How to get a marketing budget from thin air for your Travel Agency....

What New Year Resolutions did you make this year? I'm a sucker for resolutions and while I can't always keep them up for long, I have taught myself that making a resolution that works is the key and one that is easy to keep.

This year one of my personal resolutions gave me an idea for a business resolution for Travel Agents. I have signed up to a Dryathlon for Cancer Research following the passing away before Christmas of a close friend. I have 3 kids and a very busy life so for those of you with a similar set up I'm sure you know how difficult this will be! But Day 2 and I'm still OK...

The thing about charity fundraising is that everyone asks for something these days and so it can be a little awkward raising money. If you are like me you end up adding in funds because you have not managed to collect as much as you intended then the difficulty is how much to personally contribute. How much is enough? Have I got any money left? What else could I spend the cahrity money on?

The brilliant thing about the Dryathlon is that the money you raise comes directly from another pot. By not drinking the money you save from alcohol eacxh day can be redirected to the charity. So at the end of this month I will have saved a whole heap of money from not drinking and instead I can send that money direct to Cancer Research.

So - how does this help me as a travel agent with my marketing?

Each month as I travel around travel agencies I hear the same thing - there is no money left for marketing. At the same time, the very same agents are struggling to find new clients and market to existing ones. 

What some of my clients don't know is that my business management experience does not just come from having run Specialist Tour Operators. Professionally I am also a Qualified Chartered Accountant. This gives me the ability (having also been a business 'fixer') to very quickly isolate areas of the business that cost more than they should. In the past year this has spanned from saving an agent £'000's on their IT set up to £00's on simple things like the amount of money an agent spent on email marketing (saving them nearly £700 on the use of the right software alone). In the past I used to go to companies and 'audit' their expenses and find cost savings. It's something that business owners should do as a matter of course but nearly never do.

What's the Resolution then?

In much the same way that I have found 'Charity Money' by not drinking for the month and putting my 'drink money' towards the charity, you can do the same in your business to find the all important marketing money. Simply looking at all your costs (or asking an expert to help you) and then reallocating that money to marketing is the first step to have a coherent marketing budget to get started on lead generation.

I think it's a genius idea - what do you think? .... and if you think that there is no money in the pot to reallocate I'll bet you there is. In fact I'm so sure that I could find you cost savings that I'm willing to bet that if I can't, I'll contribute £100 of our money to your personal travel agency marketing. You can't get fairer than that.

So - let's get the budget together and then start the marketing plan to make 2013 your most successful to date.

Best wishes

Steve

 

Day 14 | Creativity - Your World Has Changed, as has everything else

Today's post is really to start to get you thinking over the weekend. The crux to marketing is to be creative but all too often I go into businesses and they say "I'm not creative at all". Having probed a bit, I just don't think that's true, it's just that they have had the creativity beaten out of them from an early age. The Radio 4 Today programme was discussing the rise of China in the world economy today and in that the question of wherther China would really innovate and beat the USA in global dominance. Interestingly, the debate centred around the fact that the Chinese don't like to step out of line and so as a result their creativity is stifled. 

One of the most crucial things you can do to have a successful travel agency business today is to not be afraid of thinking outside the box, be able to make marketing mistakes, not to be afraid of trying new things.

I'd like you to watch an amazingly inspirational speech from Sir Ken Robinson at a TED conference. He's an amusing speaker so the 20 minutes will be as enjoyable as a dose of your favourite comedy show, but underlying to this is an urgency that we have to become more creative.

Have a great day.

Steve

Day 14 Tip: Unleash your creativity. Don't keep doing the thing you have always done - think differently

 

 

 

The Last Mile...

