Marketing in 2014
As you well know the travel marketing landscape is rife with social media and depending on
your age bracket, generation and career timeline you are either fully aware of how to use social
media, learning about it or you don’t give a hoot! As always, somewhere in the middle is the
right spot to be. Then we also have what I call Old Media Marketing. All those old media
marketing tools that travel agents have used prior to the appearance of social media, still work.
Many work as they did before and others have evolved with the times and taken on a digital
format. In this article we’ll review each of the current marketing channels and how the old has
morphed and their equivalent digital counterpart.
OLD MEDIA
How to make use of these marketing tools in 2014
SOCIAL MEDIA
Agency Window
The agency window is
valuable marketing real
estate and can still be used
as a bulletin board, sign
board, feature displays,
play videos on TV monitors
and display the agency
telephone,
email
and
website information. In
2014, the agency window
should be used to promote
social media channels too
and by using window
lettering, ASK the client to
call, click or walk in.
Websites are the digital
version of the typical travel
agency window especially
for the home-based travel
agent. A website also brings
with it more digital
marketing tools. If you
operate from a street front
host agency, it is a good
idea to mirror on your
website what your host
agency window promotes.
Consistency in messaging is
very important to you and
your host agency.
Website
Brand Wear
For a very low investment, if
your personal / host agency
dress code is not 100%
business attire and more
casual, then everyone can
wear the agency colours
and logo. Follow companies
like Nike and showcase your
logo - and let your tag line
sell the story. A simple “Ask
Me About Travelling…”
under the agency logo will
attract passersby to chat
with you.
Social media brand wear
makes a different use of the
same t-shirt or ball cap. In
addition to a stitched or
printed logo, a printed QR
code on the same t-shirt
can be scanned by anyone
with a smartphone – at
which point they are
already reading your offer,
or surfing your website, or
finding the location of your
host agency. Just the QR
code causes a “need to
know” reaction.
Brand Wear
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