Shawna LevetThe Top 8 Things to Do For Your Travel Agency in the New Year
January is a great time to set some new goals for your travel agency! If you are ready to take your business to the next level in the upcoming year, there are a few areas that you should look at.
1. Increase your brand awareness
You can increase your brand awareness this year no matter what level of branding you currently find yourself at. It can be something as simple as making sure your logo is added to all your shareable social content. Or at a higher level, it could be creating branded swag to send your clients as a thank you gift – think things like a little bag of toiletries.
2. Get organized
If there’s an area of your business that you’re lacking organization, it could also be a potential spot for losing time or revenue. Sloppy business practices can cause problems later on down the line. Take inventory of some of the systems you have in place to manage your workflow and see what needs improvement!
3. Take a look at competitors
It’s never good to get overly focused on what your competitors are doing – but they shouldn’t be ignored either! What are their strengths and weaknesses? What do you admire about their marketing? Which of their tactics are not really your style?
4. Watch the trends
Staying on top of travel industry trends doesn’t mean you need to change your niche. But it might help you understand how to better direct your energy. For example, you may specialize in honeymoon travel. Take note that wellness travel is very much IN right now. And while you may not specialize in wellness travel, you can absolutely incorporate wellness and like trends as options for your honeymoon package.
5. Focus, focus, focus
What do you do best? Keep it up! Keep doing it with excellence! What is dragging you down? Drop it or outsource it if you can! Hint if it’s working with a GDS that’s dragging you down, Centrav can help! 😉
6. Get a content strategy
You can get a basic content strategy for the year without spending a ton of your time! Take a day to sit down and write out some theme ideas for each month. Then break it down by the day. “Mondays, I will share travel inspiration, Tuesdays will be Travel tips,” etc. Even a very simple plan to get you posting content regularly will help keep your brand visible within the algorithm. There are many types of content planning calendars you can use that will fit your budget and help you stay on track!
7. Improve your SEO
SEO or “search engine optimization” is what brings the right customers to your website. It can seem confusing, daunting, and ever-changing, but you can’t ignore it. SEO is the lifeblood of your website. There are plenty of resources on how to understand and improve your website’s ranking, but it’s also ok to hire out this aspect of your business if it’s something you just don’t have the time to stay on top of.
8. Rest when you need to
Did you join the travel industry because you love travel? Then there’s no sense in starting a new business because you love it and then getting burned out on it! Make sure to take your FAM trips – get out there and do what you love!
