ASTAWebinar_Effective Marketing Strategies Based on Real Agency Successes

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Effective Marketing Strategies Based on Real Agency Successes

ASTA Webinar – October 2, 2013

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What are we covering?

• Agency Marketing Benchmarks • Agency Specifics • Agency Marketing Successes • Marketing Basics • Marketing Tools • Finding ASTA Data

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Agency Marketing Benchmarks

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More than Half Have a Marketing Plan

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Source: ASTA Marketing & Customer Retention Report

Yes, a general plan, 41%

Yes, a plan with specific targets, 14%

No, but will develop a plan in the future, 19%

No, do not see the need, 20%

NA - not applicable to business model, 7%

Marketing Plan or Strategy

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Most Agencies Do Advertise

% of Agencies That Advertised or Plan to

Advertise Average Median Maximum

Spent in 2010: 66% $5,813 $1,530 $140,000

Spent in 2011: 70% $5,997 $1,800 $147,000

Estimated Spend in 2012: 70% $6,638 $2,000 $153,000

Forecasted Spend in 2013: 68% $7,123 $2,500 $150,000

Advertising Spend by Agencies


According to ASTA’s Financial Benchmarking Report spending on advertising averages between 2% and 3% of total operating costs.

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Print Ads and Yellow Pages Still Very Popular

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Advertising Mediums Used by Agencies and Amounts Spent

Medium % of Agencies Using This Method Average $ Median $ Maximum

1 print 1/4 page ad - local 29% $1,254.81 $300.00 $15,000.00 1 yellow pages full page ad - print 9% $1,603.58 $1,000.00 $9,600.00 1 yellow pages ad - online 9% $1,088.45 $600.00 $4,000.00 Ad Words (google, facebook, linkedin, etc.) - six months 9% $2,463.28 $600.00 $20,000.00

1 banner ad on Web Site - six months 8% $710.90 $300.00 $5,000.00 1 magazine full page ad - local 6% $1,268.04 $800.00 $5,000.00 1 print 1/4 page ad - national 3% $1,986.36 $900.00 $9,000.00 1 quarter page ad - trade journal 1% $907.14 $500.00 $3,000.00 1 magazine full page ad - national 1% $8,250.00 $1,500.00 $29,000.00 Other 22% $3,416.22 $1,000.00 $50,000.00 Note: Answered only by those who advertise

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Referrals Important Source of Leads

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Purchase lists, 3%

Receive lists from consortia, 9%

Referrals, 94%

Other , 26%

Source of New Leads Outside Advertising

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Referrals Most Effective for Leisure

Very successful Moderately

successful Not successful NA - do not use

Customer referrals 87% 13% 0% 0% Networking 33% 50% 5% 12% Direct Mail 13% 40% 11% 36% Web site (agency's own site) 11% 49% 18% 22% Open house/Mixer at agency 9% 19% 8% 64% Seminars/Presentations at retirement homes, clubs, etc. 8% 27% 11% 54%

Local events (bridal shows, festivals) 7% 29% 15% 49% Email marketing 7% 54% 14% 25% Print advertising - local 5% 37% 17% 41% Yellow pages - print 5% 28% 17% 50% Yellow Pages - online 4% 18% 14% 64% Facebook 2% 28% 25% 44% Banner ads on other Web Sites 1% 8% 11% 79% Magazine ad - local 1% 12% 12% 75% Industry publications/journals 1% 4% 7% 89% Twitter 0% 4% 24% 72% Print advertising - national 0% 4% 10% 86% Magazine ad - national 0% 3% 8% 89% LinkedIn 0% 8% 33% 60% Pinterest 0% 3% 16% 81%


Effectiveness of These Methods in Generating New Customer Leads for Leisure Travel

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Referrals Most Effective for Corporate As Well

Very successful Moderately successful Not successful NA - do not use

Customer referrals 75% 21% 1% 3% Networking 33% 44% 5% 18% Attendance at trade shows 8% 23% 22% 47% Sales calls (telemarketing, onsite visits, etc.)

