As a travel business owner, your sole motive should be to increase sales in your travel company.
The study from Fuel shows that 87% of today’s online travel consumers visit a hotel website before making a reservation. This proves that you need to have a strong online presence to boost your travel services.
So, having a fully-fledged travel website is one way to promote your travel business and boost sales. But that’s not all!
As the competition is getting tougher, you need to break more sweat if you want to boost your travel sales. From building a strong relationship with your customers to trying out influencer marketing and more, there are different ways to scale your travel sales.
In this article, we will talk about the 14 different ways to promote your travel business to boost sales. Besides, a thorough FAQs section should help you get answers to your queries and concerns.
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14 Different Ways to Promote Your Travel Business
You need to come up with some strategies if you want to grow your travel business and make it profitable. Here are the 11 ways to promote your travel business to boost sales:
1. Create Feature-Rich and Responsive Travel Website
Online presence is crucial whether you run a travel company or any other type of business. Having a fully responsive and mobile-friendly website with all the features attached should be your first priority to boost your travel sales.
While setting up a website for your travel business, you should look for ways to flaunt your travel packages and services in a user-friendly manner. In order to do that, you can choose from different WordPress travel themes.
Here’s a full guide on how to create a travel booking website.
Once you create a travel website, make sure to use high-quality photographs and videos to maximize user interests and curiosity. Also, take advantage of pop-ups and sidebars to promote different deals and packages.
It is an excellent practice to suggest additional products on top of a standard package. For instance, if your customer is opting for a day tour to Paris, you can offer lunch options to go along with it. This helps you to increase your revenue per customer and boost your online sales.
You need to explore and test to find out what exactly your customers want. Once you master this, you can track and manage special offers and complementary products to scale your overall travel business.
Moreover, you should have a complete travel website with online features intact to increase your travel sales rapidly.
For a travel business, you need an online booking system where your users can book and reserve their favorite travel packages easily.
Having a travel website equipped with an online booking system makes sure your travel business remains open 24/7. As a result, your potential customers can buy products and services from you at their preferred time.
The greatest advantage of an online booking system is that it eases up the whole booking and reservation process for your visitors. Similarly, it also minimizes the number of no-shows.
People who reserve travel services online from your website are more likely to show up. If they tell you that they can’t be there at the last moment, you can impose a cancellation fee which makes sure you won’t lose any money.
Similarly, if a customer cancels a certain trip, the spot automatically opens for the ones who are interested in the specific travel package. You can further add different payment gateways on your website to make sure that your customers pay for their reservations and bookings instantly.
Check out this guide on 10 Benefits of an Online Booking System for a Travel Agency.
2. Start a Blog
After creating a travel website, you should focus on creating and publishing blog posts. You can write about travel destinations, travel tips, things to do and avoid while traveling, and much more. All in all, the content you create should be beneficial for the travelers out there.
While you start a blog, don’t forget to have a proper content strategy. You need to first identify your target audience and create content that benefits them. The best thing to do is to carry out proper keyword research that suits the needs of the travelers. After that, you can plan a whole content calendar and create and publish the content accordingly.
If you can create detailed and specific content, it helps to land organic traffic on your travel website. Whenever people search for specific travel keywords on search engines, they can find your website and navigate it to get the information they need. This, in return, convinces them to get travel services from you which instantly helps you boost your travel business.
Learn how to build a content marketing strategy for the travel industry to boost sales.
3. Use Proper SEO Practices
After setting up a travel website with travel services intact, it is crucial to increase its visibility on search engine result pages. A proper SEO practice helps you rank your travel website higher on search engines so that more people find you and seek your travel services.
Search Engine Optimization assists you to get clients from different search engines including Google which counts for the majority of the traffic on the internet. With that, you can get more visitors to your travel website which increases your travel sales accordingly.
When you do SEO for your travel website, you need to make sure that you cover both on-page and off-page parts.
On-page SEO is where you do keyword research and create descriptive content through it with a proper structure. While doing on-page SEO, you need to organize your content properly with post and meta titles, subheadings, meta descriptions, and internal linkings.
On the other hand, off-page SEO is all about creating backlinks on your website to rank higher on search engines.
Check out this article on SEO Checklist for Better Travel Website to get more ideas on how to optimize your website properly.
4. Offer More Travel-Related Products and Services Than Your Competitors
People are often tired of seeing the same travel packages on every website. It makes them bored and frustrated if they have to visit the same place again and again. They are in dire need of something unique so they can find new things to experience.
