Image above taken from SEO Consultants’ website.
Below are 5 of our top 10 marketing blog posts that will help you develop the ultimate marketing strategy. Stay tuned for the next top 5 marketing blog posts.
1. Online Marketing 101 for Travel Agents
Years ago, travel agents did not have to focus much time or effort on marketing. Today, with so many people using the internet to search for things like information on their next big vacation, the emergence of online booking engines may seem like competition, but shed a different light on it and you will see a fantastic opportunity for travel agents to snap up new business. However, this means that you, the travel agent, must go online to get your prospects. And that does NOT mean relying upon your agency’s website with a little bio on you. It DOES mean that you need to have your own, personal website. The good news is that using online marketing is very cost effective, anyone can do it (including internet virgins!), and it can be a whole lot of fun if you understand what you are doing.
2. Blogging 101—An Effective and Free Marketing Tool for Travel Agents
If you are a travel agent and you don’t have YOUR OWN website or blog, then you are missing out on a huge, effective and FREE marketing opportunity in your travel business. A website or blog does so many things – it captures potential travelers when they are searching on the internet about their next vacation, it helps you stand out from the crowd and distinguish yourself from online booking sites and other agents, so they book their vacation with you, and it helps you keep in touch with prior clients, inspiring them to go on another vacation and call you when it happens. Thanks to WordPress, starting your own blog is easier than ever (and it costs NOTHING too!).
3. 5 Ways to Increase Your Leads Right Now
One of the best ways to increase your travel business is to increase your number of clients, and to do that, you need more leads. For many business owners, generating leads feels like a painful struggle, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be easy and fun. Following are five painless ways to generate leads.
4. More Value Equals More Business—And More Money
Have you ever thought about how much value you currently bring to your clients and how you can add even more?
Of course, your expertise by itself is highly valuable, and your first step is to make sure you are charging accordingly for everything you do, but adding value to your client’s experience means offering more than just your knowledge. How do you become your client’s total solution—and make more money?
5. Travel Business Success 101: Don’t Put Off What Can Be Done Today
We’re all aware of the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. We know that in order to succeed in our travel business, we need to step out of our comfort zones, step into our fears, and start marketing.
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Below are 5 of my top mindset posts to help you get your head into the travel business game and start seeing the results you desire:
1. What’s Standing in Your Way of Success?
Lack of clarity. In order to receive what you ask for, you must be clear about what it is you want. Many of us think we know what we want, when we really aren’t clear at all. When we say we want the direction of our travel business to change, we think the solution to our problems will simply arrive. Essentially, we think that, by saying we want more money and more clients, more high-paying clients will call us and everything will fall into place. If you want to receive what you ask for, you must be crystal clear on what it is you’re asking for.
2. Travel Agents: Tired of Working Hard And Getting Paid So Little?
Do you feel as if you are working harder and making less money than you were five years ago? It’s true that a lot of change has affected your industry . . . and your income. Airlines eliminated commissions, online booking engines created a competitive environment, and brick-and-mortar offices are legends of the past, which means you have to take more action to find new business.
3. How to Get Clear on Whom You Want to Work With
You have a choice about the people you work with, and you don’t have to take everyone who comes your way. We have all been building our businesses the wrong way. We started our businesses and told ourselves we needed to bring in the cash, so we worked with everyone we could.
4. Give Yourself Permission to Make More Money
I recently had a coaching call with a wonderful client. Because it’s the end of the year, I am in “goal setting” mode with my private clients, helping them get clear on goals for the next year. These are so critical to success and very few people actually go through the process to set clear, specific, achievable goals.
5. Are You Having Fun in Your Travel Business?
Did you choose to enter the travel business because you loved it, but lately you aren’t having much fun? Do you feel like your travel business is running you rather than the other way around?
If so, it’s time to let go and start having some fun with your clients and with your business. When you’re enjoying yourself, your clients sense it and love working with you. They come back and refer others, and opportunities abound for you to make more money. Following are a few ways to have more fun and success with your business.
Imagine if you could connect with your passion for travel, work with your ideal clients, know where you want to go and how to get there, and make more money in your travel business. Would you make the active decision to take your business and your life to where you’ve always dreamed of?
For many travel business owners, transforming their dream into a reality can seem frightening and exhausting. But the truth is, with the right tools, strategies, and advice, you can accomplish your greatest goals and implement your vision for success. Just ask Melissa McKinley, owner and travel advisor of Want to Go Travel.
Melissa joined my Safari2Success mastermind group earlier this year and made a major transformation, accomplishing goals she never thought possible. (CLICK HERE for Safari2Success Mastermind Program Details and Application.)
In the below interview, Melissa shares her success story in hopes of offering other travel agents worldwide the inspiration to take their business to the next level:
1. What transformation has happened since you began the Safari2Success mastermind?
Below is a list of accomplishments and efforts that illustrates my transformation:
- I started a twice-per-week blog, a biweekly newsletter, and created a free offer for prospects.
- I have also become very active on social media including YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
- I held a grand opening event for one of Want to Go Travel’s upcoming tours at the Mansion on Turtle Creek that 65 people attended.
- I hosted a webinar for 400 people with world-renowned author, Jonathan Ellerby.
- I am a mentor for three people.
