As a tourism and safari company or expert, you may have seen a significant change during the last ten years. Clients are beginning to book tours and safaris in new ways, typically starting with internet market research and a clear image of exactly what they want from their future trips.
Digital marketing has risen to the forefront of best-in-class safari businesses’ marketing efforts. The tourism industry is now relying on digital marketing for everything from generating new itineraries and leads to convert them into successful sales.
Safari Travel and the Importance of Digital Marketing
For travel and safari companies looking for new methods to stand out online, social media was one of the first game-changers. Various social media channels enabled tourism professionals to develop a brand and a thriving business, from purchasing Facebook Business Ads to posting photo albums of new tours.
How can modern travel agents and tour operators in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia differentiate themselves in a crowded market in Africa when 84 percent of travel experts use social media platforms? Traditional marketing methods can’t compare to the impact that digital marketing may have.
Use the following 8 strategies and methods to kick-start your digital marketing plan and obtain the results you want:
1. Develop an Email Campaign
An email nurturing campaign is a crucial tool in interacting with new leads and keeping relevant with old clients, especially in the tourism and hospitality industry. A well-rounded campaign, in theory, will guide potential customers through planned activities based on their buyer profile and previous interactions with you.
The average open rate of emails for safaris and hospitality businesses is around 27%, with a click-through rate (CTR) of 3%, according to Smart Insights. However, the more relevant your content is to a client, the more likely they are to open your email and read what you have to say.
2. Create a User-Friendly Website
How many times have you opened a website only to have it close because it was taking too long to load? Travel and Safari websites can be a web developer’s headache because they contain so many photographs and itineraries. Tour operators, on the other hand, can create a responsive website that is optimized for mobile browsing with the help of a competent web designer and an understanding of what their clients want.
Nearly half of all web browsing is done on a mobile device, therefore if your site isn’t responsive, your customers won’t be able to use it easily. In order to provide the best experience for your clients, your mobile-friendly website should have the following content:
All new itineraries and tour packages are listed in one place.
Content that can assist clients in the stress-free tour booking process
Links to tour-related services including safaris, beach holidays in Zanzibar for example and mountain climbs to Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Kenya for example.
Consider adding a live chat function to your safari website as well. Because your tourism company is so people-oriented, it’s critical that you’re available when customers have inquiries. Investing in live chat software allows customers to communicate with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and arrange appointments without having to speak to you personally.
3. Pay-Per-Click Advertising
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is an effective approach for realtors wanting to create new leads based on ads that they pay for each time the ad is clicked.
Because they only pay when someone clicks on their ad, PPC is a fantastic digital marketing choice for travel agencies looking for new customers who are truly interested in what they have to offer.
PPC advertising are frequently targeted to those who have used Google or another search engine to look for linked keywords.
4. Create and Post Valuable Blog Content
Tour operators may improve their SEO by using responsive websites with blogs, which have 434 percent more indexed pages.
A blog is an excellent method to improve your SEO, establish a great internet reputation, and give actionable advise on purchasing or selling a home or piece of property to your clients. Whether it’s published on your website or on social media, a travel agency professional’s digital marketing plan is nothing without excellent content.
Make sure you frequently produce material that buyers and sellers can return to for solutions to their most pressing tourism issues, in addition to your adaptable website.
5. Host Virtual Tours
In a successful digital marketing plan, virtual tours of a lodge or camp are fantastic pieces of content. Not only do these tours distribute video material, which produces money for advertisers 49 percent quicker than non-video users, but they also provide a potential customer a sense of what a home has to offer.
Booking a trip may be challenging, and as an expert, it’s your responsibility to make the process as simple as possible for your customers. Here are some of the most important traits to look for in a good virtual tour, including:
- Using real footage of the accommodation property like a camp, lodge, hotel or beach resort, as compared to digital illustrations
- Ensuring the video of the tour is interactive and responsive across all viewing methods (mobile and desktop)
- Making the virtual tour 3D and user-friendly
6. Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
It’s one thing to publish tourism-related information on your Facebook page now and then, but a full-fledged social media marketing campaign will get you the results you want. Here are some examples of valuable content to share on your social media channels:
- New or existing listings
- Team bios (if you run a travel agency)
- Case studies
- Relevant blog posts
- Success stories
If you’ve worked in digital marketing before, you know how tough it is to develop a social media plan and publish consistently across all channels. Buffer, on the other hand, is meant to make developing and scheduling social media content simple and straightforward.
When it comes to creating a social media strategy for your hospitality or safari, the most important thing to remember is to post a variety of material. Although posting itineraries is a vital part of your digital strategy, you should make sure that your material is relevant to a wider audience than simply those looking for a new home.
7. Host a Webinar
For successful digital marketing, you must share all of your skills as a tour operator. Fortunately, tools like webinars and online seminars make it simple to reach a broad audience while remaining current in the business.
GoToWebinar is a webinar hosting platform that makes it simple to create and host webinars, and it is highly user-friendly on both sides of the process.
For tour operators and travel agencies, digital marketing relies heavily on generating inbound leads, so getting your name and skills out there is critical to a successful campaign.
8. Ensure You Spend Time on SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a crucial method for driving traffic to your website. When done correctly, your website and web pages will appear higher in relevant search engine results pages (SERPs).
However, because Google and other search engines’ algorithms are continuously changing, it’s important to work on your SEO more than once. Keywords are a fundamental component of SEO that may have a big impact. To include keywords into your SEO plan, be sure to sprinkle high-ranking keywords like your region and travel industry across your blog and website content. Other components of a successful SEO strategy include:
- Backlinks
- Meta titles and descriptions
- Social media pages
- Online directories
Because content is such an important component of a successful SEO strategy, make sure to update your travel blog on a frequent basis. Because the most popular content on Google is often between 1,140 and 1,285 words long, it could be a good idea to produce high-value, long-form content on a regular basis.
