In order to build a successful travel agency, one needs to advertise it adequately. Surveys conducted in the travel and tourism sector show that many travel entities do not spend the necessary amount of resources on the advertising front.
The surveys also point out that travel companies make the mistake of channelling their marketing strategies towards one particular target group when the services they render are more suited to another group.
Under these circumstances, it becomes even more crucial to ensure that travel companies know how to raise an advertisement/marketing budget and then learn how to spend it well. While dealing with an ‘advertising budget for travel agency’, companies must have a clear vision about the direction where they want to head.
The first step towards having a designated monetary reserve or budget for advertising purposes is to carve out a well-thought-out marketing strategy. Once a company knows very well what it is doing, the money that is kept for advertisement and promotion gets better treatment.
Since a solid marketing plan is a bedrock on which the success of a travel company, especially in its early stages, depends, it is deemed wise to invest enough time and energy to draw it up. While doing the same, one should consider the understanding of the target market, plus the competitive position that the enterprise has in the industry.
Another prime consideration is to figure out how that target market can be best reached via existing marketing channels. This is the only way a company can stand apart from its competition.
Therefore, the ‘advertising budget for travel agency’ is central to a company’s overall marketing plan. With the amount of money allocated towards advertising your products and services, you will see the outline of the costs of reaching your marketing goals within a particular time frame.
In this Pathfndr article, you will read about the six methods by which an ‘advertising budget for travel agency’ can be drawn up. Even though the following list is non-exhaustive, you can be confident that we have picked the most important ones.
Have a Clear Idea About Your Sales Funnel
To get to a final advertising budget, one needs to dive straight into the sales funnel. This is where one will find the results of the whole revenue cycle of the company, from the prospect to the customer. Once this data is retrieved by members of your assessment team, the sensible move will be to harvest this pool of information in your company’s marketing automation software or CRM.
A thorough check would yield you vital information about where the company stands – the number of site visits, leads generated in a single month, how many leads were converted into opportunities, and the usual value of a brand new deal.
Make a Note of Your Operational Expenditures
The second integral point to remember while dealing with the theme’ advertising budget for travel agency’ is to have a clear idea of how much the company is spending to keep itself operational. Answers to queries such as the cost of time and labour it takes to deliver contacts, the capacity of your staff to handle this sort of workload, and the amount of money being used to cover employee benefits.
Having figures on paper or in the computer system related to these issues will make you aware of the company’s spending habits in a more precise manner.
Shape an Advertisement Budget Based on the Agency’s Goals
If you ask the CEOs of the most profitable travel companies about the secret to their success, chances are most will tell you it is the goal-based marketing strategies that worked wonders for them. This same approach could very well work for you. So, first, you have to set about asking yourself a set of critical questions before taking action.
Firstly, a company’s top brass should clearly view the business targets for a particular quarter. Secondly, the leaders need to figure out the objectives of the enterprise not just for a single quarter but for the whole year, or even three to five years, for that matter. Thirdly, the owner and the top associates of the company should prepare a list of contacts they believe should be handed over to sales teams based on each closing rate of each. This way, you would get a solid estimate of how much the company could profit within a given time period.
It is common for up-and-coming travel agencies, having an annual turnover of around 5 million dollars, to keep about seven to eight per cent of their company profits for the advertisement department. However, this fund is more likely to take care of a host of areas of the marketing side of the company, starting from brand development costs (websites, blogs, and sales collateral) and promotion costs, plus events and campaigns.
This type of attitude, of keeping only a fraction of the profits for marketing and advertising needs, can stop a company from genuinely expanding. Instead, the money to be saved for advertising should be decided after extensive discussions and analysis.
Think of Advertisement as an Investment Rather than a Cost
What many travel companies make the error of doing is that they look at marketing and advertising as an unwanted cost. It is something that should be done away with. This approach toward advertising causes more harm than good. Instead, marketing and advertising should be seen as a tool to expand the company’s presence in the market.
We live in the digital age, and the better information is spread to people, the more chances are that someone out there will learn about the company and its services. With travel and tourism being a people-centric business, it becomes even more crucial to try and reach out to as many people as possible.
Have In-Depth Knowledge of Current and Future Market Trends
If you understand the market is evolving in the travel sector, it will undoubtedly aid you in tackling the budgeting process more tactfully. Every industry goes through changes over time; the travel industry is also morphing with the coming of new fads and trends. To keep ahead of the pack, one must educate oneself about the various market forces at play on a constant basis.
To that end, you must make sure that your marketing team is technologically up to date and know what is happening around them in real-time. For example, if your company depends on email advertising, then taking advantage of fresh features like contact insights, email scheduling, and email tracking becomes a non-negotiable aspect of your marketing game plan.
On several occasions, travel enterprises react to ill-perceived news about a marketing solution and integrate the same inside their organisation. The end result of this is seldom productive. When a new idea is played with without resorting to proper research and checks, it shows a lack of seriousness on the company’s part to actually sit and assess its validity.
While dealing with an ‘advertising budget for travel agency’, the people in power should pay heed to traditional market dynamics and signals from the prominent social media market. Focusing on the end-users, the sort of communication channels they are most likely to use, and the type of message you are willing to send to them – taking these into account will help in moulding a sensible advertising budget.
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So, that will be our five dominant ways through which you can have a better roadmap on ‘advertising budget for travel agency’. If you are planning to open a travel business site and do not precisely know how to go about it, feel free to check out the AI-powered travel operating system named ‘Pathfndr’.
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