The best online advertising tools in Russia for the tourism industry: TRAVEL DIGITAL MARKETING
We have previously discussed the significance of digital marketing for promoting the travel industry on our blog. Today, we will explore various online promotion channels from a customer journey map (CJM) perspective. Which advertising channels should be used at what stage so that a traveler becomes your loyal customer after their first trip?
To start, you will need a customer journey map. Where can you get one? Simply enter your email and download a pre-made CJM for two types of travelers.
Regarding the promotion of your travel business to the first category (married couples, aged 40+), please refer to our article “Travel Market Segmentation: A Key to Better Understanding of Russian Customer Needs.”
In this article, we will focus on promoting your travel business (destination) to the second category, using only online travel marketing channels. Let’s take the example of Oleg, a 28-year-old freelancer from Moscow who enjoys solo travel to countries with rich cultural heritage.
During the research stage, Oleg turns to the internet to decide on his destination. His first step is to read comments about different cities on the pages of his favorite travel bloggers.
Advertising with Russian travel bloggers
One of the key online travel marketing trends in 2018 that continued into 2019 is the use of microbloggers (those with around 10,000 subscribers) for promotion. This trend extends to travel bloggers as well, as their publication rates are typically lower and their audience more loyal.
What is the process of finding travel bloggers in Russia?
First option: To find travel bloggers in Russia, you can start by clicking on hashtags such as #трэвелблогер (#travelblogger) or #трэвелблог (#travelblog). This will allow you to browse through thousands of pictures and profiles, analyzing them to find the highest quality content in terms of pictures, texts, engagement, and comments. For more guidance on working with travel bloggers, check out our article “Brand Ambassador: How to Work with Opinion Leaders in the Russian Market.”
Second option: If you’d prefer a simpler approach, you can always turn to Quarter Billion Agency Travel for assistance. We’ll take the time to understand your offer and your preferences, and then select the best Russian travel bloggers for your needs.
Who will gain an advantage?
In general, any player in the travel industry can benefit from collaborating with travel bloggers. However, it is crucial to carefully select bloggers to avoid fake accounts and an unengaged audience.
After consulting travel bloggers, Oleg creates a list of cities he would like to visit. He then conducts online research to learn more about the countries and cities, such as visa requirements, landmarks, entertainment options, hotels, and restaurants. At this stage, the most effective promotion channel would be your own website, which Oleg can discover through contextual ads.
Yandex and Google Contextual Advertising
To succeed in the online market in Russia, it is essential to advertise in both search engines. While launching an advertising campaign in just one may seem like an option, it’s important to note that you could potentially lose almost half of your potential customers. According to LiveInternet, 53.5% of internet users in Russia have used Google for search in the past three months, while 43.5% have used Yandex. In February 2018, the gap between Google and Yandex was even narrower, with 51% of Russians using Google and 45% using Yandex.
As depicted in the chart, Mail.ru holds the third spot in terms of popularity among Russian search engines, with a usage rate of 2.7% among Russian users. However, we won’t be discussing this service’s relevance for launching context ads. More than 70% of Russians utilize Mail.Ru as an email service, making it the top email provider in Russia.
Who will benefit?
Context ads can be a suitable advertising option for any travel business with a website, but it requires some adjustments, especially when targeting the Russian market. One important factor to consider is the location specification or ads geography. Russia is a vast country spanning over 17 million sq. km, and tourists from different regions of the country have different travel preferences.
For example, if you are promoting a hotel in Finland, it is important to note that this destination is most popular among residents of Saint Petersburg and northwestern parts of Russia. However, it may not be as popular in the Far Eastern region. Therefore, you may want to exclude the Far East from your publication venues or set up a separate campaign with a lower rate and budget specifically for this region.
After narrowing down his options, Oleg has selected three cities: Madrid in Spain, Rome and Naples in Italy. His next step is to compare the prices of air tickets and hotel rooms for these destinations. In this situation, Oleg can turn to aggregator websites like Aviasales and Booking.com. The question now is, how can a travel business attract Oleg’s attention to their particular offer?
Advertise in Popular Aggregators in Russia
The popularity of online booking websites for flights and tours is on the rise. As you may have noticed, when it comes to searching for travel-related queries, such as buying tickets, booking hotels, or purchasing tours, aggregators often rank highest in search results. This is why advertising partnerships with such services typically yield better results compared to other ad placements.
The main advantages of advertising on aggregators are:
- Wide audience reach. For example, the monthly unique audience of aviasales.ru is 10 million users, with 89% located in Russia.
- Targeted audience. Aggregators allow filtering of user queries based on geographic location, frequency of travel, travel destinations and dates, and more.
- The opportunity to place ads through various channels, including banner advertising on the aggregator’s website, special offers, email marketing to the aggregator’s database, ads on social media platforms, special projects, and more.
Who will benefit?
Any entity operating in the travel industry, be it a country, an airline, a hotel or a tour operator, can reap the benefits of advertising and partnering with aggregators. Among the best options for advertisement is Aviasales.ru, which is one of the largest ticket aggregators in Russia.
The aggregator’s advertising opportunities are diverse and effective. Some key statistics about its audience include:
- 10 million unique page views monthly and 30 million page views in total
- 61% of the audience is aged between 25 and 44
- 89% of the audience is from Russia, with 53% from Moscow and 16% from Saint Petersburg.
Ideas for Placing Ads:
- A variety of advertising opportunities are available on the website, including banner ads (such as banners, top placements, pre-rolls, special offers, and underlays).
