October 28, 2024 • 13 mins
In this episode of Traditional Tourism Insights we discuss the WARC strategy report, highlighting significant gaps in evaluating creative ideas and campaign effectiveness. Emphasizing the critical role of understanding consumer motivations beyond demographics, he underscores the value of human insights in an AI-driven world. Key points include the importance of authenticity, particularly for engaging Gen Z and Millennials, and the powerful impact of influencer marketing. We also introduce Google's NotebookLM as a potent tool for research and data analysis while ensuring privacy and enhancing marketers' expertise.
00:00 Welcome to Traditional Tourism Insights
00:49 Eye-Opening Industry Insights from WARC Report
02:26 The Importance of Understanding Travelers
03:47 Balancing Immediate Results with Long-Term Success
05:20 Adapting to Changing Marketing Trends
06:22 The Power of Influencer Marketing
06:56 Creating Authentic Content
07:36 Tips for Engaging Travel Content
08:14 The Power of TikTok in Marketing
08:55 Introducing Notebook LM
09:17 Using Notebook LM for Research
10:07 Notebook LM Features and Benefits
11:47 Maximizing Marketing Strategies with Notebook LM
12:46 Conclusion and Contact Information
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pat (00:13):
Hello, and welcome to Traditional Tourism Insights, a
podcast by Digital Relativity.
I'm your host, Pat Strader,founder and CEO of Digital
Relativity, with 25 years ofexperience in travel and tourism
marketing.
I invite you to join me eachepisode for a quick look at
industry trends, research,emerging technologies, and more.
And real talk on what works,what doesn't, and why.
(00:37):
Grab a coffee, a beer, or acocktail.
There is no judgment here.
Let's have some fun with anhonest and irreverent look into
the nitty gritty of travel andtourism marketing.
I've been spending a little bitof time going over a recently
published strategy report fromWARC.
This surveyed a thousand globalstrategists, and what it reveals
(01:00):
about our industry is a littleeye opening.
Get this, you guys.
22 percent feel that they do notunderstand how to evaluate
creative ideas effectively.
For measuring campaigneffectiveness, that number is at
29 percent that feel that theycan accurately evaluate.
(01:22):
Results of the campaign.
This disconnect isn't just astatistic.
It reveals real marketingdollars that aren't working as
hard as they should be, frankly.
And it really concerns mebecause I know how hard you work
to promote your destinations,your experiences, your services.
And when there's a gap betweenstrategy and understanding.
We risk campaigns that don'tdeliver the results that you
(01:45):
need and expect.
And today's competitive travelmarket, we just simply can't
afford that type ofinefficiency.
So part of the problem lies inhow the travel and tourism
industry approaches strategy,quite honestly.
We have digital strategists, wehave content strategists, we
have experiential strategies,and all these different
(02:07):
specialized pieces.
But as noted in this report,we're creating jigsaw pieces
without really seeing the bigpicture of how they all fit
together.
This fragmentation makes itharder to achieve goals.
often leads to disconnectedcampaigns and potentially
confuses your visitors.
Mark Ritson is a noted marketingexpert and emphasizes that
(02:30):
successful marketing starts withunderstanding the consumer.
Not just surface leveldemographics, but really
understanding what makestravelers choose one
destination, one experience overanother.
And when we get vague insightsabout travelers, the kinds that
you could Literally apply toanyone.
That's when things start to geta little sideways.
(02:52):
One of the things that I thinkis important to note is that we
need to look beyond our screens,if you will, just to really
truly understand what motivatestravel decisions.
So having conversations withvisitors, just really paying
attention to these insights thatcan help us create messages that
actually resonate with yourtarget audience.
(03:12):
Yes, AI and new technologies arechanging everything in
marketing, but here's whatmatters.
While AI can help analyze data,automate tasks, it cannot
replace the human understandingthat makes travel marketing
work.
You cannot fully grasp whypeople connect with certain
destinations or what makes themshare their experiences with
(03:33):
others.
And in fact, as technologyadvances, these human insights
become even more valuable.
Trust your instincts, rely onthe data, trust your instincts.
And what I'm seeing is aconcerning trend in our
industry.
And, and that is, you know, whenbudgets get tight, it's really
tempting to focus on quick wins.
While our goals are to put headsin beds, if you will, book
(03:56):
tours, et cetera.
It's really about creatingexperiences that turn those
first time visitors intoadvocates who will come back
year after year, bring otherswith them, and tell people about
their experience.
