As you have probably read in our weekly updates, all Nordic countries have now lifted their travel advisories. This means that Nordic travelers can now again explore the world without need to quarantine or testing when returning back home, as long as they are vaccinated. This applies to 65% of the population in Sweden, 67% in Finland, 69% in Norway and 75% in Denmark.

As expected, this has caused an increased interest for travels among the Nordic consumers. Most of the tour operators and travel agencies report about record high booking numbers, while we see airlines (re)launching more and more routes.

Digital marketing is an ideal supplement to PR and sales campaigns as its an effective way to communicate directly to YOUR defined target audience. Further, it gives endless opportunities of tailoring your messaging and USP’s depending on 1) the type of traveler and its interests and preferences and 2) their current stage in the consumer journey.

We asked our Digital Marketing Manager Dennis Østergaard to share his best tips on what to keep in mind, if you want to reach the Nordic traveler through digital marketing:

1. People relate to people: No matter what type of ad you do, make sure to use images or videos showing people. Also, eye contact works well and catches the attention of the user immediately.
2. Sharp and precise: If you do image ads, make sure that it’s easy for the user to understand the message and what you’re trying to tell them. Keep the ad simple and without too much text.
3. Open strong and pace quickly: If you use video in your digital marketing, we know that a quick pace and a strong “open shot” (for example eye contact) works well. Preferably, the video shall have more than two different shots already within the first 5 seconds.
4. Use both audio and subtitles: Most users on YouTube watch videos with audio, while most Facebook users watch videos in the newsfeed without audio; but in Facebook Stories they prefer with Therefore, its important to use both audio and subtitles/text overlays, to meet both preferences.
5. Call to action: Make sure to clarify – and to communicate clearly – what you want the users to do after having seen your ad. Visit the website for more info? Book a trip? Sign up for the newsletter? The users should never be in doubt about this.
6. Tailor your messaging: Adjust your messaging depending on who you’re talking to. Are you targeting people who visited your website (retargeting audience) and thereby knows your brand already? Or are you talking to a consumer who might have never met your brand before and don’t know anything about your destination (prospecting audience)?
7. Make sure your brand is visible: The brand should be visible within the first five seconds in a video ad – this helps building brand awareness and makes it easier for the user to understand what they are watching.
8. Remember your logo: And adding to the above point: The user should never be in doubt about who is the sender of the ad. So make sure to include your name and logo!
9. The 80/20 rule: A great reminder is to let 80% of your content and your ads be branding focused – and 20% be focused on conversion and generating bookings/signups.

We hope this gave you some new insights and inspiration for upcoming campaigns in the Nordics.

If you have any questions or queries regarding digital marketing in the Nordic markets, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Psst… If you’d like to learn more about which segments and personas are most relevant for your destination, our traveler intelligence tool, Travellyze, holds 7 million data inputs which can be combined in endless ways – for destination profiling, traveler profiling and booking behavior.