Whether you’re just starting out in your career or you’re a long-time veteran, you need to know how to effectively use a call-to-action to build your business.

Let's say you've just finished writing a new blog post about visiting Puerto Vallarta this winter. You look at your content and think it flows well — in fact, it looks pretty dang good! You did exactly what you wanted to do: writing a clear, concise headline, opening paragraph, a lead sentence, and a few additional paragraphs of rich content that supports the main point. Now you're ready to hit the publish button to send your content out into the blogosphere….but wait!!

Before you even consider hitting publish, you need to take a step back and look at your post objectively. Put yourself in the shoes of your reader and ask yourself, “will my post elicit the response I’m looking for from my audience.” If the answer is no, you have a problem, and it probably has to do with your CTA.

Getting your call-to-action right should be one of the most important pieces of your sales and marketing strategies.

What is a Call-To-Action?

Simply put, a call-to-action is your way of getting your client or prospect to take action by interacting or engaging with your marketing efforts. It's very important to make sure that your target audience knows exactly what you would like them to do and how to do it. Your call to action should be easy enough to understand and even easier to use. We’ve all heard that the most important part of the sales cycle is “Asking for the sale.” Think of your CTA as “Asking for the sale” when it comes to marketing.

For example, when you visit a new website or receive an email campaign from a business, they typically promote something like "sign-up for our newsletter" or "enter your email for a 20% discount." Those are all examples of a call to action. We've all seen that little button at the bottom of a Facebook Ad that says "Click to learn more..." or maybe the traditional "Contact me today!" Smart business owners will use a call-to-action to create a sense of urgency ("contact me before it's gone...") or just to make it easier to transact with their business ("email us at:").

Chances are that, as a travel advisor, you have an email newsletter, you have a website, you've run a few Facebook Ads, and you've even tried some sort of print ad campaign. Without an effective Call-To-Action, you're essentially providing free content to your audience without the opportunity of converting them. Even I've been guilty of it though. I wrote an incredible newsletter, highlighted several promotions/deals, and then clicked the send button. After 24 hours, I received no calls, no emails back, and no inquiries of any kind. I looked back at my analytics to see what I might've done wrong because it says that 20% of my database opened my email, so SURELY I should've gotten something. Then it hit me, there's no call-to-action!! I forgot to tell them how I would like them to contact me to take advantage of the deal. I had a quality marketing piece, but it fell flat because I forgot to tell my audience what to do with this wonderful information.

Why do CTAs matter in your travel business?

When it comes to marketing initiatives, it’s all about reach, clicks, conversions, and bookings. Reach has to do with the number of people that see you are marketing to, whether through a newsletter, print ad, social media, etc. Your goal is to focus your efforts on your desired target and keep track of how many people you intend to reach vs how many people you actually did. Next, and probably the most important, is clicks. Out of the people you connected with, how many of them actually interacted with your marketing initiative? This is where your CTA comes into place. If you have a strong CTA, you have a higher chance of getting your audience to engage. The more clicks you have, the better opportunity you have to convert them into clients, which inevitably leads to more bookings.

As the internet continues to rise and mobile websites/apps take hold of our businesses, it's vital that your travel agency is utilizing and optimizing clicks that can lead to conversion, connection, conversation, bookings, or user intent. Most travelers, even before they book a trip, research their destination using online tools. According to a millennial travel statistics, 85% of millennial travelers spend their time visiting different travel websites before making a decision on where they want to go or what they want to do on vacation.

Travelers today are getting smarter and more informed, and their buying decisions are influenced more by the brands they connect with on social media. People want to interact with companies that share the same visions and core values as they do. This is why having a unique call-to-action (CTA) is so important for your business.

Now let's take a look at different CTAs throughout the Travel and Tourism industry.

WEBSITE CTAs

The moment someone decides to go on a dream vacation, they may be bombarded by many different websites that offer airline tickets, hotel rooms, cruise amenities, and flight deals.

While all of these sites are designed to make it easy for their users to book a cheap flight or hotel room, many times this information can get lost in the design. For example, right below an airfare that costs $300 per person could be a button saying “BOOK NOW”.

Hotel and resort websites use a variety of CTAs. An example of a well-written Call to Action is Ashford Castle's "Discover the magic of the estate," which tells users what they'll experience during their stay and how booking this experience will bring it to life. Another is Ritz-Carlton's "Explore Europe" CTA encouraging travelers to visit some exclusive gems of the European continent.

