13 Successful Marketing Strategies for Travel Agents

Marketing strategies for travel agents can increase brand awareness, boost website traffic, increase leads, and result in more bookings. However, it takes an understanding of marketing to successfully employ these tactics. What is travel agency marketing?

Marketing strategies for travel agents include tactics such as mobile optimization, a dynamic web presence, user-generated content, content marketing, SEO, referral marketing, advertising, and email marketing. These travel agency marketing strategies position your unique selling proposition, build trust, showcase expertise, and personalize communications, which should increase customer bookings.

This guide is chock full of marketing ideas for travel agents. Whether you’re at the beginning of your travel agency marketing journey or deeper in but still need some pointers, the information ahead should help you strategize and diversify your marketing tools.

1. Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition

Every company has a unique selling proposition or USP. This sets you apart from the competition and gives you an edge.

For example, perhaps your travel agency specializes in a specific destination or types of travel, from luxury to adventure travel.

Look internally to identify your USP. Consider your target audience and what they appreciate the most about your services. Contemplate your agency’s values and the one-of-a-kind pain points your services strive to solve.

2. Establish a Dynamic Web Presence

A dynamic web presence is next on our list of marketing strategies for travel agents.

According to travel resource Dream Big Travel Far, online sales will account for 73 percent of tourism and travel revenue by 2026. A well-designed website is integral, as it serves as your digital storefront, converting leads into loyal clients.

Digital marketing agency Mediaboom has worked with many travel agencies and real estate businesses to create these results-driven websites.

Musha Cay Case Study

The Musha Cay website redesign that Mediaboom spearheaded produced an immersive online enclave that prominently positioned the site as a top resort on Copperfield Bay. Mediaboom assisted with SEO, animation, website development, and website design for this David Copperfield property.

Custom animations, including moving clouds and lulling waves, were one of the top design elements.

Millennium Tower Case Study

Mediaboom also revamped the Millennium Tower website. This San Francisco high-rise was treated to a custom website with stunning videos and photos of the site, integration with the property’s social calendar, an interactive travel brochure, and fresh logos.

Further, Mediaboom stepped in for print design, branding, and animation.

Aspen Luxury Concierge Case Study

Mediaboom partnered with Aspen Luxury Concierge, a Colorado concierge agency, to create a targeted keyword strategy for their Aspen trip planning content. Our meticulous research and analysis identified relevant keywords, leading to significant results. Within 90 days, six or more of ALC’s keywords ranked in Google’s top 10 search results, while organic traffic from new users experienced an impressive 118% increase. The marketing partnership yielded more than 54 percent more conversions, an average open rate of over 50 percent, and an increase in organic users by 118.42 percent.

Contact Mediaboom to drive results like these for your own business.

3. Mobile Optimization

Review resource Review42 writes that 70 percent of mobile traffic in 2023 is from smartphones, with the average person spending five hours a day scrolling on their phones.

That’s a significant portion of potential clients to miss out on by failing to create a mobile-friendly presence for your travel agency website. This is among the most important marketing strategies for travel agents.

Mobile optimization goes beyond fitting a layout onto the page. It’s about replicating interactive, immersive elements on mobile so users get the same experience as they browse and book.

4. Network Through Industry Events

Digital marketing is largely online, but the travel industry operates in the real world too. Attending industry events and networking allows you to rub elbows with your peers.

You can get a glimpse into what your competitors have up their sleeves and tailor your travel agency marketing efforts in kind. For example, if you’re competing for the same market and your competitors have recently expanded their advertising budgets, you might review your numbers to see if you can do the same.

Further, networking gives travel agents the opportunity to meet prospective customers face-to-face. Even if these leads are still on the cusp of a booking decision, shaking hands and receiving business cards from your travel agents could be the push they need.

5. Showcase Your Expertise Through Content Marketing

For good reason, content marketing is one of the top marketing strategies for travel agents. The potent combination of comprehensive eBooks, engaging travel guides, insightful blog posts, and informative videos will elevate your SEO standing, increase website traffic, and position your travel agency as expert.

Italy Travel Secrets Case Study

Italy Travel Secrets, a travel blog, also worked with Mediaboom in areas like marketing strategy, copywriting, SEO optimization, and website design and saw spectacular results. The site’s total impressions rose by over 600 percent.

Connect with Mediaboom to discuss your travel agency’s content marketing needs.

6. Add a Personal Touch Via Email Marketing

Guiding leads through the funnel and engaging with long-time clients requires email marketing. You can send correspondence to keep your audience in the know.

