KHM Travel Group began their journey as a host agency in the travel industry with a small, family-owned business. Now, they have a team of over 70 in a multi-office complex. These days they work to support over 5,000 independent home-based travel agents with unlimited support, one-on-one coaching, educational events, group travel support, and the in-house client management system called myTravelCRM. They have also offered marketing advice to Advisors mostly including boot camps and group camp events, basic marketing essentials, and regular updates via newsletters and blogs. Now, in a recent press release, they have announced an increase in what they offer in regards to marketing a travel agency.
Marketing Seminars at Sea
In October, KHM hosted two Seminars at Sea with a focus on marketing. The first was on Allure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean), and featured sessions geared toward Agents, new and seasoned. For the newer agents, advice on gathering quality content to promote cruising. For the seasoned, they offered a step-by-step process of marketing group cruises.
The second marketing-centric cruise was aboard the Carnival Mardi Gras and focused primarily on social media marketing. The features were presentations, fun activities, and one-on-one time with members of KHM Travel Group’s marketing team.
“Marketing is often a struggle for both new and experienced agents, so we’ve invested in developing new tools and avenues for our team to connect with agents and share their knowledge. We realize that all agents can’t make it to our in-person events, so we’ve built a complete online Marketing Hub with hundreds of graphics and videos for agents to share. We also provide agents tips and new resources through our private Facebook group, email, and our blog. Educating agents and sharing strategies is one of our team’s most rewarding experiences at KHM Travel Group,”
– Lisa Leone, Senior Marketing Manager.
Personalized One-to-One and Online Course Learning
KHM has introduced one-on-one meetings with a marketing expert to assist the Agent with social media challenges such as Facebook (Meta) Business Pages for Beginners and Building a Marketing Plan & Best Practices. Though they do require the Agent to complete a “Destination: Marketing” online courses featuring new and enhanced topics on marketing with Facebook & Instagram, Meta Business Suite, YouTube, TikTok, and Marketing Beyond the Screen.
Development of an Online Marketing Hub
KHM has also developed a new online marketing hub. Included in the Marketing Hub of MyTravelAgentPortal are resources like:
- Easy Marketing Tips & Techniques
- Monthly Marketing Calendar
- Social Media Graphics Library
- Video Library
- Brochure and Flyer Templates
- Guidelines for Developing Your Brand
- Resources for Selling Romance Travel
- Advice for Creating Your Logo
- Sample Qualifying Forms
- Travel Guides, Checklists, and Packing Lists for Clients
- Downloadable Social Media Resources
- …and much more!
In editing, writing and reading articles for the travel industry, it seems to me that knowledge of using social media for Travel Agents is lacking in most courses and education opportunities around the internet. Particularly for those who’ve been around for a while as technology zoomed past them (all of us, sooner or later). These new developments toward marketing add to KHM Travel Group’s established support system for Agents, making KHM a host agency to keep an eye on as it grows.
