The Lead Gen Problem You’ll Love to Solve

Have you ever had guests you couldn’t get rid of?   It’s like they’re taking advantage of your goodwill and time.  That’s how it is for many travel agents who must suffer through travel shoppers who are poorly qualified leads for one reason or another.

It’s hard to believe, but some of my clients had such time and energy-wasting visitors. And I may have been responsible for leading them there.

In my defense, a few clients enjoyed massive traffic, including Delta Hotels whose traffic rose from a rate of 1.2 million per year to 2.5 million.  In that case, the benefits greatly outweighed the problems.  Yet, within that wide swath of visitors were some that weren’t the highest quality prospects. Salespeople would quietly complain that the leads were weak and full of friction.

While SEO and Google were blamed, perhaps justifiably, the real issue was these poorer leads actually thought the content/business was ideal for them. They read and dwelled on product/booking/service pages and then contacted sales like good customers should. Yet, the problem was more than the source, type of consumer, and what those visitors expected.  It was that the content strategy didn’t have a process of filtering out the poor-quality leads – the website tried to convert them all!

What very few content experience people have developed is a way to speak only to good prospects while discouraging the less qualified prospects. And in this post, I introduce you to some useful ways to deal with this matter.

Question: Have You Earned the Conversation with the Best Travelers?

When small companies just start out with SEO and social media, and PPC campaigns they draw lower-quality leads. For instance, if you rank down the search results pages, you tend to draw fewer high-intent visitors. They’ve visited websites above yours and that skews their shopping perspective. So, these leads may be a little tainted.

Most managers wouldn’t turn that crowd away though. There is value there.  In this case, we need to do two things: ensure our persuasion funnel is very focused, and use techniques to communicate incompatibility with the least qualified visitors.

Startups and other companies just now launching into search marketing are achieving their first visibility thus consumers aren’t familiar with them. They don’t know initially that you’re not right for them, because your content appears welcoming to everyone who visits. And perhaps your offer contains an enticing freebie, discount, or financing option which peaks their interest even more.

With so much traffic from Google, all travel sites will draw poor, medium and high quality leads.  With respect to SEO and social media, it takes time to earn the respect of quality customers – so the real issue is that the weak leads are turned on by your offer, and the high-quality leads don’t value your offer. Therefore, you haven’t earned the right to speak with the good quality travelers.

And stats show us they take up to two months to make a travel decision. In this way, you need to build comfort and familiarity first before they contact you. Your branding, offer and content actually determine which of these leads contact your travel agents or advisors.  It’s the same in any industry from real estate to software.

We Want Action from Only the Best Leads

Yes, there are many creative things we can implement to ensure these “low-hanging fruit” leads (which many marketing companies specialize in) don’t reach your sales staff.

With this lead gen “iron dome” defense 😂, we’ve got a system that repels them, and actually helps deliver only the best leads.

In fact, here’s a lead filtering statement to guide our ideal lead funnel:

To draw only the best new leads, we’ll focus your SEO and content strategy on high-intent keywords, niche audiences, relevant photos, and premium travel experiences to attract qualified leads.

We’ll create targeted, value-driven content that sets clear expectations and appeals to travelers with specific interests and higher budgets.  We’ll use lead scoring, gated resources, and pre-qualification tools to filter out low-quality prospects, ensuring your travel advisors engage only with serious, high-value customers. And we’ll use analytics tools to continuously refine the online content experience to perfection, to nurture a pipeline of quality leads and deliver exceptional customer experiences for both your sales team and your new clients.

If you’re in sales, you’re likely singing right now.

Let’s Break the Process Down into Identifiable Steps:

1. For SEO Tactics, Use Well-Targeted Intent-Driven Keywords

• Focus on high-intent keywords that indicate a readiness to book or purchase. For example:
  • “Best luxury travel packages to Italy”
  • “All-inclusive family vacation deals”
  • “Honeymoon resorts in the Maldives with pricing”
• Avoid broad or vague keywords like “cheap travel” or “last-minute deals,” which may attract price-sensitive or low-quality leads.

The key here is that tone of voice, keyword selection, copywriting, headings, topics, destinations, experiences, and narrative should speak and resonate with your ideal travelers.  By taking an audience-of-one targeting strategy, we’re more likely to build the right solution for the right ideal audience.

2. Create Content for High-Value Audiences

• Develop content that appeals to your ideal customer profile (ICP). For example:
  • Guides for luxury travelers, business travelers, or niche markets (e.g., adventure travel, eco-tourism).
  • Detailed itineraries, destination guides, and tips for travelers with higher budgets.
  • Use visual, videos, photos that involve your ideal customers – images are worth a 1000 words.
• Avoid content that caters to overly price-sensitive audiences, such as “how to travel for free”, “affordable destinations” or “cheapest ways to travel.”