Today's post is about writing copy that Google loves. Why is this important? Because if Google likes what you have written then people will find it which = sales. Writing copy that Google loves is called "SEO Copywriting" - the SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization". Have you ever heard of the last mile in the broadband industry (anyone who lives rurally will have). It basically goes like this - there are thousands of miles of super duper fast optical fibers carrying around large amounts of data all over the country at lightning fast speed (Virgin is always advertising it's fibre optic network ). The benefits of this optical cable don't mean anything to someone living in most of rural UK if the connection at the last mile to the customers home is made from old copper BT wires - its going to be sluggish. In the same way, Google's high powered search engine can't get quality visitors to your site unless you tell Google that you page content matches what people are actually searching for. You may have the best blogging software (Wordpress) hosted on a really good server (like we use from UKFast) and you write incredibly engaging content but it will mean nothing unless you connect up the last mile. In other words - you need effective SEO writing to correct this 'last mile' marketing problem.  Here is a simple 5 steps to getting your content loved by Google by applying some easy techniques. KEYWORDS Before you write anything ask yourself : ' what is the relevant question that people will ask that I am providing the answer to?' 'Are enough people asking the question?'.The answer to those questions will help you develop the keywords that you need to use. Titles, Tags and Headlines Google reads the page like we do as humans. It checks the headlines and titles to read any further to make sure that the headlines say they are about what the question (search terms) were looking for and then it checks the content of your writing to make sure that it matches the headlines. In other words, is it all relevant to the search that a user has done? It's logical really. Content See your job to be able to answer questions/searches, better than your competition. Have a plan to do this, so that strangers become readers and readers become clients. Landing pages The design and content of the landing pages of your site immediately conveys to users if they have found the right site. Make sure that your content landing pages convey what you are selling and drive visitors deeper into your site. Many of the sites that Net Effect launch have product driven landing pages that means that visitors may well land on a page about a certain destination but then there are easy navigations and links to product deeper into the site.  Related Content Search engines favour websites with relevant, focussed and frequently updated content with a high degree of link authority. This means you need to cross reference your articles (start to build up links with tourist board websites which will themselves be great link authority sites). Website software like wordpress (which all Net Effect sites are written in) makes this vey easy. In summary, you will see this is not rocket science, in many ways, it is exactly as you would have made it if you had planned it yourself. The mistake that many newcomers make is that writing a piece of content is not like an advert. So many agents start and write one blog and then when they believe that they have made no sales from this blog post (entitled " Susan's Recent Trip to Kruger National Park" - ask yourself - does anyone search Google with those terms?) they give up. This is the future. Developing your persona or 'brand' is the new way that you are going to be able to communicate effectively your business proposition.

Content is King - always

The race is on. If you are entirely an online Travel Agent then content is something that you just can't ignore. It is the thing that will get you noticed on Google and help your search engine rankings. So it was probably just a matter of time before content morphed into something else as seen by the OTA - Black Tomato, with their new online lifestyle magazine. They were always producing lots of copy for their site so this was said to be just a natural progression.

Travel Agent Survival: Get Online to Compete

With news that Co-Operative Travel are about to make 90 people Redundant (travelmole) it's clearer than ever that Agents need to be able to compete online in order to thrive. Relying on an ageing database and High Street presence is just not going to be enough to be able to capture the new customers that all businesses need to survive.

With 90% of holidaymakers now researching their holiday and travel plans online (even if they are booking them offline) it's clear that Agents must have a searchable travel web site with which they can direct potential and existing customers to, without losing those customers to either OTA's or direct Operator sites.

Why Groupon is Overvalued

Groupon is overvalued at at $25Billion. Caught up in a whirlwind of Investors all hoping that it will be 'the one', the next Youtube or Facebook.

It can't be because it isn't anything different to a normal offline business and is easily copied. All software can be copied I hear you say and that's true. However, the real difference is that in the businesses that have grown to be the biggest in their sector they always offer a Freemium service (as do Groupon) to customers but also actually have a business model for businesses that works economically. Google paid search works. Full stop. You might like the reliance on PPC but it has built many real businesses.

Groupon only offers an opportunity to sell stock at deep discount. Retailers rarely make any money other than covering costs and so the market is limited. I haven't spken to once retailer that really likes selling thourgh Groupon.

