6 Effective Video Marketing Tips for Tours and Activity Operators
Video marketing has become a powerful way for businesses to show off their goods and services in the fast-paced digital world of today. This is especially true for people who run tours and activities. They can use video marketing to not only bring in new customers but also show what they have to offer.
But making a good video marketing strategy can be hard, especially for people who have never done it before. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the 6 most important tips for tour and activity operators on how to use video marketing.
Whether you want to make a promotional video or a how-to guide, these video marketing tips for tours and activity will help you make videos that are interesting, informative, and visually stunning. These videos will grab the attention of your audience and make an impression that will last.
Let’s jump in!
Plan Your Video Content
Are you thinking of incorporating video into your marketing strategy? Great idea! Video marketing is a great way to get people interested and spread the word about your tour or activity business. But it’s important to have a plan for your video content before you start making it.
First of all, your videos shouldn’t feel like an obvious advertisement. Instead, they should give viewers a fun “experience” that they will want to tell their friends about. To do this, you should first figure out who your target audience is and what makes them share and buy things.
Next, put your attention on making video content that your viewers will find useful and fun. Remember that your video marketing should also follow a sales funnel strategy that moves potential customers slowly toward making a purchase. This means making a series of videos that build on each other and keep people’s attention.
Also, remember that the first 10 seconds of your video are the most important. This is when people will decide whether to keep watching the video or leave.
To get their attention, put the most important information at the beginning of your video and make it clear what they can expect to learn from watching.
Also, to help you plan your video content, here are some examples of the kinds of videos that tour and activity operators can make:
Virtual tours
During the pandemic, virtual tours have become more and more popular in the travel industry. These videos can show off your place or activity in a way that makes the viewer feel like they are there, even if they can’t be there in person.
Highlight reels of past events
A highlight reel of past events can give potential customers a better idea of what to expect from your tours or activities and also show them what makes your business different from others.
When making a highlight reel, it’s important to choose the best clips that show what your tour or activity is all about, like beautiful scenery, heart-pounding moments, or unique cultural experiences.
Here are some examples of videos on YouTube that show beautiful scenery.
Customer testimonials
What better way to get potential customers to book with you than to show videos of happy customers? Testimonial movies are a great way to show how your services help people and build trust with your audience.
How-to and instructional videos
If your tours or activities require special skills or techniques, making how-to videos can be a great way to show your knowledge and build trust with your audience.
For example, in a cooking class, a video could show how to make a certain food, and in a surfing class, a video could show how to stand up on a board and catch a wave.
Behind-the-scenes glimpses
Giving people a look behind the scenes can be a great way to show how much work and effort go into making a great tour or activity. These kinds of videos can also help you connect with your audience on a personal level and show what drives your business.
Destination guides
Destination videos can be a great way for tour and activity companies to sell their tours and activities because they show off the beauty and unique features of a place.
Your travel firm can use these videos to give an overview of the place, focusing on important landmarks, beautiful views, and the culture of the area.
For example, a tour company in Hawaii can make a movie that shows how beautiful the island is by showing its beautiful beaches, hikes, waterfalls, and local events. Just like this video about 10 places to visit in Germany!
Live streams of events or activities.
In recent years, live streaming has become more and more popular, and it gives tour and activity providers a unique way to show off what they have to offer in a dynamic and interesting way.
By live streaming an event or activity, you can show people what it’s like to go on your trips or take part in your activities. This can be anything from walking walks of a city to zip-lining or white-water rafting.
One of the best things about live streaming is that it lets potential customers experience your tours or events in real time. This gives them a more real and immersive look at what you have to offer.
Also, this can be especially helpful for people who don’t want to book a tour or exercise until they’ve tried it first.
Last, don’t forget to ask people to do something in your videos. This could be as easy as asking people to visit your website, sign up for your email list, or follow you on social media.
Tell a story, don’t be salesy
The golden rule of content marketing in the travel niche is to give your audience value by giving them actionable advice instead of just promoting your travel goods or services.
And video marketing is a great way to use stories to make people feel something and show how your travel services can solve real-life problems for buyers.
Research has shown that 80% of people like brands whose ads tell stories. Instead of just showing off the features of your travel products, use movies to tell a story that will keep your audience interested. Constant ads and promotions can turn people off, so don’t be that kind of brand. Instead, focus on making good content that will build a good image for your brand.
Create Video Reviews
Video recommendations are a great way to update your social proof. Smart tour operators are looking to platforms like TripAdvisor to add credibility to their websites. This means that there will be no more generic testimonials.
You can show off your hard-earned reviews by adding TripAdvisor’s free feature to your site. Even better, start gathering film testimonials to make it seem more real. Take out your phone in the middle of a tour and record spontaneous comments with real feelings. Lastly, put them on your “About” page and any other pages that are important to your tour. Then sit back and watch them work their magic!
