Why digital marketing is great for the river cruise industry

Digital marketing has taken off in a big way. So big in fact, that the UK is set to become the first country where 50 percent of marketing is digital. Now, that is a large percentage.

Therefore it stands to reason that businesses and companies across the UK really should start taking their digital marketing strategies seriously, even if their demographic, product or services didn’t previously lend themselves to a digital approach. The river cruise industry is one such sector that may not have thought their offering is best advertised digitally. With a primarily silver demographic, traditional methods have been thought to be more successful, but this article will look to show you how times have changed.

Your demographic has a growing relationship with digital marketing

First off, why digital? TV, print media, even radio may have been working fine for you so far, but times are changing. Now it doesn’t matter what the age of your demographic is, everyone is online and using online devices to search for holidays and cruises. According to a recent study carried out by Deloitte, 90 per cent of 55–64 year olds use the internet — a stark contrast considering the figure stood at just 52 per cent back in 2006.

On top of this, the research-based nature of booking travel is changing the media landscape for reaching this lucrative group. By this we mean that consumers have a lot more control now than they did in the days of using travel agents and are conducting their own research before booking. Thanks to the internet, this research has been made easy as such research questions can be instantly answered by those in the know.

Where are they turning to for information? They’re using search engines such as Google, browsing social media, reading advice from river cruise bloggers such as those who write for Cruise Critic, River Cruise Advisor and The River Cruise Lady, and asking questions in cruise forums such as those created by Cruise Critic and Cruise Mates. As a provider of the product they might be researching, you need to meet your target audience in these places with marketing that has proven its effectiveness: SEO and PPC, digital display marketing on relevant sites, engaging with cruise bloggers and influencers through content and social media marketing.

We recently looked at the top digital channels to target the over 50s and the findings were quite astonishing. Market research found that over 50s often feel as though digital marketing isn’t aimed at them. This puts the ocean and river cruise sector in a great position to target this demographic directly. Of course, with the rise of tablet and mobile phone usage people can now browse the internet virtually anywhere they please.

How destinations are influencing your digital marketing

There is also the potential to reach travellers whilst they are travelling thanks to river cruise providers and new European laws. With European rivers being the destination of choice for British travellers (83.5 per cent of river cruises from 2009–13 were Europe river cruises according to the latest Mintel river cruising report), the online experience open to travellers in Europe is especially influential on your marketing.

People will soon be able to get online to browse for information or share their holiday snaps wherever they are in Europe, without the current worry of high costs that stands in the way of this potential. They can upload as they go with many river cruise operators now offering a strong WiFi connection on board the ship, and the European Commission is planning to end roaming charges in June 2017 to allow more freedom to get online.

It is our job to stay ahead of the market and find out what your competitors are up to and while you may have guessed already that they are putting a significant focus on digital marketing, they are also broadening their offering. Choice is key. No longer is it enough to offer the traditional river cruise routes: operators are offering more destinations to discover.

Moving from Europe through to Asia, river cruising is going down the route of expansion to deliver a broader choice to its customers, whilst retaining its unique appeal of smaller ship sizes compared to ocean cruising and a greater number of interesting ports to visit.

You can use this to your advantage in your marketing. These new destinations are visually rich in terms of architecture and nature, so use these inspiring images where you can. For digital this could mean including powerful imagery in video for display marketing, content marketing and across social media.

What to do now

To speak about ways in which you can best promote your product offering and brand across digital channels just use the digital contact form on our site, or give us a call. You’ll be amazed by our ideas and enthusiasm for your brand.

Image Credit: Attila Schmidt, shankar s. (flickr.com)