If you want your travel business to grow, you need to either know how to market your business, or hire someone to do it for you.
Marketing is essential, because without good marketing no one will know your travel business exists.
But what exactly is marketing?
The term “marketing” can be confusing. It doesn't help that a lot of would-be marketers combine the concepts of marketing and advertising into one umbrella and just say “you need to learn marketing!”
So let's start at the beginning. As you grow your small business, there are a few basic digital marketing terms you should know. This is by no means an exhaustive list, think of it more like “Intro to Marketing Terms 101”.
Digital marketing is anything you do online, in other words not using a traditional, hard copy piece of marketing material like a mailer, postcard or pamphlet.
Most of the other terms listed are digital marketing terms, because they don't apply to physical marketing products.
1) Call to Action (CTA)
A call to action tells someone exactly what they need to do next. A button that says “schedule a consultation” or a link that says “read more” are examples of calls to action.
Link to related post
2) Content Marketing
Most times when the words content marketing are used, they're referring specifically to blog posts. But social media marketing is also a form of content marketing. It's any type of content creation marketing activity you undertake to market your business and create social proof that you know what you're talking about. It can include podcasts, infographics, email newsletters, blog posts, paid adds, and social media posts. Even your lead generator is a type of content marketing.
3) Conversion Rate
Your conversion rate is the percentage of people who took action based on a call to action. It can be the percentage of people who saw your lead generator and provided their contact information, who liked your social media post, or who clicked the scheduling button on your website. It measures how compelling and easy to navigate people find your marketing to be. You can also calculate a conversion rate on a cross-platform marketing campaign.
4) Email Marketing
When you send regular emails to your list, whether you send them weekly, every other week, or monthly, you're engaging in email marketing. It's a way to communicate directly with people who have asked to hear from you so you're top of mind when they're ready to plan their next vacation.
5) Ideal Client Avatar
This semi-fictional character represents your perfect client, helping you tailor your marketing messages to resonate deeply with the specific needs, desires, and wanderlust of one potential customer. By tailoring your marketing, you make it more likely that your marketing effort will resonate with your target audience. It's also referred to as a buyer persona.
6) Keywords
The words someone types into a search engine when they're looking for your services are called keywords. There are short-tail keywords, which are one or two words (like “travel” or “travel agent”) and long-tail keywords ("best travel agency for planning a trip to France" or “best beach resorts in the Caribbean with kids”). You incorporate keywords into the copy, or words, on your website.
7) Lead Generator
A lead generator is something free that you provide to a potential client in exchange for their name or email list. The marketing term lead magnet is often used interchangeably.
8) Sales Funnel
Your sales funnel, also called a marketing funnel, is the path that a potential customer takes from the first moment they hear about you (or begin to have brand awareness) until they become a paying customer. It encompasses their entire customer journey and user experience.
9) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When you want your website to come up on the first page of Google (without having to purchase a Google Ad) you need to work on your SEO. Well-optimized websites, with good keywords use, are more likely to come up near the top of a search engine results page. Search Engine Marketing is similar, but also includes paid ads.
10) Social Media Marketing
While all social media marketing is a type of content marketing, not all content marketing is social media marketing. Social media marketing is specifically marketing on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest.
Bonus term: Analytics
Without marketing analytics, you don't really know if your marketing strategy is working. Every platform, from your website to your social media accounts, have their own analytics. Google Analytics is also a great tool that can help you see overall how effective your marketing mix is working.
The bottom line: Marketing terms
The essence of great marketing isn't in selling, but in telling stories, inspiring and guiding your potential clients so they want to work with you.
Happy marketing!