Whether your just getting started with your independent travel agency or have years of managing your agency and clients under your belt, you know the importance of marketing for your business’s success. However, between finding the time and the budget, marketing campaigns and plans can easily get pushed to the backburner. Don’t sacrifice your agency’s growth just because you think it takes too much time. These four tools will make marketing simple and manageable for busy travel agents:

Buffer

If you read this blog, you know by now that travel agents should be active on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. However, between managing your travel agency, communicating with clients and maintaining a work-life balance, who has time to constantly be posting and checking in on social media? Thankfully, Buffer offers independent travel agents and other small business owners a free tool to manage their social media accounts. With the free version, you can schedule posts, shorten links and track performance for up to three social accounts.

Canva

Beautiful content and advertisements are easy to recognize but difficult to create for those of us who are less graphic design oriented. Thankfully, Canva is another free tool making it easy for independent travel agents to create eye-catching images for flyers, online ads, social media posts and email campaigns. The online design platform includes free templates, fonts, color palettes and free graphics and photos to choose from.

MailChimp

Email marketing is a powerful tool that every small business owner can and should utilize. However, how does one get started creating an email marketing campaign? That’s where MailChimp comes in. The free version offers users the chance to send up to 12,000 emails a month to 2,000 of their subscribers. You can create forms, send newsletters and make full marketing campaigns without any coding experience required.

Pexels

Photography is an incredible way to convey the wonder and joy of travel and encourage your clients to call you up to plan their next trip. Sometimes, however, taking our own photos is easier said than done. For those situations, Pexels offers thousands of stunning, free to use photographs for your website, social media posts, brochures and more. With an easy to use search feature and new photos uploaded every day, you’ll never be short of beautiful pictures of the world for your travel agency.