Groupon only has Revenues of £700m. How does that equate to $25Billion valuation with 6000 employees? Only if it can't be copied - but it can be and has been (they say Living Social will be bigger than Groupon next year). In truth any business with a large email list can offer a Groupon alternative and win (look a Travelzoo's success with their version of Groupon now valued at $400m). If that's the case my advice to any business is build your mailing list and then think of what you can flog them other than your main offering. If you do it quick you might find your local key cutting shop is valued at $300m!

Posted via email from steve rushton

Take a break in Madeira and see the enchanting Flower Festival

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The Flower Festival, that takes place in spring when the flowers are at their best, has been one of the major attractions for both tourists and locals for a long time. This enchanting festival with a parade and floats through the streets of Funchal exhibits and perfumes the air with a multiplicity of floral species of the island, spreading a fairy tale ambiance all over the city centre. In every year’s edition each group presents their costumes accompanied with dances to a newly conceived choreography.In the past few years a new addition was made to this event. At the ‘Largo do Colégio’ (Colégio Square) you will find the so-called ‘Wall of Hope’ – a wall where children place their own flowers with the objective of building a big flower wall symbolising the hope for a better and more peaceful world.

As part of this event there are other activities like the making of flower carpets in the streets, awarding of prizes for the best-decorated shop window, performances of traditional music groups, a flower exhibition at the ‘Ateneu Comercial’, classical music concerts and a number of variety shows.

Click here for a list of great accommodation to stay in with Individual Holidays - call us on: 01753 892111

or email at:

info@individual-holidays.com

 

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Untitled

Late Deals on Rental of Villa Aina, Mallorca 

Accommodation Only Price Reductions

 

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Exclusive private villa in the Pollensa area with 3 bedrooms , microwave, cooker, dishwasher, fridge, washing machine, electric fans, TV/DVD player, Barbecue, 2 bathrooms, 1 shower room and pool 10 x 5.5 meters.9 April 7 nights Normal price £989/ early booking offer £939. New price £899 SAVING £90

16 April 7 nights Normal price £989/ early booking offer £939 New price £899  SAVING £90

30 April 7 nights Normal price £989/ early booking offer £939 New price £899 SAVING £90

7 May 7 nights Normal price £989/ early booking offer £939 New price £899 SAVING £90

14 May 7 nights Normal price £1389/ early booking offer £1299 New price £1249 SAVING £150 PER WEEK

21 May 7 nights Normal price £1389/ early booking offer £1299 New price £1249  SAVING £150 PER WEEK

28 May 7 nights Normal price £1389/ early booking offer £1299 New price £1249 SAVING £150 PER WEEK

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30% off Luxury Villas

May Villa Deals: This Villa in Paxos is now 35% off for departures in May 2011.

Prices from £450 pppw (based on 3 sharing including flights, car hire and transfers)

 

• Stylish and elegant villa on Paxos
• 2 bedrooms
• Private swimming pool
• Air-conditioned
• Walking distance to taverna
• Beach 7min drive
• Transfers and air-conditioned car included

Return to Facebook Deals

 

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May Villa Deals

May Villa Deals: This Villa in Paxos is now 35% off for departures in May 2011.

Prices from £450 pppw (based on 3 sharing including flights, car hire and transfers)

Speed of Web Innovation leaves the small business confused

The Web is changing fast. The iPad now has the iPad 2. Apps are the new goldrush and meanwhile consumers devour the web like it is their lifeblood. 

Apple and Smartphone technology has made the web always on. The broadband revolution started the consumption, the 'always on' devices have made the appetite hungrier. After all, who wanted to check the web when it took 5 minutes to power up your computer?

What does this mean for small businesses such as travel agents? Well, 89% of all travel research starts on the web according to Google. If you have any form of travel business then you simply must be on the Internet. But not just that, you have to have a presence that can compete against the big budget brands or you will not attract customers (or worse - lose them). We have seen this already in travel with the rise of Expedia. The online agent Travel Republic has stolen £400m of the UK travel agency market through being internet savvy (the guys that set this up were not even travel agents).

