We have previously discussed the need to train clients. Let’s revisit the discussion. It is not an exaggeration to indicate the success or failure of your travel business will depend on the extent to which you are capable of taking charge of your client relationships and professionally leading them into behavior conducive to traveling safely and well.
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The September Alaskan air was cool but not cold. Nevertheless, I didn’t begrudge the coat I brought with me. I was too excited by what lay ahead to feel anything but anticipation in any event. It was my first trip to Alaska, and the second for my wife Judi. Today we were going to have the opportunity for a special adventure. Our destination: the glaciers of the Knik River Valley, a mere 45-minute drive north of Anchorage, where the Alaska Glacier Lodge would serve as our departure point into the vast, icy wilderness. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s consider the tactics we will use to achieve the goals we have set out for our business. In each instance, we want to be certain our mission statement remains our touch-point. This will keep us consistent and properly focused. Likewise, each tactic should be designed to contribute to our marketing funnels, continually drawing both existing clients and potential clients closer to us, engaging with us and becoming evangelists for our travel practice.

There are an endless variety of possible tactics you can employ. Read the rest of this entry »

Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. In fact, the most difficult and expensive part of any marketing strategy is building brand awareness: alerting prospective clients who you are and what you do. Too often, travel professionals market not according to a plan, but impulsively, with a heroic “give it a try” mentality. That certainly is one way to market, but tends to be error-prone and expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

Just 11 more weeks and 2024 is here. I like both endings and beginnings, the opportunity to evaluate how the year has gone and the opportunity to plan for the next. I’m hoping you have begun to work on a business plan for next year. A business plan has the following two goals:

• the retention of existing clients; and,
• the acquisition of new clients.

Your existing clients are your base and represent your steady income. New clients represent growth and replace clients you may lose or fire along the way. Whatever steps we take in building a plan, we will want to ensure that we are acting to either retain desirable existing clients or acquire desirable new ones.
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I once had a travel professional take me to task because I provided them with an article in USA Today which also contained advertising for other travel programs. That would never do, she assured me, because like so many other papers and magazines, USA Today was “filled with travel advertising.”  Likewise, many agents will not link to travel articles that include the contact information of hotels or tour operators.

I believe many travel professionals sometimes work with an over-broadly image of their competition because they have failed to properly define their customer base and their proper relationship to their clients. To these few, the landscape is filled with competition. This perspective is informed by the idea that the travel consultant is “selling” travel.  That is what Travelocity does, just as suppliers do.  They sell travel with few frills, often based on price alone. Read the rest of this entry »

I once had the good fortune to attend a couple of three day seminars conducted by Breakthrough Enterprises entitled Falling Awake. Lead by a group of exceptional individuals, Falling Awake is geared to the idea of taking full responsibility for creating the life you most want. Many of my columns are informed by the lessons I have learned as a result of the work I did with this organization. I truly believe any professional would benefit from the Falling Awake curriculum and I commend it to you with the highest of regard.

One of the most interesting and useful pieces of information I brought back home with me was their description of the power of language and the way it shapes our reality. According to the life coaches at Breakthrough, we often trap ourselves with language. Read the rest of this entry »

“There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations” ― Jodi Picoult

Setting your expectations high is an important part of moving your travel practice forward. Let me explain.

Unrealized expectations are not strangers to most of us.  It’s pretty common to decide in the course of any given day our clients, our family, our employees, or our friends are not meeting our expectations. Some will tell you even having expectations is futile and the sure path to unhappiness. Have you had someone tell you “Expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed?” People who repeat this aphorism often nod knowingly like they have just let you in on one of life’s real secrets.

Yikes. Read the rest of this entry »

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” ~ Albert Einstein

Talent.  You have it or you don’t… Right? Isn’t talent the reason Bobby Fischer was a grand master chess player at 19?  Isn’t talent why Bill Gates was a boy genius and is now one of the world’s richest man, or why Tiger Woods was a child golf prodigy? Is talent why some people seem to be natural born successes and others struggle up and down the steep slopes of the Pareto Principle their entire life, never breaking into the top 20% of their chosen field?

Maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »

I still hear many travel professionals complaining they don’t “make sales” from their website or their social media efforts. For some inexplicable reason, digital efforts like social media marketing take the brunt force of a lot of misplaced expectations. In a correctly understood marketing campaign, tactical sales is not primarily the role of social media marketing. Public relations doesn’t make “sales” either, but few would diminish its importance. Complaining about Facebook not making sales is like being upset at your cat for not playing fetch – it’s simply not his job. Read the rest of this entry »

“In five to 10 years it will be “far too hot” to be in countries like Greece in July and August.”

