The single biggest reason most travel agents quit the industry or never become a top seller is their inability to generate customer leads. Many agents fall into the trap of relying on their host agency to send them leads, or they struggle to generate business outside of their friends and family list. In an era where technology has levelled the playing field regarding getting information about your business out to critical mass, generating leads has never been easier. If you learn the right actions to take on a daily basis, and you are consistent with your effort, there is absolutely no reason why you should not have customers contacting you about your services.
If you wish to become a master at generating new customer leads daily for your travel business, here are 25 ways to you can accomplish that goal.
1. Word Of Mouth Marketing
Word of mouth marketing is still the most credible way of promoting a business. People like hearing from people and the first person that should be telling others about your business is you. Everywhere you go, everyone opportunity you get, you should be sharing your business with others. Ask friends and family members to spread the word to their friends and colleagues, letting them know that when they are ready to book a trip, they should contact you. If you want to get more leads, you are not going to do so being a “Secret Agent.” Tell people about your business.
2. A Well Designed Website
It is 2016 and just in case you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years everybody and their pets are online searching for information. The exact number is 3.2 billion. I can promise you that at least a handful of those people are looking for a travel agent to help them book their vacation. Your website is your online storefront. You do not get any piece of that 3.2 billion is you do not have a website. Please note that the title said “Well Designed Website.” You need a website that adequately represents what your travel business is all about, something that will make you stand out from the competition. When potential customers land on your site, they should want to do business with you.
3. Keyword Optimization
Keyword search is, without a doubt, the NUMBER ONE source of driving sales and consumer leads. Google is king when it comes to finding buyers, and you need to find out how you can capture those customers that are looking for the type of travel services that you offer. The answer to that is Keyword Optimization, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you do not understand SEO, seek the assistance of an expert that can help you identify the set of keywords that will attract the type of “Buyers” you are looking for. No, “Travel Agent” is not a buyer keyword and unless you have millions to spend on Google ads, you very likely will not get ranked for such a competitive keyword. Identify specific long-tail phrases that someone would likely type in search engines when they are looking your services. Something like “Find A Jamaica Travel Specialist” or “find a travel agent in New York”. If you own top rankings for the right keywords, you can pretty much stop all other means of generating leads.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing has been around since the invention of emails, and it is still today one of the most efficient ways of getting customer leads for any business. To start your email marketing campaign, you fist need to start building your email list. If you do not know how to farm an email list check out this article containing 10 Ways To Build An Email List. Once you have your list going, you should be setting weekly or bi-weekly newsletters to your email list with travel deals, tips, and any information relevant to the type of travel services that you offer. Your newsletter should always include a “Call To Action” such as “Contact Me To Book Your Vacation” or, “Click Here For More Information”.
5. Social Media Marketing
Social Media is very useful lead generation tool for many reasons. Reason number one it’s FREE to use. You can use social media to connect with and build a following of people that are your potential clients; you can share information with these followers on a daily basis about your services. Social media is also an excellent way to build your brand and establish credibility, which translates into more leads and more customers for your travel business.
Check Out This Article On Social Media Marketing
6. Classified Ads
There are many free and paid business classifieds out there that you can use to promote your business. Popular sites like Craigslist, Kijiji, Yellow pages and many others get millions of daily visitors that could be potential customers. Free classified ads are not as effective as when you pay to have your business listing at the top of the pages. Create a very catchy ad title with a lovely image and a brief overview of your business. Make sure you include a link to a contact form on your site or a phone number that interested travellers can easily reach you.
7. Blog Marketing
If you want to be seen as an expert in your niche travel market, get a lot of visitors to your website, rank highly on search engines, start blogging. The most successful websites online use blogging and article marketing as a tool to engage visitors and convert traffic into customers. Start a travel blog about the type of travel services you offer, post to your website and share to your social media pages and your weekly newsletter. By writing about interesting topics and providing useful tips and insight on your subject matter, you will be seen as an expert and clients will come to you when they are ready to make a purchase. Blogging will also make your site more credible with Google, and you will rank faster and higher for relevant key phrases.
8. Youtube Video Marketing
An excellent and effective way to get your brand messaging out to customers is by starting a YouTube channel. Billions of users go to YouTube to search for videos about topics of interest, and if you are serving content in a niche travel category, those users will find you. Video marketing also helps you reach many of today's web users that have short attention span and do not like to read and much prefer looking at images or watching a video. It is not as easy to generate good content for your YouTube video channel as it is for blogging, but every opportunity you get to record a great video to upload to YouTube, you should do so as it will no doubt generate inquiries from potential customers.
9. Trade Shows
Trade shows cost money, and they can be exhausting. However, there is no better way to get face-to-face and build relationships with potential clients. There are dozens of travel trade shows happening around you, and some of your potential customers are attending these exhibits. It is worth the investment to rent a booth space for the weekend and get yourself in front of thousands of potential customers at one of these tradeshows. Don’t just rent a booth and hand out brochures, have something setup that will encourage the people that stop at your both to leave their contact information for you to send them your newsletters.
10. Niche Branding
I probably write about finding a niche and establishing a Niche Brand in every single one of my lead generation articles. However, I do not believe I can say it enough times. It is just that important. If you wish to differentiate yourself from everyone else out there and give customers a compelling reason to enlist your services when booking their trip, you need to identify an area of specialty and focus your marketing and branding to that niche. When your website content, your social media profile, your trade show brochures and your company name represents something other than the general hotel and flight packages customers can find on Expedia, your services will attract more attention, and especially that of those seeking out the type of travel you are offering.
11. Customer Incentives
Offer potential customers something for doing business with you. A Spa voucher, complimentary airport transfers, a gift basket; it does not have to be a discount. People like doing business with those that give back, and you can gain a lot of clients by showing them that you are will to reward them for their business. Your best incentive to customers is excellent customer service. Sometimes that can be in the form of a restaurant gift card to show your appreciation.
12. Referral Program
It is not just potential customers that you should offer incentives to; start an incentive program for those willing to send you customers. Your friends and family members will likely send you referrals for free, but people that are not that close to you will be more encouraged to do so if they will get something in return. For your referral program to work, you have to ensure people know about it. Make sure you include your referral program details as a part of your weekly newsletters, social media marketing and make it visible on your website.
13. Networking Events
A part of building a business is continually expanding your network. Whether it is to find more customers or to develop partnerships with business associates that can translate into more customers, networking is key to your overall business success. Find out about events that are already existing that’s attended by the type of people your would like to become your clients of marketing partners. Arm yourself properly with business cards and a well thought out 1-minute verbal pitch about your business.
14. Leads Program
There are a few programs out there that travel agents can sign up for to receive customer-booking leads. Vacation.com is one company that offers such a program. It is highly unlikely that you will get a lot of leads from any of these programs that convert into paying customers. However, for the year, you may get the one or two groups from them that may make it worth the annual fees they charge. Generating your own leads is what is going to make or break your business, but some extra business from other sources will only help to add to the pot.
