What is this job that allows you to work remotely and make money while you travel? In this post, I will give you a quick introduction to tourism destination marketing as a niche product. I will explain what it is and why we do it.
I have now been asked several times what it is that Snell Media is doing to generate a reasonable income. What exactly is destination marketing? Freelancing photography sounds like a very fun and easy job, often associated with a hobby. Not many people consider it a full-time job that could make enough money to survive.
Marketing on the other hand has the reputation of being a very promising career. Our capitalistic world will always need marketers, not doubt about it. Online marketing is no longer a niche product but creates a mandatory work department in every fast growing business. So how do these two dedications come together? What is destination marketing and how does it work?
What is destination marketing?
Within the industry we use the term to describe a variety of content creating processes that promote a touristic service. The client could be a hotel, tour operator, region or country. Once contracted, producer and client will agree on the dates of a destination marketing campaign.
The outcome of this campaign is professional photo, video and written content that puts the client’s product in a favorable light. The content is then shared and distributed via traditional and social media channels during or after the campaign.
What makes it so important?
Unlike a lot of conventional products, the touristic experience is immaterial and intangible. Therefore, you won’t be able to look at it in a store, let alone purchase it and return it later. The customer (the tourist) is buying a trip or booking a hotel completely based on trust. Where does this trust come from? We form our opinion on recommendations, pictures and information that we obtain online.
From a customer’s perspective, written content satisfies the need for information and facts about a destination. How do I get there, what is the local currency, what language do people speak etc. Visual content on the other hand is the marketing tool that can gain an edge over competitors.
The quality of promotional videos and photos is therefore crucial to persuade the customer. The content decides on the client’s decision to choose one destination over another. Of course you could say the same about hotels, trips and any other touristic service.
Both video and photo content can help to highlight the various faces of a destination. Being able to promote variety under one brand image is one of the most powerful benefits of visual content creation.
Recently, especially social media and influencer marketing has been of increasing interest for tourism destinations. Using professional video and photo content has proven beneficial for simple reasons. Social reach and engagement are the most valuable outcomes of visual marketing campaigns. In addition to that, Digital content is multifunctional and we can spread it on several channels (tv, website, social media) at the same time.
What makes it so complex?
Visual content is not only a more effective but also a more complex tool of destination marketing. Videography especially is time-consuming and requires filming experience and editing skills. Using photoshop for images as a hobby and uploading them on Facebook is one thing. Cutting 3 hours of video content into a two-minute promotional clip a completely different story.
Filming and editing are two processes that are highly dependent on each other. If the producer has not done a good job in the first place, the person editing might miss some important clips in order to put together the desired . Assuming the production and editing are not done by one person, communication between those two is key. The risk of missing content can be reduced if the video campaign is filmed and cut by the videographer himself.
I hope this summary has given you a better understanding of destination marketing. You should now be able to understand how important visual content is as part of every marketing strategy. The created value for producer and client is not created over night and requires talent, experience and technical skills.
We can conclude that visual content creator is a recognized, valuable and economically sustainable job. For more information on successful destination marketing campaigns, check out our Case Studies and Greg’s Vlog.
We hope you liked this article and would love to hear your thoughts and questions regarding this topic!
Nellie
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