So, just keep in mind that yourpotential visitors aren't just
looking for a place to stay orthings to do, they're looking
(04:18):
for experiences that meansomething to them.
They want to discover placesthat they can connect with
others.
And share these experiences.
And when our marketingstrategies tap into these deeper
motivations, that's when we seereally impressive results.
Higher booking rates, longerstays, more word of mouth
recommendations.
(04:39):
And the key is to find thatbalance between immediate
results and long term success.
It's all about creating thosecampaigns that don't just drive
bookings, that's ultimately aprimary goal, but they build
lasting connections withtravelers.
Because in travel and tourism,these human connections, these
memorable moments, That's whatbrings people back.
(05:00):
So let's start a conversationabout how we can bridge these
gaps with marketing strategy.
How can we create campaigns thattruly resonate with target
travelers, deliver measurableresults.
And because when strategy works,everybody wins.
Your organization, yourcommunity, and more importantly,
your visitors.
(05:20):
The travel and tourism industryand how we market is changing
rapidly.
We've talked about this, youknow, and we all see it every
day.
And I came across a recentreport from Forrester that has
some really great information tostay ahead of the curve here and
to help us understand howyounger generations like Gen Z
and Millennials are interactingwith our ads.
(05:43):
These digital natives, theyspend hours each week scrolling
through their feeds.
Where sponsored content, itblends seamlessly with organic
posts.
And this presents a challengeand an opportunity.
And the challenge is this.
While younger audiences are moretolerant of ads that are
integrated into their feeds,According to this study from
(06:04):
Forrester, only 22 percent ofGen Z and Millennials trust
social media ads.
I don't think that that'sshocking news to anybody.
Uh, but as a result, they'vebecome expert ad blockers.
They tune out anything thatfeels inauthentic to them.
So where's the opportunity?
Influencer marketing! Everybodyloves talking about this, right?
(06:25):
But influencer marketing is, isan incredibly powerful tool to
reach These younger audiences,they trust recommendations from
their favorite creators.
Almost half of the youngerconsumers pay attention to
sponsored influencer content.
Interesting, right?
That's more than double the rateof olds like me.
(06:46):
But here's the key.
Authenticity is paramount tothis.
Work with influencers whogenuinely align with your brand.
Resonate with your audience.
Ditch the generic ad reads.
And create content that feelsreal, relatable, and engaging.
I've been using Duolingo as anexample quite a bit in some
(07:06):
other talks that I've beengiving, but You know, with
Duolingo's TikTok, I mean,they've really just mailed it
with their meme worthy.
They're using humor, some reallyinteresting examples there and
beyond influencer marketing,authenticity needs to be woven
into every aspect.
Of your overarching strategy.
So show the real side of travel,embrace the UGC, the user
(07:29):
generated content that everybodyloves so much and tell stories
that resonate with youraudience.
So here's some tips on how tomake this happen.
Embrace the UGC.
Encourage travelers to sharetheir experiences good and bad.
See lots of you doing thisalready.
Show the real side of travel.
Go beyond these picture perfect,pixel perfect as well as picture
(07:53):
perfect Instagram feeds andreally showcase the authentic
moments, the culturalopportunities.
Just show what it's really liketo visit.
Where you are.
Tell compelling stories, connectwith your audience on an
emotional level by sharingstories that resonate with them.
Earth shattering.
(08:13):
I know.
If you're using TikTok, beplayful and be creative.
And again, we're seeing somereally fun and innovative ways
that people are utilizing TikTokin the short form video format
with humor, relatablesituations, and even little
unexpected twists.
But remember, we're not justselling.
Flights and hotels and cabinstays and things like that.
(08:36):
We're still in the opportunityto explore and to connect and to
create lifelong memories.
So let's shift our mindset fromhard selling to relationship
building.
Be storytellers.
Not just advertisers today istech spotlight.
We are going to be looking atnotebook LN.
(08:59):
This has been around for a bit.
It is a Google product, but thisis a really fascinating tool.
This, this changing how we canhandle research.
And analysis, and I just like toquickly break down what makes it
special and how it can help usin the travel and tourism
industry.
At its core, Notebook LM is likehaving a research assistant who
(09:24):
can read and understandeverything that you can feed it.
You can pipe in websites, youcan upload PDFs of research
reports, of campaign results.
Notebook All different types ofsource material that you can
provide here, and it helps makesense of the research.
So, we have folders full ofreports, surveys, market
(09:48):
research.
Well, you can upload these intoNotebook LN.