6% 30% 3% 61%

Web site (agency's own site) 5% 47% 14% 33% Direct Mail 5% 28% 14% 53% Cold calls to set-up presentations 5% 19% 14% 63% Email marketing 4% 39% 14% 43% Yellow Pages - online 4% 12% 14% 70% Print advertising - local 4% 23% 12% 61% Yellow pages - print 2% 31% 24% 43% Facebook 1% 18% 25% 57% LinkedIn 1% 11% 23% 66% Banner ads on other Web Sites 1% 6% 12% 81% Magazine ad - local 1% 9% 10% 80% Twitter 0% 4% 17% 79% Print advertising - national 0% 5% 9% 86% Magazine ad - national 0% 2% 6% 92% Industry publications/journals 0% 6% 8% 86%


Effectiveness of These Methods in Generating New Customer Leads for Corporate Travel

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Agencies Average 8.6 Leads a Month with the Largest Share Getting 3-5 Leads

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9%

19%

24%

19%

9%

8%

12%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%

None (business based on current clientele)

1 - 2 leads

3 - 5 leads

6 - 10 leads

11 - 25 leads

25+ leads

NA - Do not track

New Customer Leads Generated Monthly

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Only 40% Track Leads – But Estimates of Closings is High

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Yes, manually,

30%

Yes, in our CRM, 8%

Yes, using "other"

method , 2%

No, we do not track,

60%

Tracking Closing Ratio with New Inquiries

Average %

Median %

Mode %

Closed Leisure Inquiries 63% 70% 80%

Estimated Percentage of Leisure Inquiries that End in a Sale

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70% of Agencies Collect Data on Their Customers in a Database

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Yes, as part of

front, mid or back office

software., 39%

Yes, as a standalone

product, 15%

Yes, as a simple

spreadsheet, 15%

No, 30%

% Having a CRM or Searchable Database of Client Information


96%

84%

83%

75%

74%

70%

69%

67%

59%

49%

45%

6%

4%

0% 50% 100%

Address, Phone, Email

Date of birth

Gender

Credit card information

Travel preferences…

Types of previous trips…

Destination of previous…

Passport number

Cost of trips

Insurance usage

Family size/type

Other

NA - do not collect data…

Customer Data Collected

Agencies That Collect Data

% Share of Responses

Have Used Data for Marketing 74%

Have not used the data 26%

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Direct Mail and Email Mediums Most Used When Communicating with Current Clients

Daily Monthly Quarterly Annually As needed Never use

Other direct mail (birthday cards, thank you cards, etc.) 5% 15% 2% 8% 50% 20%

Emails of new deals 7% 27% 8% 1% 33% 24% Direct mail flyer on new deals 1% 17% 17% 3% 30% 32% Facebook 20% 13% 3% 1% 16% 47% Email newsletter 1% 21% 10% 1% 14% 53% Seminars/Presentations at retirement homes, clubs, etc. 0% 3% 8% 7% 24% 58%

Direct mail newsletter 0% 8% 16% 5% 14% 58% Open house/Mixer at agency 0% 1% 5% 14% 17% 63% Text messages 1% 2% 1% 1% 16% 78% Blog 1% 5% 4% 0% 11% 79% Twitter 6% 4% 1% 0% 5% 85% Youtube 0% 2% 1% 0% 7% 90% Webinars 0% 2% 1% 0% 5% 92% Webcasts 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 97% Podcasts 0% 0% 0% 0% 2% 98%

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Agency Specifics

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January, September and October Are Peak Times for Marketing Activities

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53% 44% 42% 40% 36% 34% 34% 36%

44% 46% 36% 35%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% of Agencies Marketing in That Month

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Typical Promotion Patterns Month Travel Promoted this Month

January Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Cruise, Spring Break, Summer Promotions

February Alaska, Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Europe, Cruises, Spring Break, Summer Vacations, Valentines Specials

March Alaska, Bridal Shows, Caribbean, Cruises, Family Travel, Spring Break, Summer Vacations

April Bridal Shows, Consortium Deals, Cruises, Europe, Summer Vacations

May Cruises, Disney, Summer Vacations, Skiing Trips for winter

June Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Summer Vacations (includes last minute deals), Fall/Winter Holidays, Skiing Trips for winter

July Fall Cruises, Summer Vacations (includes last minute deals), Fall/Winter Holidays, Las Vegas, Skiing Trips for winter

August Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Fall/Winter Cruises, Las Vegas, Last Minute Summer Deals, Skiing Trips

September Alaska, Australia, Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Spring Break, Winter Cruises, Winter Trips to Warm Climates

October Alaska, Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Caribbean, Cruise Night, Hawaii, Spring Break, Summer Festivals, Winter Vacations

November Bridal/Honeymoon Shows, Europe, Hawaii/Mexico (sunshine), Holiday Cruises, Holiday/Winter Specials, Spring Break

December Last Minute Winter Holiday/Christmas Deals, Caribbean, Hawaii/Mexico (sunshine), Spring Cruises, Spring Break

© ASTA 2013 Source: ASTA Marketing & Customer Retention Report

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Advertising Mediums Change Based on Month – Generally Direct Mail Is Preferred Method

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Direct Mail/Mailer Email Yellow Pages Adwords Postcard Print Ads

January 29% 22% 4% 1% 6% 38%

February 40% 22% 4% 4% 2% 28%

March 38% 20% 4% 4% 2% 32%

April 33% 27% 4% 4% 4% 27%

May 35% 27% 4% 4% 4% 27%

June 37% 24% 5% 2% 5% 27%

July 37% 33% 4% 2% 2% 22%

August 31% 36% 5% 2% 5% 21%

September 38% 23% 4% 4% 0% 31%

October 35% 19% 4% 4% 4% 33%

November 34% 26% 4% 2% 11% 23%

December 45% 23% 5% 2% 0% 25%

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Agency Marketing Successes

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Incentives & Referrals

• For Valentine's Day, we sent out postcards inviting our clients to bring a friend or special someone into our agency and offered them a gift card for any booking.

• Mail coupons for $25.00 off to clients who book a cruise within a specific time period. • My best marketing plan is to give the best service to my existing clients who in turn are always

referring family, friends and acquaintances. This has worked well for over 20 years, and I have many long time clients and more than enough work .

• My best results come from referrals and from the marketing programs offered thru my consortium.

• We have been in business for over 25 years and our agents all have more than 20 years experience, so we are very fortunate to get the majority of our new by referral. We each keep customer lists and email customers info on sales and destinations constantly.

© ASTA 2013

Customer referral incentive, after 10 referrals travel, referring client gets free 3 night cruise.


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Cruise Promotions • We hold regular cruise nights in our office and at several of the adult/retirement communities which are

common in our area. • I send out flyers to my past clients to promote a new group cruise pertaining to their interest. • River cruise groups that we take every two years. Start with a letter and past passengers fill it up along with

word of mouth. • Did Cruise Virgins (sexy radio commercial): Man: "Is this your first time?" Woman: "yes, it's my first time too,

we're both cruise virgins'. Info night for first time cruisers. People got the humor and the commercial caught a lot of attention.

• I had an Oceania Cruises Cruise Night with my Oceania Cruises Regional Sales Manager present. The subject of the cruise night was Oceania but also a specific Oceania cruise for which I had group space. As a direct result of that cruise night I had 15 cabins booked immediately

• Word of mouth girls getaway cruise. We get pricing early on. We then upsell it by $25 and give that back for every girl they bring on cruise.