- I discovered my new fine-tuned message and target market, which led me to rework my website design and logo to create a cohesive branding across all my marketing materials.
- I created a process manual to delegate tasks as needed to a Virtual Assistant.
- I have been approached by several businesses and people for joint venture opportunities.
2. If only you knew then what you know now, what would that bit of information be?
What I wish I had known earlier on is that to be successful I really needed to market more than any other activity in my business and to narrow my focus to a very specific niche of travel. I feel these are true for all types of businesses.
Meredith really gave me the tools and direction I needed to set up a well-rounded marketing process, and she helped peel back the layers of the onion to narrow my niche. But the biggest thing I think I learned was that this process is not a single step and then you are done. Rather, it’s a journey of continuing discovery and fine-tuning.
3. Was there a specific benefit you received from participating in the mastermind that you weren’t expecting?
I wasn’t expecting to meet such a GREAT group of travel professionals, all with unique gifts, talents, and experiences to draw from. I had not thought about how valuable the group would be, in addition to Meredith’s program. I have some of the best new friends that I never expected to find.
4. After all that you’ve learned during the mastermind, what advice would you give other travel entrepreneurs who are struggling with running a successful travel business?
If you are serious about being successful as an advisor in the travel business, then I recommend Safari2Success to help you strengthen your business. It is an investment that pays you back in more ways than you realize at the time. Not everyone joins with the same set of issues for improvement, but everyone who completes the program has a foundation to build success on and gets the support they needed. Meredith gives you the tools, direction, and guidance to be the best you can be; all you have to do is take action.
If you are interested in applying for the Safari2Success Mastermind Program, just CLICK HERE for Safari2Success Mastermind Program Details and Application.
Melissa McKinley
About Melissa and Want to Go Travel
My mission is to help people maximize their vacation by reconnecting with friends and family, recharging their soul, and creating memories. My goal is not to be a “big” business but to be one of high impact. Recent research on happiness found people gain their greatest source of happiness and satisfaction from experiences. I am in the business of fun and dreams!
My true passion is taking small groups of people to experience destinations as they have not before. I am not a Jill of all trades travel advisor. What that means for you is that I am very focused. I help my clients save time and increase their experience without overscheduling their vacation. Because my focus is so narrow, what you get from me is undiluted expertise on what you are seeking from a luxury vacation. My firsthand experience, expertise, and personal relationships are why my clients get great vacations.
Do you feel as if you are working harder and making less money than you were five years ago? It’s true that a lot of change has affected your industry . . . and your income. Airlines eliminated commissions, online booking engines created a competitive environment, and brick-and-mortar offices are legends of the past, which means you have to take more action to find new business.
However, when there is struggle, there is always opportunity on the other side of the coin. In the travel business, you are staring at a wide-open field of tremendous opportunity. The environment is perfectly ripe for you to make a name for yourself, attract wonderful clients like a magnet, and create a business that feeds your soul.
What Opportunities?
The emergence of the Internet in booking travel means some good things for you. For one, more and more people are searching on the Internet to research their next travel experience. What that means for you is that there are millions of people in your target market all in one place. In essence, it’s easier and cheaper for you to find potential clients.
Second, the emergence of the Internet can drastically reduce the cost and time of your marketing efforts. Start blogging, friending, or tweeting, and you are bound to find new clients or book a few more high-dollar transactions per month. It costs you nothing except some time. People today are looking for connection. Start a tribe, and then send them on vacations together!
The most exciting opportunity staring you in the face is the fact that the baby boomer population will drive a 10-year growth spurt in dollars spent on travel. Three trillion dollars was spent on travel in 2009. This is an enormous number, and it’s only expected to rise over the next ten years as more and more baby boomers enter the retirement years. Travel is quite a good business to be in right now, don’t you think?
While the opportunities may not alleviate your struggle today, what will is embracing the concept that if you are not having fun in your business, you are doing it wrong. Your struggle is your sign to take notice and try doing it differently. The first place to start is to find your “Why.”
Why are you in this business? What type of clients and bookings do you know how to do better than almost anyone else in the world? We all have unique gifts and abilities. You are no different. You are a “one-and-only.” It’s time you embrace this and identify it. You have fantastic gifts and talents that are not being used to their fullest to help people who want to travel in that unique and special way only you know how to create.
When you find your “Why” start leading with it. A few short hours of brainstorming can pay off handsomely. Here are some great examples of “Why’s” in travel:
1) Butterfield and Robinson: “Slow Down to See the World.”
2) Wilderness Safaris: “We exist to preserve wildlife and the environment it lives.”
You don’t have to be a big, well-known tour operator to lead with a powerful “Why.” Here are a few examples of “Why’s” belonging to some travel consultants I have had the pleasure to work with:
1) To help women tap into their internal fountains of youth through the joys and wonder of travel
2) To help busy, successful business owners master the joy in their life journey through unusual, off-the-beaten-path itineraries
3) To inspire people to chase those dreams that have been hiding in the closet, collecting dust
4) To help busy families recognize that it’s treasured moments, not possessions, that make you rich
When you find your “Why” and start leading your business with it . . . that is, announce it everywhere, you will attract the most wonderful clients easily and effortlessly. What’s better is that you will start having fun again and make more money.
So stop working so hard, start seeing the travel industry glass as half full and go find your “Why.”