CTAs can also come in many shapes and sizes: CTAs of Destination Management Companies (DMCs) like Pacific Destination Services, "Start A Conversation" prompt their website visitors to get in touch with them. Another great example is from Ovation DMC: "Sign Up to our Newsletter to get the latest travel/event updates”, or their "Say Hello" to route visitors to their contact form.

When clients visit your website, are you directing them to do anything specific or asking them to interact with your business in any specific way? A very simple example, aside from a newsletter sign-up, is to offer a lead magnet like a packing checklist or travel guide in exchange for their email. Make interacting with you and your business as simple as possible!

SOCIAL MEDIA CTAs

Shareable content created by a client can be one of the most authentic and cost-effective ways to show how travelers experience destinations. However, while most social media platforms include a "like" or "share" button on their pages, many of them have no call-to-actions whatsoever—just visuals and links.

Most of the time, the DMCs use buttons for social media to get people to "Like" or follow their pages. 15% of the travelers aren’t looking for the Big Ask (aka the hard sell –the ultimate conversion-to-booking). They just want to browse around until they find something they like, then they want to be able to reach out to you as easy as possible so they can inquire about what they’ve found.

When trying to get someone to make a reservation with you, you have to remember that they probably are not ready to do it once they visit your social media platform. If you send clients a link that says "Book Now," they will probably skip it and go back to what they were doing. However, if you provide them with a reason why they should contact you now, there's a much better chance to secure that lead.

So, when you're sharing photos of your destination content that asks people to get in touch with you through your social media account, try using something like: "Learn More," "Send a Message," or "Get Started." Or on Instagram, "check out the link in our bio for more info" These CTAs give travelers a sense of control and allow them to schedule their trip at their own pace without feeling pressured into buying something immediately.

FACEBOOK AD CTAs

When you're running a Facebook ad, one of the most important things you can do is include a call to action. Thankfully, Facebook almost forces you to include some sort of call-to-action, so it’s easier to remember. Your job is to decide what exactly you would like your client to do from the Facebook ad.

The clickable CTA button is a game changer. You might have noticed that for a few years now, Facebook has had clickable CTA buttons built into the native interface.

A good call to action for your travel agency is one that it tells your potential clients exactly what they need to do—and it's written in such a way that it sounds like an instruction, not an option, but provides them the autonomy to feel empowered to do it on their own.

For example, if you were selling for a land package, your call to action might say something like "Get Your Tickets Now!" or "Book Today." The words "now" and “today” implies urgency and encourage readers to take immediate action.

Another great example is when you're running a limited-time offer for a trip and want prospective clients to complete their purchase now instead of later, you could use CTAs like: "Buy Now," "Shop Now," or "Last-Minute Travel Now On Sale." If your goal is to get them interested in planning their next trip using your company, then you might want to say something like "Plan your next trip," "Call us today,” or "Request a quote.” That way, when people click on the button, they'll see more information on how to connect with you or about how they can use your services for all kinds of travel needs —not just one particular vacation package.

Facebook CTAs are a powerful tool that can help you convert inquiries into clients. The idea is that you can use these CTAs to reinforce your ads in order to increase the likelihood of your client contacting you and utilizing your services.

NEWSLETTER CTAs

As I mentioned above, writing a newsletter is a great way to stay in front of your prospective clients. These are usually people that opted in to receive your newsletter, so they are already somewhat engaged in wanting to read or receive your content. When creating CTAs for your newsletter, you should make sure they stand out from the rest of the text. A great way to do this is by using a button, a link, or just by changing the font/color of the CTA.

Here is a list of 15 easy-to-use and very effective CTAs to use in any situation—

1. Contact me today
2. Get in touch
3. Take advantage of this great deal
4. I want more information
5. Learn more
6. Take me there
7. Sign up for free
8. Buy now
9. Download today
10. Book a free consultation call
11. Discover your escape
12. Subscribe now
13. Join now
14. Get started
15. Let's begin

What are the Key Takeaways? 

Your conversion rate is directly related to the message you send out. The message you want to send out is one that will ask or entice your audience to take action. Try not to bombard them with tons of information right up front. The key factor for a successful Call to Action is to make sure the visitor will not feel that they are being forced to do something. If done correctly, your CTA would be hard to resist and will start turning prospects into paying, avid travelers.

What makes a good call-to-action placement? The answer is simple - it's using eye-catching images, working with the right words, maintaining consistency and continuity throughout the CTA, and most of all, making it straightforward for your travelers where to click or what to do. Nowadays, we have many different CTA elements to choose from, but they are not all the same, and some work better than others. It's important to remember that even the best marketing initiatives can work to improve their CTAs. See what works for your business and modify it until you get the best-intended results!