• Getting the company at the top of the search list has generated good leads. • We worked in conjunction with Royal Caribbean to put an insert into a local paper and we received several

new clients from that piece

© ASTA 2013


I partnered with FoodiesUSA to do a charity event onboard the Carnival Fascination. Carnival is allowing us to bring 100 guests onboard the ship for a tour and lunch. We asked for a $12 donation per person to attend the event. It brought me 100 new clients into my database and I'm giving them a presentation onboard the ship. Local news media are attending and doing a short story in our local market on the event. In conjunction with FoodiesUSA's charity event, we're giving away a cruise at the Jacksonville, FL Lacrosse team's half time show.

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Social Media/Internet

• Facebook $10/day ad.....one month brought in 200 FB likes. • On my own, I share a blog with my clients, that they enjoy very much and have gotten increased

business from that. • Facebook Like Us campaign – use Prize as incentive to like Company Page • Travel specials on our Facebook page get good responses. • Market through YouTube videos with links to agency website. • Local online marketing - Yelp, etc. • Our consumer website highlights our specialists - huge source of client leads. We also publish client

comments on a regular basis "raving fans.“ • Google Ad Words is amazing. • We have invested a lot of our budget into making sure that we are top page in google search engine.

This has done wonders for sending us customers. Our storefront is our website. If people cant find it, we don’t get calls.

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It was the simplest thing I ever did, but it brought great results. I placed a Facebook ad and the picture was a road sign that said "Hawaii, next exit." All I said in the ad was "don't worry; we'll show you the way," and I added contact info, including the fact that I'm a Hawaii Master Specialist. I got tons of responses.

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Trade shows and Local Event

• 50+ Expo in Columbia brings 4,000 seniors. I always show there with great results. Also I do local only Honeymoon events.

• Local ad for a Wedding/Honeymoon Show. Total spent on ad and show - $350. number of trips booked - 12. number of referrals from trips booked - 8. That worked!

• Member of a public sector employee organization from previous employment. Attend yearly training and business convention by having travel booth there (normally sponsored by one or more suppliers).

• Bridal show at local mall that included a booth all weekend long in January, which was a great time to advertise for the upcoming year...we booked far more vacations than honeymoons.

• We presented Sri Lanka and S.E. Asia at a trade show in New York with local dancers and cuisine. It was an attractive, albeit expensive campaign but worked well in bringing in new clients. For the first time we had a group of 39 who traveled to Sri Lanka last July 2012.

© ASTA 2013


Three times a year I participate in a food tasting (prior to wedding receptions) at a small local hotel. This connects me to a small but generally fruitful group of brides who then quite often use my travel services. I worked hard to establish a great relationship with the hotel and they have agreed that I will be their only travel agent.

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Local Involvement

• We belong to our Chamber of Commerce and have become very active in several of their groups. The measurable increase in new business has far outreached the cost of belonging to the Chamber.

• Our local newspaper has a "Best of" in different services….in Travel Planning and Cruising . We received Silver last year and Gold this year....having advertised in the paper.

• Working with local hockey Team. Doing their travel and advertising on Ice and radio game day commercials.

• Advertise by donating to charitable organizations. • Partnering with local bank / local chamber of commerce / senior center / for group business. • We participated in the annual "Christmas Walk" in our town. Offered a free gift to sign up for our

mailing list.

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We all but ceased print ads as they are not generating response; our town has the "Nation's Top Rated Farmers' Market 5 Years In A Row." We are corporate sponsors, receiving year round placement on the National Farmers' Market Directory, regional and the town's web pages; year round banner over the municipal parking lot where the market is held; mention in all their radio ads; booth space during each market; listings in all their printed flyers. We also sponsor a number of city events, getting our name on their web sites, print and in all media releases. These combined have paid for themselves ten-fold every year.

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Other Ways….

• I offer my expertise and time to local media outlets for travel news stories, etc. I was asked over 12 years ago if I would be interested in doing a 30 minute monthly radio show on travel; am still doing the show on the PBS station. I spend time to do so, but have never paid for any radio/TV time.

