Digital PR strategies that maximise results for travel businesses
Emma Bertie
With 80% of global travellers researching their trips entirely online, there’s no doubt a strong digital PR strategy can help enhance your visibility online. But as the digital PR landscape continues to grow and develop it may be time to rethink your strategy.
Whether you’re a boutique travel agency or a global hotel chain, adopting a new tactic or digital PR strategy can help you better meet the needs of your audience and boost brand awareness in a highly competitive industry.
But what strategies should you use?
Reactive is key
Given how fast-paced the travel industry is, timely and reactive responses can make a huge difference when it comes to standing out from the competition. Whether managing crises or leveraging trending holiday destinations, reactive PR enables travel brands to stay relevant and strengthen connections with their audience.
It’s not just about commenting on anything however, its about offering a unique and valuable perspective or data point on a trending topic relevant to you. By reaching out to relevant journalists covering the story you can explain how your unique information can add value to their story and gain great coverage.
For example: Following a new update to passport requirements, a travel expert explained everything tourists need to know about updating passports to avoid a fine
The travel industry is highly susceptible to crises, whether due to natural disasters or other unforeseen circumstances. Effective digital PR is essential for managing your reputation and navigating these crises. By having a reactive digital PR strategy, you can monitor public perception, address negative feedback swiftly, and communicate transparently during crises. This not only helps in maintaining a positive brand image but also reassures travel agents and customers of your reliability and professionalism.
Highlight unique expertise through thought-leadership
Thought leadership is another great tactic travel companies can use. You can use your travel expertise to create thought-led articles to share with journalists. This can involve pitching travel guides, advice and destination trends, to showcase what your company offers. This demonstrates that you have authority in your area and establishes your business as a thought leader in the industry.
For example: Sharing travel inspiration and advice on the best beaches in Jersey
Given the seasonality of the travel industry, it’s important not to switch off outside of peak times. Whether you are a ski chalet company with peak sales in the winter or a European travel agent with high volume requests in the summer, you can also use your off-season to prepare your top performing pages for peak performance in the season.
Access to any proprietary data will also help identify newsworthy hooks that can be put into an article. For example, if there were a large number of bookings for a particular destination you offer, it could create a story that would generate coverage with reputable travel or national publications.
Collaborate with influencers
Collaborating with travel influencers can be a great way to expand your audience and connect with relevant audiences. Travel influencers and bloggers will already have their own following that already trusts what they say and promote. The right influencer can be your best friend when trying to publicise your travel company. Offering exclusive experiences, press trips, or early access to new offerings can help strengthen these relationships and this user-generated content can be repurposed across various marketing channels, extending its reach and impact.
Value beyond links
While gaining backlinks is a key objective of digital PR, the benefits of staying up to date with digital PR trends extend far beyond this. Trying new tactics such as collaborating with influencers can unlock additional value, such as:
Broaden your media coverage
Diversifying your tactics opens opportunities to be featured in a wider range of media outlets, from niche blogs to mainstream publications. Whether it’s building links in top travel publications like Condé Nast Traveller or local regional press, getting coverage in these publications will help you reach new audiences and drive them back to your website.
Stronger relationships
Offering fresh, compelling content can strengthen connections with journalists and influencers who are always looking for unique stories.
Social media coverage
Creative approaches like working with influencers on social media, can drive higher engagement rates and foster a loyal community online.
A good digital PR strategy offers travel companies a powerful way to increase visibility, build trust, and position themselves as industry leaders. But if you’ve been doing the same thing month after month and seeing minimal results, it may be time to rethink your strategy. From leveraging reactive strategies and sharing thought-leadership content, the options are vast. If you’re a travel business looking to enhance your digital PR results, get in touch to find out how Distinctly can help.
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