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Marketing your destination: how you can create a new plan

Marketing your destinationWhether you’re running a small bed and breakfast or a multi-million pound resort, people have to want to be where you are if you’re going to succeed.  That can create a whole host of different challenges.  You might be competing with hundreds of other hotels in the middle of a popular city, or trying to attract visitors to a place they’ve never heard of.  Marketing your destination effectively shouldn’t just be down to the local tourist board.  Everyone has a role to play.

Here’s why you need an effective marketing plan and how to go about building it.

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How to create a marketing plan for your travel agency

Travel agency marketing planIf you work for a huge corporation in a massive marketing department, the chances are you won’t learn anything new from me.  Of course, if you have a marketing plan and you need a copywriter, please get in touch.

When you’re a one person business, everything falls to you.  Coming up with a marketing plan alongside everything else that needs doing can just seem like an extra chore.  In fact, making a plan helps you to delegate when you need to.  Realising that you’re not going to have time to do everything is much easier to deal with when you know in advance and can get some help.

So, where do you start?

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How you can write unique and entertaining destination guides

Destination guidesWe all know about destination guides.  I’ve got a shelf full, mostly from Lonely Planet or Rough Guides.  They used to be my main source of information, as they combined information about great places to stay with helpful background on the place itself.  I’d only head for a traditional travel agent’s printed brochures if I wanted to research hotels and prices for a package tour.

There are still travel customers who want to head somewhere sunny with a decent pool.  However, there are increasing numbers of people who want to experience the local culture so are looking for a bit more added value before they book.  That’s where good destination guides can be incredibly helpful.  Whilst you might not want to give a ‘warts and all’ account, you can give your customers a feel for the place before they travel.

How do destination guides help with marketing?

When I travel, I’m not just looking to flop by the pool.  For one thing, I have small children.  Chance would be a fine thing.  A destination catches my eye by having something interesting that I want to see.  I went to Argentina because I wanted to see Iguazu Falls and the Perito Moreno glacier.  New Zealand hooked me with the glow worm caves and dolphins.

Good destination guides highlight the things that are worth seeing and can throw in a few surprises too.  They help you connect with your audience in a few different ways.  Someone who’s been thinking about their next holiday to a particular destination might notice your download link on Facebook and want to find out more.  Write a post highlighting how great a country is for a particular interest and those people will find you.

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Is your marketing for city or country?

Marketing for city or countryI know what you’re thinking.  I’ve finally lost it.  Marketing for city or country, what on earth am I talking about?

There is a world of difference in how you market different types of holiday to different people.  If you’re sending your customers to a sunny beach resort, most people will know what to expect.  But if they’re heading for a city break or a rural retreat, it could be a different matter.  Different audiences will care about the same things, but their path into it might be slightly different.  Your marketing needs to reflect that.

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Why I love to travel

Love to travelYou might have noticed that my blogs have taken on a bit of a theme recently.  Over the past few months I’d started to feel a bit stuck.  I wanted to use my background in my writing and to me that meant working for professional services businesses.

After all, I’d spent a big chunk of my life as a solicitor.  Surely those were the people I should be helping?  The lawyers, accountants and financial advisers that I’d lived among for all those years.  I understood them and the way their minds worked.

And yet, I wasn’t as excited about it as I used to be.  I still have some fantastic clients who work in those industries, but I realised that it was the people that made it enjoyable and not just the subject.

So, I thought about who my favourite people are and what I really love doing.  After a wonderful and random conversation with a photographer and a jewellery designer the truth was out.  I love to travel and those are the businesses I want to write for.  But why?  What is it about exploring the world that excites me so much?

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Your travel agency needs great connections

Local connectionsWhen you book a holiday for your customers, do you know what you’re letting them in for? Is it a tried and trusted location that you know is amazing?Or, is it somewhere that just offered a good deal?

I know that you care about your customers and whether they have a good time while they’re away, so I’m betting you went for the first one.  My best holiday experiences have come from booking through agents who’ve either visited my destination themselves, or where the company they work for makes sure that employees are kept up to date.

Here’s why great local connections could be the key to the success of your business.

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Why autumn is a great time to review your goals

Review your goalsAutumn usually finds me trying to drum up work now that the kids are back at school.  I love the time I have with them over the summer but it tends to lead to a bit of a slump.  My marketing efforts drop off and when projects end, as they have this year, there isn’t a waiting list.  Mainly because the people I work with have been away too.

Of course, there are plenty of industries where the summer is completely manic.  The wonderful travel agents I know look after their customers while they’re away.  Even if the work’s been done making the bookings the customer care doesn’t stop.

Autumn gives most of us the opportunity to get back to a bit of normality.  That’s why it’s the perfect time to review your goals.

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Can you help your travel marketing talk to your customers?

Talk to your customersIn my last blog post, I talked about the reasons why you should get to know your customers.  If you missed it, you can catch up here.

Getting to know what your customers like helps you to deliver things that they’ll enjoy.  Of course, it should also follow that if your existing customers love something, other people will too.  But how do you find them?

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Why you need to know about the next big thing in travel

next big thingWhen you run your own business it’s easy to get bogged down in the day to day stuff.  The work that needs doing for your customers, the next Facebook post or when you need to get your books off to the accountant.

We all know that our businesses would fall flat if none of it got done.  But what if you’re so tied up with it all that you miss the bigger picture?  Here’s why it’s important when you’re running a travel or hospitality business.

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Why you need to get to know your customers when you work in travel

Know your customersGetting to know your customers is important regardless of your industry, but it’s especially important when you work in travel.

You might be thinking that anyone could book a holiday with you or stay at your hotel.  That might be true, but it doesn’t mean you should be marketing to everyone.

Here’s how getting to know your customers will get your business on the right track.

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