For instance, you can inform your audience when your travel agency runs a discount so they can cost-effectively plan their next vacation. You might even craft exclusive discounts for your email audience to grow your contact list.

You can also issue regular travel tips or update your readers on new offerings as part of your travel agency marketing plan. Send a periodic newsletter, whether that’s monthly or quarterly, to peel back the curtain on your travel agency and let your audience see the inner workings. 

7. Invest in SEO

Search engine optimization influences where your website ranks. SEO resource Backlinko, in a late 2022 article, reported that the average click-through rate of the first result in a Google organic search is 27.6 percent.

Backlinko also added that the site in the top spot has a 10x chance of getting a click versus the site occupying the 10th spot. The SEO resource evaluated more than four million Google search results to come to these numbers.

Mediaboom’s marketing experts can evaluate your current SEO strategy and help you revise it or start fresh. Contact Mediaboom to learn more. 

8. Offer Tailored Services

Vacations are personal, intimate experiences, whether a trip for two or a family affair. A client doesn’t want a one-size-fits-all approach to trip planning. They’re interested in something that feels made just for them.

Your travel agency must listen to the needs of your audience and present personalized travel experiences made just for them. Customize the itinerary, curate unique moments, and exceed their expectations and you should expect repeat business.

9. Use Referral Marketing

Marketing strategies for travel agents include referral marketing. Exploding Topics writes that over 90 percent of consumers trust referrals over other advertising avenues. After all, these referrals come from trusted sources, such as colleagues, friends, neighbors, and family.

The same report notes that 88 percent of United States consumers want incentives for sharing their favorite products and services across social media. This suggests that if your travel agency doesn’t already have a referral program in place, your audience probably wishes you would start one!

10. Leverage Paid Advertising

Pay-per-click advertising remains at the top of the heap when discussing travel agency marketing. These targeted online ads will appear when new audience swathes search for travel services online.

Although you pay for each click, a high-performing PPC ad campaign should allow your travel agency to recoup what you spent and then some. You’ll generate new leads and more website traffic.

PPC advertising requires budgeting and bidding on the right keywords. Mediaboom can help you craft winning advertising campaigns, so reach out today to get started.

3 Bonus Tips for Travel Agents

Here are a few more marketing tips for travel agents.

11. Use Retargeting Campaigns

Potential clients might waffle on vacation plans as they compare their options, confirm when they can take off work, and crunch numbers. Retargeting campaigns allow your agency to reconnect if potential customers are ready later. You could finally receive the lead’s business.

12. Promote User-Generated Content

User-generated content or UGC can generate big results for your travel agency marketing campaign. People always want to share luxurious photos and videos of their vacation experiences. If your customers do the same, ask if you can share it.

UGC augments testimonials and reviews and could inspire trust in your services.

13. Utilize Social Media

A social media strategy must be part of your broader travel agency marketing plan. Select the platforms your target audience uses the most, then create content designed to engage. Showcase travel tips, make a YouTube channel for immersive videos, and post awe-inspiring photos.

The Top 5 Marketing Tools for Travel Agents

Marketing strategies for travel agents begin with having the right tools. Here are five you should not go without.

1. Surfer SEO

The SEO and content tool Surfer SEO tells you precisely what your content needs to rank well on search engines, whether that’s more subheads, shorter paragraphs, more images, or specific keywords. You can also perform keyword audits through Surfer SEO to update existing content.

2. Adobe Express

Social media is highly visual. Digital School of Marketing reports that posts with images receive 94 percent more views compared to image-free posts. Adobe Express is a great tool to this end, as you can create professional-looking visuals and graphics.

3. MailerLite

You’ll need a sufficient email marketing tool as your email list grows. MailerLite is a multi-purpose software for creating comprehensive email marketing campaigns, generating newsletters, managing contacts, collecting leads, and managing ongoing campaigns.

4. Sprout Social

Grow your social media following with Sprout Social. You can use this tool to create social media campaigns, monetize content, automate social media workflows, manage subscribers, and achieve more campaign goals.

5. Google Ads and Facebook Ads

You can also advertise using Google Ads, the premier PPC platform, or Facebook Ads, one of many social media advertising platforms. These advertising channels allow you to target your audience by specific demographics and geographics and produce tailored ads.

Hire a Web Agency Today

Marketing strategies for travel agents require a concrete plan. Mediaboom can help you identify your needs, ideate travel agency marketing tactics, and deploy campaigns to achieve more of your goals. Contact Mediaboom to learn more.