Banff National Park: A Young Adventurer’s Playground Hunting for an authentic, fresh, and meaningful escape in 2025? Banff Canada should be on your list of most compelling nature adventure destinations. There’s no better way to celebrate and enjoy your youth or awaken it from hibernation. Banff is ready to give you the vacation of a…
Banff Canada for Romantics Some places on our beautiful earth just seem to prove that romance is best with grand gestures and intimate moments. Here in the Canadian Rockies, love blooms anew, refreshed by the purity of the air and the timeless embrace of protective mountains. Whether you’re celebrating years of love, savoring the giddy…
Travel Marketing KPI Performance Framework Given the cost of marketing and challenge of being competitive in advertising, SEO, social media and content marketing, travel business managers are eager to discover what works and what doesn’t. But then most don’t have adequate marketing analytics, and are far from the era of AI predictive analytics and personalized…
San Diego – A Place Where Summer Never Ends Imagine a place where summer never truly ends, where the ocean breeze carries the promise of adventure, and where every sunset feels like nature’s own masterpiece. Visualize yourself in the most sunny, southwestern part of US, next to Mexico, a place famous for its American and…
Overcoming Travel Buyer’s Inertia or Hesitation Is visitor/customer hesitation, doubt, inertia or some other apprehension ruining all your marketing efforts. Looks like you’ll have to tackle this yourself and it can be a tough nut to crack. Time to get serious! If your sales/bookings are stagnating and your conversion rates are very low, it means…
Getting Faster Results for Small Travel Companies As we enter 2025, small business outlook still remains somewhat subdued. It’s creating inertia and making travel company owners cautious about investing in travel marketing excellence in 2025. However, given President Trump has won and is implementing a very strong Pro-US business agenda, with balanced trade and lower…
Blogs are Your Most Affordable and Powerful Marketing Tool Expedia, Booking.com, TourRadar, Hotels.com or Travelocity do spend time to improve engagement and interaction with travel customers. They blog. And that translates to more inquiries, brand awareness, bookings and upsells — not to mention improved customer loyalty. Let’s get right to the point that blogging is…
Travel Marketing Software in a Challenging Travel Service Marketplace Good travel marketing needs the right travel marketing software. Dedicated solutions help you gravitate from outdated legacy marketing processes that actually are threatening the viability of your travel business. If you’re piecing together 10 different marketing tools that require a lot of manual intervention, you can…
Mexico Vacation Packages Every fall and winter, vacationers from Europe, US and Canada dream of a vacation to Mexico. They’ll find a unique travel experience where sunshine, warm climate, beautiful beaches, quaint walkable villages with friendly people and restaurants with traditional Mexican cuisine make a complete getaway. In this post, we discover Mexico’s most sought…
Expand Your Target Audiences to Grow Revenue The 2025 travel market and the 5-year travel market forecast tell the tale of an expanding consumer travel market and growing revenues for travel companies. It’s billions of dollars up for grabs and a chance to build a solid, sustainable travel business. Expanding your marketing reach, content, and…
Top Travel Marketing AI Agents Artificial Intelligence is sweeping the travel management industry, but the real story is how this technology is enhancing the performance of the best creative strategists. While we all like to think our work is marvelous and music to customer’s ears, in reality, we need to improve in many areas. These…
SEO Services for Travel Companies There’s often a lot of doubt and confusion about how SEO is done and delivered, so I’d like to present this series of steps that clarifies how I will work with your travel business. Google’s ranking algorithm looks for many strengths in content quality and relevance, and that clear signals…
Top Tour Marketplaces Online While traveling has traditionally been slightly passive and relaxing, there is a growing trend to pursue more engaged types of experiences. And some of the packaged experiences are truly amazing. You’ll see them in advertisements or when you visit the major tour marketplaces which I’ll introduce below including Toursbylocals, Viator, Collette…
The Quest for Improved Revenue Through Search Engine Optimization When any travel agency, real estate brokerage, or software company owner considers SEO for their website, it is lead and revenue growth that’s on their minds. And why not? An ongoing strategy to build leads and sales via Google search generates business strength, brand visibility, new…
Helping Travel Agency Owners Achieve their Real, Actual Potential Have you been passing on success, hugging the status quo like you were on the deck of the Titanic? Today, for most small businesses, it is a mood of caution, trepidation, and fear. Yet, at least in the travel market, sales are booming. We’re about to…
San Diego County: An Urban/Recreation Adventurer’s Paradise from Golden Beaches to the City San Diego County is more than just a destination—it’s a stimulating, unfiltered mix of experiences that weaves together natural wonder, action adventure and urban cool. It’s not trite to say San Diego won’t bring transformation, as it certainly did for me. From…
Best SaaS Travel Management Software Platforms Your choice of travel management software is more important to your travel company than you might believe. It helps you manage your trip and tour package offerings, promote them better, make them more accessible to search engines, open you to an expansion of your tour and trip offerings, and…
Become a Travel Writer? It’s not a stretch to say there are millions of travel writers working today, employed by hotels, travel portals, travel magazines, travel agencies and those producing their own travel blogs. A massive audience, growing travel market, global affluence, and the desirability of travel lifestyles is attracting more people into this segment….
