Video is no longer just about entertainment. It’s fast becoming an essential part of the marketing toolkit that brands and businesses use to talk to their customers.

But it’s a scary prospect for many. If you’ve been avoiding including video in your marketing mix, you need to ask yourself why?

Below are the top excuses tour operators use for not exploring video, and some reasons why you should reconsider your position.

1) Too much to tell

Often there is a lot of information we need to share with our customers in order to explain exactly what we offer and why they should choose us. Traditionally we chunk this information down into small digestible pieces of text and imagery shared across web pages, ads, and (to a lesser extent) social media posts, so our customers aren’t overloaded with too much content.

But have you thought of it like this? A picture tells a thousand words. A one minute video can communicate 1.8 million words! That’s the equivalent of 3,600 web pages.

By combining pictures and words you can communicate a lot more information to your customers quickly. With the time poor culture we currently live in, offering your customers an alternative way to learn everything they need, as quickly as possible, puts you a long way ahead of the curve and sets you apart from competitors.

2) Don’t know where to start

When you’re a small business, or an owner/operator, you obviously know your business inside out. But sometimes it can be hard to tell the forest from the trees. How do you distil the best of the best for a video? You need a producer who understands your business and can help identify the most compelling pieces to include.

If your background isn’t in the creative space it naturally seems daunting. By partnering with the right company who has a proven track record creating content that resonates with your target market you’ll do well. With experience under their belt, they’ll know exactly what it takes to create a video that works, and deliver it efficiently, effectively and on budget.

3) Too disruptive

Time is precious – and time is money. Many tour and activity operators shy away from video because they think it will take too much time away from serving customers; be disruptive to paying customers (and cause them delays or closure for a large scale production); be hugely inconvenient or uncontrollable with large crews involved; and in general, just be something that’s way out of their league.

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Find a nimble production company who has experience in the tour and activity space and understands how to work with your environment and activities (indoor/outdoor, highlight/lowlight, fast action/slow motion, panoramic/close-up etc). With a low footprint, small crew and personalized service, you’ll cut down on a lot of the extra padding that gives video production such a bad rep. You’ll be surprised by how much can be achieved with a small team.

4) Expensive

Yes, it could cost you up to $15,000 to get a two minute video created for your business by a production company. Getting a return on that kind of investment is difficult to track and can also potentially take 6 months to a year. It’s no wonder people shy away.

But it could also cost you significantly less. By using the right people, the right equipment and knowing your audience, it doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive. It can be cheaper than ads, direct mail, online marketing, and done right it can be one of the most cost effective marketing tools you will ever use.

If you know your audience, you have a greater opportunity to create content they will appreciate and want to engage with. Use a small production house who specialises in your segment of the tourism  market and you’ll be much better off.

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