At first glance, it would seem easy to get users to click on an ad for a travel agency that promised easy access to gorgeous white sand beaches and stunning snow-capped mountains. In reality, though, many businesses struggle to create strong travel agency ads that manage to snag both the click and the conversion.
Lead generation is the name of the game when it comes to travel agency ads, as you just need to get a user’s name and email in order to start sending them great offers tailored to their travel preferences.
Fortunately, LeadsBridge can help you step up your travel ads game with real-time automated integrations between ad platforms and marketing tools, which allow you to get in touch with your newly acquired prospects right away, increasing your chances for a successful conversion.
Looking for some ad inspiration for your travel ads? In this post, we’ll go over some of the best travel campaign ideas and real examples from travel agency ads, along with how to get the most out of travel integrations.
What your travel agency advertisements need to accomplish
A common mistake with plenty of travel agency ads is relying exclusively on gorgeous vacation images and videos in an attempt to attract users. While you can leverage this to your benefit, it’s not enough to get most users to click.
Even if they do click, they almost certainly won’t be enough to land the conversion. People typically will expect to see a landing page for that hotel, cruise, or vacation tour, not an agency.
Keep in mind that your travel agency ad doesn’t need to convince people to go on a vacation; most people are already very inclined to do so already. You need to convince them to hire you to take that vacation.
Many people who work with travel agencies do so for very specific reasons. They might be unfamiliar with international travel, need special accommodations, or be busy with work and just need someone else to book business accommodations. You need to tap into those reasons and highlight how you can help remedy the pain points that they have.
Ready to get started? Let’s take a look at some of the best travel marketing campaigns and ads to draw inspiration from.
4 examples of travel agency advertisements to get inspired by
Both search platforms (like Google Ads and Bing Ads) and discovery-based platforms (like Google’s Display Network, Facebook Ads, and Promoted Pins) are incredibly valuable for travel agencies.
You can use search platforms to show ad campaigns to users who are searching for services like yours, and discovery platforms to proactively reach out to users who are in your target audience to let them know that you’re there. Both have their place in marketing, and you can even set up a funnel using Google Ads lead form extensions to find high-intent traffic, and discovery ads to retarget to them. LeadsBridge also offers lots of integrations for Google Ads lead form extension. Find some of them below.
Explore all available integrations for Google Ads lead form extensions here.
Travel agency campaigns on Google Search Ads
Search-based ads should immediately convey value and highlight your brand USP to stand out from the rest.
Travel Leaders
This ad from Travel Leaders does several things well.
They first stress that they have local agents with award-winning expertise. That’s a stand-out feature. They also mention that the agents can get you exclusive deals and put together personalized vacations.
Lastly, they use Google Ads lead form extensions wisely to add links to high-intent pages like specials, deals, “why us,” and inspiration. These might all appeal to users at different stages of the sales funnel, increasing their clicks overall.
Go Wheel the World
Remember how we mentioned earlier that audiences work with agencies for highly specific reasons?
Go Wheel the World has a specialized service for a very specific need: Accessible travel.
This ad goes all in on talking about accessible travel and how people within the disability community can be confident that they’ll enjoy a vacation of a lifetime without running into issues that other agencies may not be familiar with.
Travel agency campaigns on paid social platforms
Paid social platforms include Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, and Promoted Pins. These platforms surely have travel campaign ideas you can learn from. You can target cold audiences, or use custom audiences or Facebook Conversion Leads to retarget warmer audiences. Checkout out LeadsBridge’s integrations for Facebook Custom Audiences and Facebook Conversions API below.
Take a look at all of our integrations for Facebook Custom Audiences and Facebook Conversion Leads.
Muscatine Travel
The ad from Muscatine Travel is casting a wide-reaching net, letting users know that they offer family vacations, business travel, honeymoons, destination weddings, and more. This can help capture as many potential members of their audience as possible, and they use a “learn more” to shoot for a seemingly low-risk, no-pressure click. This is placed right above “70 years of experience” to establish credibility and trust.
When creating such ads, you may also use free LUTs to give your photos an instant one-click makeover.
Levon Travel Bureau
This is a great example from Levon Travel Bureau of how you can use a gorgeous image while still placing the focus on your agency and not the destination.
This ad has a very specific offer, focusing on Armenia trips in particular. They highlight the personalized expert live agents. They also put an emphasis on “shop local” from Armenian-American businesses, which is important to a decent percentage of the population.
Facebook Travel Ads
Facebook travel ads are effective and can drive a boatload of customers to your tourism business. This is because there are over 2.98 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2023. That’s a lot of reach for your business. Moreso, research revealed that the average click-through rate for the travel and hospitality industry is 0.9% which gives the industry an average cost per click of just 63 cents.