2025 Travel Market Looking Promising If your US-based travel agency enjoys having Americans as your primary customer, you may be in for quite a year ahead. In fact, the travel market forecast for the next 5 years is looking good too. Along with a booming US economy, the rising US dollar will make most foreign…
Empower your Travel Agency — Generate the Revenue You Hope For The 2024/2025 travel market appears strong for travel agencies and tour operators, but are they all too passive and hesitant about growing their businesses and raising revenues? Some agencies I’ve been watching and studying have similar problems: their value proposition isn’t clear, fully…
Small Business Marketing Report The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) says its latest Small Business Optimism Index jumped 8.0 points to 101.7 last month, the highest level since June 2021. They report the percentage of owners expecting the economy to improve rose 41 points from October to a net 36%, the highest since June…
US Travel Market to Return to Record Levels As a Canadian, I still find the US the most compelling place to visit. Even up against the splendor of the Alps, Spanish Beaches, France architecture and history, the azure Mediterranean Sea, and mysterious Asia, the US is comfortable, fun and accessible. Now in the midst of…
Travelers View a Lot of Content Expedia’s most recent travel market report is a treasure trove of insights for travel startups, travel agency owners, tour operators, hotels, car rental companies and destination marketing companies. One area highlighted in the survey that’s relevant to your business is the sheer amount of time taken and content viewed…
Creativity is in the Eye of the Beholder At some point in time, maybe now, you’re wondering about the creative appeal of your travel content pieces. Creative expression really amps up the persuasive power of content, and there are travel publishers that put an emphasis on creative travel copywriting. They hire professional creative writers at…
Travel Business Conferences USA Canada For travel agents, travel startup entrepreneurs, tour operators, and destination marketing companies, travel conferences and expos represent a wonderful opportunity to connect, learn and celebrate being in the travel industry. Who doesn’t love traveling to a conference/trade show to get immersed in the industry they love? And with the 2025…
The Rise of Travel Growth Marketers The job title “growth marketer” is hot of late. Salaries are impressive, often above $100k. The role is created for growing visibility and reach, marketshare, sales, revenue, content, product improvement, and developing new types of customers. I like the idea of this role. The focus is on growth and…
Social Media Engagement Tips for Travel Companies Social media is an engaging, even addictive medium, even for travelers. It’s a wise choice for travel agencies, travel marketplaces, and tour operators to explore and engage in. This buzzword of engagement needs a little more clarification too. Why are you engaging with followers? Why would they participate?…
Social Media Engagement Strategy Social media channels are essential digital marketing channels, part of your digital marketing flywheel. It’s easy to say most companies, real estate agents, software companies and travel agencies aren’t getting social media right. In their defense, it is challenging far beyond the common posts, chatter and scheduling. It can be fun…
Travel Forecast – Industry Stats and Trends 2025 looks like it will be a fantastic year for US domestic and international travel. Americans continue to spend whether optimistic or pessimistic. And with the pro-business, pro-America government coming into office in January, the outlook for the 2025 economy is positive. Americans will spend $28.4 Billion this…
Social Media Marketing Plan for a Travel Agency Since you’re in the travel sector, a market that’s human, emotional and visual, then social media is well suited to building connections and relationships. However, it’s noisy, cluttered, and requires a certain tone of voice and real engagement with customers. We can declutter and clarify this process…
Who’s Launching Startup Travel Businesses? With an economic revival likely for the coming 5 years, entrepreneurs are intrigued about investing in and launching a travel startup. And the people jumping all over this opportunity are millionaires and people like you and me. Starter Story’s recent post on “How profitable is a travel agency?” suggests this…
How to Build Content Breadth to Capture High-Volume Leads Let’s use a simple analogy of a tall needle-like building vs Mount Everest to discuss content expansion. If the tall building represents a narrow niche-obsessed content marketing campaign, it means it can’t reach high enough or broadly enough to capture sufficient traffic volume and rankings, topic…