Getting online in a meaningful way that engages the consumer, what with social media, blogging, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, not forgetting expertise in SEO and Paid Search is now a mindfield without a huge budget to outsource and who has that in 2011? Travel companies have always survived with remarkably small margins, certainly very little to re-invest in new technologies that aren't guaranteed to provide an immediate return. So how does this unfold?

What's the customer looking for and what are you selling?

The answer to this applies equally to bookshops and other businesses as it does to travel agents and tour operators. Asked what the business does and no owner or MD ever replies of these traditional businesses "We are a web company, investing in ways to ensure that we compete against other websites". What they actually say is all to do with good old fashioned service, ability, expertise, BUT they have none of their time or budget available to do this. What they should be doing is investing time in blogging, engage their customer so the customer can believe in them. Launch a YouTube channel (check out Gary Vaynerchuk's internet success phnenomenon using YouTube). Then vanity checks in and they worry about having the same site as a competitor and wouyld rather spend an aweful lot of money haveing a site designed that they felt gave them a differentiated presence for heaps of money - and then it went out of date in a year.

If you stand back from a business and assess what it stands for then the only answer to the internet presnece one is to rely on a third party to provide the technological innovation and share this with others. Don't worry about the fact that everyone else looks the same (we all like the fact that the Veg isle is first in ALL  the supermarkets and certainly don't compare supermarkets based on 'ambience'). For any business a webiste should first and foremost give the user what they are looking for quickly and then the use of social media channel and blogs the compnay can start to engage in a conversation with customers to 'sell' their service and expertise.

Perhaps the reason why 96% of travel agents don't have a website is because they just haven't got the money, or expertise, or up until now a solution to be able to showcase their product to customers in a professional and cost effective way. That's the reason we set up Net Effect Travel Web Solutions - to even the playing field and let everyone get on with their proper job rather than become sidetracked by the web.

 

SEO Tactics for Companies

Watch out, the world is moving fast. Only last year I wrote a post about how a respected SEO agency was advising clients to ignore social media. At the same time I met up with an independent SEO specialist who described their job as 'a link builder'. Could SEO really be as easy as link building? Did we all really think that Google could be beaten by savvy link builders to beat their algorithms? 

The good news is of course that Google is on the case and developing ways of integrating influential users via all channels, including social media, in ranking authority. There will always be blips in the development of Internet marketing and a few savvy people will make some money. The danger is that traditional companies will believe those agencies that sell their services based on 'beating google'. They will spend '000's hoping that sem magic Internet savvy guy will be the answer to their prayers and make marketing as easy as it was in the last century. 

All businesses need to look at their customer base and work out how they should attract and retain these people. Social media is going to be an enormous part of the process and companies will start to have conversations rather than 'shout' marketing. For the time being there are plenty of opportunities to find new business, and SEO while always important is no a panacea. A reasoned and budgeted approach to building businesses is the righ approach, not throwing money in the direction of Internet marketers that claim they will solve all your problems.



Why the Search Marketing Industry Must Adapt or Perish
http://mashable.com/2011/03/04/search-marketing-changes/

Posted via email from steve rushton

What Resources do Customers use for Holiday Research?

A recent Survey of over 2,000 people found some interesting trending stats as shown below. The key to the future for independent travel agents will be to ensure that they can provide a relavant and searcheable site for customers. Customers clearly want this ability and prefer the 'known' agent to anytning else. Recommendations online and offline are increasingly playing an important part in peoples choices. 

Social Media via Facebook/Twitter/Blogging etc. is just a medium to engage customers and be able to hold conversations with them thorughout the year, rather than thourgh targetted mailshots or adverts in papers. News will find customers this way and customers in turn will get used to brands and companies finding them rather than the other way round.

For any travel companies that are not embracing social media now is the time.

Which resources do customers use for holiday research? 

• 53% of respondents used travel agent's websites while researching their holiday purchase. 
• 49% head for Google or some other search engine. 
• 42% use flight or hotel search engines. 
• 40% are influenced by recommendations from friends and family. 
• Duncan Bannatyne may not like it, but 39% of respondents use Tripadvisor reviews as part of their research. 
• Just under 10% use Facebook and other social sites for holiday research. 
  

