Lead generation for Tour Operators – Use the Power of Internet
In this post you will learn about the importance of online marketing in lead generation for tour operators.
You will learn about;
- The challenges in lead generation for tour operators.
- The important ‘A’s – Access, accommodation, attractions and activities.
- How to standout in a crowded tours and travel market.
- Using the enormous reach of internet for tourism lead generation.
- Unique advantages of pay per click advertising in lead generation.
The Challenges in Lead Generation for Tour Operators
Running a tourism business is a complex process.
And the most challenging part is generating high quality leads. It is critical, because you need a steady flow of tourists to grow your tourism business.
The demand for good tour providers is high across the globe. Then why so many tours and travel businesses find lead generation very difficult.
There are many reasons.
- Competition is huge in tourism sector. It is very difficult to create a unique identity in a crowded market.
- Most of the tourists now depend on the internet to find suitable destinations and tour packages. But still there are many tour businesses without a proper business website.
- Those who created a website still don’t know how to attract potential customers to their website.
- A lot of tours and travel websites are not suitable for lead generation.
- There are businesses who still don’t know how to effectively reach their targeted customers using new digital channels.
- Many tour operators still depends on buying leads from third party vendors, who sell the same leads to multiple businesses. This hugely affects the conversion rates from these leads.
If you want to overcome these challenges and create a steady inflow of high quality leads to your business, first you must understand the major factors that influence tourism lead generation.
The important ‘A’s – Access, Accommodation, Attractions and Activities.
Every tourist selects a location first, everything else comes after that.
There are few important ‘A’s that influence a location selection!
Access
Accessibility of the location is a key influence. There are important questions asked during the selection process.
- How easy is it to reach the specific destination?
- Are there international airports nearby?
- Which airline provides flights to that location?
- Is there budget carriers operating in this sector?
- How frequent is the flights?
- Is there any alternate (or interesting) travel options?
- How much will it cost to reach the destination?
Accommodation
Once the access factor is out of the way, the next important consideration is available accommodation options.
Some travelers will be looking for luxury (resorts, 5 star hotels) and some will be looking for budget options.
Some will be looking for special experiences like homestays, tree houses or huts.
If you are offering a specific or interesting accommodation type or experience to your customers, this is the time to impress them.
Attractions
People travel because they want to experience the beauty of different location, meet new people and experience new cultures.
The ‘attractions’ in a new location is always the most influential factor in a travel decision.
Share useful information about all available attractions in your location to your customers. It could be historic monuments, great cultural heritage sites, museums, natural attractions or a theme park.
It could be beaches, hill stations, backwaters or wildlife reserves.
Share all the information that ‘attracts’ your potential customers.
Activities
People always love to enjoy new experiences during their travel.
The activities that you offer are a great tool to convince them to choose your location and your services.
Are you running a Ski resort? Do you offer Snorkeling? Do you offer sky diving lessons?
This is your chance to influence your most potential customers based on their personal interests.
This is not limited to exotic activities. An interesting activity for someone else could be a chance to visit the nearby fishing village, or a safari in the game reserve or a chance to taste exotic local foods.
Any new experience can influence and attract a potential tourist. So always remember to include an extensive list of activities that people can enjoy in your location in all your marketing material.
How to Standout in a Crowded Tours and Travel Market?
Create a Website
Create a digital presence as most of the people depend on digital media to find information today. In today’s digital world it is very difficult to attract potential customers if you don’t have a website.
Share useful information on your website. Provide value to potential customers with accurate and updated information about your location, accommodation, attractions, activities and prices on your site.
A website can be your most important marketing tool.
If you want to know more about the critical elements of a successful tourism website, check this post.
Use Digital Channels to Drive Potential Customers to Your Website
Creating a good website is not enough. If you want to generate quality leads for your business, you should drive quality traffic of potential customers to your website.
- Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices and loads fast. People and search engines don’t like slow websites that are not optimized for mobile devices.
- Invest time to optimize your website as per SEO standards and principles. If needed, get the help of an expert professional.
- Include a blog on your website. Regularly blog about your locations, attractions and activities. Content marketing is a great way to attract potential customers.
- Create a YouTube channel for your business. Videos are great tools to show the true tour experience.
- Use actual images and videos on your website, blog and communication. That will attract a lot of customers.
- Create a strong presence on social media channels. Use images and videos to build a community.
- Create an email list and send emails with new tour updates, offers and discounts when you can.
And if you want fast results, use paid advertising!
Using the Enormous Reach of Internet for Tourism Lead Generation.
Where Are Your Customers?
Your customers can be people within your country or someone in a foreign country, who want to visit your location.
Now people can gather a lot of information about a location, tour packages and services providers in a short span of time with the help of internet. It is very easy to use search engines to find a tour operator in another country.
The expansion of internet gives an amazing opportunity for tourism industry.
Now you can reach your customer any time and anywhere on the planet with the help of internet.
Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns – A Fast Lead Generation Tool for Tour Operators
Pay per click advertising is an amazing tool for anyone looking to generate high quality leads for their business. You can use Google Ads to run your ads in Google, world’s most used search engine.
How It Works and Where Your Ads Will Appear
People use Google to search for information over the internet.
You choose the words or phrases that your potential customers will use, when they search for your services. When a user uses your selected keyword to search, your advertisement will be visible to them among paid search results.
See the search results for the keyword ‘vacation packages’ in San Francisco using Google search engine.
Pro tip: If you want to use your website as the landing page for your campaigns, remember this. Your website must be designed to help lead generation if you want success with your paid advertising campaigns. It is also a good practice to create and use specific landing pages for lead generation campaigns.
If you want to know more about landing page best practices, check this post.
Unique Advantages of Pay Per Click Advertising in Lead Generation
- Show ads when most appropriate
Your ads will only appear when your prospective customers actively searches for your service using the keywords you selected in your campaign.
2. Precise targeting
You can target a country, state, city or a specific zip code where your potential customers are. Your ads will be displayed only to the customers in your selected location.
3. Reach anywhere, anytime.
Your ads will be visible to customers any time of the day with in the targeted area.
4. Different types of ads
You are not limited to text ads. Based on your target location and user interests you can use text, image or video ads. Visual ads have great appeal in attracting tourists.
5. Low cost
There is no minimum spend requirement. You can decide how much you want to spend in a day or month. And you only pay when a potential customer click your ad and visit your website!
6. High lead quality
Get high quality leads directly from your customers and engage with them without any middle men.
7. Flexibility
You can run or stop your ads any time you want. And you can change your marketing message any time.
8. Promote your business as a brand
Promote special offers and special services directly to your customers. Build your brand within the industry.
Do you have any specific questions based on your specific Requirements?
Ask me!