Millions of people travel every single day. The tourism industry has always been a thriving field allowing families, individuals and business owners alike to experience new cultures and local businesses as they go from one place to another. Tourism marketing is at its best when it dips into the simple things travelers want when they pack their bags. Anything more complex and you can risk undermining a significant part of your client base. It doesn’t matter if you own an RV resort, a bed and breakfast or a hotel…smart tourism marketing is the main component to your success.
From campground design to a compelling BandB website, tourism marketing links everyone together with convenience and style. Your ability to appeal to customers with different lifestyles, different goals and different budgets will be the determining factor over the months. Your tourism marketing strategy should take into account good website design as well as optimizing for mobile devices. Adding in a few other features that can redirect customers, such as SEO, will also help with saving money. All of these will be analyzed below.
SEO has been receiving a lot of attention from both businesses and consumer bases lately. This is due to being an appealing form of advertising that relies less on obtrusive pop-ups and more on useful information that directly applies to interested parties. SEO has been found to drive over 75% of search traffic these days and a majority of customers at 86% will use the web to find local businesses. When you add that half of all shoppers prefer to start with a search engine when shopping online it only makes sense to add SEO to your repertoire.
Not only is SEO useful, it’s cost-efficient. SEO leads have an impressive 14% close rate. Compare this to outbound leads which lag behind at 1% to 2% at the most. Direct mail and print advertising takes more effort and more money with less results, while SEO can reach out to customers locally or across the world to provide them with the knowledge they need to make an informed decision. It’s not enough to simply add SEO to your tourism marketing strategy, however. You need to make sure that any physical shop you have is able to be accessed by the customers it needs.
Mobile optimization is a term used to describe keeping a website friendly for mobile devices, such as tablets or iPhones. A 2015 survey completed by Google saw over 50% of smartphone users discovering a new favorite company or product through a mobile search. Another study also saw search engines beating out social media by up to 300% on average. Even the most well-designed website won’t fare well unless it can be accessed anywhere at anytime. When you optimize for mobile, you spread your arms open to anyone interested in your services.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t judge your website’s design with a critical eye, however. Tourism websites need to be simple and easy to navigate so customers can get quick information on the fly. Traveling can be planned over the course of many months or a sudden obligation overnight. Either way, your business needs to be prepared to address any customer’s needs. Make sure contact information is accessible from the home page and keep layouts more minimal than complex. This will make your business look much more professional in the long run.
Search engines, mobile optimization and smart layouts all work together to create an experience your customer won’t soon forget. Even incredible prices can fall to the wayside in favor of convenience, as shown by studies showing repeat customers being much more willing to pay more for a positive memory. Whether you want to start off with a new website design or a fresh SEO initiative, make your tourism marketing strategy this year something that can’t be beat.
Recent Comments