Successful Video Marketing for Travel Professionals in 3 Steps

Written By: Andy Ogg

 

 

It’s no lie that video marketing has become the fastest growing way to reach people. In fact, in the past two years, video marketing has exploded to hold approximately 60% of all marketing efforts by major brands. It’s predicted that by 2020, video marketing will drive 80% of all decisions by the consumer.

 

Between YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, the effectiveness of video marketing does what it’s supposed to do. It informs, grabs attention and it drives traffic. Most of the above mentioned medians allow for the use of a Call to Action, allowing viewers of your message to instantly engage with your content and learn more.

 

As a Travel Professional, if you aren’t using video in your marketing efforts, it’s time. Getting started isn’t as hard as it might seem and if you have a smartphone, half of the initial cost and challenge has already been overcome.

 

Creating video marketing for your Travel Agency can be done in a variety of ways. You can film yourself talking about travel tips, you can video adventures you embark on to entice clients to go as well, or you can even compile resources from suppliers to create short and effective videos showing possible clients exactly what you can offer them.

 

Video Marketing Facts

• 92% of viewers “share” the content
• 51% of marketers say video marketing has the highest ROI
• Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users
• 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos
• Views on branded video content have increased 258% on Facebook and 99% on YouTube as of June 2017
• An initial email with a video receives an increase click-through rate by 96%.
• Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text
• By 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic

Source: WordStream

 

There are a lot of options of what you can show but no matter what the content, below I will share 3 tips that will help you get started.

 

Short is Sweet

According to a recent study, the average attention span is down from 12 seconds in 2000 to a mere 8 seconds in 2018. That isn’t a lot of time to make an impact, however it is enough time to show your content, if done right.

 

Keep your videos under 30 seconds if possible, use an application like iMovie or similar application to edit your video into quick snips and shots that not only show your content but also leaves the viewer “wanting more.” Keeping their attention is key and the shorter the video, the higher chance you have of getting them to watch the entire thing.

 

While 30 seconds is a great goal, there is no doubt that videos may need to run longer, in that case, keep it exciting and continue to share valuable information. If your video is coming in at 6 minutes, it’s time to get the scissors out and do some cutting to the footage and bring it to a shorter length.

 

Brand It

With the 8 second attention span in mind, it’s important that you not only keep it exciting but also to show the viewer who made the content and who you are. Adding a watermark to a video can be done with ease thanks to the new and powerful applications available for your PC or smartphone. A quick query should provide you thousands of options that will allow you to add your Travel Agency logo to the video and keep it branded throughout the entire video. This allows for you to promote your agency, without having to waste any of those precious 8 seconds on displaying just the logo.

 

On top of adding your Travel Agency logo, it’s imperative to implement a CTA (Call to Action) for users to engage with. Whether it’s the “swipe up” on Instagram or the “click for more information” on Facebook, it’s important to enable viewers of your content to engage with you. Furthermore, you need to make sure that the link you use in this CTA delivers relevant content when used. For example, if your video is promoting your recent trip to Hawaii, the CTA should lead to information about Hawaii, not your general home page. Keep their attention from the start and the conversion from prospect to client will increase.

 

Add the Text

With the ever growing popularity of video use and marketing, many browsers and devices have enabled the control to “mute” audio on the sites or social media outlets they frequent. If your video is based on visual and sound, what does it look like without the sound playing? Chances are it may be confusing and a bit awkward.

 

Adding captions to your video can also be done in most applications that you would use to edit a video. However, Facebook and YouTube do allow you to add captions through their programs as well. Adding the captions will not only capture the millions of viewers with their sound off, but it also adds a nice “live” feature to the content, keeping the viewers eye moving and attentive.

 

Sounds easy enough right? With some practice and perseverance, video marketing can be easy. In fact with the tools that are available in todays technology, it should be easy! I hope you enjoyed this brief look into successful video marketing tips for Travel Professionals. Now, go out there and create some amazing videos to grow your travel business!