Unlike other types of content, images have a powerful impact on the human brain. They cause conscious and unconscious reactions that can evoke emotions and establish a deeper connection with the user.
As a result, images can be a powerful tool for selling tours and activities online.
Learn how to create perfect images and use them to boost sales and build trust in your brand.
Ready? Let’s go!
Why images are super important
Images are valued assets in the modern era and can massively help your business attain success in many ways. Let’s look at what makes them so important.
Brands are going digital
Most tour and activity companies are actively working on their online presence. So using a unique approach to visuals is a great way to differentiate your business from the competition.
What is more, images can introduce your brand and help you create a great first impression to potential customers. They can make you recognizable and help you reach more people from your target audience.
Improve digital content delivery
Due to the overwhelming amount of digital content and increased use of mobile devices, attention spans have become shorter than ever. Competition is fierce and users are not engaging with static lines of text as they used to 10 years ago.
So using images is a great way to break up textual content and also communicate an idea without using words. They allow you to deliver content in a more interactive and appealing way that also helps retain attention. According to marketer Jeff Bullas, articles with images get 94% more total views. What’s more, he finds that 60% of consumers are more likely to consider or contact a business when an image shows up in local search results.
Powerful impact on sales and marketing
Since images can easily communicate messages about your brand, as well as offerings and services, they can boost your sales and overall online performance.
A great image will surely increase the engagement with your marketing campaigns. Depending on the channel you’re using, you can observe various positive outcomes.
For example, eye-catching imagery shared on social media can increase your followers and website traffic. If you decide to invest some budget in paid social and search ads, you are likely to take things to the next level and sell more tours or activities through your website.
Create a brand personality
Achieving consistency in visual style is key to establishing and growing your company online. That is why every design element is crucial for your brand strategy.
Along with colors and fonts, imagery plays a crucial role in building your brand identity. It can help you build awareness and connections with customers through visual storytelling.
So images deserve as much attention as any other aspect of your branding if not more!
How to create the perfect images for your tour or activity
Your brand imagery includes anything from social media graphics to user-generated and/or own photography. But what is that you need to make it stand out?
All it takes is a little know-how and experience. Here are our tips for great images:
Consistency
First and foremost, you need to stay true to your unique approach and style. Find out what works for your brand and stick to it. This will help you become recognizable and stand out from the competition.
Brand guidelines
Following the previous point, brand guidelines will set the framework you need to achieve consistency. They are extremely helpful when it comes to social media graphics and print marketing materials because they define the way key brand elements are used. This also saves content creators and designers valuable time.
Explore even more reasons why your brand needs a style guide and what needs to be included in it.
User-generated images
Consumer-generated content is probably the most authentic and influential type of content when it comes to the travel industry. You will mainly receive it in the form of social media tags or photo reviews. If the content is created by an experienced influencer, you will have a quality asset to add to your image library!
So make sure to make the most of it and utilize it in your marketing campaigns. You can repost UGC on your social media and stories. Perhaps feature it in your artworks for digital and print. Remember to always request permission from the creator just in case.
And the best part of it. Since user-generated content is created by your clients it also acts as a free review of your business or services.
There are many ways to encourage customers to create content for your tour and activity business. Among them are hosting contests and creating hashtags unique to your company. Learn are some other effective ways to facilitate more UGC.
Learn photography basics
Although you might receive some outstanding photographs created by your clients, you also need to know how to produce good quality images yourself.
Photography of people enjoying your activities or tours is a great start.
Surveys show that when it comes to photos of people wide shots are preferred to closeups. 72% of the best selling stock images are wide shots compared to 12% close-ups and 16% mid-shots.
If you want to go for nature or landscape photography, remember to use the rule of thirds for best composition.
The rule of thirds in action – imagine the frame is divided into 9 equal parts and use this as a guide when taking your shot.
Equipment
To create outstanding photos it is not enough to just follow the right techniques. You also need to use the right equipment for the best results. Most modern smartphones are supplied with very good cameras that can serve your needs perfectly.
