# Travel Marketing: How to Compete and Future-Proof in 2026 | Chloe Osunsami | Whiteboard Friday 4k

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Moz
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPtIF6Ft5wc
- **Дата:** 10.04.2026
- **Длительность:** 7:01
- **Просмотры:** 218
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/50529

## Описание

The travel landscape is evolving rapidly with the adoption of AI-powered search. In this Whiteboard Friday, Chloe Osunsami, Head of Digital PR at Aira, explains how travel brands can compete and future-proof their marketing strategies for 2026.

Research shows that 84% of people globally plan to use AI when preparing for future trips, from choosing locations to creating personalized itineraries. To remain visible in these AI systems, brands must focus on securing authoritative brand mentions, which strongly correlate with AI visibility.

Access and download the HD whiteboard here: https://moz.com/blog/travel-marketing-digital-pr-whiteboard-friday

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Introduction: Competing in Travel Marketing in 2026
00:23 – The Impact of AI on Travel Search and Itineraries
00:45 – Why Brand Mentions Drive AI Visibility
01:03 – New Research on Digital PR and "AI Slop"
02:14 – Tactic 1: Personalized Stories for Target Audiences
03:00 – Tactic 2: 

## Транскрипт

### Introduction: Competing in Travel Marketing in 2026 []

Hi and welcome to this edition of Whiteboard Friday. I'm Chloe Oseni, head of digital PR at ERA. And today I'm going to talk to you about how to compete with your travel marketing in 2026 and make sure you're future proofing too. The travel landscape has evolved rapidly with the adoption of AI

### The Impact of AI on Travel Search and Itineraries [0:23]

powered search. 84% of people globally plan to use AI when preparing for future trips. And that's everything from choosing location and accommodation, looking at activities, and even full personalized itineraries. So, if travel brands really want to compete moving forward, they need to be appearing in these spaces. And that's why digital PR has come back into the spotlight. It's

### Why Brand Mentions Drive AI Visibility [0:45]

not just about links, although some studies have shown that traditional search performance correlates with visibility in AI. It's about brand mentions. Other studies show that brand mentions are one of the biggest correlating factors with visibility in AI and that is what digital PR can help

### New Research on Digital PR and "AI Slop" [1:03]

with. Due to all these changes at ERA, we conducted some brand new research into the state of digital PR and what's working right now and how to prepare for the landscape shifting and make sure you can get your brand covered. We surveyed senior digital PRs with plenty of hands-on experience and interviewed in-house travel marketers as well as travel journalists and editors. One of the key findings was that 81% expect digital PR to become even more critical over the next two to three years. But with all these changes come challenges. The 2025 word of the year was AI slop. And AI produced content is unlikely to be going anywhere because budgets are still restricted for some and AI produced content can be produced at speed helping to alleviate some of those problems. Alongside that, 57% of digital PRs that we interviewed said that they had seen an increase in demand for digital PR from travel brands over the past 12 months. So, it's already becoming more competitive in the landscape. So, how do you manage to stand out and land coverage in 2026?

### Tactic 1: Personalized Stories for Target Audiences [2:14]

2026? There are five key areas I'm going to take you through. The first one is personalized stories. It's always been really important to understand your target persona and your target audience and their wants, needs, and desires. But it's even more crucial this year, not just those things, but what they value as well as the real world and economic factors that are going to impact their travel plans. Alongside that, target audiences are wanting much more personalized itineraries and things that align with their hobbies and their passions. Journalists are already following this trend and if we don't do the same then we are going to miss out on coverage. They always have their readers front of mind and so we need to too. Next up

### Tactic 2: Human-First Narratives and Case Studies [3:00]

human first narratives. Human first narratives are what going to help set PR content apart from AI produced content because they cannot imitate that. How do we do that? Through adding behindthe-scenes insight, untold angles, or through using case studies. This is going to help really set us apart and journalists are already looking for this within their stories. Third is taking an

### Tactic 3: Taking an "Always On" Approach with Newsjacking [3:23]

always on approach. 95% of digital PRs that we surveyed use data creative campaigns to land coverage effectively. But on top of this, 71% are using newsjacking and reactive tactics to make sure that they can take this always on approach and maximize coverage opportunities. In fact, they said it's become even more important over the last 3 to 5 years to help them do so. And so, if you want to make sure you're landing consistently to increase brand mentions and help support AI visibility, this is going to be crucial. Going back to those

### Tactic 4: Utilizing Unique, Robust Data [3:58]

daysled stories, there is much more emphasis on ensuring that we have unique robust data um to set those stories apart. So once they gather interest, we can make sure that there are no questions on the validity of it and that we're not considered in any way to AI.

### Tactic 5: Tailored Outreach and Journalist Relationships [4:15]

Finally, tailored outreach and relationships. This is something that has always been key with PR, especially traditional PRs. We'll talk about this a lot. And among the journalists that we spoke to, they all highlighted how it's crucial for PRs to really understand the writers they're pitching to, their areas of interest and expertise, as well as their editorial styles. Alongside that, the journalists also said that they source their expert commentary from people within their network. They don't put call outs for them. So unless you have those relationships already, you probably won't land in those places. So tailoring your outreach is going to be crucial moving forward.

### Setting Realistic Expectations for PR Coverage [4:58]

So once you have all this, what do what can you expect when it comes to results? Now digital PR is a long-term play. It's not going to happen overnight to help increase your AI visibility. The digital PRs we spoke to said it's all about relevancy and quality over quantity, even though they're really hard to quantify. In fact, only 38% actually put a numerical value to relevancy. When it comes to individual campaigns, however, we're looking at roughly 0 to nine pieces of coverage for it to be considered success. And that was highlighted by roughly half of the digital PRs we spoke to. That was the biggest response to the question. However, over the last 12 months, most campaigns actually secured between 10 and 19 pieces of coverage. So, more than successful. Finally, if you take a tailored always on strategy, it's likely to increase visibility over time, but you can't expect that to happen in the short term. So, you need to be patient.

### Key Takeaways for Future-Proofing Your Brand [6:05]

So, with all that in mind, key takeaways from today are that the landscape is evolving rapidly. Brands need to be investing in their brand if they want to compete in future. And to do so, they need to make sure they are creating personalized stories for their target audience. They are really focusing in on those human first narratives to set themselves apart from AI produced content and they are taking a tailored approach to outreach and building rel relationships with the media. Finally, we just need to be patient over time. These results will help build visibility across traditional search and AI search too. So, we will link to the full report below so you can have a look if you'd like to. And I hope this was helpful.