Moreover, as we learned in the first section of this essay, the worldwide tourist industry generates more than $1.3 trillion in income each year.
This type of number indicates that the field is extremely competitive, and that digital marketing methods are required to distinguish oneself from the competitors.
In the second section of this post, we’ll go over the final six methods for achieving success in digital marketing!
Market ‘Experience’ through the use of technology
Travel is all about the experience, and that experience begins even before a reservation is made. Help guests acquire a sense of your destination, hotel, attraction or activity by providing them with internet resources. Visual information that is interactive is very valuable — consider immersive films and 360-degree photographs in high quality, for example. Iceland, New Zealand, and Miami are just a few of the places that have mastered this technique.
Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR) have progressed from being intriguing experimental technologies to becoming viable media that are soon becoming a trend in the travel and tourism industry. What better way to ‘be there without being there’ than to don a virtual reality headset and virtually go to a destination?
This 360-degree movie from Visit Dubai is an excellent illustration of how immersive experiences can be provided to you in the comfort of your own home.
Travel operator Thomas Cook has used the technology at a concept store in the United Kingdom, where guests could use virtual reality headsets to be transported to popular destinations such as New York, Cyprus, and Sharm-el-Sheikh without leaving the store. Because of the VR taster sessions, in-store bookings in New York surged by 190 percent, proving that it wasn’t just a marketing ploy.
Take Advantage of Engagement Data
One of the most alluring parts of digital marketing is that it enables for the collecting and analysis of campaign-related data, which is one of the most appealing aspects of the medium.
Tools like as Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel provide a wealth of information that may be used to determine how, where, and with whom your material has been interacted, among other things.
This information may then be examined to assist your firm in better understanding your audience and creating more personalised content for them, which in turn boosts engagement, conversions, and sales for your business.
There are no more days of mailing out brochures and hoping for the best; today’s digital marketing is all about accuracy and pinpoint targeting.
Using the information you collect, you can effectively identify leads, make individualised recommendations, and – in conjunction with artificial intelligence technologies – send timely, topical notifications via email and social media channels.
Make a concerted effort at peak periods
It should come as no surprise that the busiest time of year for booking a vacation is January, as the reality of returning to work after the glitz and glam of the holiday season sets in. As a result, now is an excellent time to step up your marketing efforts.
Create content that appeals to everyone’s desire to get away from it all; a photo or video of a beautiful far-away beach is the ideal antidote to grey skies and grumpy coworkers. An email on the first day back at work can be the gentle nudge that leads require to begin their search. It’s also a good idea to create some time-limited offers to create urgency – a powerful tool for converting visitors into customers.
Peak times for your target audience may differ. If you sell a product or service that is better suited to in-destination customers, for example, your marketing efforts will be most effective when visitor numbers are high.
From our first point, we circle back to the target customer. Your understanding of their behaviours will enable you to focus your marketing campaigns at the most effective times.
Collaborate with Influencers
Digital influencers are a marketing professional’s dream. They have organically built, engaged audiences that are receptive to brand content, and the ROI can be extremely lucrative.
Indeed, 80 percent of marketers believe that working with an influencer is effective, with the majority believing that it is more effective than other paid media and marketing channels.
As a result, influencer collaborations have become a popular trend in the travel/tourism industry. Audiences have a genuine level of trust in the influencers they choose to follow, which creates a favourable environment for marketing material to be introduced.
Visual content is a clear winner in this category. Instagram photos, vlogs, and image-heavy blog posts assist your audience in visualising themselves in your destination. Furthermore, the aspirational aspect of an influencer-audience relationship can generate a flood of interest in your brand.
Notable success stories in this space include Airbnb’s Coachella collaborations, EURAIL Pass’ series with The Blonde Abroad, and Curacao’s campaign with New York City influencers highlighting the city’s short flight time to the gorgeous Caribbean island.
SEO Is Crucial For Lowering Campaign Costs
SEO (search engine optimization) is critical for the travel and tourism industry.
For example, 80 percent of hotel bookings are made online, with travel companies reporting that 60 percent are booked via mobile. This means that there are hundreds of thousands of searches to leverage your marketing campaign in order to generate natural traffic.
What is the issue with SEO? It can often take time to establish, so your brand presence will need to be established before you can benefit from this.
However, in order to get the best SEO results, all travel businesses looking to create digital marketing campaigns should do the following:
Complete your Google My Business listings.
Submit your work to relevant forums, industry bulletin boards, and travel blogs.
Submit guest posts, features, or press releases to relevant publications with a link to your website.
Ensure that your company’s website is optimised with business-specific and highly relevant keywords.
Create and optimise a campaign-specific landing page.
Getting to the first page of search engines isn’t difficult, especially if you’re an authority on a specific location. Just keep in mind that your online presence is everything, and the more you can appear in specific and broad terms, the more organic (unpaid) traffic you’ll receive.
Never Ignore Your Email List
In the travel industry, an average of 20% of marketing emails are opened, with a 2% click through rate.
These aren’t bad odds, especially when working with larger lists. Of course, ongoing nurturing can help, but simply sharing your marketing campaigns and offering incentives on a regular basis can help you get more conversions and leads.
However, being boring or’salesy’ is the simplest and quickest way to receive an unsubscribe. With this in mind, here are a few campaign tips to help:
Provide Worth
It’s not always about offering a good deal; readers want to see value right away.
Depending on the campaign, you could provide a freebie, tips and advice, or a coupon code to ‘give’ something before receiving something.
Keep It Short and Sweet
Many readers will be checking their emails during their lunch break, commute, or even before bed, so keep it brief. Long emails will be closed before the recipient clicks through.
Several CTAs
Include numerous call-to-actions throughout. As a minimum, in the beginning, middle, and end, so that it’s clear from the start what you’re asking.
Conclusion
In the travel and tourism industry, digital marketing is all about showcasing the experience in the best light possible.
After all, you’re selling dream activities and destinations, so your marketing campaigns must reflect this essence in order to be successful.
Make this happen by marketing to the right people and leveraging your analytical data as well as the campaign’s visual components to really make it shine.
Remember that not everything has to be paid advertising; your online presence, natural SEO, and online interactions can generate a lot of leads and conversions.