel stories and humdrum content that never achieves lift-off.

Start by looking to your in-house employees. They know your company well and, hopefully, are passionate about your business. But if they don’t have the time, vision or writing chops to fully commit, you probably need outside help. Remember, content marketing is not about quantity (oh hey, look! we have a blog!); it’s about quality. You need to create inspiring, kickass content that furthers your goals. So if it comes down to saving money by sacrificing quality – e.g. delegating to a current employee who really isn’t up to the task – make the investment in a content marketer with travel industry experience. 

4. Brainstorm Your Deliverables
The travel and hospitality industry was made for great content: blog posts, photo slideshows, travel guides, wish-you-were-heres, and everything in between – these are natural stories inherently interesting to your target audience (remember those personas you created in Part 1?).

Don’t take on everything at once. Define a few areas for content implementation – say, a travel blog and a slideshow series – and take it from there. Starting small allows you to devote more energy and resources into creating a few pieces of truly inspirational content, instead of creating oodles of boring sludge that never gets any traction.

5. Get Social
If content is king, then social is its crown prince. That makes social sound important, right? Well, it is, but here’s something you’ll probably love: the secret to social is, you don’t have to be on every social network. In fact, you probably shouldn’t be.

Each social network has its own personality, so choose the ones that your audience frequents. Keep your chosen networks pared down, so you can really rock each. Study how each works – e.g. Pinterest loves photos while Facebook likes to chat (albeit often about photos) – and devote yourself to building an engaged audience on your networks. If you can’t do a network right, don’t do it at all. (After all, is there anything more blah than Liking a Facebook page with 3 Likes and no posts for the past six months?)

Homework

Ha ha, I got you again. Another assignment! It’s pretty straightforward: reread Steps 1-5 and jot down your answers. Sleep on them, then go back and refine them. Discuss them with your coworkers. Ask your employees what they think. Then let us know how it went!

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels
Part 4: Run a Content Audit
Part 5: Exceptional (but Doable) Travel Content Marketing

The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Did you know that, according to IBM research, 80 percent of corporate blogs have fewer than five blog posts?

Take a moment to digest that number. It’s pretty sobering, don’t you think? And sad, since a travel blog is the perfect way to spark conversation with your guests, provide dynamite information, and really showcase your company’s personality. Not to mention, build industry authority, snag great links, boost your search engine position, and… well, you get the drift.

And that’s why the only thing worse than not blogging is abandoning your blog. It screams of defunct business – or neglect. Can you imagine letting your hotel lobby fall into disrepair? Or failing to send in housekeeping before new guests gaziantep escort arrived? Or not familiarizing yourself with tours and hotels, before recommending them to travel agency clients? No, I didn’t think so.

So we’ll start at the very beginning. If you don’t yet have a blog – or if you’re reviving a lifeless one – the keys of successful travel business blogging are simple: commitment and consistency. Now let’s talk details:

In Part 1 of The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, we’re focusing on the behind-the-scenes but ultra-important details of launching your business’s travel content marketing and strategy. These steps may not seem as glitzy as glamourous blog design or snazzy writing, but they’re essential to building a blog that you enjoy writing (that’s commitment) and can nourish for years to come (that’s consistency) – and that your clients want to read and share.

Define Your Audience

Before you type one word on your newsletter, website or blog – before you install bursa escort WordPress, even – you must ask yourself, “Who will read my content?” This isn’t a creative writing prompt, my friends: it’s critical thinking. Create real, live personas (the marketing version of imaginary friends) that describe your core demographic(s). Define a few distinct personas, but try to keep your total under 10.

For example, if you run a travel agency in the family travel niche, two possible client personas would be: 

• Jacob Frazzled: Jacob is in his mid-30s and works in the financial industry in NYC. He has a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. Between work and family, he’s always tired. He and his wife are planning a getaway with the kids. Their focus is on kid-friendly hotels and activities, but they also want some alone time.
• Susie Empty-Nester: Susie is a middle-aged career woman whose adult children now have their own families. Once a year, they plan a multi-generational vacation, with Susie and her husband, their children, and their grandchildren.

Flesh Out Pain Points

Pain points are your customers’ real or perceived problems and concerns. Travelers have many, many pain points – everything from travel logistics (what’s the cheapest/shortest/easiest flight?) to packing the right activity-relaxation balance into their vacation itinerary. Chances are, you’re already intimately familiar with your clients’ pain points – the questions they ask, over and over, in phone calls, emails and other communications.

Travel pain points are the foundation of your blog. This is what you’re going to write about, every week, because solutions to common concerns will keep your customers coming back for more. So let’s pop back up to your personas: What are the pain points for each?

• Jacob Frazzled: Jacob is in his mid-30s, so he’s in the early stages of his finance career. He receives little paid vacation time. He makes good money, but he lives in New York where cost of living is high. He has limited disposable income. He has two young children, who demand as much of his time and energy as he can give. He is frazzled. He is tired. Jacob is in desperate need of a vacation escape for rejuvenation and stress-relief. He enjoys family vacations with the kids, but he also values alone time with his wife.
• Susie Empty-Nester: Susie’s children are adults with families of their own. She wishes she could see more of her children and grandchildren, so she cherishes every moment of their multi-generational vacations. She has an established career and plenty of disposable income, so her vacation experience is more important than cost. (Although value is still important.) When they travel together, they prefer activities that involve all three generations. 
  

Develop Your Solution

Your opportunity lies between your personas’ pain points and your solutions. Solutions create value for your clients – they’re the reason they read your blog, subscribe to your list, and ask you to stay in touch. As you develop your personas and explore their pain points, you’ll find plenty of areas of opportunity. These are your blog posts.

Remember, blogging is all about sharing. Free and open sharing. Don’t hold back  or provide half-solutions or keep secrets; that’s a sure way to alienate everyone. Providing solutions builds trust and goodwill, and gives potential customers a reason to keep coming back – and to think of you first when they start planning their next vacation.

• Jacob Frazzled: Jacob would love to read posts about the best values in travel, hotels that offer low-cost babysitting, kid-friendly cruises, romantic daytrips, and relaxing weekend getaways (for those rare, three-day weekends).
• Susie Empty-Nester: Susie, on the other hand, would love to hear more about the top destinations for multigenerational travel, the world’s most memorable vacation experiences, and unforgettable activities for both the young and young-at-heart.

Homework

It’s probably been a long time since you had homework, but I promise this assignment’s worth it. Carve out some time to get to know your audience (personas), explore their pain points, and develop solutions. You don’t need to flesh out your solutions, just jot down a few post titles like the above.

And if you’re game, please post in the comments what you come up with! (Or just post your questions; I’m happy to help.)

Other installments in The Zen of Travel Content Marketing series:

Part 2: Define Your Travel or Hotel Content Strategy
Part 3: Choosing Your Content Channels
Part 4: Run a Content Audit
Part 5: Exceptional (but Doable) Travel Content Marketing

The post The Zen of Travel Content Marketing, Part 1: Get to Know Your Target Audience appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.