Steal This Travel Marketing Idea: Video Tours

We haven’t done a Steal this Travel Marketing Idea for awhile, and so I thought I’d take a minute to highlight a fun marketing option that many small businesses overlook:  videos.  Here’s a great example video from a Canadian tour operator:  Segway Ontario.

What’s So Great?

• It’s Professional.  Your videos don’t have to be Hollywood – and in fact, there is a tendency to end up in slick brochure-land.  People empathise with a video that is professional but doesn’t feel like it’s got too much gloss that is hiding the real facts.
• It’s Fun.  I love the ending where you  hear the sound of the leaves crushing under the Segways as it speeds up.  If you have teenagers, they’ll be begging you to go on this tour after watching the video.  It definitely appeals to the senses.
• It’s Short.  Unless you’ve launched some sort of video programme (interviews or what not) that you’re integrating into a blog or online magazine, your videos need to be short.  2-5 minutes is ideal.
• It’s got a call to action.  The Youtube page  has the operator’s contact information and they’ve used the annotation tool to pop-up a mention about their website.  The start/close screens also have contact info.  So if I decided I want to book, it’s easy for me to find out where to go.

Room for Improvement?

I really only have two suggestions for improvement:

• More Customers: there was only one customer comment (“so awesome” I believe she said) – that’s good, but I would have sprinkled customer comments throughout the video.  Seeing a customer praising your brand is very powerful.
• More Guides: the guides really should be featured here.  Remember – the secret about marketing is that people like to do business with people they know.  How awesome would it be for someone to call you and say they want to book a tour and they want to go on Josh’s tour because they saw his video?

To Learn More

Need help finding more ways to market your business?  Check out our do-it-yourself guide, 33 Fun and Effective Ways to Market your Travel Business, or get in touch to see how we can help.