Is the US Headed for a Recession? Recession Watch 2024: It’s time to revisit the matter of the recession threat. There are plenty of factors that might conspired to send the stock market, housing market and whole economy spiraling downward to rough landing. Yes, you’re wondering about the possibility as many others are. The general…
Seller Leads through Better Marketing Today’s home sellers are a cagey lot, continuously holding on for a better price and the exact right time to sell their property. They’ll keep to that offish stance until you reach and persuade them otherwise. Your wisest move now is to develop a marketing strategy aimed at your ideal…
Should You Buy a Home Now? Buying a house in 2024/2025 is no easy decision. And there’s a few who might tell you “Are you Crazy?” The economic and financial markets are in turmoil with confusing news and signals. Volatility is a warning. Even the housing experts are confounded about what’s going to take place…
Breaking Up With China With a multi-decade, institutionalized export of money and technology, the US is long overdue for a return to freedom and repatriation of its own burgeoning economy. The reshoring of US manufacturing from China and the protection of valuable technology will boost US GDP, reward investment in the US, increase job growth,…
Tom Lee Said! Tom Lee Chief is the Head of Research for Fundstrat Global Advisors and an advisor to NewEdge Wealth. He’s considered the biggest bull on Wall Street, no pun intended. Fundstrat’s brand positioning is on strategic market insights derived from emotion-free, evidence-based research from their team who possess more than a century of…
Will the Trump Trade Turn the US Around? The big topic right now in investor circles isn’t just the low inflation report and an expected rate cut in September. It’s also the discussion of what Donald Trump will do if he wins the Nov 8 election. The issue has been tagged the “Trump trade” which…
The Trump Economic Boom 2025 The resignation of Joe Biden and the refusal of Barack Obama to endorse Kamala Harris, has sent the Democrat Party into turmoil and conflict. The infighting is only beginning as hopefuls try to capture attention and support ahead of their convention. The disarray of the failing party seems to be…
Stock Market News The story of the month might well be volatility, and we might expect more ups and downs for day traders to enjoy and retail investors to fear. Stock market analysts are talking about a rotation out of tech and into small caps, but the real story is about timing. Because Russell 2000…
The Rise of User Intent Insights There’s been a surge in interest in this topic of user intent in the last 5 years. Search engine optimizers want to understand keyword usage and what content to create. But user intent touches on all aspects of marketing and business strategy. Brand managers too want a keen understanding…
The Magic of Big Picture Thinking It’s wise to spend time thinking about the major influences on your business. And about opportunities too. Big opportunities often drive big-picture thinking. Great opportunities evolve from a wider view with the optimism that you can capture them. When ambition lags, we see business owners fall into small-minded traps….
Hiring Smartly for a Digital Travel Marketing Role As a travel agency owner, DMO CEO, hotel owner, tour operator or SaaS travel software entrepreneur, you’re tasked with the challenge of hiring the right marketing people. Can a single person have real impact on a small travel company? That would depend on their skills, drive, and…
When Will the Housing Market Unfreeze? Buyers can’t buy, sellers can’t sell. And this agony for buyers might not be eased within the next 12 months. Buyers/sellers, mortgage agents and Realtors all wonder when rates and home prices will fall. When will it all end? There’s a glimmer of hope that spring or H2 of…
A Winning SEO Marketing Formula After we’ve built an unbeatable, dominant content strategy, to showcase your amazing brand and connect to prospects and customers, we must support our ranking power in Google via promotion. This off-site portion of the marketing challenge is to attract backlinks, gain citations, and get shares on social media. These are…
Which Marketing and Lead Channels Should You Be Focusing On? 2025 and the return of home sales transactions might seem a long way off, but as I wrote in another post, all signals point to a big resurgence. In fact, 2025/2026 could well be record years for transaction dollar volumes as more pricey homes get…
2025’s Inflation Will Stay Low Politicians and the media tell us “it’s all about inflation” and that they’ve got the ultimate remedy. It may be their call for us to give up on an economic recovery, rely on debt spending, and accept a persistent, unpleasant fate. That’s not the fix or result Americans are wanting….