Optimize for Search Engines
Did you know that video material can help improve your SEO and make you more visible online?
When you optimize your video material for SEO, you can show up more than once in Google’s search results. This makes it more likely that potential customers will see you.
To make your video content SEO-friendly, you can start by finding out what keywords and terms people are using to find your services. Even so, you need to build a website which is good for SEO, if you want to attract more customer to visit your site.
This could include words like “travel agency,” “online travel agent,” “tour agency,” and “vacation planner.” Once you have a list of important keywords, use them in the descriptions of your videos to help Google figure out what they are about.
In addition to including relevant keywords, you can also take advantage of tagging features on YouTube. By doing this, you can increase the relevance of your videos and help them appear as related content to other videos on similar topics.
Promote Your Videos
YouTube
Even though it’s been around for a long time, YouTube is still a very powerful tool for video marketing. It has more than 2.6 billion unique guests every month, making it a great place to show off your tours or activities.
Plus, three in five travelers use online videos to help them make decisions about their trip plans, so it’s a great way to reach your target audience.
Even though Facebook’s recent changes may have made it less useful for marketing, Instagram is becoming more and more famous as a marketing tool.
But because people only have a short amount of time to watch videos on this site, it’s important to make videos that are interesting, snappy, and catch people’s attention and keep them watching.
Don’t forget to think about Pinterest if you want to reach more people than just through video and photo-sharing sites like Instagram and Facebook.
You can share your videos and get more followers on this platform by making videos about the services you offer and connecting with travelers and companies that offer similar services.
Whether it’s a creative ad for a sale or a real-life movie, there are many ways to show off your content and connect with potential customers.
Marketing Newsletter
Do you send marketing newsletters to your customers and potential customers on a daily basis? If so, the video material in your newsletters can be a great way to keep them interesting and new. Putting your videos in your newsletter is another way to help them reach more people and get your word out to more people.
Overall, tour and activity operators in the travel and leisure business can get a huge return on their money when they use video marketing. Video content has a bigger emotional effect than other forms of marketing. It can also give viewers a more immersive and engaging experience, which makes them more likely to take action and book with your travel business. So, don’t be afraid to put money into video marketing for your tour or exercise business!
Measure Success
Whether you’re starting a new travel video ad or posting a new video on your YouTube channel, there are a few key metrics to keep an eye on to see how well your video is doing. Let’s look at the seven most important video metrics and what they say about your material.
View count
This metric tells you how many people have watched your video, but keep in mind that different platforms have different ways of measuring views.
Here’s how views are measured on some major platforms:
- YouTube: 30 seconds intentional watch
- Facebook: 3 seconds view (same for Live videos)
- Instagram: Video views count after 3 seconds; Live video views count the second someone joins the broadcast
- Twitter: 2 seconds watch with at least 50% of the video player on screen
- LinkedIn: Same policy as Twitter: 2 seconds watch with at least half the video in view
- TikTok: Video view counts as soon as the video starts playing in a feed.
To illustrate, Sprout Social’s YouTube Videos Report measures views as the primary video metric, followed by estimated minutes watched, view duration, and engagement.
By utilizing Premium Analytics, you can sort the YouTube Video Reports and Post Performance Reports by specific metrics available within the reports.
Engagement
This metric includes comments and likes generated by your video content. Pay attention to the type of comments you receive to get an idea of what your audience is looking for and how you can improve your content.
Play rate
If you have a video embedded on a landing page, this metric tells you how many people clicked to play the video. To increase your play rate, consider designing an attention-grabbing thumbnail and testing the location of the video on your landing page.
Watch time
This metric measures how long people have watched your video, including replays. A longer watch time indicates that your content is resonating with your audience.
Social shares
This metric measures how many times your video has been shared on social media. A high number of shares can widen your audience and increase brand awareness.
Clicks and click-through rates
For video ad campaigns with a call-to-action button, clicks, and click-through rates are key metrics to track. Test various CTAs to see what works best and make sure your video content is enticing enough to encourage clicks.
Conversions
Conversions measure how well your video has persuaded viewers to become leads or customers. While it’s easier to track with video ad campaigns, it can be trickier to measure with organic video content.
Utilize tracking and UTM tags to get a better idea of where your conversions are coming from.
Conclusion
As you can see from this topic, tour and activity operators can use video marketing to show off what they have to offer and attract possible customers. By following the six tips in this article—telling a story, showing what the experience is like, being real, promoting on social media, and measuring results—operators can make videos that are interesting to watch and get people to book.
Also, since video is becoming more and more popular, operators need to use it in their marketing plans if they want to stay ahead of the competition.
Please don’t be afraid to get in touch with us if you have any questions or want to know more about this subject. We appreciate you reading!
