Marketing Ideas For Tour Agencies

Much like any startup, marketing is essential to the success of your tour company. Since there is heavy competition in the touring industry and your agency needs to stand out, you might be spending a lot of money without seeing much results. Sure, marketing efforts can seem like a blackhole but there is a way for young tour agencies to grab the attention of potential customers. Coming up with an effective plan is the first step. These are some tried-and-tested marketing ideas that will help you boost the visibility of your tour company.

Create a marketing strategy:

Marketing involves a lot of time, effort, and money. Having a sound marketing strategy in place will ensure that you have an actionable plan. You will also be able to weigh the pros and cons to figure out the areas on which you’d like to spend your money on. Follow the 5 Ps – product/ service, price, place, promotion, and people – and make them the core of your marketing plan. Once you draft and finalize your marketing strategy, you can start marketing your agency.

 

Update your website:

The look and feel of any website cannot be underestimated. If your website doesn’t inspire confidence in your customers, no one would trust you enough to use your services. Opt for vibrant colors like soft red, orange, bright green, or sea blue. Improve your conversion rates, optimize your website, and work towards boosting your SEO rankings. Use engaging content and copy to keep your customers coming back to your website. Caring about user experience will go a long way in make your site visible and likable.

Offer incentives to reach out to customers:

A good way for a new tour agency to market their services is to offer discounts. Discounts attract customers and happy customers leave reviews, so you’ll be able to build up your reputation. You could also collaborate with your supplier to offer giveaways and exclusive deals. A tour agency with numerous positive reviews will automatically become more trustworthy. It’s wise to build up your online reputation on online review sites as you’ll reach a wider range of people.

Use the power of social media:

Social media is an important tool in your belt that can bring your company into the spotlight. Don’t just post boring industry news and random offers – create stories that humans can relate with. Hire a professional if you must but it’s necessary to capture the joy of your customers and share them on your social media (with their permission, of course.) Add some variety to your content by sharing useful blog posts, interactive quizzes, seasonal greetings, and destination highlights. Social media is all about making connections, so talk to your followers and fellow colleagues to boost engagement.

 

Devise better content:

Legibility and quality are two important aspects of content. Legibility is the ability to write content that is easy to read and understand. Quality content means coming up with unique content ideas, introducing a human connection to your posts, and executing them perfectly. Better content lets you connect with your target audience and improve booking statistics. You could also develop a monthly email newsletter to keep in touch with your customers. Again, content is the reigning king.

Run optimized digital ads:

Everything is going digital so it makes sense to push your marketing efforts to digital platforms as well. Since most tourists do their research about potential vacations online, running digital ads will help them discover your tour company. Paid digital advertising, which includes Google ads, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and Twitter ads, are some vital areas to invest in. But don’t get your credit card out just yet. Ads that look like spam will be immediately disregarded by potential customers. So, remember to optimize your ads to improve visibility and engagement.

Don’t forget about email marketing:

Email marketing is still a major part of any marketing strategy. Since your customers want to hear from you, you need to make sure that every email is useful to them. Don’t spam: that is a very quick and easy way to lose a valuable customer. The responsiveness, design, content, and timing of your newsletters should be optimized to get the most leads. Ensure that your newsletters look positive, inviting, and friendly. Don’t worry if your email marketing doesn’t work right away. Keep tweaking the formula till you hit the jackpot.

 

Invest in hyper local offline marketing efforts:

If your target audience is from a particular area, use offline marketing strategies to spread the word about your company. Hire a professional graphic designer to create aesthetically pleasing posters, flyers, brochures, coupons, stationery, and media giveaways. Talk to your local press and get your business featured in newspapers and magazines. Be active in community building efforts and participate in trade shows to boost your network. Always have your business cards with you and prepare an elevator pitch about your agency to catch leads immediately.

Mobile marketing is also important:

Mobile marketing includes areas like SMS, MMS, email, websites, social media, and mobile apps. Basically, you need to optimize your ads and content to appeal to mobile users. Make your website responsive and optimized for mobile searches. Boost your website ranking by improving on mobile SEO. Mobile-friendly advertising requires your ads to be easier to view and engage with on mobiles. Your content should be optimized to make it easier for your followers to share your posts: email, social media, search engine ads, and website.

 

Customer service is key to marketing:

Whether it’s offline or online, engaging with your customers is the cornerstone of any marketing effort. If you don’t appropriately respond to your followers or address their complaints, you automatically generate negative views about your company. Give your customers an easy way to contact you – the more open and transparent you are with your contact details, the better. Always remember to be courteous even to negative reviews and comments. Training your staff to provide excellent customer service is vital to building a booming business.