More AI Junk and Slop from the Zombie Internet As AI was introduced to the mainstream business community, CEOs and SMB owners were delighted at the prospect of a robot computer program generating free online content and providing free, cheap customer service. It was a dream world of low cost, easy automation, zero-employee based pure…
The 2025 Economic Recovery A massive change in politics is happening in Europe and North America and it’s likely to end the damaging economic policies of far left anti-business factions. In the US, Joe Biden’s small minded policies have crushed the dreams of most small businesses. They’ve suffered a never ending nightmare of taxes, inflation,…
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness Have you wondered how a small travel company could ever compete with the big travel portals and brand names online? It is a challenge for sure, but still doable. I’ve been competing against Goliath companies for 26 years now and even today, there’s a chance to win. Google’s ranking algorithm…
Why Would Anyone Say a Market Correction is Coming? The economy is rolling along, with job growth and wage gains, while corporate earnings seem okay. Economists and stock market forecasters are bullish for the longer term. However, there are worries about the next 6 months and in particular, the next 3 months. 3 experts below share…
Tips to Modernize your Travel Business There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t rest on their laurels. It’s human nature to rely on our strengths, expertise and experience. You’ve likely developed some excellent capacities that power your agency. Unfortunately, at some point, our strengths can become our biggest weakness. Because such rallying around our strengths…
Travel USA! This year’s travel market outlook revealed that many travelers prefer to visit the good old USA rather than venture out into increasingly hostile and overcrowded international travel destinations. Travel research company Phocuswright reports that the US is now the largest travel market in the world. Travel is booming and contributing a great deal…
The Rise of Influencers in Travel Marketing Travel marketing companies have a challenge today. If they’re unable to draw enough qualified traffic and convert them to customers, then it could be the consumer market has changed. And keeping clients relevant, visible, and generating leads is becoming more difficult. With SMBs web traffic and social media…
6 Unique Groups of Travelers 1.3 billion lucky people today enjoy the amazing benefits of enriched travel experiences. The quality, access and variety of travel options possible is creating a different view of traveler’s personalities, wants, and buying behavior. Because very unique experiences are available to everyone of any age, background, or sex —…
DIY Low Risk, High Return Marketing Test Project If you’ve avoided digital marketing, it’s understandable given how competitive and challenging the channel is. There’s the risk, the investment, the time and expertise, and confidence needed too! But any challenge can be conquered with faith, determination and strategy. The first part of the strategy is to…
Travel Business Startups There are plenty of good reasons to launch a travel business startup including profit opportunity, new directions, and just being in a business you’ll really love and meeting people engaged in life. A travel agency, tour operator marketplace, or travel software provider might be one of the most investible business opportunities of…
Pay Per Click Campaigns for Travel Businesses Travel businesses rely heavily on pay per click campaigns and paid social boosting to reach targeted travel consumers. It’s hard to beat the placement and reach of online advertising. It’s extremely fast and powerful, yet it’s competitive. The required minimum bids will shock you. Before you spend…
What Will Happen to Home Prices When Mortgage Rates Decline? It’s an important question because in 2025, rates are going to lower. Not because of inflation drops, because 3% inflation is here to stay due to supply constraints and US government regulations, and high debt. Instead, it will be political pressure that will do it….
How to Create Your Realtor Brand Differentiation The power of branding. Do you take it seriously? Are you doing anything than the usual, common tactics to establish your name and offer to buyers and sellers? I reiterate frequently in my blog posts and conversations that a brand image is your value proposition. It’s your promise,…
Attack Your Competitor’s Strengths A commencement speech from Roger Federer at Dartmouth College recently, offered one really important tip for entrepreneurs and future CEOs in the audience. He spoke about his challenges in becoming the greatest tennis player of all time. He mentioned having to work hard and shore up his weaknesses, become disciplined, managing…
Real Estate Websites – Designs and Lead Management There’s no denying the power of a quality real estate website, designed for the user experience, agent lead management and nurturing, as well as presenting engaging content for digital marketing prowess. Skimping on your Realtor website can seriously hamper your online visibility, lead generation and conversion, as…
Bull Market Continues into 2025? 2024 was a record-breaking year for the S&P, NASDAQ, and Dow Jones listed stocks. With the election of the Pro-American business Donald Trump, the markets have much to celebrate. Reduced taxes, regulations, and government wasted spending, on the back of lower interest rates will spur the economy in 2025. There…
Advanced Content Strategy: Power in the Creative Mix Every travel agency owner, travel management software manager, and tour company CEO has to decide what their blog content theme will be. Because a company blog creates the lion’s share (up to 90%) of web traffic. Which means content choices will decide how much traffic, rankings, impact…
Why Banff Alberta Has to be on Your Trip List Having lived in Calgary, Alberta for 10 years, and continuing to visit when I can, I can recommend Banff as an epic vacation adventure. Banff is more than just mountain tops, although that’s often enough for sightseeing visitors here. You’ve been captivated by the images…
The Power of New Ideas How would you win a best design competition at the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival? Would you show up with the usual round balloon with a different color scheme? Or would you brainstorm a brilliant unique design that evokes their imagination and resonates with balloon festival spirit? Would you have…
Tour Radar – Innovation in Business Tour marketplaces are big business. Very lucrative but challenging to make successful. In this post, you’ll discover one firm which was spawned in the booming travel sector, innovated and grown, learned from their mistakes, upgraded their sales channels, and adapted their business model to fit the actual, real, not…
What Makes the Top Tour Companies the Best? If you’re investigating the opportunity of investing in tour companies or to launch one yourself, you’ll want to take a closer look at the top market leaders and comprehend deeply why they are successful. The best have the most inbound traffic, are marketing-driven, offer high-quality tour…
How to Change Travel Consumer’s Minds Tourists and travelers of all kinds have particular tastes and preferences. Sometimes strong, sometimes not. How profitable would it be to change travel consumer’s minds about their loyalties, tour choices and destinations? These are well targeted, influential, and loyal customers to your customer list. Such insight in…
Top 21 Challenges of SMB Travel Companies If you’re a travel entrepreneur planning and launching a startup travel agency, travel SaaS management software product, tour operator, or a tour marketplace, you’re into an exciting project, perhaps more joyful and fulfilling than any other industry. However, as you know, the market poses some significant challenges…
Make Impact, Sell More Tours After you’ve built a massive source of traffic and presented a compelling, significant trusted brand, and perked up tourists’ interest, you have the final challenge of selling your tours. If your tour involves riding camels in 120-degree desert heat, you’re going to need to be really good at tour page…
Travel for Health, Enjoyment and Healing It might be said that all travel companies are actually in the business of selling the joy of travel. Because joy is a powerful motive. It’s the single, primary emotion travelers experience before they purchase. Their real intent is to feel this thing called joy during their trip, whether…