Whether you’re a casual group planner or a group travel pro, marketing is one of the most powerful tools to bolster group awareness and exposure. You’re not the only one looking for ways to maximize group travel marketing efforts and boost group engagement. And when it comes to group travel and planning a successful group trip, you bet those fruits of marketing can significantly help solo planners and agencies gain new levels of sustainable growth and attendance. 

Knowing that group travel marketing is the backbone for long-term success is one thing, but knowing the right steps to ensure those favorable outcomes is another. Below are some fundamental tips that can help you advance your group travel marketing efforts and gain those desired attendance numbers you’ve been aiming for. 

Plan Ahead and Stay Ahead 

Whether you’re a solo group travel planner or part of a full-fledged agency, one of the best things you can do marketing-wise is planning ahead to stay ahead. This means analyzing what your trip forecasting looks like, either 6 to 12 months ahead of time, and creating a structured plan to get people excited about it. That can involve monthly or weekly newsletters, leveraging SEO to influence organic site traffic, and knowing your target audiences to develop strong relationships with them long-term.  

During this phase, it is also recommended that you examine the current travel trends based on age group as well so you can tailor your marketing approaches to gain the best possible traction. Remember, this will be ongoing and will likely alter continuously as the market demands/expectations change. 

Send Direct, Personalized Emails

Believe it or not, email marketing is still a powerhouse way to draw people in and communicate with your audiences in this day and age. Why? Because just about everyone uses email and the majority of them check it daily. Not to mention with smartphones being nearby, people can get notified of new emails as they come in, making it nearly impossible for your outreach to be missed. 

Due to the prevalence of spam, knowing how to effectively market using email is where the real secret to success lies. To make the most of your email marketing, make your headlines and content as personalized as humanly possible such as using first names. You can also support click-through rates by adding words such as ‘discount’ or ‘travel’ into the header as well. Lastly, think about integrating a short video in your emails to catch and retain attention faster. Just be sure to not make your video too long (keep it less than 2 minutes) because then your campaign email could be sent straight to spam folders. 

Offer Deals and Discounts 

Another group travel marketing technique to get people excited about upcoming trips is to offer deals and discounts. For example, if your goal is to get more college-aged people on your trips, then consider offering student discounts to entice them to come on board. In addition, if you aim to have more seniors in your group, senior discounts are another thing you can propose to drive more engagement and attendance.

When it comes to deals, package deals when people sign up with more than one person or trip is another effective way to have successful group trips now and in the future. This could also involve a referral program where people who refer new travelers get discounts. The short and sweet of it is that people love saving money, they love packages, deals, and discounts. If you want to up your marketing game, having those as highlights can be the very thing to boost those group travel numbers. 

Grow A Strong Social Media Presence 

There are about 1.69B people worldwide on Facebook and over 1B people on TikTok across 150 different countries. So, if you want to broaden your outreach and expand your traveler attendance, then you have to be where they are. This marketing tip starts with building a strong social media presence and forming those deep interpersonal relationships with others both locally and internationally. You can do this by posting quality content frequently, interacting with your audiences, and perhaps forming groups where like-minded people can come together and talk with you more on a personal level. 

The only thing to be careful of here is to not recycle content constantly to where it becomes too repetitive. According to HubSpot, 21% of people will unfollow a brand on social media they bombard them with repetitive content. Go ahead and grow that following on social media using videos/text/streams and start gaining a loyal following that way, but be sure to remain creative with your approach and switch up your messages every so often to keep them fresh. 

Group Travel Marketing For Newfound Success

Group travel is such a unique industry to tap into, primarily because it is something everyone can enjoy. Traveling domestically or worldwide in a group setting is an experience that people of every age and background can partake in to feel more connected, unified, and culturally enriched. And you guessed it – the best way to get that message out is none other than mindful, strategic marketing. 

Therefore, group travel marketing should include wholesome, yet strategic approaches that increase group engagement and ensure a successful trip every time. It should help motivate, inspire, and generate wanderlust for the second to none group trip experiences you’re offering. 

Better Marketing with GroupTools

GroupTools can help you leverage these marketing tips for your upcoming group travel arrangements because if you genuinely want to have a successful group trip with high attendance (now and in the future), then it all starts with getting the word out. With built-in messaging both in-app and through email, social sharing, and invitations built for engagement GroupTools provides an ideal way to organize better group trips and support your marketing goals. Visit grouptools.com/for-suppliers and complete the form to learn more.