More Proof Travel Brochures Aren’t Dead, Just Different

I’m a listener, and sometimes I hear trending snippets of conversation.  In online circles I keep hearing people talking about the death of the travel brochure.  Unfortunately, I have to inform them time and time again, travel brochures aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Travel brochures aren’t dead, but they are changing.

Why aren’t they dead?

Travel brochures aren’t dead, because we don’t live in an entire digital world – yet.  Small, rural tourism office (and large, urban ones for that matter) don’t have the money to outfit the entire place with digital brochure machines.  Nor does everyone have a smartphone, where that digital information can be transferred so the person can take that information with them.  We might be approaching the world of The Matrix, but we’re not there yet.

Until digital information is totally ubiquitous and transferable to your Ideal Customer, I’d keep those brochures.   They’re perfect for people right there, right now, looking for something to do, a place to eat, or a place to stay.

Having said that…You’re measuring their impact, their success, and tweaking them, right?

Why are they changing?

Travel brochures need to evolve, for several reasons:

• Environmental Sensitivity:  This big bulky brochures are falling out of fashion because a lot of consumers don’t like the environmental aspects.  In some markets, though (luxury) that isn’t the case.
• Dwindling Attention Spans:  In our world of RIGHT NOW immediate satisfaction, a lengthy brochure that doesn’t get to the point, doesn’t get read.
• Rise of the Digital Age:  As the Internet becomes number one for more and more market segments, it’s where people go for their information first, not tourist boards.
• They were awful in the first place:  A lot of travel brochures were awful in the first place.  Now that information is so readily available online, there is a suitable alternative.

Here’s an Awesome Travel Brochure

During my travels, I spent some time in the Finger Lakes Region, a beautiful part of the world.  I had a fantastic time, and loved chatting tourism with these folks, who have a number of different types of visitors they are courting.

One thing that struck me was their biking/hiking brochures – there’s a whole series of them, featuring hikes and biking trails.  Here’s a sample:

Front

Inside

Why This Brochure Rocks

• Understands the Ideal Customer:  These brochures are made for their ideal customers: bikers and walkers.  They’re small and easy to slip into a pocket, but they’ve also got a small hole to hook them on a chain to make sure they don’t fly out of that cute basket on the front of your bike!
• Simple, Digestible:  You don’t need to take the whole cake – you just take the slices that you want.  And each one has lots of information, but not too much – it’s very well done.
• Is Online Too:  You can go to the website (letsgohikeandbike.com – which was a short domain name cleverly setup to forward people to the guide pages on the site) and download anything you want.  Maybe you have one of the brochures but want another?  Or don’t want the paper at all?

To Learn More

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