Tips for Branding Travel Agents

As the travel industry continues to evolve, marketing opportunities seem to dwindle with each and every day for travel agents. The airlines are keen on slicing profits margins and also there is a plethora of travel review websites where travelers can go to and find all the information they need. With all these, coupled with the online booking engines as well as augmented reality, it is as if the death knell for travel agents is sounding from the horizon.

However, the only agents to be discouraged are those that are not creative enough and who view competition as a bad thing. But to the savvy travel agents like you, all it requires is a little realignment and polishing up the branding strategy to gain a competitive edge, despite all the lunacy taking place in the industry. Presented here are killer tips for travel agents to revamp their branding so that they can get the most despite the current competitive nature of the industry.

Take one more look at your website

It is unfathomable to think that there could be a travel agent operating at this time and age without a website. For those who have website, the first tip towards enhancing your travel agent branding is to take a keen look at the website and discover what is working and what needs to be changed. Check if the information presented in the website is up to date and reflects on the nature of your agency. For instance, if your niche is targeting older clients, are your products and services suited for this particular group of people? While tweaking the website for better performance, remember to have the following in mind-:

• Make it responsive – this is to take advantage of the humongous number of mobile traffic, since there are many people accessing the internet using mobile devices than those using desktop devices.
• Simplify the design – Use a simple design which makes it easy for the users to find the information they are looking for.
• Test the site – use various website testing tools to check how effective your website it. Track to get an understanding of how your visitors behave and also test the loading speeds to ensure that you don’t get high bounce back rates due to low speeds.
• Update regularly – maintain a regular supply of fresh content on the website. It is out of such updates that the site visitors will be eager to visit back more in the hope of getting new information.

Take advantage of the social media

Most people trust the recommendations they get from friends and family and this is why the social media is a powerful low cost tool for marketing travel agencies. The number of social media platforms that can be used by travel agencies keeps on increasing and it is imperative for every agency to build a strong network of followers on the relevant platforms.

Sites like Facebook remain the preferred social media platform for travel agents and tour guides. With proper Facebook marketing, it is possible to grow a formidable number of followers, out of which you can get leads for your travel agency. Additionally, Facebook has powerful inbuilt features including Graph Search and Audience Insights which are powerful should you decide to venture into paid advertising for your agency. Learn how to market effectively on Facebook and take its full advantages of spurring your agency to the next level of growth.

Build your database with email marketing

A large and responsive email database is one of the most valuable marketing assets a travel agency will ever have. Put in place strategies to continue growing your email lists while you encourage the current lists to subscribe for different newsletters you have for them. In this manner, you will manage to segment your list so that your campaigns become more targeted and effective. Also be sure to have an opt-in page in your websites where you encourage people to sign to help you continue growing your email list. Additionally, you must have an active newsletter going out at to your lists at different intervals. This is how to create value and make the subscribers eager to hear from you and also to try out the offers you recommend for them.

Work together with travel aggregators

Each year, millions of travelers book their accommodations, flights, and meet their other travel needs through aggregator websites such as SKyScanner or Kayak. Despite the fact that the aggregators will charge some fee to include your business in their websites, you will benefit immensely from the huge volume of targeted traffic that the sites usually have. Besides, the travel aggregator websites dominate the search engines and by partnering with them, you also make it easier to get a chunk of the search traffic. Add your travel agency to the relevant leading aggregators in your industry and start reaping their benefits.

 Learn how to protect your design from copycats here!