You can analyze it, and again,these can be Google Docs,
webpages, and instead ofspending hours reading through
everything, you can simply askit questions, and get some
really powerful insights.
Thanks.
A recent feature that wasreleased with Notebook LM and
(10:11):
really kind of reignited some ofthe conversations about this
really fascinating tool is thatyou can now create what they're
calling audio overviews.
And so let's say, for example,you uploaded a PDF of a research
report, it can give you apodcast style audio recording
(10:31):
that you can listen to and canpull out the highlights.
So, I personally find it reallyuseful for quickly learning
information by just being ableto listen to it.
But there's lots of other thingsthat you can do with this.
You can upload visitor surveys,tourism reports.
Competitive analysis, campaignresults, all these different
(10:54):
types of things.
You know, the information thatyou are uploading to notebook LM
is not training their languagemodel, but I still would
encourage you to err on the sideof safety here.
Do not upload any PII's.
Anything that has personalinformation in there, I would
(11:16):
strongly encourage you not toutilize those types of data.
But again, you can take yourcampaign results, upload them,
you can ask it questions, andhave conversations.
So it's really great foranalyzing campaign results.
Again, uploading those reports,you can ask it what worked well,
what could be improved.
(11:37):
It can also spot patterns andsuggest adjustments to the
campaigns.
Really interesting stuff.
Just have some conversationswith it and I think you'll see
what I'm talking about.
But Notebook LM isn't just aboutfinding information, it's about
making these connections.
So, it may notice that guestswho book certain activities tend
to stay longer.
(11:58):
Or that specific marketingmessages resonate better with
particular audience segments.
Think of this as a tool that canhelp you save time on research,
it can help you spot trends youmight miss, it can help you make
data driven decisions, and justreally, frankly, improve your
overall marketing strategies.
The key is to ask goodquestions, and instead of
(12:19):
getting lost, when you ask thegood questions, you can focus on
what matters.
Creating better experiences foryour guests, more effective
marketing campaigns, and more.
And again, I'm going toreiterate this, NotebookLM
doesn't replace your expertise,it simply enhances it.
It becomes an efficiency tool.
You still need to use yourindustry knowledge and
experience, but layer this toolon top of it, and it can help
(12:42):
you work smarter, make betterinformed decisions.
That's all for today's episode.
I hope that you found one smallpiece of information to help you
along your marketing journey.
If you have any questions, atopic that you'd like to hear
covered, or a great example oftravel and tourism marketing in
the wild, I'd love to hear fromyou.
Just drop me an email.
(13:02):
TTI at DigitalRelativity.
com.
That's TTI at DigitalRelativity.
com.
Or you can text 209 300 5017.
That's 209 300 5017.
Or message me on x at patstraighter I'm your host pat
straighter signing off and Iinvite you to subscribe wherever
(13:26):
you get your podcasts And joinus next time as we continue to
explore the future travel andtourism market
Hello, and welcome to Traditional Tourism Insights, a
podcast by Digital Relativity.
I'm your host, Pat Strader,founder and CEO of Digital
Relativity, with 25 years ofexperience in travel and tourism
marketing.
I invite you to join me eachepisode for a quick look at
industry trends, research,emerging technologies, and more.
And real talk on what works,what doesn't, and why.
(00:37):
Grab a coffee, a beer, or acocktail.
There is no judgment here.
Let's have some fun with anhonest and irreverent look into
the nitty gritty of travel andtourism marketing.
I've been spending a little bitof time going over a recently
published strategy report fromWARC.
This surveyed a thousand globalstrategists, and what it reveals
(01:00):
about our industry is a littleeye opening.
Get this, you guys.
22 percent feel that they do notunderstand how to evaluate
creative ideas effectively.
For measuring campaigneffectiveness, that number is at
29 percent that feel that theycan accurately evaluate.
(01:22):
Results of the campaign.
This disconnect isn't just astatistic.
It reveals real marketingdollars that aren't working as
hard as they should be, frankly.
And it really concerns mebecause I know how hard you work
to promote your destinations,your experiences, your services.
And when there's a gap betweenstrategy and understanding.
We risk campaigns that don'tdeliver the results that you
(01:45):
need and expect.
And today's competitive travelmarket, we just simply can't
afford that type ofinefficiency.
So part of the problem lies inhow the travel and tourism
industry approaches strategy,quite honestly.
We have digital strategists, wehave content strategists, we
have experiential strategies,and all these different
(02:07):
specialized pieces.
