Adventure tourists comprise a fair share of today's tourism industry. So you have the best possible effects, it is essential to know exactly what kind of travel branding to practise for adventure travel businesses.
In this article, we will take a closer look at exactly what adventure tourism is, and how to create a branding strategy for this kind of business. We'll also dive into some of the current trends, and see how they affect the branding that you need to practise in order to appeal to current audiences.
What is adventure tourism?
Adventure tourism, or adventure travel, refers to the part of the tourism sector that involves a certain amount of intentional risk. Adventure guides rate activities on a scale of one to ten, with various difficulty levels and elements of risk.
For instance, a gentle hike on a relatively safe mountainside might have a risk level of one, while a hot air balloon ride might have a rating of three. Bungee jumping might be closer to an eight while free-climbing a mountain would be a ten.
In short, adventure travel is travel built around any activities that have an element of risk.
Examples of adventure tourism
There are many different types of activities that interest adventure tourists, and it’s important to understand what qualifies when you’re preparing for this type of travel and tourism marketing.
Some examples of this type of tourism include the following:
- Cage diving with sharks
- Mountain climbing
- Hot air balloon rides
- Scuba diving
- Hikes through nature reserves with apex predators
- Skiing and snowboarding
There are many other examples as well, but these should help you understand the basics of adventure travel and tourism.
Why is branding important in tourism and adventure travel?
Travel branding is an essential part of the adventure tourism industry because it encompasses everything that your business stands for. It is what people will learn to associate with your business and, consequently, your products.
Establishing this kind of brand image early on is essential as it allows you to create a unique tone, voice, and personality for your business. Since many adventure tourists are also concerned about the sustainability of their holidays, it also gives you the chance to firmly establish values that your customers associate with you.
Benefits of good adventure travel branding
If your branding is excellent, you can rely on it to bring several advantages to your adventure tourism or travel business. Some of these include the following:
- It helps you to attract loyal customers, and keep them.
- It increases people’s ability to recognise your brand and increases overall brand awareness.
- It allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
- It enables you to charge premium prices.
- It helps you to build trust and credibility with your target audience.
Building an adventure tourism brand: Key elements
When you’re building the branding and overall marketing plan for your adventure travel company, there are some essential aspects to consider. Below, we’ll discuss some of the main factors to consider when building your brand and marketing strategy.
Target audience
With any marketing strategy or brand establishment process, identifying your target audience is essential. This will influence every other aspect of your brand choices.
For instance, if you’re looking at adventure tourists, a broad description that encompasses the majority of them would be:
- An average age of 18-35.
- Environmentally conscious travellers.
- Looking for new and unusual experiences.
- Interested in experiencing an adrenaline rush.
- Wanting to discover exciting new destinations.
- Desiring active experiences, rather than sedentary ones.
- Highly individualistic people who want a chance to be themselves.
Of course, this is a very broad overview, and your particular brand may focus on a particular segment of the adventure tourism trade. It’s essential to discover the factors that make your specific target audience unique so you can use them to construct your brand.
Brand name and logo
Establishing your brand starts as early as choosing a name and logo for your business. You need to choose something that will be memorable and reflects the personality of the brand.
Tagline
Your tagline should be something catchy and memorable that will be attractive to adventure tourists. Something like, “Your adventure, your way,” or “All of the thrills, none of the fear,” will represent the things that adventure tourists seek (adventure, thrills, safety, and individuality).
Brand values
With modern adventure travel audiences, brand values are an essential part of a strong brand identity. Ensure that your audience is aware of essential elements like:
- The steps you take to make your products more environmentally sensitive or sustainable.
- How you ensure that your customers remain safe throughout their adventure.
- What do you do to help your customers find their perfect adventure, rather than generalistic packages?
There are many others that may be relevant, but it depends largely on your specific target audience.
Brand personality
Every brand has a tone or personality, and you need to ensure that it matches that of your target audience. If you’re targeting serious business people who travel as a way to destress, then you might want to take a different tack than when you’re targeting students on a gap year, for instance.
The key is, once you find a brand personality that works you should stick to it. If your brand’s persona is more quirky, run with that. If it’s more earthy, targeting quiet people or dedicated professionals, keep that image alive. It’s easy to lose customer loyalty by deviating from what they’ve come to see as your personality.
Visual identity
You also need to establish a visual identity that reflects the other parts of your brand identity. You should have some default colours that are specific to your brand, and the same is true of fonts and imagery.
Remaining consistent in the broad strokes (there’s always wiggle room in some of the details) allows customers and potential customers to recognise your brand at a glance. This kind of brand awareness can be invaluable.
Building an adventure tourism brand: marketing techniques
Travel and tourism marketing, including adventure travel, relies heavily on leveraging an array of different marketing techniques. Let’s take a look at a few of the main ones.
- Incorporating compelling storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool that allows brands to connect with their audience on an emotional level. By sharing captivating narratives about destinations, experiences, and customer journeys, businesses can create a sense of adventure that inspires potential travellers to explore.
