Steer Clear: The Marketing Tactic that Every Tour Operator Should Avoid

There’s a lot of little mistakes that are easy to make when you are creating a marketing plan for your tour and activity company. However, there’s one blunder that you should always avoid: Being generic. Your brand is a unique option that is available to travelers in your destination. Allow yourself to shine, and avoid creating promotions and marketing materials that are as bland as any other tour company in any city around the world.

Okay, so you know that you can’t create a generic promotional campaign and generate bookings, but how can you steer clear of this disastrous mistake? Here’s a few tips:

Develop a Clear Point of Parity

Your tour and activity business is a success because you offer something different than other tour operators in your region do not provide. That difference is your point of parity — it is what sets you apart from the competition. You need to identify your point of parity and use it within all of your promotional campaigns.

For example, if you run a whale watching tour that includes chocolates and champagne while your competition runs a basic tour on a boat with a couple of bottles of water for sale, then you need to highlight your point of parity. Let the travelers in your destination know that you are the luxury brand that will enhance the experience with bubbly champagne and delectable delights.

You are going the extra mile to offer something more to those who book with you, so don’t be afraid to let everyone know that you are doing it! In this case, it’s good to be the tour operator who is doing things differently.

Target a Specific Market Segment

In addition to identifying your point of parity, you also need to recognize your target audience. Your sunset whale watching tour that includes champagne and chocolates is probably not attracting a lot of families with young children. Rather, you likely appeal to couples on their honeymoons or adults who are celebrating a special occasion.

When developing your website and creating your marketing materials, you need to make your target audience clear. For instance, the photos on your website should show two people immersed in a romantic moment on the side of your ship, sipping champagne as a whale breaches beside them. This makes it perfectly clear who is going to best enjoy the experience that you have available.

You also can develop a distribution strategy that allows you to target this specific audience. You should work with agents who specialize in romance travel, or OTAs that appeal to those booking their honeymoon vacations. Knowing who your audience is and focusing your promotions on that key demographic will allow you to significantly increase your bookings.

Your marketing strategy should be a fluid entity that is consistently analyzed, reviewed and redesigned. To learn more about the marketing best practices in the industry and to discover ways to increase your brand recognition across the globe, download the Rezdy online marketing ebook now.