Grow Your Travel Business Online How many ways are there to grow? Let us count the ways: expand your target market geographically refocus entirely on the USA market (or Canada if you’re in Canada) expand your range of travel products and packages design niche packages (e.g., eco-travel, culinary tours, or wellness retreats). grow your marketing…
Why Search Engines Are Essential for Your Travel Business Success Given the promise of the incoming Trump 2.0 government with its pro-business agenda, both personal travel and business travel will see a big boost in 2025. And with travelers using digital tools such as Google to plan their trips, its absolutely necessary to build visibility…
Freelance Marketer vs Digital Marketing Agency — Which Should You Hire? Are you considering further reorganization due to a budget squeeze? One area you can do it is not in marketing. Happily, if budget is an issue, a digital marketing freelancer may be a more cost-effective way to reach audiences and engage them. You’ll be…
Travel AI Agents vs AI Travel Planners AI travel technology is transforming how people plan their trips and how travel businesses serve their clients and customers. Your current platform or tools may soon be outdated and represent a liability for your business. Travel AI systems are what travelers want and what businesses need. If you…
Personalized Travel Experiences: Where Consumer Travel is Going The travel industry is undergoing a transformative shift in 2024, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) software technology. As an agency owner/manager, you’re likely aware of these AI-powered trends. However, if you glanced over them, they offer extensive business advantages – from marketing to operations. Whether…
Using AI Software to Enhance Content Marketing Strategy and Production The way tech is intruding on everything these days, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s the center of attention in digital marketing. As productive solutions grow for small businesses, owners are feeling confused and insecure about how to use it well to achieve real…
Business Owners Looking for Certainty If you’ve been underperforming in your business for quite a while, it’s no surprise. It’s been booming for big multinational corporations, but not so much for anyone else. Delete the S&P 500 and you get a view of the real economy and the stock market. For real small businesses (not…
The Essence of Stellar Travel Content Arguably, the biggest weakness of most small travel companies online is weak content. It’s a money-losing weakness that not only undermines an agency’s credibility and likability but also misses out on future sales. And now in the era of generative AI, a top drawback is that so-called personalized, AI…
The Rise of User-Generated Content in Travel Marketing Any serious travel company needs to produce authentic content to draw traffic, engage customers, and build its brand. In terms of authenticity, helpfulness, and immersion, it’s a tough task for most travel companies to produce. That’s why augmenting your current content strategy with the help of your…
SEO Expertise vs AI SEO: Which is Best? Artificial intelligence software is making big waves in the marketing sector, part of what’s called Marketing AI. There’s big hope and hype, and yes, we will have to learn how to use these tools soon. AI SEO Content Creation tools are beginning to make a contribution, at…
Unlocking the Power of Creativity As a travel business owner you’re not really paying for marketing execution anymore. AI and marketing software are responding to that need. The real weakness or gap is with creativity and imagination in your marketing and promotion. More focus needs to be placed on developing the creative powers that will make…
Jasper AI – Powerful Small Business Marketing Assistant As we approach 2025, it’s easy to see digital marketing is being transformed by artificial intelligence. There are plenty of trends in marketing and we’re all struggling to keep pace with fast rising expectations. The solution we discover here is that a product called Jasper AI could…
How to Build Your Content Marketing Strategy In the travel sector, content is vitally important. Creative, helpful, trustworthy content pieces are a big part of travelers’ pre-purchase experience. Yet, what should those assets be, what topics do they want, and what messages should those articles/videos/graphics be communicating? A lot of marketing companies create a publishing…
Mastering the Art of the Offer No matter what business you’re in, whether travel, property management, real estate sales, SaaS software, financial services, or retail sales, the selling offer you present to prospects communicates everything about your brand. And as we’ll discuss here, if you build your brand magic into your sales promos, then even…
