Travel Agents - from Gatekeepers to MicroInfluencers
Feb 05, 2021 6:28 pm
Hi
In today’s email:
- Last week‘s email = enquiries :)
- Travel Agents - from Gatekeepers to MicroInfluencers
- Lead Generation - a focus for 2021
- TikTok - the travel brand it works for
1. Email Templates
All clients with Marketing Manager get access to our email template library. Some clients outsource the sending of these emails to us.
Last week, we decided based on the ‘mood of the nation’ that an inspirational email without offers was better than ‘hard selling’
...so I was delighted when a client who has just started sending emails out wrote to me this week:
Hi Steve,
We have had great feedback on this campaign. I have two fantastic enquiries to work on from it….
Email Marketing - it just works!
2. Are you a Micro Influencer?
I'm speaking today at the Adventure Travel Networking Virtual Event with Tom Dunn on bounce back marketing
2020 has really focussed all businesses on the value of a database. As a travel agent I'm sure this resonates with you and that you do actually 'influence' your community. The result of the email with 2 enquiries I mentioned at the beginning of this email highlights that.
Some operators still view agents as 'the gatekeepers' rather than MicroInfluencers. Agents were gatekeepers back in the pre Internet age, that was the only way to book most holidays. The internet changed all that, but far from dying out, travel agents are transforming into micro-influencers. I absolutely believe that we are about to welcome in a golden age for travel agents.
Build a community and you'll have a wonderful business of loyal clients with operators queuing to do business with you.
So the slot I have will be all about Travel Agents transforming into micro-influencers..., let's hope I get my message across well!
3. Lead Generation - a focus for 2021
The one comment that spins around in my head having talked to lots of clients over the last 12 months when sales dried up was when I asked ' What is your lead generation plan?' - or 'how do you attract and nurture new leads'
Some honest answers I got...
- We Don't
- We have relied on being in the high street
- We don't because we've been lazy, business was good enough
So lead generation has to be a focus for 2021 - more next week when we have finished our blog post on it
4. TikTok - Guess who it works for?
TikTok - loved by the youth and not a social media channel I recommend most clients use ( unless they are looking to attract 18 - 30 with that party type branding). TikTok is most known for being a music distribution channel. See how Olivia Rodrigo achieved 14 million daily streams on Spotify ( that's over double all the other songs) in one week in January - because the song was shared over 900 million times on TikTok
Enter Ryanair - it would be of course, the bad boy of the air - arrogant and edgy.
Once upon a time.... it would be Virgin Atlantic leading the way but RyanAir have used lockdown to focus in on their next demographic needing cheap flights and clocked up 156,100 followers and 2.7 million likes over the course of the year. That's not 109 million that the top TikTok influencer has, but it's a start.
Love 'em or loathe 'em, this is a travel brand that knows where their customers are and is building a community along the way. My 16-year-old son said he would definitely fly with them once he could choose his own flights.... based on how they have come across to him on TikTok. His sense of humour ( any parent with kids who show them 'memes' will get this) is somewhat out of kilter with mine sometimes ... but this RyanAir TikTok did make me smile!
You'll need your sound on to listen...
I'm off to do the final prep for my slot this afternoon at the Adventure Travel Networking Conference...
Have a good weekend :)
Steve
