At this time selling online travel and holidays is not easy, the competition of online tourism portals is tight, but to counter this innovative power, it is necessary to develop effective strategies to sell travel, investing budgets in advertising in order to conquer the tourism market market and do not slow down the growth in terms of turnover regardless of whether you are a tour operator or a travel agency.
It is important, however, that tour operators or agencies reasonably invest their resources in actions and strategies that bring the desired return.
Undoubtedly, in order to develop a web marketing strategy for travel agencies, it is essential to set the objectives to be achieved, the target market to work on and the available resources, including not only the budget but also the human resources and time available. The second step is to establish the steps to be followed to achieve your goals in the context of the market and with the resources you have available in order to achieve an action, or the conversion, by the traveler, which can be online and offline.
As you know, the result of a good strategy for promoting the experiences that your company offers travels through a selection of online channels. Among the most common and used there are: search engines, from which both organic traffic, that is, generated by SEO optimization of site and blog content, and paid traffic, that is, that purchased for certain keywords, can derive for example, with Google Ads.
Then there are the social platforms where it is possible to work organically, that is, when viewing content occurs on your audience in a current or paid time, when investing in sponsorships and paid ads to increase visibility among a wider audience.
Also the use of emails such as newsletters and direct email marketing, which are particularly useful in supporting conversions. And also the referrals (backlink) or the traffic that can be generated from external websites or other media that do not belong to the company;
The importance of websites for tour operators
To improve your web presence, it is essential that you are actually present on the internet. The use of the internet has mainly influenced the planning of trips, from research to booking trips directly online.
A fundamental tool to improve brand awareness, generate contacts, increase and requests for quotes and actual reservations.
The websites for tour operators must be treated in detail and intuitive to use.
The graphic layout also affects the final perception, consequently on the user experience and the brand reputation.
Creating a visual identity through graphic design, photos, images and colors will fuel trust towards the company. It must be SEO friendly and obviously responsive, to be found also via smartphone, where most of the online traffic passes.
However, it is necessary to keep in mind the final objective, that is to maximize profit, beyond the creative aspect; because a site is above all a tool for selling company services on the web.
Optimizing the contents of the site according to the seo logic for tour operators is very important as they must be considered as real interactions with the potential traveler customer; for this reason they must be used as the cornerstone of the user's online experience with your brand and product along the conversion funnel and therefore connected with all the other channels used online and offline.
Here the importance of content marketing is highlighted , which must be followed with extreme care, developing original and quality content, so that they are in line with what they are looking for and conclude with the purchase.
The importance of advertising for tour operators
A performing website allows you to optimize your campaigns on Google Ads, bringing more clicks and conversions through pay per click and display network campaigns, but as you know, now also through social channels it is possible to activate sponsored campaigns that allow you to put in act strategies to bring awareness to the company, attract new customers and retain those already acquired.
Implementing an offline advertising strategy also allows you to intercept the local public, those you would not even find online, through promotional flyers, articles in local and sector magazines, participating in trade fairs, mass media etc.
It is very important to stay in touch with past customers, asking them for reviews, pushing those who have not yet purchased your services to buy or re-buy it. And finally organize events by presenting your tours, perhaps involving some local known artist.
It is essential not to focus only on traditional advertising, but must implement online advertising. To fight competitors you have to think outside the box and find new and different ideas from the usual.
For example, you could specialize in unusual destinations, theme trips or destinations that require the presence of a tour operator. Being experts on a certain continent or traveling off the beaten track increases authoritativeness and reliability.
By relying on us at MAV who are professionals in the web and web marketing sector, we will follow you step by step until you reach your goals in a concrete way.
