The Importance of PPC Marketing in the Cruise Industry

PPC marketing is one seriously powerful marketing discipline. Its potential to bring in high intent users is well documented. But if you aren’t putting yours to good use, there are all sorts of opportunities you could be missing out on.

If you’re a cruise brand looking a little lost at sea right now, then this article is for you. Here we’ll run through how PPC marketing is used in the broader travel sector, and then the cruise industry itself, as well as what you can do to start truly benefitting from the power that PPC marketing has in store.  

How is PPC marketing used in the travel industry?

In theory, PPC marketing in the travel industry is similar to using PPC marketing in any other industry. You’ll still pay a fee each time one of your ads is clicked, bid for ad placements and keywords and be creating quality landing pages to capitalise on the clicks.

However, the difference lies in the way you’ll approach some of these tactics, which we’ll take a look at below…

Be patient

PPC gets results, and it gets them quickly. That’s one of its biggest benefits. In the travel industry, however, buying a holiday is a far longer purchase process compared to, say, buying an item of clothing. When there are hundreds or even thousands of pounds to be spent, buyers want to take their time scoping out destinations and accommodation. And sometimes, that might mean months – and it’s easy to get deterred by this perceived lack of buys.

However, you’re more than likely still engaging your audience, they’re just biding their time before they checkout.

Target high purchase intent keywords

Staying competitive is tough when you’re limited by your budgets. One way to remain ahead of your competition is by spending on keywords that create more high value conversions. So, a long-tail keyword like “things to do in Florence” would be geared more towards people who are just doing initial research, rather than users who are ready to make a purchase.

Instead, try putting more budget towards keywords that have high purchase intent, such as “buy tickets to Florence”. This targets users who have done their research and are ready to book something.

Multiple touchpoints

Your targeted audience will need a fair amount of persuading if they’re to part with their cash. Make sure your ads can be seen across both organic and paid search results. This way, every time your audience does a search, you’ll be in full view and always in mind once it’s time to buy.

Think about niche, but related, activities

This is where multiple touchpoints will come in handy once again. A travel audience will mostly be thinking about destination bookings and hotels, but there’s plenty of opportunity to make money from other travel-related activities.

Activities and experiences like sightseeing tours can be promoted through PPC ads too, as users will be looking for something to enrich their holiday with once they’re abroad.

Get your copy on point

PPC ads to say a lot with a little. And in the travel industry, you’re selling more than just a holiday – it could be a memory your users will treasure for a long while to come. Once you have your demographic info, if they’re a family with kids for instance, tailoring copy in ways that speaks to them becomes a lot easier. 

How important is the use of PPC in the travel industry?

There’s no shortage as to the benefits of PPC marketing in the travel industry. If you’re thinking of adding PPC to your marketing mix but you’ve been a little on sceptical side, here’s how it can help with optimising conversions.

The highly trackable nature of PPC marketing provides actionable data on things like conversions cost-per-click (CPC), engagement, and other really valuable metrics. From a ROI perspective, this means travel businesses can refine and amend things as needed – and get more bang from their budget.

Speaking of amending things, PPC marketing gives a huge amount of control over paid travel campaigns. Budget, keywords and channels are all in their hands, so they can target potential buyers in the places they spend the most time online.

And on the topic of budget, the way PPC marketing works means that campaigns can be put in motion without much money. And if brands need to scale back during unpopular seasons, then they can easily do so, and then allocate money elsewhere.

The great thing about PPC leads is that they’re ready to buy. As we’ve already said, they’ve done their research and they know what they want. And with the right keyword research, they’re far easier to capture compared to colder leads entering the funnel through other means.

Five tips for PPC marketing in the cruise industry

To improve your PPC strategy’s chances of success, give these useful approaches a go…

Carry out competitor analysis

Cruise businesses are a competitive bunch, so competitor analysis is going to be essential. When you know what other brands are doing, and what they’re bidding on, you can update your PPC strategy, so your paid search marketing starts outperforming theirs.

Understand your audience

Who do you want to target with your tactics? Demographic data on age, location, hobbies and needs can all help to paint a picture of your ideal audience, all of which makes tailoring ad copy and keywords to these segments a lot easier.

Seasonal adjustments

The popularity of cruise bookings come in waves, fluctuating as the seasons change. To benefit from the peaks and troughs, cruise businesses should adapt their spend accordingly, allocating it elsewhere during quiet periods and putting more money behind their ads when popularity spikes.

Optimise on efficient periods

Likewise, we’d suggest pushing your best deals at peak times of the year so you can give your brand the competitive edge when it’s needed the most. This way, you’ll aim to land a higher return on your investment.

Know when to pull back

During the times of the year where bookings aren’t coming in, it’s a good idea to pull back spend and only use budget on branded terms. Putting money behind broader terms like ‘Best Cruises 2024’ won’t get much in the way of traffic or performance.

Download our 2024 cruise industry trends report

You’ll find even more PPC marketing insights inside our latest research report The Cruise Industry Trends of 2024 – So Far by filling in your details below and giving it a download.

You’ll also discover which search terms proved popular during the first six months of the year and what cruise brands should do more of so they can optimise their digital marketing performance.

Don’t have the resource to keep your PPC strategy ship shape? Our Paid Media can handle that for you, creating paid activity that keeps customers coming back again and again. Head here for more or give us a call on 0345 459 0558.