Facebook created the Facebook travel ads for businesses in the travel industry. The ads are customized for travel businesses. It helps advertisers to create and present offers that show the availability and pricing of travel locations to users based on where they are traveling to and when they want to travel.
These ads help advertisers reach potential users who want to travel, drive conversions through retargeting ads and expand their audience.
Below are examples of Facebook travel ads and Facebook tourism ads.
Source: HubSpot.net
The pic below is an example of a Facebook Tourism ad.
Source: HubSpot.net
Facebook Travel Ads best practices
Here are a few travel ads best practices to show you how to target tourists on Facebook Ads:
- Target people who’ve recently experienced a life event or changed their relationship status. For example, newlyweds might be looking for a romantic getaway, while someone who just graduated may be interested in exploring new places. By combining these targeting options, you can reach a specific audience interested in your offerings.
- Keep seasonality in mind. It wouldn’t really make sense to advertise a trip to the Philippines during Monsoon season, right? This would end up hurting your travel agency’s credibility. So, be mindful of seasonal patterns and trends to hit your prospects at the right time with the right ad.
- Target people who are already familiar with your brand, to a certain extent. For example, people who’ve searched, viewed content, or initiated checkout on your website or app but haven’t proceeded to purchase yet. After you’ve done some testing with this simple targeting, use the performance metrics from your campaigns as a baseline to decide whether or not you should add more targeting options, test narrower audiences, or expand your audience.
- Exclude from your travel ads audience people who have already made a purchase (bought a plane ticket or reserved accommodations) within the time period you’re targeting, to provide a better customer experience.
- Try using a 0-7 day window and a 8-30 day window to run your travel ads. Here’s a pro tip: For shorter windows, use a higher bid (your more recent visitors may be more valuable because they are more likely to convert); for longer windows, use a lower bid.
- Combine different targeting options. For example, you can target families who are looking for fun activities by combining “Travel” and “Family” interests with specific local attractions such as amusement parks, museums, zoos, and the destination they’re visiting.
- Don’t create multiple campaigns that target people based on device. Instead, select every available ad placements to allow Meta’s algorithm to allocate your budget based on performance across the placements. If one placement begins performing better, then the algorithm will automatically allocate more budget to that placement to help you reach more people.
- Set up integrations to capture lead information quickly. It’s not enough to just get lead information; you’ll want to act on it right away. Make sure you have integrations set up so that all new Facebook lead information is sent straight to your CRM and sales team. CRM software assists salespeople in optimizing their daily schedules and prioritizing tasks so that customers are not overlooked and key prospects are contacted on time.
Tips on how to write a travel ad
Travel ads are essentially made of 4 fundamental components:
- A breathtaking image
- A compelling description
- A captivating headline
- An actionable CTA
So, focus on each of these components and draft your travel ads copy by following these steps:
- Spark users’ curiosity with a teasing description that will compel them to keep reading to learn more. Do so by asking questions that tap into their pain points.
- Get in touch with the reader by addressing an issue you know they’re facing. Look for a common ground, a shared understanding that will make them connect with you.
- Tap into their aspirations and desires, taking them from reality to possibilities.
- Use sensory language to help them picture themselves elsewhere (on a tropical island with a daiquiri in their hands, for example).
- Now that users are in the right mood, bring the story full circle and introduce yourself as the one that will make all of that happen.
- Deliver a powerful call to action to invite them into an experience with your travel agency.
Travel advertising trends
Travel demand is at an all time high and, when it comes to travel advertising trends, there are a few that stand out.
Eco-tourism is on the rise
Travelers are increasingly concerned with being able to support and actively engage in eco-friendly and ethical practices. This traveling trend aims not only at sustaining the natural environment, but also at benefiting the local people. Positioning yourself in such a high-potential niche will definitely give you an edge in the travel industry.
Video content is key
In this day and age, distributing visually appealing, professional videos on high-growth platforms like TikTok and Instagram is a must if you’re looking to expand your target audience and website traffic potential. This may feel like a big investment of time and money, but it’s one that is expected to pay off.
Partner with influencers
Partnering with influencers and micro-influencers allows you to access a whole ecosystem of content creators who can help you build an authentic storytelling that will get their communities of followers interested in the travel experience with your agency.
How to advertise your travel agency: Final thoughts
When running ads for your agency, it’s always important to keep the following tips in mind:
- Focus on user pain points. Think about what types of clients you have and why they come to you. Base your ads and your targeting around this.
- Highlight the value of what you can offer. There’s something unique about the business that gives you an edge; find ways to highlight what makes you great, along with anything that’s trust-building or value-offering.
Ready to automate your sales funnel with travel agency ads and automated integrations? Check out the travel software integrations we offer here.
