Your New Theme of Efficiency, Service and Performance

Many travel companies are being forced to reorganize this year as politics reduces travel demand, and travel consumers become harder to reach.

Travel has changed. It’s more competitive, revenue outlooks are weaker, and consumers have new expectations about travel companies.  You’ll need to improve the message you deliver on how and why your company is the most significant one for them. Business-wise, it’s about reorganizing budgets to ensure your messaging is powerful — supporting your marketing to create a customer.

Reorganizing your marketing team or hiring new can provide the complete expertise and campaign execution you need, under budget.

Marketing-focused travel businesses that understand travelers and are able to present a personalized value proposition to well-targeted travelers. They’re using data to increase how relevant they are to every part of the traveler’s experience from AI travel planners to personalization to how they pay for their trips. They’re winning new customers via improved products and much-improved marketing communications.

The goal IMHO, for a cost-conscious travel business, is to improve how you reach travelers, what brand/UVP message you present, and in who delivers your marketing.  By reorganizing your marketing org chart, you can cut costs and invest those savings into a new improved and affordable marketing strategy where you create greater brand visibility, leads and bookings.

Impress Your Current Customers and Create Many More New Customers

And I also want to make the point that marketing is how you keep your current customers loyal.

Because competitors aren’t as loyal as they seem, and competitors are looking to take them away.  I believe traditional travel shops are going out of business because they’re unable to make the transition to a travel marketing company. Because marketing creates a customer. By putting our heads together on this key business project, we can optimize your spending for more well-targeted campaigns that generate more and better leads. It’s moving money to where it’s powerful.

It’s not about being the industry’s ultimate authority on this stuff, it’s about having a good, affordable plan to reach, impact, engage and persuade — persistent, data-informed improvement to all of your marketing.

Should You Expect People to Do Things They Can’t?

Travel sales pros get stressed out when they’re asked to do something they’re not cut out for nor are trained, enthused about, and informed enough to do.  For instance, they don’t design content marketing strategies, understand search engines, get presence on the web, run ad campaigns, nor comprehend the full lead generation funnel statistics. They just love talking to customers, helping them and making them feel good. And that’s what your marketing leads to.

If you visualize your reorganized marketing team, then it’s easier to track back in your org chart to see the changes you should make.  Visualize a new affordable marketing team.  We’ll be the lead generation powerhouse you need generating reach, engaging experiences, and leads for your staff to nurture.

It’s not about running bland ads and social media postings. I’m referring to the what of your offer to travelers and how it’s delivered. A new marketing team will identify and reach your niche audience and create the pre-trip visualization experience they want to have.  As you know, “the mind travels first.”

If your marketing sucks, then travel consumers likely assume your product, services and brand do as well. Of course, the reorganization of your specific situation is unique and it just needs you to have the confidence and faith that you can make this successful.

While I speak of improving your UVP, I’m not really talking about your actual product. That’s your realm.  I’m saying good marketing can skew perception of a #2 or #3 ranking brand and make it appear to be #1.

Reorganize to Move Resources Where They’re Most Effective

The best way to get this accomplished is by reorganizing your marketing team for efficiency — minimizing cost and putting as much funds as possible into reaching and acquiring leads.

Because most travel companies aren’t doing that. And the new startups are building their companies on cost efficiency. In a nutshell, you need to hire talent with more diverse skills.  And they need to be dedicated to your company — totally focused on your products, brand, and customer experiences.

Possible Recruits for Your New Marketing Team

Your new marketing specialists will be strongly connected to your sales team so we’re acting as one, and we’re very clear on who your ideal customer is and what they want. Your team might be composed of a:

• travel branding consultant who can help crystalize your UVP/offer and brand communication strategy.
• website designer/developer to create a website that delivers your brand message clearly.
• graphic designer who can create a branded visual design with templates your marketing team can adapt as needed.
• travel copywriter who travels to your destinations to build authentic, convincing, impactful, and real-life content pieces.
• social media engager who can build an emotional connection with travelers and draw them into your joy of travel experiences.
• content strategist who understands topic demand by travelers and influencers and builds a content narrative that sticks in travelers minds and hearts.
• videographer/producer who can take video clips and create masterful YouTube presentations that make your company/trips stand out.
• search engine optimizer who can plan and execute an onsite and offsite strategy to grow reach via search engines.
• data analytics consultant who can set up your web and sales dashboards for powerful, actionable insights.

That’s a big list isn’t it?  Well, in fact, a few of these people are needed infrequently, perhaps once or twice to set things up.  Beyond that you’ll need to choose some with multiple skills — that’s efficiency. And such versatility often makes them even more productive (e.g., traveling copywriter/SEO/Social media/analytics/ppc advertising).

In this way, you can seriously cut down your staffing needs. It’s an era where single specialist skills don’t cut it, but ultimately, a focus on what moves the sales needle is important.

You could hire an agency to handle it all, but owners/CEOs only do this when they’re feeling unconfident, and the agency people know that. But the agencies juggle many clients which is a problem. I’ved worked for 4 agencies and know that excellence is hard to come by. They want big bucks for it.

