4 ways of using explainer videos in travel marketing
Written by Emma Lee | 13th October 2023
The second UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of the year showed that the sector’s swift recovery has continued into 2023. It showed that:
- Overall, international arrivals reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2023
- An estimated 235 million tourists traveled internationally in the first 3 months, more than double the same period of 2022.
- Tourism has continued to show its resilience. Revised data for 2022 shows over 960 million tourists traveling internationally last year, meaning two-thirds (66%) of pre-pandemic numbers were recovered.
The challenge for the travel sector is to transform the dream of traveling into an immediate purchase. Here, the timely pressure on the emotional appeal of this decision is crucial.
Why are videos a great trigger? Because the decision to travel is a highly emotional one. Moreover, video helps companies tell stories that resonate with the consumer, build brand trust, and ultimately lead to conversions.
Let’s discuss 4 ways of using explainer videos in travel marketing.
Why are videos a great trigger? Because the decision to travel is a highly emotional one. Moreover, video helps companies tell stories that resonate with the consumer, build brand trust, and ultimately lead to conversions.
Let’s discuss 4 ways of using explainer videos in travel marketing.
Benefits of video marketing
Video is one of the most popular content formats today. There are several benefits to using video in travel marketing:
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Emotional connection:
Video can convey emotion and create a deeper connection with your audience. This is especially important for travel agencies looking to evoke a desire to travel and impress potential customers. -
Visual appeal:
Video can provide a clearer picture of a travel product than text or graphic content. Bright colors, beautiful scenery, and captivating footage can engage and attract the attention of your target audience. -
Large audience reach:
Video content has great potential to go viral through social media and communities. This helps to reach more potential customers and increase the brand consciousness of the travel agency.
The Hop on Hop off bus Berlin actively uses videos to show potential clients what awaits them.
This video conveys the atmosphere of the product, as well as demonstrates how Berlin Hop on Hop off bus will take place. Due to the fact that the video is very short, potential customers will watch it until the end rather than immediately moving on to the next Instagram post.
This video conveys the atmosphere of the product, as well as demonstrates how Berlin Hop on Hop off bus will take place. Due to the fact that the video is very short, potential customers will watch it until the end rather than immediately moving on to the next Instagram post.
Video marketing strategies for a travel agency
A strategy must be developed to effectively utilize video marketing to promote a travel agency. Here are a few steps that can be used to achieve the goals:
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Creating video content:
The first step is creating videos to capture the target audience’s attention. These can be video tours, videos of popular destinations, or success stories of previous clients. -
Optimize videos for search engines:
It is important to optimize videos for search engines by adding relevant keywords, descriptions, and tags. This will help ensure high search engine rankings and attract more of your target audience. -
Sharing videos on social media:
Posting videos on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube helps to attract more attention and increase audience reach. -
Collaborating with influencers:
One way to raise consciousness about a travel agency is to collaborate with influencers or bloggers who can talk about their travel experiences and grab their followers’ attention.
Videos are an effective tool to promote a travel agency. Explainer videos can convey emotions, connect with the audience, and attract them to travel services. It is essential to develop a strategy for using video marketing, create compelling video content, optimize it for search engines, collaborate with influencers, and actively promote videos on social media. Using video marketing can help a travel agency attract more customers and increase its competitiveness in the market.
Unlike light and “live” user-generated content, explainer videos often require high-quality content and filming. This allows you to show the impressive beauty and scale of tourist destinations, tours, hotels, cruise ships, etc.
Unlike light and “live” user-generated content, explainer videos often require high-quality content and filming. This allows you to show the impressive beauty and scale of tourist destinations, tours, hotels, cruise ships, etc.
Use video at different stages of the sales funnel
To increase awareness and loyalty levels, you need to create content that will appeal to your audience, surprise them, and make them smile. At this stage, it’s essential not to be too pushy, focus on inspiring the audience, and offer them more specific content later.
In the next stage, you can use customer testimonials and user-generated content to create confidence before buying. You can use brand videos to tell their unique story or video tips about the features of the destination to boost additional sales.
In the next stage, you can use customer testimonials and user-generated content to create confidence before buying. You can use brand videos to tell their unique story or video tips about the features of the destination to boost additional sales.
Improve brand reputation
Placing a video on a landing page increases conversion rates by 80%. An example of the effective use of video in tourism is airlines. Carriers often make the list of the world’s most hated brands, along with big banks and utility companies. Even with modern airplanes and improved schedules and services, most airlines struggle to keep their brand reputation up to par.
Onboard safety videos are among the best marketing tools to improve brand reputation. Leading airlines, like Virgin Airlines, use such videos to humorously showcase their personality and key differentiators.
Onboard safety videos are among the best marketing tools to improve brand reputation. Leading airlines, like Virgin Airlines, use such videos to humorously showcase their personality and key differentiators.
Create interactive adventures
Adding interactive elements to your video helps show the travel experience in a more personalized way. A video tells a story, whereas an interactive video creates a virtual experience. And viewers feel a part of it, experiencing stronger emotions and being inspired to take action.
Leverage testimonials and user-generated content
Customer testimonials come to life with videos. You can shoot them in-house or ask customers to send in their own videos.
For example, Puerto Rico Tourism partnered with Tripadvisor to create videos inspired by reviews on the site that were voiced by Puerto Rican celebrities.
Consumers are increasingly sharing their vacation experiences on social media. You can leverage this by encouraging user-generated content.
For example, Puerto Rico Tourism partnered with Tripadvisor to create videos inspired by reviews on the site that were voiced by Puerto Rican celebrities.
Consumers are increasingly sharing their vacation experiences on social media. You can leverage this by encouraging user-generated content.
Conclusion
In 2024, digital videos will continue to dominate the travel sector. As more people explore the world, explainer videos will surpass print, TV, and outdoor advertising as the category’s preferred communication channel. You can build long-term trust with your consumers by putting your audience first and creating videos focused more on their needs than direct sales.
