Traveling is one of the best pastimes. But it’s not always easy to plan where to go, how to get there, or what to do. That’s where you come in! With 93% of travelers having plans to go somewhere in the next six months, travel is still big business. Help get your clients where they want to go by creating and promoting exciting new travel packages.
Understand your target audience
Whether you’re putting together some exciting new travel packages or trying to promote those packages, the key to success is understanding your target audience. It doesn’t matter how great the package is; if your customers don’t like it, they won’t buy it!
Think about who your ideal customer is. Put together a persona based on that idea, including their general age, gender, socioeconomic status, interests, etc. The more detailed the better!
Once you have a good understanding of your ideal audience, you can create travel packages and marketing strategies based around topics you know your customers will like, leading to more effective campaigns and, ultimately, more sales.
Offer something a little different
There are over 42,000 travel agencies in the United States. And with that much competition, it’s important to stand out. The best way to stand out is to offer something a little different from your competitors.
Everyone is doing flights and hotel bookings. Think about offering unique packages that add something like cultural immersions to set yourself apart. Rather than a simple trip to Thailand (which is what everyone else is doing), give your clients a complete travel package with a tour of a temple to participate in some sort of cultural celebration.
These unique differentiators can make the difference between someone booking a trip themselves online or with a competitor and coming to you for the ultimate travel experience.
Design a user-friendly website
When someone gets the urge to do anything these days, they head straight to a search engine to start their research. In fact, over 90% of online experiences start with a search engine! So when someone heads to the internet and types in “best travel agency near me,” your website better show up!
The best way to make sure your website floats to the top of the search engines results page (SERP) is to make it as user-friendly as possible and fill it with all sorts of high-quality information. The easier it is for users (and, therefore, search engine crawlers) to find the information they need, the more likely they’ll make it to the bottom of the sales funnel and book a trip!
Here are some of the best practices to boost your website’s search engine optimization and make it more user friendly:
- Reduce load times
- Simplify navigation
- Use high-quality images with alt text
- Include headings and sections with proper formatting
And when it comes to graphics, make sure they look good! Your website is a representation of your business, and low-quality graphics will make your travel-planning abilities seem low-quality, too.
It’s easy to build professional-quality graphics with travel templates available for free on websites like PosterMyWall. You can find thousands of professional templates that you can easily customize to suit any design need, whether it’s for your website, social media pages, or even physical flyers to hang around town.
Harness the power of email marketing
Thinking about your ideal audience is always best practice for marketing and sales. But it’s all hypothetical. Do you know which demographic has a better chance than any to hire your services? Your actual customers!
According to research, existing clients are 50% more likely to try a new service than a new lead. That’s because they’ve already worked with you and know how amazing you are. And the best way to retarget existing customers is with an email campaign.
You likely already have email addresses for all your previous clients. With their permission, sign them up for email newsletters that advertise your latest travel packages and exciting destinations. They had a blast on their last trip, and maybe they’d want to go on another one.
Send marketing emails regularly to keep your brand top of mind. Most marketing professionals suggest sending between two and three emails per week. That should be enough to remind people about your services without bugging them enough that they want to unsubscribe.
Grow your travel agency
Everyone gets the urge to see the world every now and then. And when that urge hits, make sure people come to your travel agency by offering exciting new trips and effective promotions. Start by understanding your target audience through and through. Then put together some unique travel packages, optimizing your website, and sending plenty of marketing emails to your existing clients.
With some unique travel options and targeted promotions based on your ideal audience, you’ll be able to help more people than ever travel the world and have a blast doing it!
