Tips to Nailing Destination Marketing
If it’s meant to be it’s up to us and that is how I penned the term the #WePhilosophy when it comes to destination marketing and appeal! The premise of the #WePhilosophy is that for your region to be successful at building awareness, interest and conversion it is up to every tourism operator also taking the responsibility of showcasing all the benefits and reasons about the destination FIRST then about you and the experience.
Taking a #WePhilosophy approach is powerful in encouraging you to propel your business forward as a destination ambassador. The #WePhilosophy starts with your website. So many tourism websites assume the visitor is familiar with your region and if they can not find exactly where you are and what else they can do around you when landing on your site it is a disservice to your visitor and your destination.
Six key benefits of taking a #WePhilosophy mindset for your business:
- Display leadership by becoming a key ambassador of your destination
- Opportunity to acknowledge and connect to the country
- Help the visitor develop greater reasons to visit your destination and in turn your business over others
- Give your website incredible search engine optimisation power and domain authority
- Become an extension of your state, regional and local destination marketing team giving you incredible networking and relationship building opportunities
- Opens the doors to create smart collaborations, packages and develop new experiences
In summary, the power of ‘we’ far outweighs the power of ‘me’ and what can be achieved as a collective. A quote I always love to share when I teach the benefits of a #WePhilosophy is ‘if we want to go fast go alone if we want to go far go together’ and I want nothing but for every city, region and rural destination in Australia to tell a bigger story about not only why you do what you do, how you do it and what you do but where you are and bigger reasons why a visitor should experience your patch.
ACTION: Audit your digital assets. Your website, your Instagram bio, your Facebook and any other network bios and about sections. Is it clear what state you are in, let alone what region you operate in? Add destination marketing love to your assets and share regular destination love with the content you share.
Building a things-to-do page AI will actually use
Travellers ask AI to plan trips: “what is there to do near [your town]”. Be realistic about the broad version of that question. For “things to do in [region]”, assistants lean heavily on the big aggregators: TripAdvisor, your destination marketing organisation, and the online travel agents. Our own visibility testing saw AI cite TripAdvisor and Expedia for exactly that kind of question.
So this page is not a shortcut to being the region’s cited authority. Where it earns its keep is the long tail and the guest already in front of you. It turns up for the narrower “things to do near [your specific location]” searches, and it keeps a guest who is already on your site planning their stay around you.
Make it a real guide, not a listicle
Make the page genuinely useful: your own photos, real descriptions in your own words, and links to the websites of at least six to eight local businesses or attractions. Write from first-hand knowledge, the walk you send guests on, the bakery you rate and why. Do not paste in a generic AI-written “top 10”, which reads like every other page and adds nothing for a guest or for search. Group your picks by type (eat, see, do) so it reads as a friendly local’s guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a things-to-do page make AI recommend my region through me?
For broad “things to do in [region]” questions, probably not. Assistants lean on the big aggregators and your regional tourism body for those. Your page wins the narrower “near [your location]” searches and keeps a guest already on your site planning around you.
How many places should I link to?
At least six to eight local businesses or attractions, each with a real link to their website. Add your regional and industry association sites too. A handful of genuine, linked recommendations beats a long unlinked list.
Can I use AI to write the page for me?
Use it to draft, but not to publish as-is. A generic “top 10” reads like every other page and helps no one. Add your own photos, your own reasons, and the specific detail only a local knows.
What should each recommendation include?
A short paragraph on what it is and why you rate it, a photo, and a working link to that business. Group them by type so the page reads as a real guide rather than a list of links.
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