You would be wise to insist on dedication, removing noise, conflicts of interest, and a lack of motivation.  Because often, performance comes down to whether a worker feels passionate about the work, is focused and has a personal mission to excel at it, and has all the skills to bring it together.

Actionable Tactics for Better Travel Marketing

Okay, now that you have an idea of the team you need to build, let’s review some actionable tactics for cost efficiency and improved market presence:

1. Focus on Domestic and Regional Travel

• Promote Local Destinations: With international travel becoming more expensive due to currency fluctuations and trade tensions, focus on promoting US domestic and regional destinations. These US-focused trips are often more affordable and appealing to budget-conscious travelers in the new international political climate.
• Partner with Local Providers: Collaborate with more local hotels, transportation providers, and tour operators to offer bundled packages at competitive rates.

2. Optimize Marketing

• Shift to Digital Marketing: Reduce reliance on traditional advertising and word-of-mouth marketing and put more effort into digital channels like social media, email marketing, Generative AI, content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Improve your Website: Optimize your website as the home of your travel brand, providing an enjoyable pre-trip visualization experience – consistent with your targeted niche customers and sales objectives (new products, destinations, services, loyalty).
• Use Data Analytics: Analyze customer data to identify high-value segments, personalize content experiences, and improve marketing campaigns.
• Leverage User-Generated Content: Encourage customers to share their travel experiences, photos, and videos on social media and for your agency website. This provides free, authentic and influential content that can persuade new customers (social proof/trust/impact).

3. Offer Flexible and Value-Driven Packages

• Introduce Flexible Booking Policies: In uncertain times, travelers appreciate flexibility. Offer options like free cancellations or rescheduling to attract cautious customers.
• Create All-Inclusive Packages: Bundling flights, accommodations, and activities into a single package and personalizing them somehow, can simplify their decision and make your package seem the most significant one available. It helps build urgency when they need to act to get the packaged deal.
• Highlight Cost Savings: Emphasize the affordability and value of your offerings in marketing materials. For example, promote discounts, early-bird deals, or loyalty program benefits, and adjust your brand messaging to match your audience (less so if your customer base is luxury travel).

4. Strengthen Supplier Relationships

• Negotiate Better Rates: Build stronger relationships with airlines, hotels, DMOs, tour companies, and other suppliers to secure discounted rates or exclusive deals. Suppliers can be good marketing partners.
• Diversify Supplier Base: Avoid over-reliance on a single supplier. Diversify your supplier base to expand offerings, make them be competitive, and reduce your risk to higher costs.

5. Enhance Customer Retention

• Loyalty Programs: Use marketing to improve customer loyalty programs to encourage repeat business. Offer rewards like discounts, free upgrades, or exclusive access to deals.
• Personalized Service: Use customer data to provide personalized itinerary recommendations, increase their comfort levels, and raise their confidence in their decisions.
• Proactive Communication: Be calmly assertive with your marketing and CRM routines, to keep customers informed about travel updates, promotions, and policy changes. This builds trust and reduces competitor’s misinformation and marketing tactics which can create trip cancellations.

6. Reduce Marketing Staffing Costs

• Outsource Non-Core Functions: Consider outsourcing tasks such as content creation, content strategy, social media engagement, video production, and SEO.
• Adopt Remote Work Policies: Hire staff to work remotely reducing office space and utility expenses and easing employees’ demands for higher wages for commuting.

7. Diversify Revenue Streams

• Add Services: Expand your offerings to include services like travel insurance, visa assistance, or currency exchange. These add-ons can generate additional revenue with minimal cost and encourage travelers to do business through your agency, and not on their own.
• Target Niche Markets: Focus on underserved niches like eco-tourism, adventure travel, or luxury travel. These segments are in demand and often have higher margins and less price sensitivity.

8. Monitor and Adapt to Market Trends

• Stay Informed: Hire consultants or freelance digital marketers who can help you keep up to date on global economic trends, trade policies, travel market opportunites and trends, and consumer behavior shifts.
• Conduct Regular Audits: Review your marketing team coverage, costs, ROI, and performance to identify areas for improvement and cost savings.

9. Collaborate with Competitors

• Form Strategic Alliances: Partner with other travel agencies to share resources, negotiate better rates with suppliers, or co-market destinations.
• Join Industry Associations: Participate in industry groups to access shared resources, training, and advocacy efforts.

Dealing with Economic Turbulence Smartly

The Trump Trade wars are a more serious event than most Americans realize as yet.  For US travel agencies, the international inbound traffic may decline this summer resulting in big losses.  These losses won’t be recovered in whole by US domestic travel growth in 2025.  However, change creates opportunity and their inability to execute this new optimized approach increases your chances of success.

The savings you create can be funneled into new technology additions and marketing and advertising where you’re likely to see the most upside.

Whether you’re outsourcing to a digital marketing specialist, adopting new travel management software, or building whole new sources of US domestic travel supply, change is good. Change is opportunity. There’s a way to win.

Make me part of your travel marketing team: 416 998 6246.