How to generate b2b leads online for your travel business

If you haven’t considered generating leads online for your travel business, it is high time you consider it now! According to reports, about 75-80% of ‘potential customers’ do a research online before talking to a salesperson. People always want to know ‘who are there in the business’ and ‘what are they offering’. It is human nature (and especially that of business owners) to first research and find out what products/services match their requirements, who are offering those products/services and what features do they offer (basically where do they differ). Therefore, it is essential that you start building your online presence for your travel business. Below are a few ways you can do that.

Ways to generate B2B leads online

1. Blogging
One of the best ways to generate online leads is via blogging. People like to see that you are ‘dedicated’ and ‘taking the extra effort’ to provide recent and useful content to people related to your brand or product. They will appreciate if you blog about the ‘news’, ‘recent updates’ to your product (or the technology you use), how the update is going to benefit them and what measures you are taking to make sure you are always up-to-date with the latest technologies used in building your product (if you are a travel software developer) or for your business (if you are an online travel agency). People want to know the changes or recent updates about your company. People want to know the changes or recent updates about your company. Posting such updates makes them believe that the website is ‘live’ and are more likely to at least read a few more pages about your brand/product (i.e. they will try to find out more about you). Having a blog for an online travel agency also helps people stay up-to-date with what the business is doing to make their customers’ travel better/safer/more convenient.

2. Use Social Networking Platforms
Although you won’t be able to generate online leads significantly via social networking platforms, it is a ‘must’ have your brand/product pages. People also find brands and products via social networking platforms. They want to stay up-to-date with your brand/product (and social networking platforms are a good way of doing that). A significant number of ‘fans’ or ‘followers’ on your social networking pages might build higher trust in potential customers. It is human tendency to believe that if a particular company has more fans or followers or is more famous online, it must be better than others (or at least better known). People will take the extra effort to know more about you before moving to your competitor’s website.

3. Have a very well designed website and social networking platform pages
Looks do matter! Your website design creates ‘first impression’ on your visitors. A well designed website is more likely to catch potential customers’ attention. Well designed Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn pages will do the same. By ‘well-design’, we don’t mean loaded with a lot of flash and animations. Design your website according to your target audience The design has to be simple, to the point and it must always clearly highlight the reason “Why should customers choose you”! Another benefit of having a simple yet good design is it to reduce the website loading time. According to a study, the longer the website takes to load, the more likely people are to close it and simply look elsewhere. It is necessary to catch people’s attention, it is necessary to look ‘unique’ but at the same time it is also necessary to look clean, simple and deliver the important message. Design your website according to your target audience. If you have a travel software product, it is necessary to highlight the ‘best features’ about your product first; if you are a travel agent or agency, it is necessary to highlight ‘why people should choose you’.

4. Stay in touch with your visitors (and customers)
If someone has visited your website but is not ready to buy your product at that moment, find ways to stay in touch with him/her (by asking to subscribe to newsletters or your social networking pages.