The travel industry is unusually savvy when it comes to digitalization. As such, the success of individual travel companies depends heavily on who can stand out most amongst the competition. Here are 5 examples of companies that are, without a doubt, doing something right.
According to The Consumer Barometer Survey of 2015, more than 50% of Germans reported informing themselves about products and services online before making a purchase, while nearly 40% of Germans use a search engine to guide their research as opposed to directly accessing brand webpages.
Travelers’ online researches before purchasing
The travel industry is no exception to the ever-increasing trend towards online, pre-purchasing research. In fact, the travel industry epitomizes a brand’s elemental need of optimizing its digital presence when seeking maximized sales and brand recognition.
For example, while 84% of travelers research airplane tickets online before making a purchase, 78% of travelers do the same for hotel bookings, and 45% use online means to inform themselves of bus and train schedules and ticket prices. Yet 6 out of 10 potential travelers make a purchase after viewing only 1-2 different brands, making sales highly competitive and increasingly dependent on a brand’s optimized digital visibility.
Potential travelers make a purchase after viewing only 1-2 different brands
As a lack of digital visibility may spell defeat for brands who opt out of developing their online presence, a handful of brands within the tourism industry have not only recognized the trend towards online research, but have optimized their digital marketing strategies so as to best capitalize on the growing significance of digital visibility. Let’s take a quick glance at what these digital rockstars are doing right:
Organic Search Results – FTI
The key to organic search results? Quality content and engagement. Through a combination of valuable individual content, user-generated content, and a strong informational architecture, FTI naturally ranks high on search engine results – leading it to be one of the first two brands most users research before making a purchase. Additionally, FTI’s appealing and responsive design inspires trust between brand and customer.
Paid Search Results – Booking.com
Keywords. They matter. And Booking.com has noticed. With a huge keyword portfolio highly integrated into ad titles, and ad titles featuring multiple display extensions both via mobile and desktop searches, Booking.com has raised the standard of paid search results as a means of increasing digital visibility and subsequent sales.
Social Media – TUI
This year, Forbes published an article titled “Five Reasons You Can’t Afford to Ignore Social Media.” TUI was way ahead of them. With regular posts packed with high-quality audio and visual content, as well as responsive online customer support, TUI leads the tourism industry in followers and growth with both Instagram and Twitter, while ranking second in followers and growth with Facebook. TUI’s use of social media platforms has boosted its digital visibility and, consequentially, its sales and brand recognition.
Affiliation & Referrals – L’TUR
Through establishing affiliations with leaders in the online travel industry such as Trivago and Urlaubsguru, L’TUR has racked up almost 200 affiliated websites that constitute the brand’s strong hold on referral traffic within the tourism industry. Connections with airports, hotels, and the entertainment industry have fostered L’TUR’s commendable digital visibility across multiple platforms.
Brand Building – Novasol
While FTI, Booking.com, TUI, and L’TUR have established fluency in a number of digital marketing strategies, none have had the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of Novasol. In fact, between 2013 and 2016, Novasol’s branded search has risen 13%, making it one of the leaders in branded search growth throughout the tourism industry.
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And so you have it – digital visibility is arguably the new form of a brand’s mere existence. For more information on these examples, download our visual guide on the Rockstars of Digital Tourism.
Interested in an outside-in analysis of your brand’s digital visibility? Connect with us at travel@ommax.de.
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