The one and only

If your marketing budget is tiny (I don’t know any tourism businesses with a big budget!), it’s easier to stand out from the competition if you focus on being different or special in some way.

How about being so special and different, you’re the ‘one and only'? 

It’s easier than you might think.

You can choose a ‘category’ and be the king/queen of that category. Here’s how. It works equally well no matter what type of tourism business you run. 

Let’s say you run a self-catering holiday cottage. There may be lots of them within a reasonable distance from yours.

If your building is bigger, older, newer, smarter, quirkier than the others, you can say so. Maybe it has something else that sets it apart such as a large garden or its history.

What if your business feels less remarkable? 

What if your cottage is of average size, similar age to others, in a less remarkable setting?

This is where becoming the ‘one and only’ is important. You can stand out by either combining selling points or by adding them.

For example:

The only holiday cottage in Masham with a riverside view

Maybe there are others that could make the same claim? If they’re not actually saying it but you are, then you already stand out.

But perhaps you need to go further? There are lots of ways of doing this. One is to add something that’s hard to argue with, because it’s a little subjective.

For example:

Masham’s cosiest cottage with a riverside view

If you use something like this, it’s essential to have photos showing the open fire and riverside view. Be specific, and give evidence. 

Or perhaps another example:

Masham’s cosiest cottage with an open fire in the lounge and riverside view

Or maybe you need to become even more specific? 

Another example: 

Masham’s cosiest cottage with an open fire, riverside view and 3 pubs within 5 minutes’ walk.

The advantage of using descriptions like this is that many people use ‘long tail’ key word phrases to search e.g. ‘Cottages in Masham with fire, near pubs with good food’ so you’ll rank higher on search engines for those words.

Of course others might either copy the description or have a similar claim.

In that case, you can add something inside the cottage that is simple but stand-out, and that you can tell people about. It could be a collection of quirky teapots, a great selection of novels in a mini library – anything that feels right for you.

So the example becomes: 

Masham’s cosiest cottage with an open fire, riverside view, 3 pubs within 5 minutes’ walk and some of the quirkiest teapots you’ve ever seen.

Adding some intrigue works really well – people will want to see those teapots.

This approach works well for activity providers too. You can talk about yourself, your location, and the activities you provide. 

Don’t be afraid of making a bold claim, so long as you believe it to be true. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will challenge it. If they do, you can disagree, adapt it or show why you think you’re right. 

Don’t be afraid of experimenting. You can try different phrases and angles, use them in social media posts and experiment until you find the ones that get the best reaction.