Content Marketing in the Travel Industry
Building a travel industry website starts with a great content strategy. Let’s get started.
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Learn MoreThe travel industry has faced some serious challenges recently since travel has been limited worldwide. Despite these difficulties, experts predict that the industry’s future is bright, with 1.8 billion worldwide tourists expected by 2030. Experts expect the travel industry to rebound quickly because so many people have been forced to put off pleasure and business trips. During this resurgence, competition for travel dollars will be fierce. You will have to work for your portion of that money.
Your industry depends largely on optional travel: families taking vacations, couples on honeymoons, and adventurous individuals who want to relax and explore. Making your business stand out is essential. One of the most effective ways to attract clients to your company is through content marketing. Does that sound dull to you? It shouldn’t. Content marketing in the travel industry is exciting and effective when you use some simple marketing techniques. Below are a few of the necessary steps to start you on your journey.
Create a Strategy
You wouldn't send your clients to Europe without a clear itinerary. With no plan, they might end up lost in Madrid or stuck in New Zealand. Design a content marketing strategy the way you would design a foreign tour. You need to investigate different types of marketing content and then decide which types work for you. You can include articles on your website on exotic foreign destinations or intriguing US sites. Some of your satisfied customers might contribute articles on their recent trips. If you don’t already have a newsletter, this may be the time to begin. And you need to consider where social media efforts will tie into your overall plan.
Putting your plan in action will require a specific schedule as well. Execute your content strategy with
as much attention as you plan complicated tours and you will find success. Below are elements that can
fit into your overall content marketing plan.
Do not try to appeal to everyone. Instead, appeal to your target audience to bring traffic to your site. You should analyze your current clientele and also identify those consumers you want to attract but are not currently reaching.
As you are well aware, some travel agencies cater more to retirees while others serve a younger clientele. Are your customers business travelers? Adventure seekers? Singles? Or a blend of categories? You should consider whether to aim your content marketing at your current clients or to reach new markets. You are not ready to publish content until you have established your audience.
One effective way to know your audience is to create personas that match your dream client’s characteristics. Exactly who are you trying to reach? When creating a persona, you should consider traveler traits such as:
- Their goals and desires - Do they want relaxation or adventure? Luxury or culture?
- Their usual objections and pain points - How much money is too much? Do they hate inconvenience or do complicated travel plans leave them unphased?
- The online sites they frequent - The differences between Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok users are real. You need to know what they are and tailor your appeals.
- The brands they buy - Do they stick to bargain offerings or are they upper-end consumers? Are they trendy or classic?
You and your team already have much of this knowledge, but you can also send out brief questionnaires to your current customers to gather more information. Then you can create several client personas and gear your content toward them.
Many content writers produce listicles. Some sites may overuse them. But these top five or top ten lists work especially well for the travel industry, so make them a go-to. Almost anyone will stop and read “Top Ten Affordable Tropical Destinations” or “The Top Ten Ways to Save on a European Trip..” In fact, you can find nearly endless travel topics to fit this format. “The Only Items You’ll Need to Pack for Your Trip,” "The Six Best Ways to Fight Jet Lag,” or “A List of News Documents for Foreign Travel” are just a few that have a built-in audience.
These are practical, easy reads that potential clients enjoy, and they are almost certain to get others
to link to your site. Plus, readers will recognize your expertise and be more likely to book a trip
with your company.
Your content marketing will be more effective if you cover news and recent developments in the travel industry. Doing so is particularly important now that so many people are confused about their travel options. They don’t know if they should travel and which countries will receive them. Also, many are unclear about the regulations regarding travel. For instance, many countries are requiring travelers have negative COVID-19 tests before letting them in. Some, such as New Zealand, will not accept the rapid results tests, which are not as accurate as some other testing forms. Other countries will accept these rapid tests.
Travelers may have to quarantine for different periods of time depending on where they are going. Also, some areas within countries are safer than others. The Italian countryside may pose fewer risks than Rome. Your company can produce detailed content on these issues.
Once the pandemic is over, you can still publish items on required vaccinations, countries with favorable exchange rates, and areas providing bargain travel. Your clients will rely on you for vital information on their destinations and refer you to others.
Create a content calendar so you can handle multiple content forums without missing a step. You should
be dealing with blogs, articles, and sales promotions on your website. You will also be working on
your social media posts and perhaps even guest blogging on other sites. That’s a lot of copy to handle.
