Episode #16: Content marketing with heart for tourism operators

Tourism Tweetup the Podcast

Chatting with Trevor Young aka the PR Warrior about content marketing and personal branding. Trevor discusses some examples of who is doing content marketing well and offers tactics and strategies for those working in the travel and tourism industry.

Trevor has had a long career in the PR and communication business and he speaks and now consults on social media across a range of industries. He has also written a book called microDomination.

Episode #16 of Tourism Tweetup the Podcast we talk to Trevor Young about content marketing and having a heart first approach to marketing.

Highlights & Links We Mention in this Episode

Content marketing and social fit together. It is one thing to create the content it is another to socialise that content and to create a 'village of support' around your brand.

You can do a lot of things but you don't need to do everything. It is really easy to get overwhelmed.

The whole idea of using content for marketing purposes is not new but the two big trends that kicked content marketing along are;

1) technology: has made the barrier to entry lower e.g. it is easy to start a blog for no money down

2) people like to source information from a range of places e.g. blogs, podcasts, newspapers, friends and brands if you trust them as a source. So it is important with content marketing to add value and give them the right information or are you just promoting yourself and talking about yourself.

Trevor Young defines content marketing as "Strategically creating, publishing and amplifying original content that is of interest, value and relevant to a specific target audience group to then influence a desired outcome"

Content marketing can be a marketing strategy for your business and needs to fit into your overall business objectives/strategy.

Content is important especially for tourism businesses as;

1) Why rent an audience when you can go out and build and nurture your own.

2) Tourism and travel is a high interest category and allows for story telling

Types of content that may work include behind the scenes, useful information (NB: Jay Baer wrote a great book on this called Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype), FAQ's, tell stories, meet the farmers, suppliers etc and finally become the 'go-to' resource.

In this podcast we then shift from chatting about content to chatting about the importance of building your personal brand.

Trevor Young wrote the book microDomination: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand.

Building your personal brand can be a great thing to do from a career perspective. Look ahead and think about where you want to go and start building your knowledge and even outposts, credibility and connections in that area. So when the time comes to make a shift you have visible points to show. It could be a blog, a podcast, an Instagram account, videos and Twitter is a great way to build a network and build connections.

It is not too late for people who are just getting started with social media or online presence as it is a long term game. Doing it slowly, organically and building your body of work over time. An example for this is The Goulet Pen Company. Listen to Trevor tell this great story.

The final question I ask Trevor is what he is most excited about for 2015 - and I totally love his answer! He talks about a 'heart first' approach to marketing and I couldn't agree more!!

The brands and businesses that will stand out are the ones who really understand their audience, know who they are and are writing for them and are doing it with "passion, purpose and strategic intent".

Make sure you listen to the whole podcast for the details and check out more about Trevor Young on his website.

 

 

Tourism Tweetup the Podcast

Chatting with Trevor Young aka the PR Warrior about content marketing and personal branding. Trevor discusses some examples of who is doing content marketing well and offers tactics and strategies for those working in the travel and tourism industry.

Trevor has had a long career in the PR and communication business and he speaks and now consults on social media across a range of industries. He has also written a book called microDomination.

Episode #16 of Tourism Tweetup the Podcast we talk to Trevor Young about content marketing and having a heart first approach to marketing.

Highlights & Links We Mention in this Episode

Content marketing and social fit together. It is one thing to create the content it is another to socialise that content and to create a ‘village of support’ around your brand.

You can do a lot of things but you don’t need to do everything. It is really easy to get overwhelmed.

The whole idea of using content for marketing purposes is not new but the two big trends that kicked content marketing along are;

1) technology: has made the barrier to entry lower e.g. it is easy to start a blog for no money down

2) people like to source information from a range of places e.g. blogs, podcasts, newspapers, friends and brands if you trust them as a source. So it is important with content marketing to add value and give them the right information or are you just promoting yourself and talking about yourself.

Trevor Young defines content marketing as “Strategically creating, publishing and amplifying original content that is of interest, value and relevant to a specific target audience group to then influence a desired outcome”

Content marketing can be a marketing strategy for your business and needs to fit into your overall business objectives/strategy.

Content is important especially for tourism businesses as;

1) Why rent an audience when you can go out and build and nurture your own.

2) Tourism and travel is a high interest category and allows for story telling

Types of content that may work include behind the scenes, useful information (NB: Jay Baer wrote a great book on this called Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype), FAQ’s, tell stories, meet the farmers, suppliers etc and finally become the ‘go-to’ resource.

In this podcast we then shift from chatting about content to chatting about the importance of building your personal brand.

Trevor Young wrote the book microDomination: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand.

Building your personal brand can be a great thing to do from a career perspective. Look ahead and think about where you want to go and start building your knowledge and even outposts, credibility and connections in that area. So when the time comes to make a shift you have visible points to show. It could be a blog, a podcast, an Instagram account, videos and Twitter is a great way to build a network and build connections.

It is not too late for people who are just getting started with social media or online presence as it is a long term game. Doing it slowly, organically and building your body of work over time. An example for this is The Goulet Pen Company. Listen to Trevor tell this great story.

The final question I ask Trevor is what he is most excited about for 2015 – and I totally love his answer! He talks about a ‘heart first’ approach to marketing and I couldn’t agree more!!

The brands and businesses that will stand out are the ones who really understand their audience, know who they are and are writing for them and are doing it with “passion, purpose and strategic intent”.

Make sure you listen to the whole podcast for the details and check out more about Trevor Young on his website.

 

 

The post Episode #16: Content marketing with heart for tourism operators appeared first on Holly G.