Destination marketing today is more than just a place for people to visit. It’s how they feel when they visit your destination. In our most recent blog The NeuroTourism Series: Seeing the City Through Their Eyes we talked about our unique capabilities in measuring not only what people tell us, but how they feel. Once we have this data, we can use it to formulate strategies in many areas that will not only attract visitors, but also will keep them coming back by building a “feeling” around that place.
In this blog, we will explore the different strategies involved and how to build them so that they not only attract visitors but exude the feeling that you want your destination to be aligned with. For instance, do you want visitors to feel nostalgic, inspired, at home, creative, relaxed, etc.
Here are the key categories and how you can define your strategies accordingly.
One of the most crucial steps you must take before all other strategies can be created, is a market research strategy. This provides the foundation for every single step you take going forward. Market research helps you understand where your visitors are coming from, why they are visiting, and how their experience was.
When you apply Neurotourism, our method of measuring emotional response, you move beyond surface level insights. Moving beyond the realm of what people are doing, but also what people are feeling when they are doing it. Are they excited? Calm? Curious? Confused? Without that understanding, you are making decisions blindly.
Define when, how, and where you will deploy your market research. It shouldn’t be something conducted just once a year. Your frequency will depend on your goals and audience trends, but ideally, research should be performed at least twice a year to keep your insights current and actionable.
Once you have done your due diligence in market research, you can now move on to the next step, creating your marketing strategy. Some entities blend the marketing and creative strategy, but these are two completely separate strategies with each requiring their own special attention.
Your marketing strategy should be defined using the data from your market research. This data is the key to everything you will do from here.
Start by clearly defining your audience. Think beyond basic demographics and look deeper into behaviors and motivating factors. When you picture the people coming into your destination, who are they really? Are they families looking for connection and relaxation, students looking for exploration, retirees that love to sightsee, or food lovers looking for their next best meal? How far are they willing to travel? Are they first time visitors or potential return guests you want to nurture?
Once you have identified your audience, you need to define what success looks like for you. What are your key goals? Are you looking to increase visitation, more event attendees, longer stays and repeat visitors? Defining these goals and objectives clearly will help you determine how you measure success and justify your marketing spend.
Next, define your positioning, the unique place your destination holds in people’s minds. What do you offer that others don’t? This is where you start shaping the emotional story your creative strategy will later bring to life.
Your media strategy is the next step, as it lays out how the creative work will align and what assets will need to be created. This is where your audience insights will begin to take shape.
When evaluating your media options, you will want to refer to the audience identified in your marketing strategy. This is crucial in understanding the how, where, and what, your audience wants to receive. Your market research will also show you geographically where they are coming from, and what leads them to you, and what feeder cities may be emerging. This helps you identify gaps in your current targeting.
If you have utilized our Neurotourism analysis, then you have gained an additional advantage; you will know which drive the best emotional responses, whether that be video, static images, carousels, long-form content etc., these insights help you make media choices that don’t just touch your audience, but resonate emotionally.
Your creative strategy is where everything comes to life. It’s the moment your research, marketing direction, and media plan translate into a story people can see, hear, and feel. It should never be developed alone. It must be informed by your marketing research, aligned with your marketing strategy, and shaped by the media channels your campaign will live in.
This is where you begin to define the feeling you want people to experience when they think of your destination. Do you want visitors to feel nostalgic? Energized? Connected? Inspired? Your creative strategy should take the emotional outcomes identified through NeuroTourism and translate them into visuals, messages, colors, tones, and experiences that embody that emotion.
Creative direction becomes infinitely more powerful when it is intentional. If your media plan shows that video will be your strongest format, your creative strategy should lean into movement, storytelling, and emotional pacing. If static imagery performs well, your creative may focus more on powerful visuals, textures, and design elements that evoke the desired feeling. This is also your opportunity to take your unique positioning and put it into action.
Now that all of your strategies have come together and formed a beautiful destination marketing plan, it’s time to put it out in the marketplace. The success of this campaign is centered around your evaluation and optimization process going forward. Even with all your due diligence in the creative process of your plan, it could still fail if not properly maintained.
As your campaign begins, make sure each element stays aligned with the work you have already done. Your messaging, creative assets, media placements, and audience targeting should all reflect the strategy you have built.
Optimization should happen all the way through the campaign. You do not want to “set it and forget it”. Pay close attention to what your audience is responding to. Which audiences are most engaged, and what formats hold attention the longest. This can be seen in your metrics under reach, impressions, engagement, likes, views, etc. Optimizations should happen on a regular basis, depending on the size of your campaign, it can vary from weekly to monthly.
At the end of the campaign, take time to review the overall results. Look at what worked, what did not, and where you saw the strongest emotional connection. This evaluation will guide your next cycle of market research and make each future strategy stronger and more effective.
A strong destination marketing strategy is not a one time project. It should grow and evolve as your audience grows and changes. NeuroTourism helps you do that with more clarity and confidence.
If you are looking to grow your destination in a way that connects with people on many levels, we are here to support you. You can explore our list of services here or connect with us directly to talk about how we can create a tailored destination marketing strategy for you.
