Before I get right into the meat of the matter I think it’s pertinent to just briefly offer some clarity as to exactly what travel marketing is, just so that we’re on the same page (and in case you haven’t read and understood the “about me” section of this blog). So travel marketing is what it says on the tin โ marketing for the travel industry.
Basically, you get paid for it by just writing blog post reviews about your sponsor. But travel marketing entails promoting the travel industry, often involving various methods to generate income beyond just writing blog post reviews about sponsors. Email marketing, for instance, can play a pivotal role, subtly enhancing your communication through the utilization of efficient email management software, such as simplelists. This can take the form of newsletters or travelogues. Another potent technique is affiliate marketing. By collaborating with relevant brands and promoting their products or services, you can earn a commission for every sale generated through your unique affiliate link.
To further boost your revenue stream, consider using the Conjoint analysis tool or similar alternatives for market research. This approach enables you to understand consumer behavior and preferences, allowing you to tailor your content and marketing strategies to better align with your audience’s desires. It’s like peering into the minds of your readers, delivering precisely what they seek in their travel experiences.
Keep in mind, while receiving a free ticket to an exotic destination from an airline in exchange for a mention or review is undoubtedly appealing, when your travel marketing endeavors need to constitute your livelihood, it becomes imperative to explore additional ways to increase generated revenues. So, the question arises โ how do you go about it?
This is a question for the ages because there are indeed many people who aren’t even established as travel marketers as yet, but they need some solid incentives to make the effort to get into the industry.
Everything you do is a monetisation opportunity
Okay, so check it out โ I’m not suggesting you become one of those “Instagram tourists”, who have lost the essence of what traveling is all about and mainly travel just to take pictures for likes and follows. In fact, I’m warning you against becoming one of these guys because you can just buy IG likes and followers if you want to boost your social media. No need to take a selfie in the same spot 5000 other people have. That’s not going to get you standing out from the crowd.
That said, everything you do in your life is indeed an opportunity to make money in some or other way. You just have to find a way of getting paid for it. The money you’ll potentially make won’t necessarily materialise right then and there, but naturally, you’ll want to be able to make that money as quickly as possible.
So what you do is just look for ways in which whatever you dedicate your time to can pay you now or later, such as how you’ll instantaneously earn a commission for something like referring people to an accommodation booking site if they complete that booking via your affiliate link for example, albeit the money will only be able to be cashed-out later on.
If you visit a particular restaurant maybe then you can write a review and publish ads around that review on your blog to earn Pay-Per-Click revenue, to make another example, but the best way to increase your travel marketing revenue is by having the action you take pay you in more ways than one. If you’re a travel marketer who makes money playing online casinos for example, you would have a go at the casino to increase your chances of winning, but the winnings thereof won’t be your only source of revenue generated out of that action. You can perhaps write an e-book or create a video course about the betting strategy you used to amass your winnings.