Google: 'Next Practices' In Destination Marketing

In a Forbes article, contributor Andrew Levine reports on a recent presentation on destination marketing by Google staffers to DMO Visit California.

Highlights:

• More than 50% of Google searches are being done via smartphone.
• Travel-related searches on mobile devices increased by 50% in 2016.
• Marketing messages need to be timed according to where the user is in the search/book process.
• YouTube (owned by Google) reaches more people aged 18-49 than any other network or cable provider.
• Interest in travel-related videos has increased by about 60% since 2015.
• VR is about to become very important in travel.
• Technology advances now allow marketers to become "inventors" of new kinds of interactions with consumers.

Actionable:

• Design content that's optimized for mobile devices first, then adapt for desktop.
• Target search ads according to where users are in the search/book process; don't try immediately to close people who have just begun to research a trip, and don't distract people who are ready to book with extraneous details.
• Create videos, post them on YouTube, link to them from your owned content.
• Get knowledgeable about VR.
• Use available technologies that can give you an edge, but let marketers control the message and the targeting.

And go here for more on how Google Ads and SEO will up your tourism game.