3. Use Gated Content Strategically

Create imaginary barriers that require a little more effort, thus ensuring they do have the desire and intent to purchase. They must provide their email and contact info, giving you something in return for your effort. Make mention once, that your packages aren’t for bargain hunters. It’s blunt but might be effective.

• Offer high-value resources (e.g., exclusive travel guides, personalized itinerary templates) in exchange for contact information. This ensures that only serious prospects engage with your sales team.
• Use lead qualification forms to gather information about budget, travel preferences, and timeline before connecting them with a travel advisor.

4. Leverage Long-Tail Keywords

Develop more extensive content on long tail keyword phrases which zeroes in on their travel desire more specifically.

• Long-tail keywords often attract more qualified leads because they reflect specific search intent. For example:
  • “Luxury safari tours in Tanzania for couples”
  • “Best time to visit Japan for cherry blossoms”
• These keywords are less likely to attract low-quality leads compared to generic terms like “cheap flights.”

5. Optimize for Local SEO

• If your travel company serves specific regions or destinations, optimize for local Google SEO listings to attract travelers who are serious about visiting those areas.
• Use location-based keywords like “luxury travel agency in New York” or “best tour operator for Italy trips.”

6. Set Clear Expectations in Your Content

Try to be transparent about your UVP and who you cater to.

• Use your content to pre-qualify leads by setting clear expectations about pricing, services, and the type of travelers you cater to.
• For example, include phrases like:
  • “Our packages are designed for travelers seeking premium experiences.”
  • “Contact us for personalized, high-end travel planning.”

7. Create a Lead Scoring System

• Use your website forms and CRM to collect data that helps you score leads based on quality (e.g., budget, travel dates, destination preferences).
• Direct low-scoring leads to self-service resources or automated tools, while high-scoring leads are routed to your travel advisors.

8. Use Paid Ads to Target High-Value Audiences

• Complement your SEO efforts with paid ads targeting high-intent audiences. Use platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads to focus tightly on demographics, interests, and behaviors that align with your ideal customer.  This helps save your ad budget and helps you learn which ads produce the best leads (analytics).

9. Develop a Blog Strategy Around High-Value Topics

• Write blog posts that appeal to travelers with higher budgets or specific interests, such as:
  • “Top 10 Luxury Resorts in the Caribbean”
  • “How to Plan a Private Yacht Vacation”
  • “Exclusive Cultural Tours in Southeast Asia”
• Avoid topics that attract bargain hunters or low-quality leads.
• If your SEO is building a broad foundation to capture greater visibility to travel bloggers, vloggers, influencers, journalists, using generic topics, then ensure it is written to encourage upscale prospects.  This way, you achieve your outreach goals, but it doesn’t create poor leads.

10. Monitor and Refine Your Strategy

• Use analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, ahrefs/SemRush SEO software, Search Console, and travel marketing software) to track the quality of traffic and leads coming from your SEO efforts.
• Identify which keywords and study the content pieces that are driving high-quality leads and double down on those.
• Adjust or remove content that attracts low-quality prospects.

11. Educate Your Audience

• Use your content to educate potential customers about the value of working with a travel advisor. Highlight the benefits of personalized service, expertise, and time savings.
• Communicate the message that your service is perfect for those like the personalized advisory service.
• This can help attract leads who appreciate the value you provide rather than lower prices.

12. Implement Chatbots or Pre-Qualification Tools

• Use chatbots or interactive tools on your website to pre-qualify leads before they reach your sales team. For example:
  • “What’s your budget for this trip?”
  • “When are you planning to travel?”
  • “where do you wish to travel?”
  • “what duration will your trip be?”
• This can help filter out low-quality leads and ensure your travel advisors only engage with serious prospects.

The Challenge with Google Traffic

Google often rewards content that appeals to many types of travelers which goes against the above system. If your content is extremely specific and targeted, Google may feel it’s not worth presenting to the greater audience which can hurt your SEO strategy.

If it’s only your most ideal customer who sees your link in search results, it means influencers, bloggers and journalists may not. That kills your outreach stategy. This is why your website content must have clear messages to guide purchase behavior but still welcome others to explore your trip packages, tours, company, and strengths and see their merits.

This way, you’ve got a shot at achieving the best results from Google’s prestigious search platform.  See more on Google’s ranking algorithm and how to optimize your content.

Conclusion

A full digital marketing strategy is going to draw pleny of unqualified leads. It happens.  But we can review where the worst are coming from, and make content changes to let them know up-front, that your trips/tours/agency isn’t the one for them.

See more on some travel marketing services which I’ll gladly customize for you.

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