Depending on the setting you are taking pictures of you might also need additional lighting and a tripod to stabilize the camera. Additionally, using editing software can be extremely helpful for achieving the desired final effect.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can sign up for a photography course or invest in a professional photographer to do the job.
Examples of great tourism images
We found some impressive Instagram accounts that regularly share great images of tours and activities. They will inspire truly awesome ideas so make sure to check them out!
Airbnb
Instagram: airbnb
Followers: 4.7m
Hashtags: #airbnb #airbnbsuperhost #airbnbhost #airbnbexperience
The Instagram account of Airbnb shares some fantastic places to inspire your next vacation. They feature both user-generated content provided by the host and some own photography done by professionals. Either way, the account stays true to its mission, namely to motivate people to travel and explore the unique spots and places to stay around the world.
They have another account – Airbnbexperiences – dedicated to the one of a kind experiences you can try through the Airbnb platform. It presents the various activities through some excellent images and graphics that you might want to recreate for your activity business too!
Abercrombie & Kent UK
Instagram: abercrombiekent
Followers: 60.5K
Hashtags: #aktravel
This luxury travel account shares some outstanding landscapes from around the world. They post some inspirational travel photography while promoting the holidays and places they can take you to. So if you own a tour business or organize luxury journeys, follow this account to inspire your social strategy and visual content.
Tour Eiffel
Instagram: toureiffelofficielle
Followers: 207K
Hashtags: #toureiffel
This is one of the accounts that don’t need introducing as everyone has come across it at some point. A celebration of UGC and at the same time a luxury catalog of the memorable moments and one of a kind experiences that one could have at the Eiffel Tower.
It once again proves that a single tour or experience can be presented in so many different ways. So whether you offer a canal cruise or tour around a historical landmark, there is so much visual content you can create around it. Just use your imagination and explore these amazing accounts for a pinch of inspiration.
9 free tools to create great images
In our list below you can find the best free tools to prepare eye-catching, memorable images. Let’s dive in.
Canva
Canva is one of the most well-known tools for non-designers to prepare and create stunning images. There are hundreds of templates which you can choose and customize for your business and free stock images you can use as well.
Infogram
Infogr.am is perfect if you want to create graphs, chart, and maps. Why not create a customized map showing your location or chart what shows customers booked your activity?
Pablo
Pablo is another great tool for creating engaging images for your social posts in just under 30 seconds. Try it, especially if your business has an Instagram account.
Picmonkey
Picmonkey is one of the simplest online photo editors. There are several free filters you can play around with and create visuals for Facebook i.e.
Befunky
Befunky helps you to edit and design your photos and also make collages for albums. The tool is easy to manage and used by millions of people daily for their social posts.
Quotes Cover
Quotes Cover lets you prepare inspiring quotes for your social media accounts. Especially Pinterest is all about quotes.
Piktochart
Piktochart claims that it is the easiest tool to create social media infographics with just a few steps. There are hundreds of free templates to choose from and an easy to use interface.
Venngage
Venngage is the go-to tool for creating easy designs. It offers several user-friendly themes and icons to choose from.
DesignWizard
DesignWizard lets you create beautiful images quickly and easily. It’s a great alternative to Canva (above) and all of its features are available in the free version. With over 17,000 templates (10,000 free) and 1.2 million images in their database, you’re sure to find some great ideas for viral images.
Conclusion
Think of your perfect customer and what would impress them the most? Answering this question will help you adopt the right approach to using images for your tour or activities business.
Whether you are targeting local or international travelers, understanding what can influence their decision to choose you over a competitor will make a big difference.
Since images are proving to be among the most powerful tools for increasing sales, it is definitely worth the effort!
You might also like:
- An Introduction to SEO for Tours and Activities
- A Simple Guide to Google Analytics for Tours & Activities
- 7 Email Marketing Tips to Grow Your Tour and Activity Business
- The Keys to Effective Video Marketing for Activity Providers
