Every brand needs to learn how to innovate itself as the years go by. Some traditional brands have already achieved a level of awareness in marketing skills that allow them to accompany the evolution of marketing at a fair pace. However, for others, this is still a learning path and one that, nowadays, come with the obstacles and risks of the digital era. When it comes to DMO’s, destination marketing is a relatively new term and its tactics are still being unraveled by destinations from all over the world.
In the latest years, most cities have been working on destination marketing to create a solid brand. After all, they are the ones responsible for captivating and convincing travelers they’re worth visiting. By using marketing strategies of their own, destinations are able to control the message and promote key points that define themselves and attract visitors in very unique and different ways.
LA, for example, have used diversity and inclusiveness to show the essence of the city. Iceland and Copenhagen, on the other hand, have decided to work together and develop a strong storytelling that tells the resemblance between the cities, encouraging tourists to take the opportunity and visit both while traveling to Scandinavia.
The shift in the promotion budget
Talking about this sound old fashioned, but the movement to digital in the budgets has been radical. In fact, some destinations have been clear leaders in offline campaigns with great visibility and creativity and now lack the proper digital talent to have the best approach in digital. It is urgent to outsource but also to insource that talent to be able to play even with today’s needs. Here we see tons of opportunities with new roads that have not been explored fully by destinations. For example partnerships with suppliers in the digital inspiration phase, creating a real value added destination web page, using more video and trip planners.
Applying the newest marketing tactics successfully
There is no way to run from the innovative technologies that emerge every day. Instead, the best solution is to use them in order to exponentially grow awareness. For DMOs, most of the already known channels such as social media, paid advertising, owned content, among others, should work. Keeping these channels alive and well fed is highly important, but a destination shouldn’t limit itself to just the basic.
Third-party technologies have been gaining more and more relevance each day when it comes to helping destinations to up their game. Using user-generated content, virtual reality, machine learning, geo-fencing, artificial intelligence and much more, these companies and their expertise may be the perfect solution. The reasons for the growing popularity of third-party tech companies are the convenience, the cost-saving factor and, most importantly, speed.
By acquiring already built solutions destinations save time and money as they won’t have to go through the trouble of developing it from scratch and, consequently, tourism boroughs able to implement new ideas at a much faster rate, therefore, keeping up with the trends.
With that in mind, it is possible to say that the key to a current destination marketing strategy is to comprehend all the changes that happen on the web in time to act by combining new tools. Additionally, it is also imperial to have a holistic view and understand the different needs that may appear at each stage of the tourists’ journey. Only by doing so, a destination will start marking its spot on the map and attracting visitors by speaking their language.
