What Is Interesting Travel Business Content? And How To Create It.

Let’s think about travel content. Cast your mind back to some recent blog, a post or a video you saw on the internet. What made you read or watch it? What made you like it?

• Did you search the topic or did you stumble upon it in your feed?
• What made you click it? Was it the picture or the headline? Or something else?
• What made you read or watch it through to the end? Or if you didn’t, what made you skip it?

In this article we’ll talk about travel content. What is good content and how do you go about creating it. Keep the content you thought of in your mind while reading this. And think about how the good qualities could be applied to your business.

The basic guidelines

Whether you are a small business owner doing everything yourself, or buying your web and social content from a professional. There are some basic do’s and don’ts you should be aware of when writing, filming and photographing. I.e. creating travel content for your business. The basic principles that lead you to interesting content are:

• Know your audience
• Be authentic
• Share something of value your customers appreciate: information, fun, tips…
• Involve your community and your networks
• Build trust

Know your target audience and serve them as well as you can

The bad news is that the internet is so full of content it’s really difficult to stand out. But the good news is, that you don’t need to reach every person on the planet. Just the ones you want as your customers. Find out or imagine what your customer personas want to see and hear, and cater to that. The more focused you are on specific persons, the easier it is to create your content around them.

Ideas:

If you have a small travel business you run by yourself, chances are you have created it out of something you love. Bingo! You yourself are your target audience. Write, film, photograph and share things about your business you love, and you are a good bit on your way. When you run out of ideas, start using customer personas and let them guide you forward.

Make your travel content authentic

If you imagine what a typical ‘travel image’ looks like, or better yet, type it into Google image search, what do you get? Beautiful young bodies on a sunny beach. This is hardly what tourism in the Nordics is about. What do we have in abundance that others don’t? What does YOUR travel business have in abundance that others don’t?

A small Finnish commune, Padasjoki, found out what their most authentic feature is. What do you think of their travel business content approach?

Ideas:

If you haven’t yet created the unique story for your travel business, consider doing it now. Your story is the backbone or the anchor which ties together everything you do. It helps you determine what kind of content to create to be real and to stand out from the crowd.

What would locals do? What’s unique in your neighbourhood? Show glimpses of the life people live in your part of the world. What’s everyday and usual to you, might be exotic and interesting to your audience.

Be interesting and useful in the long run

A gimmick that has gone viral can give you a burst of interest. But the chances of that happening are very small. What if it attracts the wrong kind of people who won’t become your clients? Or who you don’t want as your clients? If your marketing and the reality don’t match, your customers are disappointed.

Despite the rise of virtual tours and augmented reality, most travel businesses still need their customers to travel. If you keep them interested over a longer period of time by offering inspirational travel business content, they are more likely to book the trip. Travel business is a long game, and so is content marketing.

So what is interesting? If a potential client has found you on the internet, they already are interested in something you offer. What is your client’s motivation to travel? Is it the location, adventure, business trip, something else? List the relevant topics your customers are interested in and write about them. Or better yet: show and tell.

Ideas:

Think about anything that would make your customer’s visit easier. Can you recommend activities, great places to eat, local landmarks? What should they pack with them and what should they leave home? Has someone already visited and written a great story about it? Ask permission to link and share it on your pages.

What are the most common questions you get about your business? Start creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for your website using them as a guideline.

Travel is mostly about dreaming about the upcoming trip, then creating experiences and memories, and sharing them. If you can give a taste of these to whet the appetites of your potential clients, you have interesting content. Read more about this topic in our article about online customer journeys.

Pool your ideas and share your stories

You are not alone. Think about your networks. Who are the important partners in running your business? Who are the ones you ask for advice? Which locals share your interests in making your business a success? You have a lot in common with these people. Help each other out and create interesting content together for all of you.

Ideas:

Have a meeting and pool your travel business content ideas. How many common topics do you have? Share them. Often someone who is an outsider, but knows your business, can pick up on interesting topics you wouldn’t notice yourself. Could you act as guest writers or vloggers for each other?

If you need to hire help to create all this content, consider pooling your resources for that. The cost per partner is easier to bear than doing it alone. If you already have a common list of themes and topics, it’s easier for any content agency to start working for your benefit.

Good travel content builds trustworthiness

Trust is the key factor for any customer to make a purchase. Interesting content is one way of building this trust between you and your audience. It shows that you are committed to your enterprise and cherish it yourself. This helps others to see the value of your services as well.

Creating content isn’t just for advertising your business. In a broader sense it represents your brand and aims to create a relationship with those who are interested in what you have to offer. It aims to create loyal customers. All of the topics we have discussed in this article should help you on your way to making a good impression and, eventually, turn it into loyal customers and sales.

Conclusion

There are techniques and applications that help you craft SEO friendly headlines and keywords that help you get noticed in the deluge of digital content. You can find links to them in other articles on this site. But everything starts and ends with you having something worthwhile to say. Machines can’t imagine your uniqueness or your experiences. Not yet anyway. So bravely use your creative power to inspire.

How did the content you thought of in the beginning compare with this article? Did you find some of the elements we mentioned here? Which ones?

What kind of content ideas have you come up with?
What has worked for you and what has not?

Share your experiences and questions about good content in the DTN Community.

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