So, instead of selling common packages, try to outplay your competitors by introducing new and adventurous trips. For instance, you can include a trip to an isolated village on top of a mountain. Besides, maybe your customers are looking to dive underwater and not just spend time on the beach. Invest your time in proper research and find out what your customers want.
You should become a travel expert and create unique packages based on your customer’s demands. This way you can satisfy your travel clients and at the same time boost your travel sales.
Besides, you can combine different products to create a unique travel experience. It is recommended to create a package and offer a better price by selling hotels and flights. This helps your customers get a complete travel experience, and you get the chance to sell more services and travel items.
5. Ask Your Customers for Reviews
Online reviews have a huge impact when it comes to strengthening your brand’s reputation. If your customers pitch in some good reviews for your travel services, it immediately attracts others looking to book their next trip.
A study suggests that 90 percent of customers are influenced by reviews whenever it comes to buying a product or service. Similarly, 87 percent of potential customers won’t consider a business with a low rating on review sites.
Here are some quick facts on why customer reviews are important for the travel business:
- Around 93% of international travelers confess that their booking decisions are impacted by online reviews.
- About 70% of travelers look for at least 20 reviews while planning any trip.
- Around 49% of travelers won’t book a hotel without reading reviews.
You can ask your customers to review their trips and share their feedback with others who plan to book a trip from your website. It immediately helps you scale your travel sales.
At the same time, this process grants you an opportunity to interact with your customers. If they are happy with your services, they can give positive reviews and ask their friends to book a trip from you.
On the other hand, if they are not completely satisfied with the trip packages, it provides you the chance to make necessary modifications to your travel packages. You can offer them something unique and make them feel valued.
Don’t panic if you get negative reviews. Address the concern and apologize if you have come short. Put in some effort to make up for the shortcoming next time by offering them a discount on their next trip. You can only boost your business if you can satisfy your customers.
6. Engage With Your Customers on Social Networking Sites
Social media helps you to target a larger audience and find new prospects for your business. It is the place where people gather around to plan their travel and adventure. If you can promote your business website via different social networking channels, you are sure to land more visitors to your website.
You can create the official page of your travel website on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share your travel services. Sharing pictures and travel posts on a regular basis helps you grow your followers.
Similarly, you can interact with your audience and engage them on your posts through comments and likes. Listening to your users’ comments and feedback help you create better trips and packages that boost your overall sales.
Moreover, it is beneficial to join a few travel-related groups on Facebook and promote your services to drive more website traffic. You can also check for travel-related Twitter chats and use the popular hashtags while sharing your travel content on Twitter.
You can explore some of the best social media marketing platforms for travel agencies that help to promote your business and boost sales.
7. Focus on Advertisements
Paid ads are deemed beneficial for leveraging your travel business if you use them right. Before planning for paid ads, you need to first know your target audience. When you know your target audience, you’ll know what type of ads you should create for them.
There are different channels that offer paid ads. These include Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, and so on.
The aforementioned channels are relatively popular among other marketing platforms. They include a broad audience and their engagement rates are also high. You can choose from any of the channels and create paid ads to drive visitors to your travel website.
The quality of your paid ads determines how much traffic you can drive to your travel business. If you can attract more customers, you can eventually boost your travel sales.
8. Try Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing can be another way to promote your travel business to boost sales. It is the marketing process where you reach out to a person (an influencer) who has the right amount of following, and sponsor them to market or endorse your products in their ways.
The key to building successful influencer marketing is to get influencers whose followers match your target audience. That’s why you should opt for niche-specific influencers rather than those who have a large number of fans and followers but aren’t associated with your niche.
Influencers with a relatively smaller number of followers can create more intimate experiences. This helps to make their influence more effective. Similarly, they are economical most of the time.
9. Email Marketing
Email marketing is hands down one of the most convenient ways to promote your travel business from a sales perspective. It is an ideal way to generate leads and keep your users informed of the news and updates about your travel business.
The best way to create an email marketing strategy for your travel business is to focus on weekly or monthly newsletter campaigns. It helps to keep your business fresh in the minds of your customers.
You can send emails to your customers and promote exclusive seasonal packages, announce the best deals from airlines and other travel partners, or post useful travel tips. All in all, you should use your email newsletter to display everything your website has to offer to your travelers.
With a scheduled and planned email marketing campaign, you can promote your travel business and land more sales.
