Happy Independence Day–there’s still time to touch your clients | Travel Research Online

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Happy Independence Day–there’s still time to touch your clients

Tomorrow is Independence Day. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. Like most people across America, you will probably doing something outside and maybe grilling up some food to share with family and friends.  But, did you think about your clients?  I am not talking about having them over (but if you have the space, it might not be a bad marketing move), but just touching base. I will send my clients and prospects an email broadcast wishing them well. No pitch. No telling them how great we are. No links to our website. Just a simple wish.  And it has paid off for me in the past, and I expect it will again tomorrow–well the day after tomorrow!  So what do I get out of it?

Usually I will see a spike in my online traffic. And when people are there, they will see my latest group trips and some helpful information. And, I will get 50 or so emails thanking me for thinking about them and probably 3 or 4 bookings for one of my trips. But far more importantly, I extended my good will to the 15,000 folks who have signed up for my newsletter.

This result is now expected. I realize that people do not wake up and think about Single Parent Travel each day like I do. But my job is to reach out to them and make sure that when they do think of travel, they think of Single Parent Travel.

For the longest time, creating newsletters was a hassle for me.  I need a magic wand for content creation.  But email works. It always has. And even in today’s world of social media and text messages, it still works. And when you contact your clients when they are not expecting it–it becomes a memorable event for them! So what do I do?  I created 10 “holiday messages” and save them in my email program drafts folder. When one of my target holidays rolls around, I copy and paste it into a new broadcast and just tweak the message a bit for the current year!  So yes, thee are 10 days a year that I simply say that I am thinking of the clients without any hint of sales. Here they are:

  1. New Years. Who doesn’t like a Happy New Year greeting?
  2. Happy Easter/Passover. Depending on how well you know your clients or how close the holidays fall on the calendar, you might want to opt out of this, or change it to a “Welcome To Spring” message.
  3. Mother’s Day. I specialize in single parent travel so this is a no brainer and I am able to segment my moms and dads.
  4. Memorial Day. Perfect for a feel good patriotic message to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free.
  5. Father’s Day. See Number 3.
  6. Independence Day. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. Three Cheers for America!
  7. Labor Day. Welcome to fall. Back to school and reality.
  8. Halloween. Boo!
  9. Election Day.  Remind them to vote and give them a link to find a polling place.
  10. Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa or just Happy Holidays.

Those are my days–depending on your business or area, it could be different.

  • Pennsylvania–opening day of buck and doe hunting
  • College town–Football home opener
  • Florida–When the snowbirds leave
  • Thanksgiving–Great all over. I opt out since I do the unexpected on Halloween

You get the idea!

By touching base with your audience close to every month, you are giving them a reason to remember you.  And as long as they remember you (and you haven’t ticked them off) they are likely to come to you first when they are ready to buy their travel! Call it a pre-emptive strike against your competitors.

How often are you touching your clients without pitching them? Is it working?

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