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10 Travel Agency Marketing Ideas You Need to Know

As a Travel Agency, you know how important it is to market your services. Over and over again we talk to agents that are looking for more qualified leads. As experts in marketing and travel, we have been able to use our digital marketing expertise to generate hundreds of leads each month for travel agencies.

You need to start with a travel agency marketing plan that includes several marketing efforts that come together for an effective marketing strategy. This includes tactics like search engine optimization, social media, a referral program, and other marketing strategies.

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Here are 10 of our top marketing Ideas for travel agencies.

Treat Google My Business like it is your website.

SEO is difficult and there is tons of competition. One way to make it easier to show up on Google is with a Google My Business Page. There is much less competition and if someone is in your area and they search for a travel agent, you are much more likely to show up.

Start by claiming your listing on Google My Business. Add as much information as possible, solicit reviews from clients, and keep the page updated.

Get Started With Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with your Travel Agent clients. You can email them about upcoming deals, new products, and specials that you offer for repeat customers. It will also help fill up the idle time between vacations! Another benefit of emailing Travel Agents regularly is the ability to get on their radar when they are looking for a Travel Agent.

We recommend using Mail Chimp or Constant Contact to create your email marketing campaigns because both of these services provide you with free templates and tutorials, which makes it even easier for Travel Agencies without much tech skills to get up and running in no time!

Start A YouTube Channel

Starting a YouTube channel may sound like too much work, but the results are worth the effort. Start simple by having webinars where the suppliers are presenting. Simply record the meeting and upload it to YouTube.

Once you feel comfortable, do a presentation of your own to show your expertise. This will be one more way for people to feel a connection with you and want to work with you.

Over time you can see where your YouTube channel takes you. Some travel advisors film room tours, cruise ship tours, or experiences like wine tastings, and those videos become their only means of marketing.

Get Results With Social Media

Start your Travel Agent social media with a profile on the main channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And remember to include a video! Just like YouTube, you can use these profiles as another way for people to get to know you better. It is also an opportunity for them to see what life is like working with you or planning their next vacation with you.

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While you want to have a social media strategy for all the main social media sites, focus mostly on one to not be overwhelmed. Today, I would recommend TikTok due to the potential for reaching new audiences.

To get started on TikTok, all you need is a phone and the app. Now just start making TikTok videos until you find something that works. Try to be as helpful as possible. You can use photos to create a slideshow-like post that are easy to make.

Build up your Travel Agency Website

The Travel Agent website should be like an online Travel Guide. You can provide all kinds of helpful information such as:

– Resource pages that include links to your favorite sites and blogs

– Blog posts featuring tips for traveling with kids, pets, etc…

– Travel guides for specific destinations around the world so people know where they want to go and what they need to do when they get there

– Travel packing lists, pre trip checklists, etc…

You can include all of this in your Travel Agent website. The goal is for people visiting the site to feel like you are a friend who knows them better than anyone else so that when it comes time for them to plan their next vacation, they come to you first.

This will also help with SEO. As you create new, in-depth posts that are answering the questions that people are asking, you are more likely to see success.

For example, I know a lot of people ask if you should wear shorts in Italy. When I went to Italy I saw plenty of people wearing shorts, so I wrote a quick post about it. That article took off and brought thousands of people to my website who were looking for the answer.

Get Partners to Write Guest Post For You

In addition to creating your own content, ask other partners to write blog posts for you in the form of a guest post. You can partner with other travel agencies with a different focus than you or you can ask suppliers if they would like to provide a few posts for you. This is a win-win because you get more content on your website, and they get more exposure.

You can in turn write guest posts for their websites, something search engines will love.

Encourage your individual agents to do the same thing. They can start their own blogs and write some content for the travel agency website as well.

Start A Referral Program

If you are not already running a Travel Agent referral program, start one. This is an easy way to earn more business without having to purchase advertising on Google or Facebook. Plus, referrals are some of the highest quality leads because they come from trusted sources who know what it takes for someone else to have a great experience with your agency – and they want that for themselves.

Use HARO To Get Free Press

Have you heard of HARO before? It stands for Help A Reporter Out. After signing up, you receive regular emails with queries reporters are writing about. They are looking for experts to chime in and there is a section related to travel.

Refresh Your Travel Agency Website

Beyond just creating content, you want your website to look good as it may be someone first impression of your business and services.

Adding Travel Agent photography to your Travel Agency website can help make it more engaging.

Focus on the experience you want others to have when they come into contact with your agency, and use that as inspiration for everything you do including Travel Agent marketing ideas.

Find Influencers To Work With

When you think of influencers, someone with a huge following on Instagram may come to mind, but influencers do not need a huge audience.

Some ideas for influencers to work with would be the owner of a cheese shop in town, a genealogy expert in the community, or an expat-focused real estate agent.

These are all people with fans or customers that can be related to travel. Work with the owner of the cheese show to create a group trip to France that will include visiting some cheese production sites. The genealogy expert can create a trip to Europe focused on the origins of some of her clients. The expat-focused real estate agent can promote a group trip to the area she works in, allowing people to come to experience the area with other people considering the move.

Those are just a few ways you can market travel along with an influence to build your business.

Travel agent marketing is essential for any travel business looking to increase its online presence. Travel agency marketing ideas are easy to come up with, but Travel Agent Marketing takes some planning and effort.