Scaling Travel Marketing | Tom Mcloughlin from SEO Travel

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Tom from SEO Travel, founder, with the company for more than 13 years. Tom, how are you doing today?

Tom Mcloughlin: I’m very well, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ernesto: No, it’s great! Thanks so much for being on and sharing a little bit about SEO and your expertise. So first off, Tom, let’s kick it off with that—in your own words, tell us a little bit more about your company.

Tom: Yes, we’re a marketing agency for travel companies. We help people in the travel sector get more clients through SEO, PR, email marketing, and social media. As you can tell from the clever branding, I wasn’t too inventive when we started out. I just put the two things together—SEO and travel—and it’s served us well until now. But as we’ve grown, we’ve added more to the marketing mix. We’re now a bit more of an umbrella marketing company for people in the travel sector.

Ernesto: Awesome, Tom, great to hear that. So that way our listeners get a good understanding of your company, what would you say is the key problem that SEO Travel likes to solve?

Tom: Our target audience is generally SMEs and smaller businesses. We focus on doing the most appropriate marketing for them. For many, that’s SEO and getting them more visible in search—if they specialize in holidays to Mexico, for example, we help them rank for relevant phrases. But we also delve into other areas, like conversions, engagement through marketing, or paid social to make the most of the traffic coming in. Ultimately, it’s about finding the best approach to help our clients get more business.

Ernesto: Perfect, awesome. So, is there a particular vertical or segment you like to focus on? Do you have an ideal ICP?

Tom: Yeah, definitely travel-focused. We’ve specialized in travel from the start, but we’ve also honed in on smaller businesses. Initially, we worked with larger enterprises, but we found working with smaller companies more rewarding. We enjoy the day-to-day interaction with other business owners, making things move quickly, and trying out new strategies. So, tour operators, accommodation websites—those are our sweet spot, particularly when it’s a smaller business.

Ernesto: Great! So, how would someone in the travel industry usually find out about SEO Travel? Is there a top client acquisition channel for you?

Tom: There are a few ways. SEO is a big one for us—we practice what we preach, so if someone searches for travel and SEO, we’ll come up. We also get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals. During COVID, we changed our business model and focused more on building our brand. We decided to give all our profits to educational charities, which gave us a purpose and helped with PR and marketing. It’s been successful in driving the business forward, growing the team, and gaining more visibility.

Ernesto: Great! Thanks for sharing that. For our listeners who want to check you out, they can visit SEOTravel.co.uk. What role does your website play in client acquisition?

Tom: For us, the website is about telling our story. It’s not just about getting found in search—once someone lands on the site, we need to engage them with our brand and what we stand for. We focus on explaining why we’re specialists in travel, the impact we make with our 100% initiative, and how working with us benefits our clients. We aim to align with clients who share our values. We also ensure our site has strong content to build trust and focus on user experience to drive conversions.

Ernesto: Some great strategies there. Are there any tools or methods you’d recommend to our listeners for website lead generation?

Tom: Email marketing is a big one for us. I think people often overlook it because it’s such an old channel, but we’ve seen great success with lead magnets and personalized automations. Segmentation is key—don’t send the same email to everyone on your list. We’ve also been investing more in video and case studies, using video content to build trust and engage people on a deeper level than text alone can.

Ernesto: Great insights. Let’s switch gears a little. As a leader, Tom, you’ve been with SEO Travel for over 13 years. What are some key tasks you focus on in your day-to-day work?

Tom: It’s a mix. I started as a freelancer doing all the client work myself—SEO, writing content, technical tasks. Now, with a team of 25, I spend more time on coaching, training, and helping the team with strategy. I also work on the vision for the business and how we operate. We’ve moved to a self-managed way of working, so there’s no hierarchy, and everyone manages their own roles and responsibilities. I’m also involved in sales and marketing, like this podcast, and recruitment, making sure we bring in the right people.

Ernesto: That’s awesome to hear. How do you stay up to date with trends and strategies in the marketing world? Is there a preferred channel you follow?

Tom: I’m a big podcast fan! I used to spend a lot of time reading the news, but I found it to be too much noise. Now, I prefer podcasts like The Tim Ferriss Show or Uncensored CMO for marketing. I also subscribe to a few newsletters and dip into blogs occasionally. But I believe in balancing trends with the core principles of marketing. The fundamentals that worked 50 years ago still work today—it’s just the channels that have changed.

Ernesto: Great! Let’s jump into our rapid-fire question round. Are you ready?

Tom: Yeah, let’s go!

Ernesto: Perfect! First off, Tom, what’s the last book you read?

Tom: The last book I read was The Song of Significance by Seth Godin.

Ernesto: Great read! If there were no boundaries in technology, what’s one thing you’d fix for your role as a marketer today?

Tom: Analytics and attribution. With everything happening around Google Analytics, GA4, and the shift to cookie-less tracking, it’d be great if there were a tool that could tell me exactly where everyone is coming from.

Ernesto: Definitely! If there’s one repetitive task you could automate, what would it be?

Tom: Email! It takes so much time, and if someone could just handle that for me, I’d be very happy.

Ernesto: I think that’s something many people are hoping for! Lastly, with all your experience, what’s one piece of advice you’d give yourself if you were to restart your marketing journey?

Tom: I’d say to get a broader experience of the entire marketing mix earlier on. Nowadays, people specialize quickly, but I think having a broad understanding of different channels and how they interact makes you a better marketer in the long run. There’s a great book called Range by David Epstein, and it talks about how generalists often become the best specialists.

Ernesto: Great advice! Well, Tom, we’re coming to the end of the show. Before we wrap up, I want to give you the last word. If someone forgets everything about today’s interview, what’s the one thing they should remember about SEO Travel?

Tom: I’d want them to remember the change in our business model—giving our profits to educational charities. It sets us apart, and I think it’s something all businesses should consider. Putting purpose at the heart of what you do drives success and helps you reach your commercial goals.

Ernesto: Definitely! Some great takeaways for our listeners. If you’re in the travel industry, check them out at SEOTravel.co.uk. Tom, thank you so much for being with us today. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. I’m looking forward to our next episode of Pathmonk Presents. Thanks a lot, Tom.

Tom: Awesome, thanks for having me.