But as noted in this report,we're creating jigsaw pieces
without really seeing the bigpicture of how they all fit
together.
This fragmentation makes itharder to achieve goals.
often leads to disconnectedcampaigns and potentially
confuses your visitors.
Mark Ritson is a noted marketingexpert and emphasizes that
(02:30):
successful marketing starts withunderstanding the consumer.
Not just surface leveldemographics, but really
understanding what makestravelers choose one
destination, one experience overanother.
And when we get vague insightsabout travelers, the kinds that
you could Literally apply toanyone.
That's when things start to geta little sideways.
(02:52):
One of the things that I thinkis important to note is that we
need to look beyond our screens,if you will, just to really
truly understand what motivatestravel decisions.
So having conversations withvisitors, just really paying
attention to these insights thatcan help us create messages that
actually resonate with yourtarget audience.
(03:12):
Yes, AI and new technologies arechanging everything in
marketing, but here's whatmatters.
While AI can help analyze data,automate tasks, it cannot
replace the human understandingthat makes travel marketing
work.
You cannot fully grasp whypeople connect with certain
destinations or what makes themshare their experiences with
(03:33):
others.
And in fact, as technologyadvances, these human insights
become even more valuable.
Trust your instincts, rely onthe data, trust your instincts.
And what I'm seeing is aconcerning trend in our
industry.
And, and that is, you know, whenbudgets get tight, it's really
tempting to focus on quick wins.
While our goals are to put headsin beds, if you will, book
(03:56):
tours, et cetera.
It's really about creatingexperiences that turn those
first time visitors intoadvocates who will come back
year after year, bring otherswith them, and tell people about
their experience.
So, just keep in mind that yourpotential visitors aren't just
looking for a place to stay orthings to do, they're looking
(04:18):
for experiences that meansomething to them.
They want to discover placesthat they can connect with
others.
And share these experiences.
And when our marketingstrategies tap into these deeper
motivations, that's when we seereally impressive results.
Higher booking rates, longerstays, more word of mouth
recommendations.
(04:39):
And the key is to find thatbalance between immediate
results and long term success.
It's all about creating thosecampaigns that don't just drive
bookings, that's ultimately aprimary goal, but they build
lasting connections withtravelers.
Because in travel and tourism,these human connections, these
memorable moments, That's whatbrings people back.
(05:00):
So let's start a conversationabout how we can bridge these
gaps with marketing strategy.
How can we create campaigns thattruly resonate with target
travelers, deliver measurableresults.
And because when strategy works,everybody wins.
Your organization, yourcommunity, and more importantly,
your visitors.
(05:20):
The travel and tourism industryand how we market is changing
rapidly.
We've talked about this, youknow, and we all see it every
day.
And I came across a recentreport from Forrester that has
some really great information tostay ahead of the curve here and
to help us understand howyounger generations like Gen Z
and Millennials are interactingwith our ads.
(05:43):
These digital natives, theyspend hours each week scrolling
through their feeds.
Where sponsored content, itblends seamlessly with organic
posts.
And this presents a challengeand an opportunity.
And the challenge is this.
While younger audiences are moretolerant of ads that are
integrated into their feeds,According to this study from
(06:04):
Forrester, only 22 percent ofGen Z and Millennials trust
social media ads.
I don't think that that'sshocking news to anybody.
Uh, but as a result, they'vebecome expert ad blockers.
They tune out anything thatfeels inauthentic to them.
So where's the opportunity?
Influencer marketing! Everybodyloves talking about this, right?
(06:25):
But influencer marketing is, isan incredibly powerful tool to
reach These younger audiences,they trust recommendations from
their favorite creators.
Almost half of the youngerconsumers pay attention to
sponsored influencer content.
Interesting, right?
That's more than double the rateof olds like me.
(06:46):
But here's the key.
Authenticity is paramount tothis.
Work with influencers whogenuinely align with your brand.
Resonate with your audience.
Ditch the generic ad reads.
And create content that feelsreal, relatable, and engaging.
I've been using Duolingo as anexample quite a bit in some
(07:06):
other talks that I've beengiving, but You know, with
Duolingo's TikTok, I mean,they've really just mailed it
with their meme worthy.
They're using humor, some reallyinteresting examples there and
beyond influencer marketing,authenticity needs to be woven
into every aspect.
Of your overarching strategy.
So show the real side of travel,embrace the UGC, the user
(07:29):
generated content that everybodyloves so much and tell stories
that resonate with youraudience.
So here's some tips on how tomake this happen.
Embrace the UGC.