 

 

Posted via email from steve rushton

Is Branched Out really the new Linked In?

There's a heap of buzz around the launch of the new jobs site on Facebook called Branch Out. Primarily the buzz is because this is built within the Facebook platform. the potential to go viral via your friends is huge. You can import your LinkedIn profile as well so it's easy to set up.

It will be interesting to see just how this shapes up against LinkedIn. Facebook is primarily a personal site where you may well buy holidays, shoes and converse with your friends but do you really want your friends on Facebook to know you are looking for a job, especially if these include workmates? The seperation of your business profile on LinkedIn and your personal time in Facebook seemed clearcut to me. Does this blur the boundaries too far?

Social Media - It's important to do what applies to your business

Twitter, Facebook, Youtube - what should you use for business? 

Case Study - Yeo Valley

This is great case study. Organic product (so not mainstream), yoghurt (some people like, some don't), and a family business.

Checking out their Website 

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page there are clear signs to social media networks. Clicking on these networks reveals some not unsurprising results - followers on Facebook and Twitter are relatively low. Why would you follow I suppose? It is just a dairy product and in every supermarket so you don't have to work that hard at keeping up with where they are.

But as with all businesses, Yeo Valley have extreme competition from foreign imports, supermarket own brand labels etc. It's important to try and develop a brand personality that consumers will align themselves with. 10 years ago the only way of making this happen would be through an expensive TV campaign. Well, Yeo Valley have an expensive TV campaign, but importantly it's backed up by Social Media, and in the latest case an incredible viral video that Youtube has already served 1.5 million times!! If you then check the social channels it's clear to see what a 'chatter' that this escalates. Yeo's Facebook page is full of likes for the video and although people are not signing up to Twitter they are tweeting the video (40 tweets today and the video has been out a while) that all send users to the site and increase brand awareness.

The business case is that the customer is now in control. Marketing is undertaken by them and as a business you just have to learn to interact with them in any way the wish (not any way YOU would wish - note Yeo Valley responding directly on Facebook to customers). Interflora searches Twitter for people having bad days and then sends them some flowers (having tweeted them) - what a great way to communicate and everyone is a winner.

For all the doubting Thomas' out there, you can always just stay in the dark. You won't get the best deal, nor the early bird offers. You probably don't watch that much TV and certainly not the adverts, and without any social media interaction you would have missed the video below, which just makes you smile and feel a bit better for the day (and buy Yeo valley bext time rather than American brand Rachels Organic ( - as Sid says, Buy cos it's British)

Posted via email from steve rushton

Only Google Can afford Groupon (and win)

In truth it is only Google who can afford to buy Groupon at the valuations being bandied about. It has the infrastructure, Internet clout (local advertisers) and profits (only adwords makes money for Google). Google has a history of paying lots of money for big ideas and although they can't monetize them immediately that doesn't matter as they have so much cash swilling around it's just important that Facebook don't 'buy the competition'

So - is Groupon worth $6Bn? Certainly not in the short term, maybe in the long term with the right amount of Google Support, ensuring that it becomes the 'standard'. After all, there have been discount schemes around for a long time, why does Groupon work better? The key is in the repackaging of an old idea. Voucher schemes from businesses such as vouchercodes.com have been successful but don't command such wild valuation. They aren't very 'clean' sites, the consumer has to work hard to get the info. Groupon 'googelises' this voucher industry, making it simpler for consumers to understand what's on offer. It's Genius in it's simplicity.

Could Groupon shareholders make any more profit by not selling to Google now? Almost 100% not. Google are buying at a premium and valuation you would expect when it was a lot larger, which of course is difficult to achieve without Google, but easier with.

