All Categories - Voyager Websites and Social Media

Easy Does it

8/2/2021

How easy is it to do business with you? We sometimes miss how baffled a client may feel when first launching out on their vacation planning. First, they have to know you exist, a result of how well you have executed your marketing plan. But let’s start somewhat further down the road. Let’s say the client knows you exist – they must now be motivated to use you as opposed to using another agency or booking themselves online.

Websites are not about technology

3/10/2021

I sometimes get an email from a subscriber indicating they are concerned about working with their site because they are "Not good with technology" and are not getting enough leads. I wanted to provide everyone with an email I sent today to one of our agents.
It is really necessary we correctly identify problems. However, we often incorrectly identify a marketing problem as a technology problem as was this agent:

Content Marketing

2/10/2021

Every few years or so the phrase "Content is King"
enjoys a new popularity.

Book cover of Winery Tours: The secrets of exploring great wine destinations

What most surprises me is that content has ever lost its royal positioning in marketing. Why does it come as a surprise when we re-discover the importance of well-written, engaging content? That aside, what role does content play in your own efforts to market your travel practice?

Certainly the publishing world, both online and in print, has long depended on topical content as a vehicle for attracting the attention of consumers. The difference now, of course, is that more of us are publishers to some degree. Every travel consultant with a Facebook profile or page, a Twitter account, a website, or a blog now finds herself in a position of having to compose and curate articles, videos, photos, and other content for marketing.

A Failure to Advise

12/10/2020

Hand holding sign with question mark on orange background

On occasion, a neighbor or an acquaintance, knowing I am somehow connected to the travel industry, will ask me about a vacation they would like to take. I use those opportunities to refer the person to a rotating selection of travel professionals I know. I tend to use different travel advisors depending on the person’s request. Recently, a neighbor asked me about a trip to Thailand she and her family wanted to take next year. I checked with a travel agent friend to see if he wanted the referral and I then put the two of them together.

Yesterday, months after our original conversation, I ran into my neighbor and asked how the travel planning had progressed. Looking at me a bit sheepishly she said “Well, your travel agent friend couldn’t find us anything cheaper than we could get online by ourselves.” I explained to my neighbor the travel professional is not about the “best price” but was instead looking for the “best value.” I explained the travel professional was looking after my neighbor’s interests by choosing reliable suppliers, coordinating their travels and acting as their advocates. My neighbor listened, but the lesson was, I fear, arriving too late.

Yikes.

Site Design Variation and Customization

11/11/2020

Concierge Vacation Inc homepage

I want to show everyone some great Voyager sites that have been customized by the agents that own them. Most have been customized by the agent, others customized by design people hired by the agent. When we build out a site for you, we build it out using our templates. However, the customization you see on the following sites is completely within your power to do! The brilliance of your site is it can be as individual as your travel practice.

Getting Serious About Digital Marketing: Meet Simba

7/8/2020

How many times have you promised to better organize your digital marketing efforts?

It's time to get serious about your website marketing with lion

You have a website, a Facebook page, maybe a Twitter account and you started an Instagram page, but they now languish at the back of your marketing plans going nowhere. Are your efforts disjointed, inconsistent and infrequent? If so, you already understand the symptoms of this malaise.
Now, let’s explore a cure.

Here is the truth of the matter: you will get out of your efforts what you put into them. The better the plan with which you begin, the better the results. Getting customers to your website, creating engagement and initiating a conversation with existing and new clients takes focus and effort. Great websites require a plan and resources.

Making Sales from Your Website?

5/6/2020

I often hear travel professionals complain they are making no sales from their websites. To my ear, the complaint, however, sounds a bit strange. If you are making “sales” from your website, I suspect you are using a booking engine or a search engine geared to supplier specials, much like Travelocity or Expedia. However, for personal travel consultants, a website is far more of a marketing tool than a sales tool. The difference is an important one to consider.

Firstly, every website should be designed with the business model of the company behind it in mind. There is no “one site fits all” website. If your business model resembles that of Expedia, then you are gearing for great volumes with little personal client interaction. In this scenario, a booking engine or supplier search engine makes sense and your website is indeed a sales tool.

Travel Agency Website Content is King, and also Queen, Knight and Jester

2/12/2020

Picture of playing cards, red king and queen of hearts

Every travel agent spending the least bit of time thinking about their travel agency website has heard the truism “Content is King.” I’m here to suggest, however, content is so much more than King, if by “King” you mean it is content bringing visitors to your website through basic search engine marketing. Indeed, it is relevant, original content responsible for most of the organic, (i.e. “free”), traffic visiting your site.
However, merely getting visitors to your site is only a first step. In addition, to be successful you need to also entertain (the Jester) and please (the Queen) your visitors, or they will soon be off to find better content and digital turf on which to spend their time. The Knight – he’s the enforcer, the one who makes you write often and well and with great design on a consistent basis.

Let’s spend a bit of time at court.

Guerrilla Marketing

1/15/2020

Guerrilla Marketing spelled on dice

Too many people view guerrilla marketing as the "bag of tricks" kind of marketing. It is easy to see why since they tend to be shorter lived bursts of activity. The real dividing line, however, is all of these ideas should be actualized in the context of a campaign of marketing efforts unified by your mission statement and marketing mindset. These are not isolated efforts but part of a wider campaign bridged by common themes and values.

What, you ask, does this have to do with your website? In every instance below you should ensure your audience knows your website address and you leave them with materials to do so.

You Got Personality

3/6/2019

A red pair on Converse stands out in a line of plain white shoes

My early recollections of the world of brands and business have to do with the companies with which a five year old first has contact. I can remember that Esso put a tiger in our tank and that my Keds tennis shoes would make me run a little faster and jump a little higher. The personality of many companies had to do with their cartoon mascots whether that was Mr. Clean , Green Giant or a leprechaun whose marshmallows were lucky charms.

Those were the days recalled by “Mad Men.” Brand identity and communications then were pretty much a one-way communication from the company to the public. The brand delivered information to the public through television or through the newspapers and we accepted pretty much what ever we were told. Those might have been simpler times, but I think perhaps a bit naïve and not as interesting as today.