3. Market Yourself
Often when you encounter a flourishing group travel program, you will find a personable and engaging group travel leader in charge. Personal connections can be more effective than polished advertising. If a group leader seems fun and capable, travelers will often expect the tours to reflect those traits.
Whenever you can, foster connections with group members with phone calls, personalized notes and face-to-face conversations. The more confidence you project about a tour, the more customers will believe you and trust you over Google.
Accompany tours yourself when you can to strengthen long-lasting relationships. If you can’t go on every tour, try to recruit a representative of your company to go in your place to continue building relationships in your absence.
4. Market Your Brand
Group leaders shouldn’t only market their personality; they should also continually reinforce the fact that the tours represent a larger brand. Some travel programs, such as bank travel clubs, sell trips for a company. Other group leaders simply represent themselves, so they may have to create their own company name and logo.
Use your travel business logo on every piece of communication you can to reinforce your brand. You want the group to feel loyalty toward your travel program so they will choose your trips over others. Newsletters, emails, postcards and websites should all display your logo prominently.
5. Send Professional Promotional Materials
Potential travelers agonizing over whether to book a group tour might find the quality of the marketing materials an important factor in their decision. Like it or not, people will judge your travel program based on their impressions of your website and marketing materials. Read up on how to create modern and sleek promotional materials with simple designs and high-quality photography.
Some group leaders rely on their own carefully shot photos for use in their newsletters and emails. However, if your camera fails to take crisp, colorful photos, consider asking a tour operator for some eye-catching images.
Today’s group leaders do not need a degree in design to sell travel. Tour operators will often create professional customized newsletters, emails, posters, postcards, brochures and other flyers to promote specific trips when requested.
