In among the clever, not-so-clever, and frankly naff romance-themed emails in my inbox this Valentine’s morning, one particularly pleased the professional-me … an emailshot from my hairdresser Electric, who have put together this clever destination piece: Love Your Electric City. Using the concept of “5 beautiful salons in 5 glorious cities”, it builds their brand and subtly publicises the addition of their latest salon, in Liverpool. It uses a topical hook. And it shows off their insider credentials, recommending the cool places to go if you’re “Single”, on a “First Date” or with “The One” (great categories).
Now a question. How many hotels and other visitor-facing businesses put together this sort of imaginative destination content themselves? Very few indeed … despite it being a win-win situation for them. Going beyond the business’ own four walls is a great way to show personality, provide good customer care, give potential customers more reasons to visit, and offer visitors the inside track so many of them crave.
And it should help push you up the search engines too. Try typing “things to do in Brighton” into Google, and you’ll find one accommodation provider on the first page. The Twenty One has put together their own list of 50 Things to Do. It’s probably no coincidence to find that this switched-on B&B has won TripAdvisor’s “Travellers’ Choice” accolade for the last 3 years. Go figure.