Before we get started, I’d like to talk about what this upcoming series of Travel Marketing Tips will mean to like minded businesses that operate in the travel and tourism industry.
The idea to produce my weekly blog offering a variety of marketing tips and advice has been fuelled by the demand from my clients as they are often busy running their day-to-day operations and have little time to research and apply new online, offline and integrated marketing strategies to help them reach their business objectives.
So I’ve decided to create a one-stop-shop of relevant marketing ideas which can be applied to many different travel markets such as airlines, hotels, tour operators, wholesalers, the leisure and corporate industries.
Why Give Away Such Great Marketing Advice?
- I’m sick of people getting lied to and misled by hyped up marketing agencies that have no experience in the travel industry but also push the marketing services they only provide without taking into consideration the business model of the travel provider.
- Plus I hope the marketing ideas I provide will help you grow your business, such that….
- If you ever need help finding out smarter ways to get more out of your marketing dollar then you might like to consider an affordable travel marketing plan tailored specifically to your business.
- You might like to try our outsourced marketing services to get the support and expertise to assist with implementing a new project, or maybe you require an external perspective,
- Finally, we hope you will recommend us to your friends by linking to us and via word of mouth marketing.
What You Should Get Out of this Travel Blog Series
I’ve looked closely at what was working best in my own business, and have found this to be true for my clients which involve focusing on the following areas:
- Relationship Marketing
- Direct Marketing or Direct Response Marketing
- Your Point of Difference
- Developing High Quality Products or Services
Each of these critical marketing areas works best when supported by each other. This is why integrating all of your marketing efforts, rather than doing once-off, add-hoc campaigns, will always lead to a continual supply of leads and help you boost your leads, sales and profits in the long term.
The travel marketing series is intended to keep you up to date on the latest travel marketing strategies and advice to refine your thinking and improve the way you communicate with potential and existing customers. That way you can minimise the need to constantly research information on how you could be doing things differently and keep the momentum going and growing your business.
Before you move on to the first lesson, allow me to suggest two things:
- Subscribe to the Bright Owl Marketing Blog and update your email program’s “white list” or list of “safe senders” so you’re sure to get all of the right travel advice. If you don’t do this, some messages might end up in your junk folder. And we can’t have that happen.
- It is also a good idea to create a special folder in your email program for these travel tips. Because this is a email series, not a random blog, you might want to refer back to some of the travel and tourism marketing strategies again later. So keep them someplace you can find them easily.
I also need to be mention from the outset that I can’t and wouldn’t promise any kind of specific financial return from this series. How much money you make depends on the way you business is set-up, the knowledge of your target market, plus other behavioral characteristics such as your drive, ambition and focus, and many other factors I don’t have any control over.
My aim is to give you some sound advice, while using the most effective tools available today. What you do with the information is up to you.
Now to the first lesson…
Thank Your Customers
You may have heard the new marketing phenomenon where content has been labeled the king for communication and converting customers.
Whilst good content is essential, it’s certainly not the pinnacle to business success.
Relationships are the most important!
This means that your customers are your greatest asset. It is important to note that it doesn’t just include the people that you have invoiced, but it includes your email community, your blog list, your customer database, the people you’ve handed a travel brochure to – it includes all of this!
So every time you make a business decision you have to think about and understand how this will affect your customers. So it comes down to deciding what products to offer, or how you should communicate with your customers i.e. Is it via email, direct mail or sms?
One important method of communicating is by saying thank you.
For tour operators or travel managers, I believe it is important to touch base with your customers once they have completed their tour or vacation once they have returned home safely.
This is usually best expressed as a hand written thank you card. If you use a card with a pre-printed message it tends to lose impact and lacks personalisation. It makes it look as though you’ve given your card and database to a mail house to complete the follow-up.
If you thank your customers via email, another good way to keep them involved and increase retention is to ask for them to share their recent travel experiences online via Facebook or a photo gallery page set up on your website. It’s a great way to boost the numbers on your Facebook fan page and keep in touch while displaying some really great memories for potential travelers to see.
Hope this helps and I’ll see you next time . . . Catch you then.
Craig
