5 Travel Marketing Trends You Need to Know

The importance of staying on top of marketing trends in a competitive space like travel and tourism should never be underestimated.

The direct global contribution to GDP is around 5.8 billion for travel and tourism, with the U.S. among the top leaders in the industry. The report also noted that the demand for travel and tourism is so high that "incentives to invest in policies that enable the development of travel and tourism" is a priority for many countries.

So, how can you optimize your DMO marketing and stand out from other destinations? By basing your decisions for marketing in travel and tourism on current trends. If you're a destination marketer wondering how to promote your location, check out these popular travel marketing trends in 2022 to update outdated trends in travel marketing.

1. Targeted, Personalized Travel Marketing

One of the sure-fire ways to stand out in a saturated industry like travel is to personalize your marketing to your target audience. According to HubSpot, 90% of consumers in the U.S. admit personalized marketing content is 'somewhat' or 'very' appealing to them. Customized email marketing, in particular, can be a game-changer since the report notes that the number one tactic for boosting engagement in email is message personalization, with more than 20% of email marketing respondents saying they improved their engagement with personalization.

Email marketing already has a high ROI — often earning you $36 for $1 spent — so adding personalization can maximize your bottom line. You can do this by doing one or more of the following:

• Segment Email Lists
• Show the Unique Offerings You Have
• Offer Targeted Discounts
• Demographic Targeting

• Behavioral Targeting

This will lead to a better customer experience and increased customer loyalty.

2. Retargeting

Retargeting refers to a marketing strategy where you target consumers based on past behaviors. Often, this is done by targeting visitors through paid ads following their visit to your website, social media account, etc. Its effectiveness as a marketing tactic has become more evident over the years, with statistics showing:

• The average click-through rate (CTR) for retargeting ads is 10-times that of traditional display ads.

• Retargeting can lead to up to 150% higher conversion rates.
• You can reduce cart abandonment by 6.5% and increase e-commerce sales by 20% with retargeting.

Note that retargeting uses cookies, so you must know that tracking cookies won't be available after Google removes them in 2024. The need to pivot to other strategies will be vital, but fortunately, McClatchy can help with this. 

3. TikTok Marketing

Social media marketing is a powerhouse for engaging consumers and building meaningful relationships. What's more, there are a plethora of users to do it with — Small Biz Genius reports that there are more than 230 million active social media users, with the average American owning 7.1 social media accounts and 11 new users starting every second.

According to a HubSpot poll, however, 50% of marketers say they intend to invest more into TikTok in 2022. Why TikTok over other social media?

The most notable reasons are because of:

• User-Generated Content (UGC) — content created by people, not brands. With a TikTok account, real people can tag your brand, stitch their videos with yours, etc., to share their opinions of your business and products/services. Essentially, it is a free promotion that can boost brand awareness, trust, and credibility. This is an important advantage of TikTok because more than half (55%) of consumers trust UGC more than other types of marketing.
• Influencer Marketing — likewise, users trust their favorite influencers more than brands. And TikTok is full of popular influencers that elicit higher engagement rates than any other platform. Influencer Marketing Hub reports that micro-influencers and mega-influencers on TikTok produce 17.96% and 4.96% engagement rates compared to Instagram's 3.86% and1.21%, and YouTube's 1.63% and .37%.
• Video Content Popularity — Unlike other popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, TikTok is a video-only platform. This benefits marketers because 69% of people prefer video over other forms of content.

4. Brand Reputation Management

Travelers might feel less secure now after pandemic cancellations and uncertainty. For this reason, reputation is huge for companies in the traveling and tourism industry because travelers need to trust the business they choose. Your first step in brand reputation management should focus on customer reviews and testimonials.

According to one report, 93% of consumers admit to being influenced by online reviews when purchasing, and 91% of consumers between 18 and 34 find online reviews as trustworthy as recommendations from friends and family.

This is because reviews — good and bad — show other consumers what to expect from your brand. Good reviews ensure their experience will be positive. Bad reviews can also be positive when you show you care enough to respond to unsatisfied customers to rectify the problem.

Either way, your travel businesses should showcase reviews and testimonials to highlight your reputation in the field. When you do this to your website, you can also boost search engine optimization (SEO).

5. SEM and SEO

Speaking of search engines, you must have a strong digital footprint to expand your reach within your target audience. You can do this with SEO and SEM.

SEO refers to the process of making improvements to your site to rank higher on search engines. It doesn't require payment to search engine companies but rather a solid SEO strategy. This will be significant for your business because it allows your brand to create an organic solution to relevant search inquiries. For instance, websites must be SEO-friendly to rank and have visitors find them. Local SEO, in particular, can help you reach travelers searching for information on options in your area (46% of all Google searches include location).

SEM, or search engine marketing, is also essential for travel brands because it's a paid advertising opportunity to ensure your brand is one of the first sites seen by searchers looking for relevant information. Paid advertising on Google alone could positively influence the 65% of people that click on Google ads when ready to make a purchasing decision.

How SEM and SEO Work Together

Combining your SEO strategy with SEM can be highly beneficial because you can benefit from guaranteed rankings or advertisements on search engines like Google while also benefiting from a higher ranking in organic results. Since both paid and organic results reach different types of searchers in your target audience, combining both can ensure reaching a more significant portion of travelers interested in your destination.

McClatchy: Your Digital Marketing Partners for Travel Marketing

The marketing world is constantly evolving. To ensure you're up-to-date on the latest travel marketing trends — and implementing them in your marketing plans —reach out to your trusted digital marketing partners for travel marketing: McClatchy. We've helped several businesses like yours reach their goals despite the many uncertainties that have rocked the travel and tourism industry since the pandemic. Contact us to learn more about McClatchy and how we can assist you in implementing the latest travel marketing trends.