To grow your business and increase your market share, you need to provide excellent guest experiences, have a good product or service, and (importantly) prospective customers need to know you exist. Continuing last week’s theme in this space, this can be accomplished though content marketing.
To be clear, content marketing isn’t a new concept. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Michelin brothers, Andre and Edouard, owners of the Michelin tire company, decided to publish a guide for the car owners of France. It listed the names and locations of petrol stations, garages and mechanics, hotels, and restaurants. Essentially, the brothers determined that they were not selling enough tires, so they created guidebooks and distributed to restaurants, mechanics, et al in order to sell more tires.
More recently, consider Coca-Cola; Coke had mastered the brand-to-consumer communication in the traditional 30-second spot with some of the best traditional advertisements in history. Most everyone loved the Coke bears, but while that campaign had remarkable ad-recall it was proven to not move the needle in regard to intent to purchase. Jordan Mildenhall, Coke’s vice president of Global Advertising, recognized that advertisers need more content so they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant due to 24/7 connectivity. Their new strategy is aimed at creating content that makes a commitment to making the world a better place and to develop value and significance in people’s lives.
A significant part of content marketing is video. Simply put, video converts. And specifically it converts in the travel and tourism business. Video converts all throughout the travel funnel with 64% of travelers saying that they view videos when thinking about visiting a destination, 63% when choosing a destination and 65% when looking for ideas of what to see and do in a destination. You might be surprised that over half of people want to see experiential videos highlighting lodging.
Consider Red Bull; Red Bull mastered the concept of using video to communicate with their prospective customers and to build their brand. Red Bull’s YouTube channel has launched over 100 videos that have amassed at least one million views; they’ve launched a popular magazine with over 5 million subscribers; a record label; and 2 film studios underneath Red Bull Media House. They’ve created all this content to build and promote their energy drink brand.
It’s not just massive brands like Michelin, Coke, and Red Bull who do content marketing well. Closer to home, Vail and Beaver Creek do a great job of creating video content that is compelling and helps tell the story of the brand. Vail Daily’s “On the Hill” daily video series is compelling content showcasing our mountains and various activities around the valley.
Content is more than just the copy on your website. It’s everything from tweets to web to newsletters to earned media (public relations). It’s any medium of information, entertainment or subject matter expertise between your business and your customers. The essence of content marketing is the understanding that in today’s changing media marketplace (online, mobile, DVR’s) we, as businesses, need to deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to customers. In turn, they will ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.
Content marketing is quite often a long game. You can’t launch one effort and expect immediate results. You can’t do a little bit here and a little bit there and expect results. Increasing your customer base in today’s online world means that you need more online content to get people talking about your products, your services, and your company. The good news: local businesses already have all the resources you need to do this.
Vail Valley Partnership is excited to provide a variety of content marketing opportunities to help spotlight and promote our members through various content channels including video, web, social, newsletter, and more. We are your partner in providing and distributing valuable content to help reach and connect with potential customers, and in turn to grow your business by leveraging your chamber membership.
To learn more about the Partnership’s member benefits and content tools, visit VailValleyPartnership.com
Chris Romer is president & CEO of Vail Valley Partnership