Content That Brings High-Quality Customers Who is the bringer of high-quality customers? It might be a talented, spirited content stategist who just doesn’t seem to understand limits. But we know it’s really you, the business owner. You enable and launch the marketing project, grow it and nurture it to succeed. I’m here to help you…
Great Customers are the Fix for Everything Whether you manage a real estate brokerage, digital marketing agency, software company, e-commerce retailer, or travel agency, your business is your customers. If your customers are not good, your business will suffer, as you might already know. And when you’re not acquiring the most qualified, enabled, and stable…
Making Impact on Your Visitors is High Priority For a decade now, marketers have been focusing more on the visitor experience and user engagement. Yet the first part of experience and engagement is the impact your content and brand make on visitors. You may have some great product shots, a nice-looking webpage, and a…
Why not Have a Dedicated, Active Brand Ambassador? One of the most common issues with digital marketing campaigns is while they’re designed to meet advertiser needs, they often fail to create the kind of compelling human connection that resonates within travel consumers. Instead of leaving a lasting impression, the ads, messaging and landing pages often…
Get Your Guide’s Fall 2024 Travel Experience Report Smart travel business owners and marketers should get access to insight travel market research. It drives smarter business decisions so you’ve got the right presence for your brand for the exact audience you need. Bold, confident, profitable decisions are driven by real data and insights. A healthy…
Best Travel and Tourism Research Websites The success of your marketing and advertising campaigns is highly dependent on good customer research. Without it, you’re kind of flailing in the dark. In this post, I introduce 7 helpful sources of travel market research for tour companies, DMOs, and travel agencies. For entrepreneurs, content strategists, sales pros…
Why You Should Hire a Travel Content Strategist 2025 and beyond should present you some great opportunities to grow and profit if you’re strategic and committed to winning. Is doubling or tripling your revenue all that outrageous? I mean there’s a massive travel market out there, and 2025 should be a good year economically for…
Travel to Boston, Massachusetts Travelers from across North America, Europe and Asia travel to Boston to experience the history of the United States. There is no better city to revel and be immersed in America’s history to really understand what Boston represents to the New England area. There are exquisite art galleries, impressive museums, churches,…
Getting Deep Insights into Your Targeted Travelers As you know, your target travel customer has unique wants in their travel experience. Which means, they intend to buy the trip, accommodations and tours that fit the travel adventure they visualize in their minds. Knowing what the customer intends to do, is the subject of predictive analytics,…
Explore the Incredible Colorado Rocky Mountains My last visit to Denver and the Colorado Rocky Mountains was an exhilarating trip. I discovered it’s a different experience than Banff National Park, Yellowstone or Glacier National Park. There’s much more to do, more interesting unique towns, and lots more for adventurers. If you’re struggling trying to decide your…
Visiting Yosemite Park in Picturesque California Yosemite Park in the California Sierra Mountain range is one of the world’s most spectacular scenes. And if the natural beauty of the the Golden State isn’t enough for one vacation, Yosemite National Park takes the nature experience to its pinnacle. Soaring mountains, massive sheer rock cliffs, towering trees,…
What are Today’s Travel Business Challenges? What challenges is your travel business facing right now? Likely, they’re the exact same issues that plague all the others. It’s all part of changes in the economy and travel industry. I can help you respond to your lead, revenue and loyalty erosion with improved marketing — strategy, content…
Improving Your Agency Tours and Packages The tour and travel package sector has been strong for two years now. Travel agencies are doing well. Competition however is increasing as eager entrepreneurs sense the opportunity. However, as the competition for travelers increases and as old sightseeing tours become too mundane for repeat travel buyers, your agency…
Reaching Babyboomers and Senior Aged Travelers A statistical fact that might shock many today, is not only the size of the senior population in America and globally, it’s how many are traveling. By 2050, seniors 60+ will comprise nearly a quarter of the global population. In contrast to Gen Z’s and Millennials who are unfortunately…