10. Video Marketing
The research shows that video posts get at least 59% more engagement on Facebook compared to other posts. Moreover, the research done across the top 10 brand pages on Facebook concludes that video posts generate 12 times more shares compared to text and images combined.
Similarly, Instagram is the platform where video content gets three times more engagement than sponsored posts. Even organic video posts get about 38% more engagement than pictures.
Video marketing is one of the best ways to promote your travel business and boost sales. If you can create videos about your travel packages using appealing visuals and graphics, you can drive more customers towards your travel business. With that, you can see a massive improvement in your sales.
With video marketing, you can easily let people know what services your travel company offers. This also helps to establish an emotional connection with your audience. Moreover, you can use the video content to channel your email marketing campaigns.
You can create content about your travel packages and also add the package video to your monthly newsletter. This way, you can let your regular audience know about your latest offerings and make them more curious. In return, they’re likely to visit your website for further details and book the package that you offer.
11. Guest Posting
Guest blogging is the process of writing content for another company’s website. You can create guest for similar bloggers within the travel industry in order to:
- Attract more traffic to your website and boost sales.
- Increase your domain authority using external links to high-authority domains.
- Improve your brand credibility and awareness.
- Build relationships with your friends in the travel industry.
With interesting guest posts and a good amount of backlinks, you can increase travel sales and maintain good leads in your business. Moreover, it helps raise brand awareness which adds authenticity and improves qualified traffic on your website.
By sharing your expertise on other travel agency websites, you can establish yourself as an authority figure within your market. You can then build relationships with other leaders in your field and uncover your brand to an entirely new audience.
12. Submit Your Site to Online Directories
Online directories are an excellent way to start promoting your travel business. Directories are especially helpful if you are still new to an area, or don’t have much of a reputation yet. If you can get a few listings, even if they’re not perfect, it will help attract potential customers who may be looking for what you have to offer.
Once you submit your travel website on online directories, you can boost the visibility, exposure, and ranking of every business. If you can list your site on Yelp, Bing for Business, and Google My Business, your site earns more credibility to your site. Besides, you get traffic to your site from those directories and boost your search engine ranking.
This helps to promote your travel business and boost sales in a more convenient way.
13. Podcast
Consider launching a podcast as a way to promote your travel business, especially if you are looking for an affordable marketing strategy. Podcasts allow you to share your knowledge with others and give them tips on topics related to your business. Not only will having a podcast help boost travel-related sales but it also creates brand recognition and helps you generate leads.
14. Set Up a Referral Program
You can boost your travel sales by asking your clients to refer a friend to your travel company. Setting up a referral program with an extra incentive can be the best way to increase your travel sales.
It is nice to offer some giveaways for your clients who refer new clients to you. If they have a good experience, ask them to refer your business when their friends ask for a good travel agency. In return, you can reward your customers with gifts and maybe some discounts on their next trip.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to advertise travel packages to boost sales?
You should be patient with your advertising campaigns. Every successful advertising needs time and research. It is crucial to identify and target the right audience. Once you find your audience, you should offer them the right package wrapped in the creative approach. For instance, you can advertise your travel packages through social media or by starting a referral program.
How can I promote my travel business using Instagram?
Instagram has developed over the years as one of the best social platforms to promote your business. With its appearance and feature-rich design, it is the best place to share your travel stories and scale the entire travel business.
You can promote your travel business through Instagram by:
• Leveraging social influencers who have some connection to travel
• Sharing varied content on a regular basis
• Leveraging interactive Instagram stories
• Utilizing IGTV to share your visual content
• Creating a social media calendar to engage more people
How can I make my travel business stand out among the rest?
It is vital to step up your game in this competitive and growing travel industry. You should follow these six strategies to make your travel business stand out among the rest:
• Become a travel expert by staying updated with current industry changes and trends
• Focus on niche marketing
• Listen to your customers and plan your business strategies accordingly
• Be honest about your rules and regulations
• Build a strong social media presence
• Respond to the criticism from your clients and work accordingly to mitigate the shortcomings
Conclusion
Focus on providing a good service to your customers and making them happy. This is the best way you can scale your travel business and land more sales.
Besides, all of the 11 strategies mentioned in this article can help you boost your travel sales. It is crucial that you check out your competitors as the travel business is getting competitive day by day. If you can implement these strategies and offer something better than your competitors, you are sure to earn more customers and boom your travel business.
We hope that you find this write-up helpful to boost your travel sales. Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.