The gain for everyone is that Groupon has introduced a different form of advertising to adwords and adsense. That's good news for retailers but it's no wonder Google are buying the third largest advertising medium after the two it already owns. Keep up with news on Groupon at http://tiny.cc/fb3en

Posted via email from steve rushton

SEO - an Insider's View

Let's just take one thing for granted. Google is the most powerful company on the planet right now. ALL it's income comes from PPC Paid Advertising. There is no way at all that they will develop a system that will deplete their income potential model. Now - over to SEO:

I've recently had two meetings, one with an SEO agency and one with an SEO Expert. The interesting thing about both meetings was the fact that in order to get anywhere in SEO you need to commit serious money investing in it and won't see a return for at least the first 18 months. Perhaps for the first 3 years you will have spent more money on it than was in the budget (seems that marketing online budgets are very flexible when it comes to PPC). Google admit to changing the algorithm regularly and so this is just an ongoing battle. You can really only ever afford to do SEO if you have a fast growing business. If you have a mature family business that is not intent on large growth then outside SEO expertise will just be a drain on finances (you are better off doing it in house over time).

The Agency Pitch

We work on the basis of being able to replace PPC and so in the long run you will spend less money advertising for new business. We have many mysterious and technical ways of achieving this.

The Consultant Pitch

I'm about risk management. Bypassing years of historical trading and internet presence to fool Google into thinking that I have a much better reputation than my new site would otherwise indicate. The nub of the issue is really link building, and tons of them. The technical stuff is just a given these days' Content and link building are the only ways you can perform better in search and both costs lots of money and link building is quite dubious in some instances so my role is to manage the risk of building SEO for a new client.

Conclusion

There are no guarantees to SEO. You should of course SEO optimise and write great content and link build, but do this over the long term with an inhouse team. Write a budget for it (named investment in the future), but don't throw all your other marketing activities (online PPc and offline) out of the bath. SEO is a long term investment. We are in a recession, spend at your peril (unless you happen to be a company that is immune to the recession) and concentrate on spending money to get immediate sales.

Foot Note: The consultant commented how difficult it is to make any money out of running an agency. Too many high cost people and too high an expectation from clients. In fact, if they did their job properly for the clients then they would not make any money. So, here's news to those companies hoping to outsource the magic. You can't unless you have very deep pockets. Get learning.

Posted via email from steve rushton

Is this the start of UK Auditors getting caught?

The top bods in the top four UK Accountancy Practices appeared in front of the Lord's this week to answer questions about the role that Auditors had to play in the reporting on banks financial stability.....

Accountancy Age, November 23, 2010: Debate focused on the use of “going concern” guidance, issued by auditors if they believe a company will survive the next year. Auditors said they did not change their going concern guidance because they were told the government would bail out the banks.

“Going concern [means] that a business can pay its debts as they fall due. You meant something thing quite different, you meant that the government would dip into its pockets and give the company money and then it can pay it debts and you gave an unqualified report on that basis,” Lipsey said.

Lord Lawson said there was a “threat to solvency” for UK banks which was not reflected in the auditors’ reports.

“I find that absolutely astonishing, absolutely astonishing. It seems to me that you are saying that you noticed they were on very thin ice but you were completely relaxed about it because you knew there would be support, in other words, the taxpayer would support them,” he said.

 

I am astonished as well that they appear to be so relaxed about the whole thing. The ONLY reason that auditors exist is to ensure that the directors of a business have behaved responsibly, in line with the wishes and good will of shareholders and that the accounts reflect a true and fair result. Why Auditing firms have not gone down I have no idea. We may all want to chase the devil bankers who have been paid so many bonus' but they will argue that they earned those bonus' good and proper in accordance with the rules that the banks set. The role of the Auditors is surely to then check that this is right? 

In fact the bankers were paid massive bonus', based on short term profits from long term debt ridden liabilities that the tax payer has had to pick up. The Auditors missed this - I mean MISSED THIS. How can that be? What on earth are they auditing or is it just that they spend too long ensuring that the numbers have been transactionally added up, without standing back and wondering what the number mean.

As for 'Going Concern' - it's ludicrous. The whole financial sector, including responsibilities of audit firms needs a massive overhaul. Stop paying the big bonus' and get them all back to work properly.

 

Posted via email from steve rushton