245* years ago, it was a new day for Colonialists. And today is a new day for the travel industry. We are ready to get down to business and grow ourselves much like Jefferson, Adams, Paca, Hancock, and the rest needed to do back in 1776.
Yesterday was Independence Day. Hopefully, you got some baseball, hot dogs, or apple pie—I mean that IS what America represents, right?
But did you think about your clients? I am not talking about having them over for. Cookout (but if you have space, it might not be a bad marketing move), but just touching base. I regularly 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 is more important this year than ever. And it has paid off for me in the past, and I expect it will again this year! 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 things that give them wanderlust and some helpful information. I will expect 50 or so emails thanking me for thinking about them and probably 3 or 4 bookings. But far more importantly, I extended my goodwill to the 17,310 folks who have signed up for my newsletter.
I realize that people do not wake up and think about my agency each day as I do. But my job is to reach out to them and make sure that when they do start to think of travel again, they think of us. And that should be your goal as well.
Creating newsletters has always been a hassle for me. So how do I handle it? I’ve created 10 “holiday messages” and save them on my computer. 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! Bonus: my email provider has some amazing templates that are easily modified to travel. So yes, there are 10 days a year that I simply say that I am thinking of the clients without any hint of sales. Here they are:
- New Years. Who doesn’t like a Happy New Year greeting?
- 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.
- 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.
- Memorial Day. Perfect for a feel-good patriotic message to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free.
- Father’s Day. See Number 3.
- Independence Day. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. Three Cheers for America!
- Labor Day. Welcome to fall. Back to school and reality.
- Halloween. Boo!
- Election Day. Remind them to vote and give them a link to find their polling place.
- Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa or just Happy Holidays.
Those are my days–depending on your business or geographic 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 clients and prospects close to every month, you are giving them a reason to remember you. On day 29, just as they are about to forget about you…boom, you pop up in their email. Eventually, they will be calling you!
It’s sort of like a pre-emptive strike against your competitors. I guarantee few of them are doing this, and this is exactly the type of contact and messaging you will need to succeed as we move forward after 2020.
Thoughts? Leave a comment!
*And some so-called “friend” on Facebook reminded me that the Bicentennial (a huge thing in my childhood) was 45 years ago. Can I possibly be that old?
