Planning a vacation can be hard work. You have to pick a destination, make a checklist of every city attraction you want to see and find a travel company that can accomplish it all within a budget. Facebook Insights reports that the average traveler hits 56 digital touchpoints when planning a vacation. Because of that, it’s crucial for Brands to attract Travelers along their entire buyer’s journey—from daydreaming to clicking that “book now” button. How do you accomplish this? Connect with prospects at every stage within the sales funnel: awareness, engagement and conversion.

Awareness – A.K.A Dream Phase

When prospects first think about traveling, they spend time browsing online for inspiration. To build recognition, brands need to make sure they have branded content available in the digital realm. Utilizing branded media banners, video content and brand awareness ads across Instagram and Facebook introduces consumers to a brand and keeps it top-of-mind for when they decide to plan a vacation. Your messaging doesn’t need to be very detailed, just focus on identifying the brand and one brand characteristic, such as if the brand offers independent or guided vacations.

Engagement – A.K.A Research Phase

Once travelers have decided on their destination, the heavy lifting begins. They will dive deep into researching travel brands that can deliver all of the different experiences they expect out of a vacation. At this stage, brands need to position themselves in the right place, at the right time, with relevant messaging that will draw travelers in to explore their offerings. This can be accomplished by including non-branded keywords in search, click-to-website ads on Facebook and Instagram, as well as text link ads and sponsored content with top travel publications. The key is to incorporate messaging that highlights a destination while still differentiating your brand from competitors.

Conversion – A.K.A Booking Phase

At this point, travelers know where they’re headed. They’ve done their research across travel brands and they’re ready to click “book now.” Leverage retargeting to ensure that travelers are ready to book. A few ways to accomplish this are through Facebook conversion ads and programmatic banners. Target them based off website traffic, CRM data and on-platform engagement. Brands can also leverage partnerships with third-party email providers that have databases filled with travel-minded folks. Also, don’t forget to include branded search ads to make sure your website appears high on the search engine results page when travelers search for you to book their trips.

By creating the right touchpoints with timely messaging within each stage of the consumer journey, brands can keep travelers engaged from when they begin daydreaming about a vacation to when they actually book one. Interested in learning more? Reach out to us.