• Radio Ad for a winter break trip in Ireland that was for 5 nights including air, hotel, tour, breakfast daily and 3 dinners as well as sightseeing for $1185.00 per person. Booked 7 rooms within 1 week.

• Tied in with an International Film campaign, to do a travel desk on the destination featured each week.

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Marketing Basics

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No One Size Fits All For Marketing

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Referral

Consortium Marketing

Groups

Local Involvement

Social Media Trade Shows

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Successful Marketing Is about Product, Price, Place and Promotion

• Product - YOUR products include service, support, expertise, experience and much more. It is important to promote these products for one simple reason: they are unique to you and your business.

• Price - What IS essential is communicating value and/or the benefits of the product.

• Place – This is sometimes called the “distribution channel.” It basically represents WHERE your message will reach its target audience.

• Promotion - Most often misunderstood as simply “advertising,” there are many more options for promotion that make up this component of marketing. Primary categories include selling, advertising, PR, social media, etc.

© ASTA 2013

Source: ASTA’s Sales & Marketing Course

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First Step - Unique Selling Proposition

Simply put, it is a succinct statement of what makes your business unique. While every travel agency basically does the same thing, each has its own strengths and areas of focus. You will often see a USP incorporated into slogans such as “…we cruise the best to make sure your cruise is always perfect,” or “…we speak English, Spanish and most important of all – travel.” A catchy slogan like these is not the purpose. The real purpose is to understand and be able to articulate what makes your agency and/or its staff special!

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SWOT Analysis for Marketing

Strength Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Staff

Years of experience Old habits All are open to positive change

Many nearing retirement

Location

Central busy location Limited parking Pay for extra spaces Mall agency has no parking issues

Knowledge/Skills

7 destination specialists

Minimal tech skills Online training is cheap & easy

Overtime for training

Technology

Familiarity No longer compatible GDS will upgrade Staff resisting the upgrade

Current Market

Long-term loyal clients Most desire low margin products

Upselling & add-on Limited add-on options

Desired Market

Upscale and luxury High service demand Larger margins Too busy for quality service/time

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Sample of Simplified Marketing Plan and Budget

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Facebook Ad Cost: 600.00 over 6 mos.

100.00 Italian Cooking Cruise

100.00 French Wine Lovers

100.00 Antarctic Adventures




Weekly Tweets No cost: time only

Recipe of the week

Wine of the week

“Awesome Iceberg” of the week

Recipe of the week

Wine of the week

“Awesome Iceberg” of the week

Monthly Mailer Cost: 600.00 over 6 mos.







Total 200.00 200.00 200.00 200.00 200.00 200.00

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Marketing Tools Provided by ASTA

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Reinvigorating Your Sales Force & Planning Marketing

Sales & Marketing Course

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Pushing Consumer Traffic to your TravelSense Profile

TravelSense.org per month Visits 66,082 Unique Visitors 31,313

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Facebook Messaging - Share on Your Facebook Page

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https://www.facebook.com/ASTATravelSense

https://www.facebook.com/AmSocTrvlAgents

https://www.facebook.com/ASTATravelSense

https://www.facebook.com/AmSocTrvlAgents

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Finding ASTA data

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ASTA Website www.asta.org/research

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http://www.asta.org/research

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YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/astasvideos

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http://www.youtube.com/user/astasvideos

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Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/mteates

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http://www.slideshare.net/mteates

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Dateline ASTA Weekly

© ASTA 2013

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A copy of the slides are available on SlideShare at http://www.slideshare.net/mteates For Follow-up Questions: Melissa Teates 703-739-6983 [email protected] You can also contact me on LinkedIn.

http://www.slideshare.net/mteates

mailto:[email protected]

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ASTAWebinar_Effective Marketing Strategies Based on Real Agency Successes