And you don’t want to neglect any of it.
Keeping your content fresh and published on time requires an online calendar that alerts you when copy
deadlines are approaching. You can also use the calendar to keep track of revision and posting deadlines.
You’ll keep your content current and engaging when you manage the timeline well. Your readers will
expect you to stay on schedule. If you neglect part of your content marketing strategy, you will lose
your audience.
Many larger towns and cities have local magazines that publish content of interest in the area. They are sometimes used as supplements to local newspapers or other media outlets and are particularly effective at drumming up tourism and bolstering the local economy.
These magazines usually feature local businesses and publish their content digitally. Your business
can get surprisingly wide exposure through this medium as a result.
You need to be proactive when it comes to local magazines. Make a list of the periodicals published
in your community and surrounding areas. Contact their editors and offer to send them articles about
your company. Many of these magazines work with a skeleton crew and appreciate completed articles.
Others will want to conduct their own interviews, so you should be prepared with talking points. Either
way, local magazines are a great way to get your company in print and reach your target audience.
Remember, many people prefer to patronize local businesses, so put your name out there.
You need to create a thoughtful plan for social media use. Facebook pages still reach a huge audience, and you can place ads and promotions on your page and link them to your website. Instagram works well for posting photos of current tours, and Twitter can be a great way to post brief bulletins on your available trips.
In the last year, TikTok has become a sensation. You have so many social media options, but you must
stick with the ones that work for your business.
Your plan should include the media sites you intend to use as well as how often you will use them in
a month. Doing so will help you avoid overwhelming your audience with too many posts or losing them
by not posting enough. Also, the content of the posts matters. Travel industry insiders suggest using
the rule of thirds. That means you use one-third promotional posts, one-third conversational posts
(for instance, polls), and one-third industry news or supplier posts. You can easily hire a professional
writer to produce all your social media posts on schedule from companies like
Scripted.
You will grow your audience and keep them engaged by scheduling a nice mix of posts on different
forums. Using social media effectively takes time, planning, and commitment. Otherwise, it’s easy
to let it slide, driving your potential clients to other travel agencies.
You may groan at the thought of starting a newsletter.
And it has been done and done again, but that’s because it works. A newsletter is an excellent way
to get the name and email addresses of qualified potential clients and keep the interest of current
customers. Putting out a monthly newsletter doesn’t have to be a huge project. All you need to do is
follow a few simple rules:
- Keep it Simple - Your newsletter doesn’t need to be too long. Make sure it includes a few regular features and a lead article. These pieces should be short - 300 words or so. Do not overdo the promotional offers. Keep it to one or two in each edition.
- Give it Your Voice - Your goal is to persuade clients to do business with your company, so you don’t want to produce generic travel pieces. They should reflect you and your business.
- Show Off Successes - Feature a satisfied client once a month. Include an image of their trip and publish their endorsement.
Still worried about writing a newsletter? Scripted.com offers professional writers who specialize in producing newsletters and other travel content. They can give your newsletter life using your voice. You just have to explain the tone you want to use and what kind of content you desire.
Use Proven SEO Methods
If you publish travel content that no one sees, does it really exist? You need to take SEO seriously. The success of content writing depends on the use of search engine optimization. You need your content to rank high on Google so you get the web traffic you need. You can hire an SEO consultant, but this step is costly and may be an expense your travel company cannot afford. Fortunately, you can oversee good SEO practices yourself by using some basic strategies. Scripted also lets you hire SEO writers who can handle the difficult parts for you.
Blogs are everywhere. Your mother, hairstylist, and third-grade teacher have one. So should you! Your website needs a blog for several reasons. Blog posts are popular with the general public, which is why you see so many of them. And, most importantly, a blog leads to 97% more backlinks than websites that do not have them. That means your blog is likely to be cited by other writers, which will improve your Google rank and give you a solid reputation. Also, as your blog grows in popularity, search engine indexers will notice. They will visit your site more often and raise its rank. So join the masses, get a blog started today.
Metadata still influences your rank on Google in a significant way. Fortunately, optimizing your
metadata is not difficult. Your titles should include the content’s keywords, be no more than 160
characters and briefly note the page’s content. There are many factors that influence a company’s
ranking on Google, and metadata is still one of them.
