29 Oct For Destination Marketing, Relevance is the New King

2 Quick Ways to provide more compelling content.

We can’t talk about brand relevance these days without looking at “Content” marketing. But the fact is, content marketing has been around a really long time. Even before the internet there were magazines, cookbooks, TV series… you name it. The rise of the internet and social media has obviously made it much easier to publish and promote than ever before and the buzzword “content” is largely now associated with our digital universe. Of course, the best content out there is UNIQUE – whether it’s your point of view, your format or expertise, you have to bring something special if you are asking people to spend time with you. With that always in mind – here are a couple of suggestions that will really crank up the stickiness of your content.

Start Mining Relevance from User Generated Content.

When we start thinking about content for our brands we instantaneously start thinking of all the destination stories we can tell. Resist that urge. The most powerful story about your destination is already out there. It is being told by the visitors that come through every day. The greatest indication of what matters to them is in the images they post and the memories they narrate for you. If you take time to see what really maters to them you can create content that reinforces their brand affinity for your destination.

Maximize Content with more Experience Options.

The concept of relevant content is about providing information of interest. What we don’t always consider is that an individual’s interest is not an on or off scenario.  There are different factors that affect an individual’s level of interest in information – the investment in time, the format and the placement of the information are all contributing factors. Too often a successful content program is based on how many subjects a team can crank out there. Instead, place more emphasis on taking a story and slicing and dicing it different ways. You may have an amazing 30 second video, but you can take that same content and pull single impactful images, make a punchy and fun infographic – if you provide more options you start speaking your visitor’s language. This will expand your story telling ability, and you provide more opportunities for your content to be shared.

Being relevant is a two-way street. Take advantage of the real stories being told about you right now – and you will be on the way to creating compelling content that can reinvigorate your brand and drive destination visitation.