When destinations try to say everything to everyone, they risk sounding like everyone else. Strong destination communications start with clarity about who you are, what you offer, and who you most want to reach.
There’s a certain point in almost every destination marketing conversation when the list starts getting longer.
There’s the food scene, of course. The arts and culture. The history. Outdoor recreation. Family attractions. Shopping. Nightlife. Events. Maybe wellness or luxury. And, increasingly, the promise of an “authentic” local experience.
None of it is necessarily wrong.
In fact, that’s what makes the problem so difficult.
Most destinations really do have good restaurants, interesting history, beautiful places, local culture and plenty of things to do.
But if all of those things are equally important, what are you actually asking people to remember?
The problem isn’t usually a lack of things to say.
It’s a lack of clarity about what you most need to say, to whom, and why they should care.
Sameness Is Often a Clarity Problem
Clarity and specificity sit underneath almost every good communication.
You need to know what you’re trying to accomplish. You need to understand who you’re talking to. And you need to know what you’re offering them.
Without those things, communication gets convoluted.
Destination marketing is no different.
When a destination isn’t completely clear about what distinguishes it, who is most likely to care about that distinction, and what it wants to be known for, it becomes very easy to fall back on the things that are broadly appealing.
Great food.
Beautiful scenery.
Outdoor adventure.
Vibrant culture.
Rich history.
Something for everyone.
All of those things may be true.
They’re also true of an extraordinary number of places.
And the less specific the message becomes, the more likely it is to disappear into everything around it.
Flip through a travel magazine or scroll through your social media feed and you can see the visual version of the same problem.
A beautiful coastline photographed from above.
A cobblestone street.
A table crowded with local food.
A couple drinking wine at sunset.
A hiker looking out over a spectacular landscape.
You’ve seen these images before. Heck, you’ve even seen them in our blog posts before.
The images are beautiful. The destinations probably are, too.
But cover up the logo or caption and ask yourself: Could you tell where you were looking at?
That’s the sameness trap.
It isn’t necessarily bad marketing. Much of it is polished, professional and aspirational.
It’s just remarkably easy to confuse with everything around it.
The Fear of Leaving Something Out
There’s a reason destinations end up here.
Destination marketers have an unusually complicated constituency.
Hotels want visibility.
Attractions want visibility.
Restaurants want visibility.
Arts organizations want visibility.
Outdoor recreation providers want visibility.
Event organizers want visibility.
And the destination itself may genuinely want to welcome families, couples, solo travelers, luxury travelers, budget travelers, food lovers, history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts.
So the temptation is to make the message broad enough to include all of them.
“Something for everyone” can feel like the safest possible positioning.
But there’s a difference between having something for everyone and needing to market everything to everyone.
That distinction matters.
A destination’s story does not have to encompass everything someone can experience once they arrive. Its job is to give the right person a compelling reason to become interested in the first place.
The strongest destination narratives act like a doorway.
You don’t have to show travelers the entire house to convince them to walk inside.
Being Specific Means Leaving Someone Out
This is where positioning gets uncomfortable.
If your message is genuinely specific, some people will hear it and think: That sounds exactly like the kind of place I want to visit.
Others may think: That’s probably not for me.
Good.
Not every message should resonate with every traveler.
Trying to eliminate that second reaction often eliminates the first one, too.
The goal isn’t to make the destination itself less inclusive. It’s to make the communication more precise.
A destination can contain multitudes while still choosing which story to tell, to which audience, at which moment.
That choice is what creates relevance.
Because people rarely become interested in places because they’ve been presented with a comprehensive inventory of everything available there.
Something catches their attention.
A story sparks curiosity.
An experience feels made for them.
A place suddenly seems different from somewhere else.
Specificity gives people something to grab onto.
Visibility Can’t Fix Confusion
This is where budget enters the conversation.
Many destinations understandably look at competitors with larger advertising buys, bigger staffs and greater name recognition and assume their primary disadvantage is visibility.
Sometimes it is.
But visibility isn’t particularly valuable if what people see is interchangeable.
More impressions cannot solve an unclear proposition.
More media coverage cannot solve an unclear story.
More social content cannot solve an unclear identity.
In fact, additional exposure can simply amplify the confusion.
Before asking how to reach more people, it’s worth asking whether the people you reach will understand what you want them to know.
That requires harder questions.
What do we want to be known for?
Who are we most trying to reach?
What can we credibly say that another destination cannot?
What part of this place would make that particular person stop scrolling, keep reading, click, save, share or start imagining a trip?
And perhaps the hardest question:
What are we willing not to say?
Because clarity requires editing.
You Don’t Need Everyone to Care
There’s an understandable fear in choosing a more specific story.
What if it doesn’t appeal to everyone?
It won’t.
And it shouldn’t.
A clear message gives the right audience a way to recognize themselves in what you’re offering. A vague one asks everyone to find something relevant somewhere inside it.
Those are very different propositions.
The challenge for destination marketers, then, isn’t simply figuring out how to say more, reach more people or secure more visibility.
It’s getting clear enough about who you are, what you offer and who you’re talking to that you can afford to say less.
Because the opposite of blandness isn’t cleverness.
It’s clarity.
Ready to Get Clear on What Sets Your Destination Apart? Strong communications start with knowing who you are, who you want to reach, and what you want them to remember. Contact us today to build a PR and communications strategy that sharpens your positioning, identifies the stories only you can tell, and gives the right audiences a reason to pay attention.
