When you are first starting out as an independent travel agent (or entrepreneur), it can be hard to find potential customers. Even as you grow your business, you may find yourself struggling to find new customers. This is especially true during certain times when people are less likely to travel.
Luckily, there are many different ways for you to find customers for your business. Here are some of our favorites:
The truth is that your website can be one of the most powerful forms of marketing that you can have. Because we know this, we offer a "website throwdown" to ensure that your website is working for you (and not the other way around).
Your website needs to be professionally designed, easy to use, and fully loaded if you want potential customers to contact you right away. You need to catch their attention and show them that you are the right person to help them!
Along with your website, a blog is a powerful marketing tool. It helps with your search engine optimization because Google prefers to send people to websites that are updated regularly. By publishing content on a regular basis, not only will the search engine take notice, but you will be able to reach people who are regularly looking for information online. Even better, if they keep coming back, they will start to trust you and know who to turn to when they need help.
Social media marketing is a great way to catch the attention of millions of people who spend their spare time on social media. By making a profile for your business and posting on a regular basis, your business could really take off.
That being said, you don't want to overdo it. Start small and join one or two social media sites before branching out to more. It is much better to have one good profile that you keep up with than to have six that you never touch! Facebook and Twitter are a good place to start, though you may want to consider Pinterest and Instagram if you are able to.
Many people are too busy so the best way to reach them is through email marketing. They can look at their emails whenever they have a few minutes, including while they are waiting to pick up their children from school or they are waiting at the doctor's office.
Even better, you don't have to send out emails every day. In fact, many businesses only send emails out once a month, just so their customers don't forget about them!
Though voicemail marketing is new, many businesses are finding success through it. By leaving voicemails, you can get in touch with many people quite easily. Then, they have the option of whether or not they are interested in what you are offering. They can call you back if they want more information.
We are proud to offer our partners our Marketing Playbooks, which you can use as a guide to help you sell promotions from our supplier partners.
You can use our scripts to help you with your digital ads, including any social media pictures and posts that you do. We even offer copy for your email and voicemail marketing campaigns. All you have to do is customize our scripts to better fit your business.
We work with supplier partners to help your business. You are going to be able to offer even better and more exciting deals for your customers.
Our Agent Profiler allows you to generate more leads. You can create an online profile that lets potential customers see your experience. They can search for you online, through our website.
The truth is that word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful. It can grow your business quickly and it can also end it just as easily.
For this reason, you have to be the best independent travel agent possible. Go above and beyond with your current customers so that they come back and they refer you.
The simple truth is that referrals are seriously important to any business. People are more likely to use a business if they have heard good things about it. The more value that your customers feel that they get, the more likely they will tell everyone that they know!
It can be hard to find new customers, especially when you are just starting out. That being said, you need to really focus on treating your customers right. This will mean that they return to you for every trip that they take. They will also refer others to you because you made their trip a success!
Don't be afraid to get help. There are many tools available to help you get your business off to a great start (and help it stay that way)!