- Using high-quality visual content
Utilising stunning images and videos is essential for showcasing the allure of adventure travel. Visual content provides potential customers with a vivid glimpse of what awaits them, making experiences more enticing. Investing in professional photography and videography can significantly enhance marketing materials.
- Having an engaging social media presence
Social media platforms serve as invaluable tools for marketing in the adventure tourism sector. Brands can leverage these channels to share engaging content, interact with customers, and foster a community around their offerings. User-generated content, such as traveller photos and testimonials, adds authenticity and encourages engagement.
Pros and cons of different adventure travel marketing strategies
We realise that it can be difficult to understand which adventure tourism marketing options will work best for your business. To help you we’ve constructed this list showing both the advantages and disadvantages of the major options:
Storytelling:
- Pros: Creates emotional connections; enhances brand loyalty; encourages sharing.
- Cons: Requires creativity and time; may not resonate with all audiences.
Learn more about storytelling in tourism.
Visual content
- Pros: Captivates attention; showcases experiences effectively; boosts engagement.
- Cons: Can be costly to produce; requires high-quality equipment and expertise.
Social media marketing
- Pros: Wide reach; fosters community; allows for real-time engagement.
- Cons: Can be time-consuming; requires constant monitoring and content creation.
Email marketing
- Pros: Direct communication; cost-effective; measurable results.
- Cons: Can be perceived as spam; requires a well-maintained email list.
Building an adventure travel brand: tips for improving your marketing
Here are a few things you can do to help improve the effectiveness of your marketing techniques:
- Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your offerings apart from competitors, whether it's unique experiences, sustainability practices, or exceptional customer service.
- Consistency across channels: Ensure that your brand message, visuals, and tone are consistent across all marketing channels, including your website, social media, and promotional materials.
- Leverage partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses, influencers, and organisations to enhance your brand visibility and credibility.
- Utilise data analytics: Track and analyse customer behaviour and preferences to refine marketing strategies and improve targeting.
- Encourage customer reviews: Positive testimonials and reviews can significantly influence potential customers. Encourage satisfied travellers to share their experiences online.
- Focus on sustainability: Highlight eco-friendly practices and sustainable tourism initiatives, as many travellers prioritise responsible travel options.
- Offer personalisation: Tailor experiences to meet individual preferences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Stay current with trends: Keep abreast of industry trends and adapt marketing strategies accordingly to remain competitive.
Adventure travel branding: Top trends
When it comes to any type of branding, staying up to date on the current trends in the industry is essential. Here are a few of the top trends in the Adventure Travel industry for 2024, which may help you improve your branding.
Authentic experiences
One of the main things that many adventure tourists are concerned about is having authentic experiences. Therefore, to have the best possible branding you need to highlight the authenticity of both your brand and the experiences that you offer.
Sustainability and environmental sensitivity
Many of the people who indulge in adventure travel, also have an interest in ensuring that their activities don't have a negative impact on the environment. Historically, this hasn't always been the case.
For the first century or so after people climbed Mount Everest for the first time, it was known as the world's highest garbage dump. Today, adventure tourists and thrill seekers want to ensure that they have minimal impact on the environment.
If you want the best possible branding for your adventure travel company, you need to ensure that the branding reflects those values.
Digital awareness
Just because most adventure tourists like to visit places that are less high-tech, doesn't mean they don't want access to the modern world. Some of the adventure tourism places that are performing the best in modern climates offer access to things like free Wi-Fi and other forms of digitisation.
Accordingly, this is something that you should be trying to build into your brand reputation.
Customisation options
Whether you're in the adventure travel business, or another part of the tourism sector, travellers like to feel that they are in control of their travel arrangements. The best way to give them that is to offer them a lot of customisation options.
If they feel that they can tailor their travel package to meet their needs and preferences as an individual, you're likely to make more sales. Again, this is a quality worth highlighting in your branding. Taglines like, “Your adventure, your way,” can go a long way toward attracting individualistic thrill seekers.
Safety and risk mitigation
Adventure travel today has to deal with many rules and regulations. Besides that, many adventure tourists want to see you going above and beyond in terms of safety and risk mitigation.
They want the adrenaline rush of a potentially dangerous activity, but without the potential danger. Your adventure tourism business branding should highlight how safe and secure your products are.
Pursuit of the new
Another thing that many adventure tourists have in common is the desire to encounter new experiences and new places. If you can offer experiences that not many other places are offering, or add extra destinations to your list that aren’t as mainstream, this is definitely something you should be highlighting when building your brand persona.
Final thoughts
While adventure travel branding may seem incredibly complex, it’s much easier than it seems. The key is to identify and understand your audience.
As long as your brand is high-quality and reflects the values and desires of your target audience, branding for adventure tourism doesn’t have to be a difficult thing. It can be a simple process, when you work with experts in the field.
If you want to ensure that you’re building a strong brand identity for your adventure travel business, contact us. We’d love to help you create a travel brand that will thrive for generations to come.
