Online marketing for travel agency

14 replies
Hello,
some travel agency asked me for help with online marketing, but I am not sure if I can help them.
They are starting online booking system but just for their island, so they are competing with local travel agents and also with agoda and booking.com
The advantage against Agoda is they offer not only hotels and cars, but everything, tours, events, etc. and the prices are not higher than Agoda. The customers get also support per phone and in person.
It is a booking system for B2B and later also B2C.
I am not sure how to help them, SEO is difficult, there are hundreds of optimized websites for hotel + the place, travel agent + the place, etc., also for PPC there is a lot of competition, and content also doesnt help, there are thousands of websites with photos and articles about their place.
Do you have some ideas how to make their website visible? Some keywords for B2B travel agencies, not interesting for consumers? Or maybe direct mail?
Thanks
#agency #marketing #online #travel
  • Profile picture of the author Charles Harper
    Originally Posted by John9586 View Post

    Hello,
    some travel agency asked me for help with online marketing, but I am not sure if I can help them.
    They are starting online booking system but just for their island, so they are competing with local travel agents and also with agoda and booking.com
    The advantage against Agoda is they offer not only hotels and cars, but everything, tours, events, etc. and the prices are not higher than Agoda. The customers get also support per phone and in person.
    It is a booking system for B2B and later also B2C.
    I am not sure how to help them, SEO is difficult, there are hundreds of optimized websites for hotel + the place, travel agent + the place, etc., also for PPC there is a lot of competition, and content also doesnt help, there are thousands of websites with photos and articles about their place.
    Do you have some ideas how to make their website visible? Some keywords for B2B travel agencies, not interesting for consumers? Or maybe direct mail?
    Thanks
    John,

    You may want to start this same question in the Offline Forum.

    They'll be more inclined toward answering your question.

    Sincerely,
    Charles
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  • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
    Originally Posted by John9586 View Post

    Hello,
    some travel agency asked me for help with online marketing, but I am not sure if I can help them.....
    Hi John,
    I am a Travel Agent based in Florida.

    The first thing is to ascertain the list of "outcomes" they want from your services.
    That's part of the reason even I have no clarity as to exactly what they want you to do.

    I assume they are a travel agency dedicated solely to travel to their island (promoting their destination spot globally).

    I guess they can arrange for hotels, cars and tours on their island.

    Basically, they want a piece of the tourist pie that comes to the island yearly.

    What they need is a marketing and business development approach. This you can do for them and folks like me can be the ones you approach and "connect" to your client. This will expand their customer base, referral traffic and exposure on the Internet through "partners" who already have traffic and traction in the industry.

    Your role is consultative and you become the authority "go to" person for similar firms who seek market share. This can be viewed like a form of arbitrage but is really nothing new or different than what consultants have traditionally done from their origination. It can also lead to a full time BD position, if you were so inclined. There are numerous ways in this industry to handle this client and your situation / opportunity.
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  • Profile picture of the author John9586
    Hi,
    do you know which kind of agencies would be interested in their services?
    I tried to find out who is their ideal customer, but they have no clear answer.
    I think the most agencies overseas will book some package from wholesalers for their customers, they will not go to the booking system of the travel agent and put together everything, they just take the package from big companies.
    So I am not sure how they can compete with the big companies, their USP is they can make it customized for every customer, but who cares?
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  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    Originally Posted by John9586 View Post

    Some travel agency asked me for help with online marketing, but I am not sure if I can help them.
    If you don't know how to help them, then it's highly unethical to take their money and then ask for advice on a forum.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      When you say B2B, I assume you're talking about luring conventions, business retreats and such to your island.

      If so, it's going to be about building relationships, like the professor said.

      Much as people want it to be about SEO, PPC, etc., the people responsible for booking corporate travel and events are not going to click to a website, see another online booking system, and whip out the company credit card.

      Someone suggested posting in the Offline section. I second that idea, because you are talking about something with a sales cycle, not an impulse purchase.
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      • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
        It's a dead industry and no point in marketing it. The number of travel agents has been dropping like a rock. The best advice to give one is to find another job.

        That doesn't have to be as harsh as it sounds, but the traditional "travel agency" needs to transform into what is more commonly considered an "affiliate marketer" that provides a lot of value, insights into travel destinations from personal experience, and then makes referrals to services and products where commissions are made.


        .
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  • Profile picture of the author Ghoster
    I'm certainly biased, but with a travel agency especially, they need content marketing. Even if there is a lot of competition, they can still establish themselves as an authority. This isn't just about producing great content that reads well. They need to have superior knowledge than their competitors, and they need to be able to convey that knowledge to their writer/s in an efficient manner.

    Then use Outbrain or similar to jump start things.

    I wouldn't recommend PPC like AdWords directly to the site without content on it. But again, I'm biased.
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  • Profile picture of the author John9586
    I am not sure which content could help them, because there could be find everything about the island on internet. Maybe there are some small beaches only on Google, but not on Youtube, Instagram, etc., so it could be one possibility. But what about B2B content, how could they be authority, if they are selling the same tours and events like every other local travel agent there. Should they organize their own tour which could be bought only from them which would differentiate them from the other travel agents?

    I think the dead industry are the agents selling packages, hotels and flights, because everybody can buy them from internet. But the travel agents selling tours and services in their location are not dead. The more customers the internet booking services bring to their place, the more business they get.

    I have started another thread in offline marketing, but then I got some answers here, so I continue also this one.
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  • Profile picture of the author salvibd
    I believe targeting market can help your travel agents. I , myself, helped different companies. I used to give lots of suggestion about to promote their sites effectively and then slowly, I tried to find their target clients and finally I approach according and never think that market can go above sky In one day. Also, many suggested about share with other travel agents which are still in good. HOTEL Booking or air tickets also sell via agents because agents take care about every tourists spending and time personally. Any help welcome.
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    I had a job interview with an online travel agent recently. The way that they were getting traffic in this tough niche is to upload lots of user generated content from their staff in the field (i.e. the people who work in their hotels and resorts).
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  • Profile picture of the author quadtravtech
    Dear Sir,

    to work on the keywords, try to hyper link on the keyword you want on top searches.And also use that keyword as 2 to 3 percent of the content.
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  • Profile picture of the author time4vps
    I believe here's a lot to do. You can work with people in the similar niche to exchange links/articles. You could also try socialbaker tool to find biggest facebook pages in your region. Then you could ask them to promote your costumer (prepare to pay some $). Try to build an email database, use guerilla marketing to gain those emails (it's always good to go outside and collect some or you pay some $ for a wise kid to do so). Leave some brochures at local traveling institutions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gerry Brophy
    I would suggest a FB ad campaign. It´s all about selecting the right audience for the campaign both in location and demographics. Ask them i) Who are your potential customers? and ii) Where are they? Also a compelling special intro offer would help attract attention.
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