Could a smart video strategy be your key to selling more trips? Tony Gnau believes it might be.

A former TV news reporter, founder of a video production company and author of the Amazon bestselling book “Lights, Camera, Impact,” Tony has spent his career using video to tell meaningful stories — and helping companies do the same. He joins this episode of the podcast to discuss travel organizations can use video to build trust, extend their brands and grow their sales.

Tony shares video storytelling techniques that every traveler can use. He also discusses the number-one issue making DIY videos seem unprofessional and shares a video sales funnel proved to turn viewers into buyers. Plus, we have news about a new fee tax in Mexico; a road tip about holiday season trips; and a Hot Minute about the increasing burden of taxation on tourists.

Podcast: Embed

Insights from Tony Gnau

Tony had lots of great insights on how travel professionals can capture better videos on the road. Here’s his top tip for DIY travel videos:

“The camera you have in your pocket is a fantastic video camera… [But] If you’re out in the field somewhere, leading a tour group, you’re in a travel environment, the sound on those cameras stinks. You can buy even just a $15-20 microphone that you can attach to your cell phone that will easily double the quality of the audio…. The #1 way to distinguish an amateur video from a professional video isn’t the video itself at all — it’s the audio. So the best way to improve your DIY video quality is to improve the audio.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Learn more about Tony Gnau at tonygnau.com.

Learn more about T60 Productions at t60productions.com.

Find Ashley Runyon’s tips for Christmas trips in Select Traveler magazine.

See our latest OnSite FAM opportunities and sign up for more trip announcements here.

Key Moments From This Episode

1:18 — Travel News: Mexico implements new cruise passenger fee

2:40 — Road Tip: Leaning into the holiday spirit on trips

6:39 — Five great familiarization tours coming in 2025

10:48 — Why so many corporate videos are awful

16:19 — The power of the video camera in your pocket

17:36 — The biggest problem with your videos is bad audio

22:10 — Why your travel videos should be all about storytelling

26:36 — Should you be on-camera in your travel videos?

32:14 — Making your “About Us” video stand out

35:11 — A video strategy for turning viewers into buyers

38:46 — How much does professional video production cost?

52:25 — Hot Minute: Are tourism taxes getting out of hand?

Watch the Full Interview

See the full interview with Tony, including content not in the regular episode, on our YouTube channel.

About the Podcast

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.

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