The Destinate Growth Pyramid: Brand and Marketing

Give people a reason to choose you

You can have a wonderful tourism experience, a team who genuinely care and customers who leave absolutely buzzing, but if the people you want to attract cannot understand why they should choose you, growing the business becomes a much harder job.

In the last article in the Destinate Growth Pyramid series, we looked at strong foundations, making sure your product, pricing, systems and delivery are ready to support growth. With those foundations in place, the next layer is Brand and Marketing, where you start helping the right people recognise your business, understand its appeal and feel confident enough to book.

For a small tourism operator, this can feel like another full-time job squeezed into the gaps between everything else. There is always another platform to consider, another person telling you to make more videos and another marketing opportunity that sounds promising, provided you have the time and budget.

Before adding anything else to your list, it pays to get clear on what you want people to know about you and whether your current marketing actually tells that story.

Start with why someone would choose your experience

One of the questions I often ask operators is, “Why would your ideal customer choose you?”

The first answer is usually something like great service, fantastic scenery or an unforgettable experience. Those things matter, but they are also claims that a lot of other tourism businesses can make.

The useful detail tends to come when we dig a little deeper. Perhaps your small

group size gives guests time to ask questions and connect with their guide, or your sheltered route lets less confident travellers enjoy an experience they might otherwise rule out. Perhaps you have access to somewhere they cannot visit independently, or your departure times fit neatly around the way families actually travel.

These details help someone picture themselves in the experience and decide whether it suits them.

Think about the questions people ask before booking, the reasons they give for choosing you and the things they mention afterwards. If guests consistently rave about the stories your guide tells, yet your website barely mentions the guiding, you may be overlooking one of your strongest selling points.

Get specific about who you want to attract

It is tempting to keep your marketing broad because you do not want to turn away potential customers. The trouble is that “something for everyone” gives you very little direction when deciding what to say, which photos to use or where to spend your money.

A couple looking for a private afternoon on the lake will have different priorities from a family trying to keep three children entertained, even if both could enjoy your product.

You can welcome different types of visitors while being deliberate about who a particular page, campaign or offer is aimed at. Start with the customer group you most want to grow, then think about what they are hoping to get out of their visit, what might make them hesitate and what information would help them decide.

For example, a family might need reassurance about minimum ages, toilet facilities and how much walking is involved. A couple celebrating an anniversary might want to know about privacy, comfort and whether you can make the occasion feel special.

Once you understand those priorities, your marketing becomes more useful because it answers the questions that matter to the person reading it.

Make sure your brand matches the experience

Your brand takes shape across all the encounters someone has with your business, from the first photo they see to the booking confirmation they receive and the welcome they get on arrival.

Your colours, logo and fonts help people recognise you, while your words and images build expectations about what spending time with you will feel like.

If your experience is warm, personal and full of local character, let that come through in your writing. If you offer a premium private experience, show the comfort, care and attention guests can expect. If adventure is your strength, help people understand the excitement alongside the practical information they need to feel ready.

It is also worth checking whether your marketing still reflects the business you run today. Businesses evolve, and websites have a habit of holding on to old photographs, outdated descriptions and offers that nobody has thought about for quite some time.

Ask someone who does not know your business well to look at your homepage and tell you what they think you offer, who it is for and why they would book. Their answer can be very revealing.

Help people move from interest to booking

A beautiful image might catch someone’s attention, but they usually need more information before committing their time and money.

Can they quickly find where you are, how long the experience takes, what is included, what it costs and how to book? Are you clear about anything they need to bring or consider? Do your photos show what guests will actually do, as well as the scenery around them?

Practical information is part of good marketing because it helps people feel confident about their decision. Clear directions, current availability and an easy booking process all support the story you are telling.

Reviews can help too, particularly when they describe something specific about the experience. A guest explaining how well their nervous child was looked after may be especially useful to another parent weighing up whether to book.

Follow the journey yourself, starting with a social post or listing and clicking through to your website. Check how easily you can find the experience being promoted and take the next step, especially on your phone.

Choose marketing you can keep doing well

Most owner operators have limited time, so every marketing commitment needs to earn its place.

Start with where your priority customers are likely to discover you and what helps them make a decision. Your website, visitor listings, email database and social channels may each have a role, but you will need to decide which deserve your attention first.

Give your content a purpose. One post might show what the experience feels like, another might answer a common question and another might share a guest’s perspective. Together, they should build a clearer picture of your business over time.

You also need a way to judge whether that effort is helping. Look at enquiries, booking sources and the questions customers ask, alongside the available website and booking data. Likes can tell you that something caught people’s attention, but you still need to understand whether you are attracting people who are likely to visit.

A practical place to start

Set aside half an hour and look at your marketing through the eyes of the customer you most want to attract.

Can they understand what makes your experience appealing? Can they see themselves enjoying it? Have you answered the questions that could stop them booking? Is the next step obvious?

Choose one improvement you can make this week, whether that is rewriting your opening paragraph, replacing an outdated photograph or making an important piece of booking information easier to find.

Small operators can make a big impact, and having a clear story gives your marketing effort a much better chance of helping the business grow.

In the next article, we will move up the Destinate Growth Pyramid to Distribution, looking at how you get your experience in front of customers through the right booking channels and partners.