Encourage travelers to sharetheir experiences good and bad.
See lots of you doing thisalready.
Show the real side of travel.
Go beyond these picture perfect,pixel perfect as well as picture
(07:53):
perfect Instagram feeds andreally showcase the authentic
moments, the culturalopportunities.
Just show what it's really liketo visit.
Where you are.
Tell compelling stories, connectwith your audience on an
emotional level by sharingstories that resonate with them.
Earth shattering.
(08:13):
I know.
If you're using TikTok, beplayful and be creative.
And again, we're seeing somereally fun and innovative ways
that people are utilizing TikTokin the short form video format
with humor, relatablesituations, and even little
unexpected twists.
But remember, we're not justselling.
Flights and hotels and cabinstays and things like that.
(08:36):
We're still in the opportunityto explore and to connect and to
create lifelong memories.
So let's shift our mindset fromhard selling to relationship
building.
Be storytellers.
Not just advertisers today istech spotlight.
We are going to be looking atnotebook LN.
(08:59):
This has been around for a bit.
It is a Google product, but thisis a really fascinating tool.
This, this changing how we canhandle research.
And analysis, and I just like toquickly break down what makes it
special and how it can help usin the travel and tourism
industry.
At its core, Notebook LM is likehaving a research assistant who
(09:24):
can read and understandeverything that you can feed it.
You can pipe in websites, youcan upload PDFs of research
reports, of campaign results.
Notebook All different types ofsource material that you can
provide here, and it helps makesense of the research.
So, we have folders full ofreports, surveys, market
(09:48):
research.
Well, you can upload these intoNotebook LN.
You can analyze it, and again,these can be Google Docs,
webpages, and instead ofspending hours reading through
everything, you can simply askit questions, and get some
really powerful insights.
Thanks.
A recent feature that wasreleased with Notebook LM and
(10:11):
really kind of reignited some ofthe conversations about this
really fascinating tool is thatyou can now create what they're
calling audio overviews.
And so let's say, for example,you uploaded a PDF of a research
report, it can give you apodcast style audio recording
(10:31):
that you can listen to and canpull out the highlights.
So, I personally find it reallyuseful for quickly learning
information by just being ableto listen to it.
But there's lots of other thingsthat you can do with this.
You can upload visitor surveys,tourism reports.
Competitive analysis, campaignresults, all these different
(10:54):
types of things.
You know, the information thatyou are uploading to notebook LM
is not training their languagemodel, but I still would
encourage you to err on the sideof safety here.
Do not upload any PII's.
Anything that has personalinformation in there, I would
(11:16):
strongly encourage you not toutilize those types of data.
But again, you can take yourcampaign results, upload them,
you can ask it questions, andhave conversations.
So it's really great foranalyzing campaign results.
Again, uploading those reports,you can ask it what worked well,
what could be improved.
(11:37):
It can also spot patterns andsuggest adjustments to the
campaigns.
Really interesting stuff.
Just have some conversationswith it and I think you'll see
what I'm talking about.
But Notebook LM isn't just aboutfinding information, it's about
making these connections.
So, it may notice that guestswho book certain activities tend
to stay longer.
(11:58):
Or that specific marketingmessages resonate better with
particular audience segments.
Think of this as a tool that canhelp you save time on research,
it can help you spot trends youmight miss, it can help you make
data driven decisions, and justreally, frankly, improve your
overall marketing strategies.
The key is to ask goodquestions, and instead of
(12:19):
getting lost, when you ask thegood questions, you can focus on
what matters.
Creating better experiences foryour guests, more effective
marketing campaigns, and more.
And again, I'm going toreiterate this, NotebookLM
doesn't replace your expertise,it simply enhances it.
It becomes an efficiency tool.
You still need to use yourindustry knowledge and
experience, but layer this toolon top of it, and it can help
(12:42):
you work smarter, make betterinformed decisions.
That's all for today's episode.
I hope that you found one smallpiece of information to help you
along your marketing journey.
If you have any questions, atopic that you'd like to hear
covered, or a great example oftravel and tourism marketing in
the wild, I'd love to hear fromyou.
Just drop me an email.
(13:02):
TTI at DigitalRelativity.
com.
That's TTI at DigitalRelativity.
com.
Or you can text 209 300 5017.
That's 209 300 5017.
Or message me on x at patstraighter I'm your host pat
straighter signing off and Iinvite you to subscribe wherever
(13:26):
you get your podcasts And joinus next time as we continue to
explore the future travel andtourism market
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