Travel industry is booming once again after the pandemic years.
But have you noticed? While larger cities and destinations are grabbing attention on social media, they are leaving smaller towns and cities in their shadow.
Marketing for Small Destinations, A Growing Challenge
There is a vast disparity between large destinations like NYC, which are constantly featured on social media, and smaller destinations that struggle to capture the same spotlight. Let’s face it smaller destinations are often overlooked despite having rich history, natural beauty, and unique experiences to offer.
And that is exactly why startup, Map Your City, has created their platform: as the solution for small and medium-sized destinations to rise above the noise and make a big impact in the tourism industry.
The Social Media Challenge: Why Small Destinations Struggle to Stand Out
Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook have become powerful tools for destination marketing. Larger destinations have more resources and constant user-generated content, making it difficult for smaller destinations to break through.
And don’t underestimate the profound impact social media has on people’s travel destination choices: 67% of its users use Instagram to find inspiration for where to go next.
The Disparity
Large destinations simply dominate the social media landscape. For example, NYC has millions of posts with stunning skyline shots, while smaller, historic towns or hidden natural gems often get lost in the content shuffle, making it difficult for them to stand out. And that counts when over 40% of 1,000 millennials surveyed prioritised a destination’s “Instagrammability” a top driver.
The Struggle
The struggle is real. Let’s just highlight some of the challenges small destinations face: lack of resources, limited marketing budgets, and fewer influencers or visitors to organically promote their attractions.
That is why some have united forces in regional or national promotional efforts – but are they working? Research shows that NTO’s have failed to acknowledge that tourists are much more confident in making their own decisions, based on marketing information from their own trusted “closed friendship groups”, rather than relying on NTO’s.
Map Your City’s Solution: Empowering Small and Medium-Sized Destinations
Amplify Your Destination’s Unique Appeal
Map Your City allows small destinations to showcase their hidden gems, such as historic sites, local businesses, cultural attractions, and beautiful natural landscapes through interactive digital maps.
Destinations can visually highlight these spots with rich media (photos, videos) to engage and captivate potential visitors.
Engage Your Audience with Compelling Storytelling
– Small destinations can use Map Your City’s storytelling features to build a narrative around their location.
– This feature helps visitors discover more than just landmarks—they also get the stories, traditions, and culture that make a destination truly special.
Social Media Support for Smaller Destinations
– Map Your City integrates social sharing capabilities, making it easier for small towns and cities to amplify their reach on platforms where they are often underrepresented.
– Map Your City helps even the smallest destinations create shareable, visually appealing content that resonates with audiences.
Data-Driven Growth: Turning Insights Into Impact
Understand Your Visitors
Map Your City’s analytics features help destination marketing managers understand their audience better by providing insights into visitor behaviors, trends, and preferences.
Improve Marketing Strategies
Small destinations can optimize their marketing efforts by making data-driven decisions based on real-time analytics and feedback, which can guide future campaigns and initiatives.
Building Stronger Local Collaboration for Economic Growth
Community Collaboration
Map Your City encourages collaboration between local businesses, cultural institutions, and stakeholders. These collaborations foster a stronger community and ensure that local businesses also benefit from increased tourism.
Promote Local Experiences
This collaboration allows for bundled experiences—visitors can explore historic sites, dine at local restaurants, and enjoy nearby natural attractions, creating a more holistic travel experience.
Success Stories: Small Towns Making a Big Impact
Here’s a case study of how a small or medium-sized destination that leveraged Map Your City transformed their tourism marketing efforts. Providing a great example how the town’s visibility increased, how engagement grew, and how local businesses thrived.
Standing out
As a small, independent coffee shop, standing out among chain cafés and big-name brands can feel like a tough grind. But with Map Your City, we’ve discovered a way to let our coffee – and our community – speak for itself.
Using the platform, we’ve created a digital presence that goes beyond just being another spot on the map. Map Your City lets us share what makes our café special. The locally roasted beans, the cozy corner by the window where regulars linger, the art on the walls from local artists. And even our seasonal brews that reflect the flavors of our town. What’s more, our customers play a huge role in promoting us. They share their experiences, leave reviews, and tag us in their stories. Turning every cup of coffee into a shared moment that attracts new faces.
Supports Small Business
One of the things we love most about Map Your City is how it supports small businesses like ours. By connecting us with the wider community and other local spots, the platform helps visitors and locals discover a network of hidden gems. People aren’t just finding us because we’re a coffee shop. They’re finding us because we’re part of something bigger. A community of small, authentic businesses that represent the true essence of our town.
Thanks to Map Your City, we’ve been able to grow our loyal customer base and attract visitors who might have otherwise missed us. Their motto, ‘a lot of small is the new big,’ truly rings true here. Our little coffee shop is now on the map, and we’re brewing more than just coffee. We’re brewing connections, one cup at a time.
Jamie Cullen
Being small is our superpower
As a small-town destination marketer, finding ways to compete with the big-name destinations has always felt like an uphill battle. But with Map Your City, we discovered that being small is our superpower. Our town doesn’t need flashy campaigns or big budgets – we need authentic connection, and that’s exactly what Map Your City helps us do.
Community driven
With this platform, we’ve created a community-driven map that highlights the heart and soul of our destination: local cafés, hidden nature trails, quirky shops, and historic sites. What makes Map Your City stand out is how it empowers the people who know our town best – our residents, local business owners, and even the visitors themselves – to share their stories and experiences. This collective voice has given our town an authentic identity that no large-scale campaign could replicate.
Map Your City’s intuitive interface allowed us to seamlessly integrate user-generated content. By turning every recommendation into a personal invitation. Our map feels alive, growing with every new location, every story, every review. And our community feels more engaged than ever before. Tourists don’t just visit our town now – they connect with it.
Authentic
And in a world where big cities often drown out the smaller ones, this platform helps amplify what makes small destinations unique. For us, ‘a lot of small is the new big’ isn’t just a slogan. It’s a reality that Map Your City has brought to life. With their support, we’ve put our town on the map in a way that is authentic, sustainable, and community-focused. We’re not just a pin on the map anymore – we’re a destination with a heartbeat.
Rowan Adams
Find out more success stories in how Map Your City helps local business thrive.
The Future of Small Destination Marketing and a Call to Action
Looking ahead
Looking ahead, the future of destination marketing lies in leveraging technology to level the playing field for smaller towns and cities. Map Your City will continue to innovate and support small destinations in staying competitive in a crowded travel market.
A Call to Action
Smaller destinations have the potential to offer travelers incredible and unique experiences, but they need the right tools to stand out.
We encourage small and medium-sized destination marketing managers to explore Map Your City and see how it can help them make a big impact with minimal resources. Learn more about Map Your City, start your free trial or schedule a demo, or download their free Destination Marketing Software Buying Guide.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on more tools, tips, and success stories from other destinations using Map Your City.
Tell your stories beautifully – everywhere – with Map Your City.
Our mobile app, mapping & marketing tools will help you to connect with your community, engage with locals, businesses and visitors and tell your authentic stories everywhere.
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