In this world of mobiles and desktops, people take advantage of the convenience the advancements of technology offer. With a simple search and click, you can quickly find information about the best B2B SEO agency or tours and travel agency in your local area.
With a competitive and dynamic industry like tourism, marketing your travel agency that offers a range of services, like private tours in Toronto, can be challenging. But as long as you adopt the right digital marketing scheme, you can keep up with the online competition in this fast-evolving marketplace. Also, remember that your marketing skills and efforts in deploying your business will play vital roles in influencing people to choose your services.
A digital marketing scheme involves an assessment of specific goals that are achievable through online channels. When you do it effectively, your travel agency will see an uptake in traffic, leads, and everything required for growth.
We understand that travel agency marketing schemes can be pretty daunting, especially now that the industry has just recovered from the unfavourable effects of the pandemic. This article discusses excellent and achievable tips to help you design an effective digital marketing strategy to expand your brand and connect with your target audience. Read the article to find out more:
Identify Your Target Audience and Competitors
Before you create a marketing campaign, you must gather information about your competitors and customers. This means you must know who you’re marketing to and competing against. Use this information to collect qualitative or quantitative data using focus groups, online reviews, interviews and surveys.
Once you have gathered enough data, you can analyze, review, and integrate them into your marketing strategy.
Set Up a Fast-Speed and User-Friendly Website
Your website is often the 1st point of contact with potential customers and also an avenue where they can book tours and activities. It must be attractive, informative, and up-to-date.
Ensure that it will play well on mobile devices. You should also declutter it to eliminate useless content and consider your site’s speed a significant ranking factor.
Whether you have the skill or need professional help to design and optimize your website, the bottom line is that if it’s not in good shape, you could lose revenue every minute of every day.
Get It Right with Social Media
Social media marketing is a cost-effective way for your travel agency to engage with your followers and returning clients.
You should find creative and innovative ways to present your services to all your followers on your social media pages. For example, you can use Instagram’s video feature to post short video excerpts of a tour experience through the eyes of a tour guide. You can also post “behind the scenes” footage of a tour or activity on Facebook, giving prospective customers a better idea of your offers.
The use of social media for travel marketing can be cost-effective. So, choosing the right platform and putting a strategy in place is essential.
In social media, you can also find plenty of pages of more successful tourism operators you can learn from.
Pay Attention to Local SEO
Local SEO is a continuous and ever-evolving investment for making significant headway with organic search. It’s the best digital marketing tool to rank higher in search engines and attract new customers.
For your local SEO strategy to be effective, optimize all the content of your website, on-site and off-site. You may seek professional help or hire an internal copywriter who will polish your website content.
Also, conduct a regular SEO audit for ongoing improvements. You also need to verify your business on Google My Business listings and optimize your location to draw more prospects and increase sales for your travel agency.
Leverage Email Marketing
Your email database is another valuable asset for your digital marketing scheme. It drives more conversions than social media. For example, a subscription form on your site allows you to invite visitors into your inner circle, reconnect with them again, and turn them into paying customers.
Similarly, when you leverage the function of email marketing, you will achieve high organic traffic, encourage social shares, and generate leads.
Remember that your subscribers want to hear from you, so make every email count by giving them valuable updates, exclusive offers, and excellent discounts.
Set Up a YouTube Channel
YouTube is an ideal platform to capture a highly responsive market and help you build your online presence for your travel agency. While reading about a travel experience can be valuable, watching videos about travelling will also be immersive for your viewers. You can release snippets of your tours, staff holidays, families, customer testimonials, how-to-pack guides, destination reviews, and anything that aligns with your goals and customer personas.
Produce Engaging Content
Content is King. Aside from optimizing your website and producing compelling and creative videos, pay attention to how you provide travelling and other tourism-related content.
To publish content that matters, you need to understand your customer journey and how you might be able to use content to guide your visitors and convert more leads. Your content needs to be inspiring, engaging, and fact-based so people will finish each article, no matter how short or long.
Have a Mobile App
In the digital era, having a mobile app for any small or large business has become more popular than ever. Aside from giving your business more sales, a mobile app provides customers:
- Ease of connectivity
- Hassle-free transactions
- Effortless access to services
- Swift notifications about tour updates
- Fast booking process
Encourage Positive Reviews but Don’t Ignore Negative Reviews
Encouraging positive reviews is of the most significant elements of your marketing strategy because a good business reputation is a revenue generator. Travellers find travel reviews essential before booking a property. You can boost your sales and revenue by giving customers accessible channels to leave reviews, like Trip Advisor and Expedia. They can also leave their review thoughts on your Google My Business page, social media pages, and your website.
Sometimes, negative reviews are unavoidable, but when you receive one, rectify the situation immediately. Respond to this type of feedback by giving a valid explanation on time. You can show that you value customer experience by responding to positive and negative reviews.
We listed only a few basic digital marketing techniques for your travel and tourism company above. In conclusion, digital marketing strategies should include:
- A fast-loading website
- Email and social media marketing
- Effective local SEO strategy
- Good customer feedback
- Compelling content to boost sales and improve customer experience
When you invest in digital marketing and consistently make the right choices, you’ll drive more traffic to your site, survive the competition, and increase your ROI.
