Independent travel agents, you cannot ignore your email and content marketing as a viable tool for finding new clients. And the holidays are a perfect time to get people thinking about travel. How? Here are a few ideas:
1. Ask for referrals
You know what they say: referrals are the best marketing. Therefore, send your loyal clients an email and ask them to share their great adventures with friends. Encourage them to forward the email to friends. Maybe you give them an incentive to share, maybe you give the recipients incentive as well. You can try free upgrades or deals if some of the vendors you use run holiday promotions anyway. If you think it’s too much to ask someone to forward a marketing email, ask for testimonials from your current clients and put them on your social media accounts and website to add more legitimacy and authority to your site.
2. Stay social
Social media is buzzing this time of year with deals and articles and people reaching out to each other. Stay top-of-mind by updating your Facebook page with relevant travel information and specials. Encourage people to think outside the box with their gift-giving and plan a trip instead of buying things!
3. Blog posts
Your website is an invaluable tool. People need to find you and your differentiators quickly and easily on search engines. A great way to ensure your content is always fresh on your site is to start a blog. You can write about places you’ve been or places you’ve sent clients (that they loved); you can also write about what to do in different regions and what to avoid. It’s a great resource for your clients, but helps new people find your business as well. You can start 2016 off with a bang by having a full-fledge content strategy with a blog.
Got more ideas for holiday marketing? Tweet them to us @oagentlink!
