blogging for travel agencies | Search Results | Travel Research Online

This week, The 365 Guide has looked at basic considerations for incorporating a blog into your travel agency’s marketing plan. Let’s wrap up with a few basic concepts and tips that can put you on the road to having a blogging program that can be one of your most important client acquisition and retention tactics. A bit of planning early on will generate big returns as your blog begins to grow and your approach becomes more demanding of your blogging system and setup.

Blogging requires much less knowledge of programming and HTML than building and maintaining a website. Nevertheless, the initial setup is greatly facilitated by a hosting company or technical assistant with experience in setting up a blog. Most blog programs offer a variety of templates Read the rest of this entry »

This week, The 365 Guide has looked at basic considerations for incorporating a blog into your travel agency’s marketing plan. With so many blogs vying for attention, you will want yours to stand out, to speak with an authority that captures the attention of your readership. As a professional travel consultant, you have a real expertise on a topic of interest to the public. The key to delivering blogging articles that truly engage readers and eliciting comments from them is to generate content that is lively, unexpected and fresh. Making sure that your blog is communicating on both an intellectual and an emotional level will keep your audience returning to your blog for new information. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past couple of days, The 365 Guide has looked at basic considerations for incorporating a blog into your travel agency’s marketing plan. Like any communications tool, however, it is not enough simply to have a blog. You must properly promote your blog  to fully realize the potential it has for your agency. Building general community awareness of your blog requires a concerted effort and a continual attention to public relations and the other marketing tactics that you have learned as a business person.

Because a blog speaks for your company, and is by nature conversational rather than promotional, it has a much more “personal” impact on consumers than many other marketing tactics. Therefore, a blog is an excellent opportunity to humanize your company and to strongly Read the rest of this entry »

This week, The 365 Guide is discussing how to establish a blog for your travel agency that you can use to grow your practice. Just as with any content driven marketing tool, it is important to give appropriate time and consideration to the process by which you will select your topics and the tone of voice you will use to express yourself in the blog. One of the first and most important lessons to learn is that a blog is not a selling tool – it is a communications vehicle and the content should reflect the two-way nature of a conversation, not the single-direction model of a brochure.

Most good blogs are not overtly promotional, but rather focus on topics and the larger issues of importance to the blog’s readership. Thus, rather than talking directly about your agency and specials that are available, most travel agency blogs should delve into destinations, logistics, tips and ideas related to travel. You want the content you choose to be compelling and to be both interesting and valuable to the reader. Tailor your content Read the rest of this entry »

This week, The 365 Guide will introduce how to establish a blog for your travel agency that you can use to grow your practice. Many of the agencies that participate in TRO’s Community actively blog and do so successfully. A few considerations will assist you in developing a blog that meets your overall strategic objectives and will contribute substantially to projecting your brand in your community.

The decision to start a blog should not be taken lightly. To begin, your resources are limited and to do a good job with your blog will require much time and effort. Focusing on a few marketing tactics well is a better course of action than continual but unfocused effort spread between too many marketing tactics. It is highly likely that your blog’s success will come over a long period of time Read the rest of this entry »

Sure, sure, you are so busy that you just have no time to even think about marketing. Yet, marketing is the foundation on which all businesses rely. Smart travel advisors with whom we spoke are blocking out time on their schedules to do some outreach, finding new ways to connect, and turning to SEO algorithms and Pinterest to “meet clients where they are.” Read the rest of this entry »

“How’s business?”, I asked travel advisors.

They responded that it’s going quite well, thank you very much. So well, in fact, that many are experimenting with new ideas—from brick and mortar to new employees, from new team models to more marketing—to keep up with the demand.

“I’ve gone from people calling in fear, to people calling out of curiosity, to people calling to book,” says Dorothy Bystrom in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. So, in September she took her first half-step toward brick and mortar by opening a branch of her agency, Exclusive Trips, inside a women’s clothing boutique that specializes in golf wear. Its customers looking for high-end sports and travel wear are a perfect match with hers looking for luxury trips, she says.

Times are tough for business. It has nothing to do with the economy or the state of the travel industry. Business is tough—period. If it were easy, everyone would own their own. So, how do you hedge your bets toward success? I am a firm believer in listening to others who are more successful than you. With that in mind, I asked several very successful agencies how they did it and came up with these 10 marketing tips. Try one, two, or all 10 and see if they work for you—and let us know. Read the rest of this entry »

For the past month, we have been discussing how to establish and expand your travel agency’s digital footprint. This week, The 365 Guide will explore establishing a blog for your travel agency that you can use to grow your practice. Many of the agencies that participate in TRO’s Community actively blog and do so successfully. A few considerations will assist you in developing a blog that meets your overall strategic objectives and will contribute substantially to projecting your brand in your community.

The decision to start a blog should not be taken lightly. To begin, your resources are limited and to do a good job with your blog will require much time and effort. Focusing on a few marketing tactics well is a better course of action than continual but unfocused effort spread between too many marketing tactics. It is highly likely that your blog’s success will come over a long period of time Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve long believed that travel consultants sell much more than “trips.”  I’ve always seen their role as more significant than deal finding and reservation making.  Until recently however, I’m not sure I realized just important travel is.