If choosing keywords still confuses you, do not despair. You can use tools like
Semrush, Keyword Tool,
and Google Trends to do your keyword research.
They are fast and easy to use, so you should never again end up using ineffective keywords.
Basic keywords are not enough to improve your ranking. You also need to use longtail keywords. These are more detailed keywords that are more specific than regular ones. Often potential buyers look for these longer phrases when they are close to actually purchasing an item or service. For instance, your specialized travel company may never rank under “travel agency” searches, but it may rank high when users search for “historical bus tours in the US” or “best adventure honeymoon trips.” These keywords mean that your site gets qualified searchers, raising your chances of a sale.
Featured snippets
are those small blocks of information that appear right below your title in a Google search result.
They give users insight into whether the content is what they are seeking. You may think that the
powers that be determine who gets these snippets, but that’s not true. You can work to earn snippets
and reap their benefits.
Research shows that articles that answer specific questions are more likely to get a featured snippet.
Provide content that answers a question your readers are asking, such as “How long does it take to
get a passport?” or “What currency do I need in the Middle East?"
Content that doesn’t answer a question is unlikely to earn a snippet.
Also, make certain your content is high quality, entertaining, and audience-centered. Dull copy rarely
earns snippets. Most of all, make sure that the content is correct and provides the best answer so you
can beat the competition. If you make getting a featured snippet your goal, you can earn one.
Creating a sitemap may sound too technical for you, but it is relatively simple. Creating one helps prevent search errors that can lose potential clients. A site map is a file that contains all the webpages on your site that are available to users. They are created in HTML or XML. The good news is that you can use one of several online tools to create one. Then you just submit it to Google through the search console.
You can also find free online tools to evaluate your on-page SEO use. Tools like SEMrush
will audit your page’s use of SEO and let you know where you need to improve. Google PageSpeed Insights
is a free app that will help you identify slow pages and fix them. Both give you a fast and accurate
way to assess the effectiveness of your digital marketing.
One of the most powerful analytical tools you can use is Google Analytics.
This application lets you quickly analyze your current web traffic so you can identify your next
steps to bolster visitors.
Travel Sites with Excellent Content
Your travel website should have enticing photos from your trip destinations, and they should be recent
and regularly updated. Your website's visual design is essential to drawing people in, but they will
not stay if your content is not professional and inviting. Some travel websites
that excel at design and content include the following:
African Budget Safaris - While this site has a solid design, the content is what sells it. Visitors immediately know that they can find budget tours to many prime African destinations. The headers lead users directly to the information they want about price and location. And the information is organized so that navigation is simple.
Holiday Pirates -This top website relies on humor and clear content to make its visitors comfortable and informed. Humorous tour names such as “Crackin’ Krakow” make navigating this site fun and removes the stress of committing to a trip.
Mount Kilimanjaro Guide -This offering is a case study in how to increase search volume for your website. You can find dozens of Mount Kilimanjaro websites, but this one shows readers the steps needed for a successful climb. It also features photos of average people who completed the climb. People feel energized and confident that they too can conquer the famed mountain.
Cookiesound-This website documents the travels of a mother and daughter photographer team. While their photos are a main draw of the site, the personal stories of their travels are equally impactful. The content includes historical background, practical travel details, and a verbal picture of their experiences.
Let Scripted Help
You can immediately improve your website by using the above techniques, and you do not have to do it alone. Let our seasoned
travel writers
help you deliver the content that will make your website stand out. They have decades of experience capturing the beauty and excitement of travel and can translate their knowledge into compelling blogs, articles, and newsletters. If you dread producing social media posts, we can handle those as well. And you can have the writers you like best produce this content for you on a regular basis. With Scripted, you are never at a loss for words.
A sound content marketing strategy combined with
Scripted.com
will increase organic traffic to your website, helping to improve your Google ranking and produce more sales. Visit the
website
or call us at (866) 501-3116 today for more information. The sooner we get started, the sooner your web traffic will boom.
Your agency’s journey to increased sales includes a complete content marketing strategy. The right words will convince consumers to take that trip they’ve been delaying. The right words will show people how to travel safely. And the right words will bring more people to your website.
Your business success depends on using a solid content marketing strategy. So start planning for the travel boom that is already on its way.