- Sending emails to the subscribers’ database is a direct way to communicate with an audience of almost half a million. The communication style used by the website’s experts ensures a high open rate, as they write purposefully, incorporate humor, and don’t hold back.
- You can also advertise on the service’s social media pages which have a combined subscriber base of over half a million users. These include:
VKontakte (214,000 subscribers)
Facebook (179,000 subscribers)
Instagram (148,000 subscribers)
Twitter (38,000 subscribers)
Odnoklassniki (14,000 subscribers)
- Special projects generally refer to interactive campaigns, such as contests, sweepstakes, or quizzes, that engage users with the brand and offer them a chance to win prizes like airline tickets, hotel bookings, or other rewards.
Oleg is struggling to make a decision because the tour prices for the cities he selected are nearly identical. However, he unexpectedly receives an email from an aggregator with a limited-time offer to go on a tour to Madrid, the city he was interested in when searching. To make things even better, this offer is only valid for the next three days.
Email Marketing
Various agencies estimate that the open rate (OR) of travel emails in CIS countries, including Russia, is not particularly high, ranging from 14% to 25%. However, it’s essential to keep in mind that users often take their time to decide on their travel plans, including where to go, which airline to use, and where to stay. Email marketing is one of the few tools that can help travelers not only learn about your offer but also save it for when they are ready to make a decision. It’s easier for users to find an email with an offer that interests them rather than searching for it online. Additionally, the competition online is high, and users may come across a competitor’s offer that piques their interest, causing you to lose out on a potential customer.
Who stands to gain?
Collecting a database is crucial before starting an email campaign, as emailing is not effective with only one contact in the database.
For tour operators, it is usually easier to collect subscribers as users subscribe to get last-minute tour information and special offers. However, if you are a hotel owner, one option is to use advertising or bartering placement through a database of tour operators or email marketing.
For more information on how to set up effective email marketing in the travel industry, refer to our article on Email Marketing for the Travel Industry.
Social Media Advertising
Another effective channel for promoting travel offers during the exploration stage is through targeted ads on social media. Targeting is particularly effective for special offers such as discounts on accommodations or last-minute tours. In addition to the abstract goals of gaining new page subscribers, building brand awareness, and promoting travel services on social media, it is important to set specific objectives such as generating a certain number of leads within a designated budget.
When examining the social media usage statistics among Russian users, including tourists, it becomes apparent that the top 5 platforms are as follows:
- VKontakte (for more information on how to publish on this platform, see our VK Ads: A Type Guide blog post)
- Odnoklassniki
- YouTube (which is an excellent platform for placing online ads, especially if you have visually appealing videos)
Who will benefit?
As previously mentioned, if you have a last-minute offer, social media can be a great way to quickly generate leads and orders. In fact, targeted ads, much like contextual ads, can effectively promote a wide range of travel services and offers when tailored to your specific needs.
It is important to carefully analyze your target audience when selecting which social media platforms to use. For instance, if you’re offering last-minute tours to Turkey, VK with broad geo-targeting settings may be the best option. Conversely, if you’re promoting business travel services, your target audience is likely on Russian Facebook with geo-targeting set for major cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
By implementing these strategies, you can effectively utilize two additional digital promotion channels, which can help you gain a ready lead and increase the likelihood that Oleg will choose your offer.
Air ticket purchase stage: If Oleg decides to purchase air tickets on his own rather than opting for a ready-made tour, airlines that offer flights from Moscow to Madrid should customize their context ads with relevant queries and promos on their website. Additionally, they can collaborate with aggregators to make their offer stand out from the rest, such as securing a top placement in the aggregator’s search results.
Booking stage: Once Oleg has purchased his air ticket from Aeroflot.ru, he will likely move on to selecting a hotel through booking.com. At this point, hotels can seize the lead by utilizing context ads or by offering the best price in their segment on booking.com, which requires monitoring competitors’ price dynamics. Additionally, user reviews and ratings can heavily influence Oleg’s decision, as seen in the Top 3 hotels in Madrid.
The hotel with the highest rating of 8.6 “Excellent” is the leader, and its prime location in the heart of the city was particularly valued by travelers who are willing to pay a premium for proximity to the city center. The second hotel gained popularity for offering a good quality-price balance. On the chosen dates of June 1 and 2, the third hotel became the Best Seller due to its lower price compared to competitors and a special offer available for staying there.
After choosing a cheaper hotel, Oleg plans to take a drive to neighboring cities and decides to book a car in advance by searching on Google for “book car Madrid”. The competition for this search query is even higher than for air tickets and hotels. If your business is related to car rental, optimizing your budget and adjusting your context ads with the most relevant queries should be a must-have on your checklist of marketing tools for promoting your services in the Russian market.
Throughout and after his trip, Oleg leaves reviews about the hotel on booking.com and shares his travel experiences on his social media pages. It is the objective of every player in the travel industry to ensure that travelers have a comfortable and unforgettable vacation experience, with the hope that they will return for more trips in the future.
By using solely digital marketing channels, it is possible to steer a traveler from deciding to travel to purchasing tickets. At each stage of the customer journey map, a range of advertising channels can be utilized, both online and offline. Don’t hesitate to try out different strategies and run experiments.
Keep in mind that the professionals at Quarter Billion Agency Travel are here to assist you in selecting the most effective advertising tools for promoting your travel business in Russia.