After winning a year and a half-long battle with inflammatory breast cancer, a dear friend was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and given a dismal prognosis.  A wife, mother, and passionate travel consultant, Michelle Pammenter Young has spent her life creating joyful experiences for others. Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you willing to take the time to develop your writing skills, blogging can have a tremendous impact on your lead generation efforts. HubSpot recently indicated companies can double their lead volume with effective blogging. Here are a few tips to help ensure you are maximizing your opportunities when you blog: Read the rest of this entry »

Advertising can be a scary proposition for a travel consultant. In a service industry like ours, advertising can represent as much as 80% or more of an entire marketing budget. Purchasing the right media can be a daunting gamble and generating appropriate creative is as much art as science. Results can be difficult to measure – it can sometimes be tough to determine whether an advertisement created any results at all. Yet, advertising is often the most visible marketing done by an agency. Getting it right is important. Thus, the next few articles will deal with advertising: what it is, how to plan, execute and measure. Hopefully, at the end of our series, advertising will not seem quite as dark an art as it may right now.

A good working definition is that advertising is paid, non-personal communication through media about a company meant to persuade a target audience to act in a desired manner. Read the rest of this entry »

Last summer, TravelQuest headed for uncharted waters.  We created a new marketing campaign that had social media at the heart of it and shied away from more traditional means of advertising.  A year later, we’re pretty happy with our decision. Traffic is up on our website, we’re hearing from more and more agents(remember, we are a host agency) that they heard about us through social media, and our page pulls up higher on the search engines. Read the rest of this entry »

In the world of social marketing platforms, Facebook holds the unique position of most visited, most utilized and most full featured. Next week, The 365 Guide will go into depth with the possibilities of marketing on Facebook as it promises to be the most significant social media for the small service business like travel agencies. Today, however, we are going to focus on a broad overview and some key aspects of getting started.

The mechanics of getting started are not as overwhelming as it might seem. Start slowly,  spending time learning Facebook as a media. As a business person, you can not treat Facebook as a consumer might – you must have more than a passing acquaintence with Facebook as a media if you are going to use it professionally  in your marketing efforts.  From the outset, think continually about the tenor of your online personality. Facebook “helps you connect and share with the people in your life” as the company’s tagline simply states. Joining is very easy, just sign up with your name and email address. However, from that moment on, keep in mind that you are on a mission and there are some important considerations as you project your business persona Read the rest of this entry »

Everybody’s talking about it and, if you believe the hype, everybody’s doing it. Marketing gurus from all corners of the virtual world are captivated by the potential of social marketing. But what is it exactly and does it really hold the potential that all of the buzz promises? The 365 Guide this week will look at social marketing from a travel agency point of view and see where the enterprising travel planner could possibly find some tangible benefit in participation in the media darlings of Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, and other social media marketing opportunities.

Firstly, a confession. All those marketing gurus, including me, are guessing. There are certainly some success stories from all of the various social media formats, but the real value to any given business is at best, uncertain. The venues are new, the actual return on investment Read the rest of this entry »

This week, The 365 Guide is discussing how to establish a blog for your travel agency as a way of expanding your online profile. Just as with any content driven marketing tool, it is important to give appropriate time and consideration to the process by which you will select your topics and the tone of voice you will use to express yourself in the blog. One of the first and most important lessons to learn is that a blog is not a selling tool – it is a communications vehicle and the content should reflect the two-way nature of a conversation, not the single-direction model of a brochure.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone knows that an online presence is vital to the serious travel professional’s business these days.  If nothing else, being online offers a place to highlight personal experience and qualifications, as well as detail preferred suppliers, travel specials, and much more.  A great way to develop this online presence cheaply and quickly is by use of one of the worlds most popular blogging platforms called WordPress.

By using WordPress, you create an easy-to-use, professional looking site that is highly tailored specifically to you and your agency.  While WordPress is primarily a blogging platform, it can be utilized as a more encompassing website if done with the right template and set-up.  Read the rest of this entry »

A key objective of marketing your travel planning practice is assuring a flow of new clients through the door. Retention of your existing clients is absolutely necessary and challenging in and of itself, but the acquisition of new clients provides for growth. If you are not taking measures to acquire new clients, attrition of your existing base will mean your business will decline over time.

Remember our discussion of the sales funnel?  Typically, only a small percentage of your leads pan out into actual travel planning opportunities.  In order to maintain the volume you need for a healthy business, your marketing activities must be robust and continual.  Read the rest of this entry »

Travel and tourism pros come up with the most amazing questions.

At conferences and on webinars, I hear some intriguing questions from pros in our industry.  Let’s explore 6 top questions and dive into some solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Last fall when I reached out to a savvy cruise line executive for some input and help, he said, “Cindy, you need to be more visible to be found, and not be a hidden gem.”  It was a great tip, and I’ve reworked my own strategy, along with implementing new tactics to hit my key target and goal. 

As the landscape of travel industry continues to change and evolve, the growth of the home-based travel professional has become a viable one. Storefront retail travel agencies still exist, and with that can bring more immediate visibility. In the case of home-based professionals, ways to be visible in order to build ongoing clients and get referrals requires more tactics, but ones that can be implemented using diverse strategies. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking back a few decades ago, one of the main products retail travel agencies sold was airline tickets. And the other products sold from tours, hotel packages, and cruises added to the revenue stream that complemented airline sales. But with commission cuts and changes, the retail travel industry has evolved. And today the travel professional role has evolved into one more of specialization. Yes, we’ve become more than just being an “order taker,” and where we really provide value! Filling in the gaps and needs of our clients by joining those services and products together – in effect, bundling. Read the rest of this entry »