NOTE: I previously shared with you my thoughts on 10 marketing trends that I plan to focus on in 2015. Of those 10 trends, I plan to break each one of them down into its simplest form so that you can understand it and implement it in your own destinations or places of business.
As a brand marketer, one of the toughest issues that I faced was streamlining our advertising efforts. And I think most destinations were or still are in the same boat. We had one set of advertising creative for the leisure market, a different set of advertising creative for the meetings & convention market, and then a whole other set of creative for the group tour market. Not to mention, anything we did in the local market, looked totally different than the first three sets of creative.
As tourism marketers, we need to move away from that type of thinking, because once an attendee comes for a meeting, convention or group tour experience, they are automatically a leisure visitor. They need to know what experience awaits them in your destination, while still tailoring the sales message to that particular market segment. And you can’t reinforce the full destination experience with segmented advertising. In order to be more effective, here are three ways you can streamline your advertising creative.
- Develop key themes. Every destination has brand pillars that they are known for, and the best destinations use those same brand pillars across all market segments. It doesn’t make sense to advertise Attribute A in the leisure market, and then come up with a totally different Attribute B for the meetings & convention market. Your attributes are cross-functional.
- Make your ads become extensions. Your advertising creative should mirror your sales efforts. Why waste time selling a destination attribute, that isn’t reinforced in your print, digital, social, television or radio media buys? This kind of thinking can also help streamline your sales efforts.
- Be consistent. Utilize the same imagery, fonts, color palettes and logos for the themes you choose. Consumers want to see brand consistency, as that makes you trustworthy. Your consistency will aid you in becoming a top-of-mind brand for the consumer.
if you take these three ideas and implement them in your daily advertising decisions, you will create a more streamlined approach for all of the activities that fall underneath the marketing function. This streamlined approach will have a ripple affect on tangent areas of the organization too, from customer service to product fulfillment.
What other ways would you recommend to streamline your advertising creative?
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