How to Distinguish Your Tour Brand

Tourism by nature is wrapped up in an identity. Whatever geographic or man-made feature you use to attract customers, there’s already a story and culture at play. You tap into this as you develop your tour brand. However, as closely as tourism may be tied to other stories that impact your brand, you can still distinguish your organization with an effective approach to data and storytelling.

Distinguishing your tour brand is essential in building a broader audience and cultivating greater success. Because of this, tourism organizations are increasingly using the power of data and narratives to maximize the potential of these efforts to great results. With these tips and tricks, you too can better promote tourism in memorable and exciting ways.

Start by exploring the industry to determine what your competitors are offering and how they’re defining their brands. From here, data and stories will help you distinguish a desirable one-of-a-kind experience.

Find out what your competitors are offering

The first step in any successful branding campaign will be to examine what type of experiences competitors are offering. This could include the places they visit, the attitude of the staff, and especially the price of these services. To distinguish your tour brand, you will need to evaluate the successes and failures of others in the market and learn where you can fill gaps and do things better.

First off, find out what others in the local tourism circuit are offering. What are their services? What locations do they visit? What is the tone of their messaging and the culture of their company?

All these factors and more inform waiting opportunities in the tourism industry. From here, you can leverage broader market data for niche marketing, search engine optimization wins, and a more impactful digital presence.

Don’t forget the role of digital visibility as you develop your brand. Seventy-two percent of adults use some form of social media, and your online presence will shape a big part of your brand identity as a result. Explore the experiences your competitors are offering on social media. Through quality data research, you can ensure that you’re pulling accurate and actionable business insights from competitor analysis.

Conduct quality data research

The amount of data generated on the internet these days is staggering. Around 64.2 zettabytes of data have been created worldwide, a number that invites analysis paralysis due to its sheer scale. In the torrent of data available to you, how do you conduct quality research that will help you distinguish your brand successfully without falling into a rabbit hole?

There are two major ways you can go about data research while guaranteeing quality. With qualitative and quantitative data, you bring valuable insight into the research process that can help you elevate your branding decisions. Most market research consists of a combination of these research methods.

Qualitative research is typically made up of interactions with real users. This includes everything from focus groups to in-depth interviews with clients. With this long-form, candid feedback, you get a better sense of public perception that can be invaluable when forming your brand.

Meanwhile, quantitative research is all about objective data. The metrics you track and analyze through your insights dashboards are examples of this information. With hard numbers, you can assess everything from online reviews to sales numbers. From here, it’s possible to determine the impacts of brand messaging through data analysis.

Determining the quality of your data, however, is a must for getting the process right. Evaluate the quality of the information you collect through measurements like:

• Ratio of data to errors.
• Number of empty values.
• Data transformation error rates.

With low error rates in comprehensive data packages, you can produce better quality research. In turn, this illustrates the kinds of experiences that tourists want. Since data gives the tools to understand customers like never before, use it to build a brand that invites return visitors.

Create real-world value

The best way to distinguish your brand from all the competition in your particular market is to create more real-world value for your visitors. Everyone wants an experience that leaves them with a sense of attainment. Whether this means a quality souvenir or a memorable and engaging tour, the value you produce for your visitors is your foundation for brand marketing.

To achieve greater real-world value and thus desirable experiences for guests, you’ll need consistent marketing that forms a cohesive identity and delivers on promises. There are all manner of ways to go about this. Here are just a few:

• Branded merchandise and memorabilia — items families will look on with nostalgia for generations.

• Conscientious business practices — such as supporting other local businesses, nonprofits, and social causes.

• Branded transportation — offering tour services and transportation all as an in-house, manageable experience.

These are all starting points for services that translate to real value for tourists. For example, charity proceeds can help someone have a guilt-free vacation and live in the moment. Meanwhile, a convenient transportation system can make an experience more seamless and stress-free for visitors.

Services translate to value but so do community partnerships. As you distinguish your brand through value creation, don’t forget to make important connections along the way.

Build a network of advocates and affiliates

One of the most important things you can do when building any business is to develop a network of advocates and affiliates who will support your brand and help cultivate a positive identity for your services. This could mean anything from local sponsorships to affiliate marketing with the help of TikTok influencers.

Establishing a greater presence online and in the media allows you to better get the word out about your services. Meanwhile, contributors can benefit too. Your vendors and sponsors gain greater visibility if they’re helping you cultivate successful branded tour experiences. From here, more potential partners will flock your way, seeking to contribute and benefit from your success.

However, these partnerships aren’t without their risks. A tour brand must be culturally aware and consistent in all its messaging to avoid miscommunications for a global audience. An affiliate campaign could also be at risk should an associated influencer get caught in misbehavior.

The short of it is that networks of advocates support a more memorable branding experience. Distinguish your tour brand with this series of tips and tricks.