It’s useful to outline the difference between sales content and marketing content. While most good websites should have both kinds of content, it’s important to recognise that both forms of content serve different purposes.
- Sales content is the information about the products or services you are actively trying to sell to the reader. It’s the prices, the specifications, and anything a potential customer might want to know before making a purchase on your site. Any content that explicitly asks customers to buy from you is sales content. Brochures, product pages, price lists, etc., are all examples of sales content.
- Marketing content, on the other hand, is not necessarily asking customers to buy a product or service. It discusses a topic that might be of interest or of use to a reader and, in doing so, it initiates a conversation with them. Marketing content aids the sales process by being helpful and engaging for the reader. Good marketing content adds value to the reader and either encourages them to click through the site to make a purchase or it familiarises them with your brand so that they are more likely to return another day, when they are looking to make a purchase.
The latter, is relevant to all marketing, but it’s especially pertinent to the tourism marketing sphere, as customers often spend a long period of time planning (and shopping around) before they book their next trip. This means that most people booking a holiday are likely to visit several sites, gathering all of the information they need, before they start booking tours, accommodation, flights, etc.
Other than having the best product/service, good prices, and great sales content, the best way to engage with potential customers is to help them plan their next trip. You can do this by offering useful information. Write detailed guides to the cities and countries you operate in, providing potential customers with as much information as possible.
If you put all of this information into several guides, you’re saving readers a lot of time, as they won’t have to scour the internet in search of everything they want to know. Not only will this grab potential customer’s attention, it will likely encourage them to return.
If you put a lot of care and work into your content marketing strategy, you will be able to grab and keep your customer’s attention. Writing useful or engaging content adds value for any potential customer or returning customer visiting your site. Using Google Suggests or Answer the Public can help you easily identify which topics people want to know more about and you can base your content marketing strategy around answering these questions.
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