Spent wisely, even the smallest advertising budgets can have a huge impact. This is the message from the Advertising Association, which found that advertising generates a faster increase in turnover for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) than larger businesses. In fact, for every £1 an SME spends on advertising, it sees eight times the relative impact on growth compared with a larger company.
However, the association’s recent survey of 1,000 SMEs found that less than a third advertise, with many concerned over the cost.
Director of communications Ian Barber says advertising doesn’t have to be expensive, explaining: “Many high-growth SMEs have had success with low-cost and local advertising. This includes local radio and newspapers, which offer an opportunity to attract a regionally specific audience, or online pay-per-click services that allow SMEs to monitor advertising closely. These are all channels that could work exceptionally well for travel agents.”
We spoke to four agents about their preferred advertising medium and how they measure return on investment:
Local newspapers
The advert: Carrick Travel director and owner Tracey Carter uses local newspapers to advertise events at Carrick’s nine branches in South Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the Cotswolds.
She explains: “Our Coventry branch has run some very successful events and we advertise them a fortnight and a week beforehand in the Coventry Telegraph. This is the ideal lead time, any earlier and people may forget about it.” The daily paper costs 55p, with a circulation of 25,000.
The cost: Each 17 x 15cm colour advert (above) costs £170, which Carrick splits with the operator helping host the event.
Measuring ROI: Carter counts how many free tickets are booked. The Coventry event typically attracts 40 customers, with half coming via the newspaper advert. She says: “They tend to be good quality customers. We also measure the return by whether people book, as the long-term value to advertising is attracting customers who are then on our database.”
Top tip: “Ask operators to provide quality imagery for adverts, and supply your own creative to keep it on-brand, even if design is included in the advert price. We find paid-for newspapers generate more interest than free publications.”
Local magazines
The advert: Kit Williams, manager of Wiltshire-based Silver Compass, promotes the Global member’s expertise and customer service through adverts in the monthly Box Parish Magazine, which has a circulation of 650 and costs £5.
The cost: Williams pays £150 for a full-colour A5 back cover (below) and £17 for a half-page black and white advert. In the past three years she has spent £650, explaining: “We have a tiny marketing budget so need to ensure advertising is free or we are confident one booking would cover the cost.”
Measuring ROI: Williams asks customers how they heard about the business, and in the past three years bookings generated by the adverts have totalled nearly £100,000. “It has been so effective for us, generating an astonishing return and the quality of customers has been great.”
Top tip: “I negotiated to write a free editorial each month, and this prevents our advert from simply becoming wallpaper in the magazine. We are trying to position ourselves as a local service, so if people have a travel question they can call us.”
Online advertising
The advert: Balham-based Travel Designers has advertised on Google AdWords for six years. Adverts normally focus on the hotel, nights and price for a specific deal, appearing next to search results. Travel director Nick Harding-McKay spends 30 minutes a day managing it.
The cost: There’s no minimum spend and advertisers only pay when someone clicks on an ad, which ranges from pennies to pounds. Harding-McKay sets his daily budget and a maximum spend for each keyword, spending £1,000-£2,000 a month.
Measuring ROI: Google Analytics shows statistics for each ad, and he can track customer spend. He says: “For every £1 we spend the ROI is £2.20, and we picked up one client who spent £100,000.” It recently opened its first retail store and in March won its fourth Global Travel Group Top Performing Agent award, and he says: “I put a lot of that success down to our online work.”
Top tip: “We have Feefo consumer reviews online and our five stars appear on our advert, so people are more likely to be drawn to our ad than a competitor who hasn’t got any stars.”
Local radio
The advert: For the past five years the Co-operative Travelmaker has advertised its two Jersey shops on Island FM, which attracts 54,000 listeners a week, and its Guernsey branch on Channel 103FM, with 34,600 weekly listeners. Written and produced by a radio specialist, adverts promote events and key booking periods.
Travel manager Darren Davison says: “During a typical two-week campaign they are repeated throughout the day to target different audiences.”
The cost: Two 30-second adverts cost £150 to produce and around £15 each time they air.
Measuring ROI: Davison notices clear booking trends when the adverts run, and asks shop managers to record where new enquiries come from. He adds: “When we opened the second Jersey branch people arrived saying they’d heard us on the radio, and when we ran a cheesy ‘yee-ha!’ style Independence Day ad we saw a big spike in US bookings.”
Top tip: “One weekend of radio adverts isn’t enough as people forget about you, and on commercial radio they are bombarded with ads. See it as a long-term campaign.”
How to measure return on investment
Gary Grieve, managing director, travel marketing specialist Capela Training, has these tips:
- Decide what you want to achieve and set clear objectives, such as attracting a certain number of people to an event.
- Ask where people heard about you, and attribute later bookings to the advert that generated the enquiry.
- Giving a freebie if people quote a code from your advert can help monitor interest.
- Always include a call to action, such as going online, phoning or coming into your shop.
