Reconsidering Marketing Strategies: Blog Content vs. Email Marketing in the Travel Industry

Less than five years ago, starting a blog was a prominent marketing focus in the travel community. The SEO benefits were appealing, and travel blogging promised a broad audience if you found the right niche. While many travel blogs remain strong, email marketing has gained significant attention in recent years. With its low cost, high ROI, and simplicity in engaging customers, there’s a growing question of whether sharing content via email is more effective than posting it on a blog.

To clarify, this isn’t about choosing one approach over the other. Blog content creation and email marketing are distinct types of content, each with its advantages.

If you’re a new travel brand contemplating where to focus or wish to adjust your marketing strategy, it’s essential to consider both options thoroughly. This guide will assist you in that exploration.

### The Benefits Of Blog Content

Blogging has been around for decades, offering numerous benefits. If you’re a large travel brand with a website or a dedicated traveler sharing stories, blogs are invaluable.

For brands, blogs can significantly boost website traffic and reach potential customers beyond traditional advertising. Companies with blogs typically experience 55% more visitors. From an SEO viewpoint, a regularly updated blog enhances search engine rankings by targeting long-tail keywords and supporting commercial pages.

Moreover, blogs facilitate link building, again boosting search rankings. They help establish your brand as an authority, offering valuable insights and building a reputation as a reliable information source, which increases brand awareness and customer growth. Blogging also helps define your brand’s “voice,” enhancing recognition and image consistency across channels.

### The Benefits Of Email Marketing

Email marketing offers comparable benefits to blogging, whether through newsletters, guiding customers down the buying funnel, maintaining contact with existing customers, or boosting engagement.

Commercial brands often use emails to promote products, but in the travel industry, it’s a medium for content and customer communication. One significant advantage is its low cost, ideal for small businesses or individual travel bloggers. Initial effort allows running campaigns efficiently, even without much experience, and its ROI is impressive.

Audiences engaged through email provided their contact details, indicating interest, leading to higher interaction levels and conversion success. Uninterested recipients can opt out, optimizing resource usage.

Emails personally delivered to inboxes generate more interaction, building closer brand relations. Regular emails keep brands top-of-mind for customers poised to make travel decisions, ensuring regular contact and fostering a stronger brand-audience relationship, leading to increased conversion rates.

Another benefit is that emails are exceptional for distributing personalized content. Most consumers are more likely to purchase from brands offering personalized experiences, and tailoring emails with relevant content can significantly grow your audience.

### Audience Engagement

Comparing email marketing and blogging isn’t productive as they serve different purposes, often working concurrently within broader strategies. However, audience engagement offers intriguing comparisons. Engagement is crucial for customer experience, brand image, repeat business, and growth. In the competitive travel industry, it’s a common goal for improvement.

Travel blogs can boost engagement with interesting, emotive, and valuable content that excites the audience. Once a reader visits your site, prompts can encourage exploration of other content, reinforcing your brand and guiding them toward conversions. However, attracting these initial readers is crucial, and making a lasting impression is paramount.

Modern consumers face overwhelming content choices and limited time, seeking easily accessible content rather than searching. This is where email excels. Blogging remains valuable, but for on-the-go consumers, engaging emails with curated stories are often preferred over actively seeking blog content.

Blogs for detailed content still have a place, but in an age of short attention spans and demand for instant gratification, email marketing plays a critical role in reaching today’s consumers.

### When Should You Create Blog Content?

No clear “winner” exists in the blogging vs. email marketing debate. Here’s when blog content might be preferable in your travel marketing:

– You can produce substantial content.
– Your audience enjoys long-form, informational pieces.
– You excel at crafting engaging and emotionally resonant content.
– You have a pre-existing blog with returning readers.
– Your brand emphasizes sharing unique insights alongside bookings.
– You aim to target long-tail keywords for SEO.
– You wish to increase website traffic.
– You seek to establish your brand as a thought leader.

### When Should You Create Email Content?

Certain situations favor creating email content, such as newsletters:

– Limited resources favor manageable, short newsletters.
– A small marketing budget is available.
– You write shorter, engaging content effectively.
– You wish to build community and closer customer relationships.
– You have substantial existing content to share.
– You aim to advance potential customers down the buying funnel.

### The Best Way Forward

Ideally, incorporate both blogging and email into your strategy. Email marketing includes varied methods, from automated reminders to personal messages sharing stories and advice. Newsletters often link to blog content, seamlessly integrating the two approaches.

Combining these methods provides the best results. Start by creating engaging blog content, then use it to fuel email communications to actively build community and engagement. Established brands likely use both techniques already, and it’s worth maximizing email impact on engagement while keeping blogs updated.

New brands should assess these aspects based on their goals and resources. Both email marketing and blog content are powerful tools for establishing a recognizable brand image and engaging audiences. Rather than choosing one, consider each format’s value to today’s consumers to achieve optimal results.