James Thornton

CEO, Intrepid Travel

Traveling off-season is an experience everyone should try at least once.  From all appearances, climate change seems to agree.  It appears the “best time” to visit may be shifting. Traveling outside of peak months can save you money and provide a unique travel experience.  But while traveling off-season almost surely means the trip will ultimately cost much less, there are reasons other than the price to travel outside of peak months that will help to ensure your appreciation of the practice.

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Your “Unique Selling Point“ or “USP” is something that makes your agency different from all other companies of its type. Is there something about your business so unique customers would rather do business with you based on that one quality alone? Is there a reason to do business with you rather than the agency down the street or online with Travelocity?  Can you easily articulate the reason? If so, you have located your USP and are on the way to better understanding how to build a smart marketing campaign based on that uniqueness. If you have not emphasized your USP in your marketing, then consumers are likely to pass you over for any number of similarly positioned travel agencies – you are just one of the crowd.

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Phishing attacks have come a long way from the generic spam emails filled with glaring red flags. Today, cybercriminals employ sophisticated techniques that exploit human vulnerability and advanced technology to deceive even the most cautious individuals. As we come upon this election season, the threats will be more prolific and more clever. I myself have come very close to falling from more than one of the attempts to get me to click on a dangerous link or filling out a form filled with personal information. The implications of falling from such a scam can be severe. Your accounts and information can be hacked or your system frozen for a “ransomware” demand. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a work in progress called “Up and Running,” a course on marketing for travel advisors. It is an ongoing project with no end in sight. Here it is for those of you who might want to peruse it. In the lower right-hand corner is “Roxie.” You can ask Roxie about the text, and she’s pretty good with answers. My son, Ryan, created her for another project we have. For example, you can ask Roxie, “How can I market my travel agency,” and she will pull the answer out of the text. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the weekend I was helping a friend with a school assignment involving a marketing plan.  As a part of the exercise, she had to justify her business decisions by taking note of the demographics of Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee. In the outline to the assignment, the key demographics were listed as per capita income, population by gender, and age ranges.

As I worked through the project, it occurred to me how little help typical demographic statistics in reality are for a marketing plan. Certainly such numbers  are important criteria in early decision making.  If, for example, you are setting out to launch a travel practice in any given area, you want to know sufficient population is present with enough disposable income.  Beyond that, however, these are the wrong demographics for marketing purposes. Read the rest of this entry »

Where do great article ideas come from? There is a reason to start from your own interests rather than turning to artificial intelligence (“AI“) like Voyager’s Toby for ideas as “Step 1.” If it is important to inject your brand into your writing, it makes sense to begin with you. It really is that simple. Ideation should take root in the human, who then turns to their AI writing assistant like Toby for assistance. Read the rest of this entry »

I have always thought of travel as an act as much spiritual as physical. In many ways, a trip across borders is a microcosm of life’s journey. As beings with innate wanderlust, we ignite an internal shift every time we leave home to gallivant across the globe. There seems to be an inherent human need – a primeval yearning – to explore, move, and discover. Evolution made us nomads, and that genetic code is still written in our cells, urging us to seek new experiences and environments. Read the rest of this entry »

“If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

Louie was one of the hardest working men I had ever met. A restaurant owner, he was up first thing in the morning, worked all day in the kitchen and on the floor and went to bed late at night. The next day, he would do it all again. I was amazed at his ability to put in those hours and I was sure that his new venture would be a great success. A year later, he was out of business. I told Louie’s story to one of my business mentors and he shook his head knowingly. He was not surprised at the restaurant’s failure. “Too many business people have to work hard because they don’t work smart.” Read the rest of this entry »

Have you heard the phrase: “Marketing is everything, and everything is marketing? The ‘marketing mindset’ implies viewing every interaction, every piece of information, and every travel story not simply for what they are but for their potential to captivate attention and inspire travel desires among potential clients. It’s about appreciating the intrinsic emotional power of travel and strategically using those emotional touch points to remind clients that, at heart, they are a dreamer. Read the rest of this entry »

I complained about a post last night making fun of those trapped in the submersible near the Titantic wreck. I was ejected from the group as a result.

I may be mistaken, but here is my perspective:

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Artificial intelligence has made massive strides recently with image generation. AI systems can now generate highly realistic and customized images that will soon significantly reduce the need for generic stock photography. For travel advisors, AI image generation offers an opportunity to provide clients with personalized visuals of destinations and experiences that are hard or expensive to otherwise capture.

Stock photo websites currently offer an array of generic images of locations, landmarks, hotel rooms, and activities. While useful as a reference, stock photos can lack originality and personalization. Stock photography is often easily identified, and finding a wide variety of images of ethnically diverse people can be challenging. In addition, coming up with the exact photo you want, such as a cat in an astronaut suit in outer space, can be difficult or impossible. If you do find such a photo, chances are good that hundreds of other people have downloaded and are using the same photograph. Read the rest of this entry »