When you’re working in an industry with as many jargon terms the travel industry, it can sometimes be a confusing space to navigate when you’ve got travel marketing terms like ROI, USP and KPI flying around.

While, as travel agents, you may not be marketers, there are many overlaps when it comes to the successful attraction of new customers, retaining existing clients, and determining the success of how you’re currently doing that. So it’s important that you know what you’re looking for when analysing your online visibility and marketing!

We’ve put together a list of the top marketing industry terms that, as travel agents, you should know, in order to resolve some of those questions you might have when you see new terms or unfamiliar abbreviations. 

This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the time-saving solutions we offer travel agents, in order to be the best distribution partner we can be!

But for now, read on for our handy list of marketing terms!

A

Acquisition

This refers to the process through which you gain customers, and the steps taken to attract new audiences to your business - mainly through advertisements or online content.

Assets

In marketing, this is the visual elements of your adverts or organic content, such as images and videos that support your message.

B

Brand

It seems obvious, but this is the identity of your travel agency - it’s the way that your agency is perceived and experienced by potential customers! Identifying what makes you as an individual travel agent, and as an agency, unique is key to curating a strong, trustworthy brand image.

Booking Platform

The system which facilitates bookings. For example, our partners get access to our Bedsonline Booking Engine - a powerful, AI-driven booking platform which provides access to thousands of exclusive hotels and ancillary products around the world! 

Bounce Rate

A metric that refers to how many users land on, and then leave, a certain landing page on your website without taking action. This is important as it can tell you something isn’t resonating with your desired audience!

Buyer Persona/Audience Persona

This is a marketing term that describes the ‘ideal’ demographic your travel agency is appealing to, usually constructed from insights from existing customer data. Sometimes also referred to as an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

B2B & B2C

These are acronyms that describe ‘business to business’ and ‘business to customer’ marketplaces or relationships.

C

Campaign

In marketing, this is a set of activities designed to achieve a goal. Sending out a promotional email campaign for example, is a set of emails geared towards increasing awareness of an offering to increase bookings.

Channel

A method of finding and connecting with your users which is usually online; examples include email distribution, search engines, and social media platforms.

Content Management System (CMS)

The host for your travel agencies’ website! 

Content

Any piece of information that is created and then disseminated for an audience - from emails, blogs, your website, social media posts, to videos and even printed materials.

Cost Per Transaction (CPT)

A calculation of the total cost a company incurs for generating a customer transaction.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A term used for a database that is used to house and maintain customer information.

Cross-Channel

A type of marketing approach that ‘crosses’ over from one platform to another in order to be cohesive - it is similar to multichannel marketing, but involves the passing of data between platforms. Different from omni-channel in that cross-channel marketing does not unite this strategy under one ‘umbrella’.

Call To Action (CTA)

These are prompts that encourage a specific action from users - from ‘book now’ to ‘explore more’, which are usually seen in adverts or online content.

Customer Journey

This is a phrase that describes the relationship with your audience - from initial awareness to being a loyal customer. We’ve laid out some helpful tips for this in our guide to the 6 key stages of the customer journey!

E 

Engagement

This usually refers to the relationship that brands build up with customers over time. When analysing a marketing campaign, it’s used as a measurement to determine how popular (i.e. successful) a post or advert was.

I

Inbound Tourism

Tourism generated by visitors from foreign countries. For the US, this does not include domestic travel such as visitors from in-state, or ‘drive’ markets.

Inbound Marketing

This is the process by which you as travel advisors attract new customers. Similar to ‘Customer Acquisition’, this is the way that you create connections with interested audiences and meet customers at their stage of the journey - not going after a hard sell! 

K

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

This is used mostly when thinking about your marketing or business goals and how the success of these are measured. Each travel agency will measure success differently, but the most common KPI will be the volume of bookings.

L

Landing Page

An individual page on your website which users can interact with and navigate around.

Lead

This is a term used for potential buyers - members of your audience who have engaged with your content and are likely to make a booking.

M

Metric

An indicator used to tell you as advisors how well a campaign is performing - also used to analyze the engagement on website pages.

Multi-Channel

A type of marketing approach that uses more than one platform to attract customers, usually with cohesive messaging. This approach however does not share data between platforms.

O

Omni-Channel

A type of marketing approach that integrates all social platforms to ensure a consistent brand experience no matter where a customer interacts with your agency.

Online Travel Agent (OTA)

This is an online system, or platform, where travelers can reserve their own trips without the need for a traditional travel advisor. 

Organic Content

Any written or visual information/adverts that are posted on your website or social media channels and are not paid for, as in the case of paid advertising campaigns.

Outbound Marketing

Compared to ‘Inbound Marketing’, this is where customer attention is gained via methods like cold calling.

P

Public Relations (PR)

A key part of marketing campaigns - PR involves managing the information about a company which is accessible to wider public audiences.

Q

Qualified Lead

Similar to a ‘Lead’, this term is used for customers who are actively interested and receptive to previous marketing efforts and are even more likely to book.

R

Revenue 

One of the most important factors for any business! For travel agencies, this is the income generated from bookings, supplier partnerships and other sources, like PR strategies such as advertising partnerships or sponsorships.

Return on Investment (ROI)

A marketing term to analyse how effective a campaign is in terms of revenue generated in relation to advertising costs.

S

Sales Funnel

In marketing, this is the journey your potential customers go on when they make a booking with you! This is similar to ‘Customer Journey’ as it considers the steps that customers take when moving from lead, to buyer, to loyal customer.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is the process of using phrases and words commonly searched online (keywords) and other technical strategies to boost the online visibility of a website on search results pages like Google.

Segmentation

This is the process through which customers are split into groups - this can be based on their activity and history with you as a travel agency, from inactive to loyal customers; or it can be based on factors like demographics, needs, and spending habits.

Social Platform

Another name for social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Social Proof

Used to describe the phenomenon where people are more likely to purchase or trust a service/product after positive reviews from friends, or online forums. 

T

Testimonial

A statement made by existing or past customers which is positive in nature. Not to be confused with a regular ‘review’ which could be positive or negative!

U

Unique Selling Point/Proposition (USP)

This is used in marketing to refer to what makes your travel agency unique, or stand out, compared to your competitors.

User Experience (UX)

This refers to the design process of making a website or app easy for users to understand and navigate.

We hope you found this starter list helpful in your journey to understanding more about travel marketing!