Steve Rushton

Be the Travel Expert this Christmas

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Communicating with your audience online is not only about selling holidays and latest offers. They will become more engaged and hence more receptive if you strike up conversations that are about being the ‘Travel Expert’ rather than the ‘Travel Seller’. Social Media channels are the perfect platform for sharing your travel related expertise.

Festive ‘To Do’ 

I’ve done the hard work for you and demonstrated how you can use FaceBook Albums to share information/expertise in an eye catching visual way.

Simply share my album ‘Original Christmas Gift Ideas for Travel Lovers’ and personalise it by adding your own comment. e.g. Get a conversation started by inviting people to choose the travel gift they’d most like to find under the Christmas tree, either from the album or their own ideas

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Steve Rushton

Festive Marketing Plan

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Whilst social media has increased the volume of daily communications people engage in, there is still no real substitute for communicating face to face. With late night shopping nights and busy high streets, Christmas is an ideal time to invite your customers in and spread a bit of goodwill and festive cheer.

The key to success is to plan well to maximise the opportunity and keep focussed on what you hope to gain from the event (e.g. collecting email addresses!)

 ‘To Do’ this month

Today’s task is to plan and draw up a ‘To Do’ list for a festive meet and greet. Here’s a useful link to help you get started. Click here.

Some further ideas to consider are:

  • Send out invites via Facebook, email and window displays.
  • Make sure you have a simple way for people to leave their email address with you so that you can continue the conversation after the event. This could be as simple as having a notebook and pen available, or entering them straight onto an ipad or computer as you chat.
  • If possible make a note of what type of traveller they may be or destinations they’re interested in so that you can target marketing efforts accordingly.
  • Make sure you have something with all your details (including web address and social media connections) ready to handout.
  • If your team have different specialist areas eg. Cruise or Adventure Travel or destination knowledge make sure customers know how to identify them to make starting a conversation easier.
  • Ask a Tour Operator to help support your event.
  • Make sure your shop is looking as attractive as possible and create a display area for any demographic/destinations you specialise in or want to promote e.g. Ski/Cruise/Adventure/over 50’s/Millenials. It could be a great opportunity to test interest in a new holiday type.
  • Take some photos of the event and share on social media
  • If you offer Gift Vouchers be sure to let visitors know in case they are looking for a gift idea for the special travel – lover in their life.
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Steve Rushton

‘HELP! MY WEBSITE DOESN’T WORK!

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A question we sometimes get asked is “ Why aren’t people flocking to my gorgeous new Net Effect website in their droves?’ (or words to that effect 😉 . The simple answer is most likely to be because you aren’t telling enough people where it is! Companies spend millions of pounds chasing top spots on search listings but a specialist travel professional requires a more subtle approach to reach the right audience.

It is important to remember here that

1.  The travel industry is one of the most crowded spaces online, and

2.   your website is a just a tool. It requires operating to do its job and the more skilled you become at this the better it will work for your business.

Your website can be the most lavish looking affair, in this seasons colours and fonts and bursting with seductive imagery but without your hands on input, it’s as effective as a glossy sales brochure left in a drawer.

The good news is that this is something that you can easily change. And all for FREE! Your secret weapons are email marketing, adding content via a blog and of course Social Media. The really great thing is that Social Media puts the smaller business with its personal service at an advantage compared to its larger competitors. It is so much easier for smaller businesses to create a genuine social connection with their customers online than a larger corporate organisation. So time to strike up a conversation!

TODAY’S ‘TO DO’ : REVIEW YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE

But before we start, an important thing to remember is that being local is one of your strongest marketing cards so the first task today is to check your Google Business page is doing its job. A Google My Business (previously Google Places) profile is an essential for local SEO. It’s free and will enable you to appear in local search results for queries specific to your products or services and shows clearly you are open for business.

  • Check all the contact, location & opening hours details are up to date
  • Check your photos show you in your best light.
  • Make sure you have completed the verification process for your business.
  • You can also now collect and reply to reviews.

Click here for more info https://www.google.com/business/

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