Are you finding that as travel ramps up, your time is quickly devoured by itinerary planning, tour execution, and re-hiring staff?
Where does that leave your marketing efforts? If they’re firmly planted on the back burner, here are some time-saving tips to get them back onto the front burner so that your sales funnel continues to be topped off with new prospects.
Consistency & cohesion
Sitting at the computer stressing about upcoming newsletter content, blog topics, and social marketing themes is a total time-waster. What if there was a way to clinch a consistent message across all marketing channels?
There is. Savvy tourism marketers use a marketing editorial calendar that provides direction. The starting point is a weekly theme along with a clear number of pieces of content to create for each channel.
Let’s dig into the idea of a weekly theme, as it’s one of the best tactics I ever adopted for my own posts as well as those for clients. Consider creating weekly themes that showcase:
- Destinations you’ll be visiting in upcoming tours
- Styles of travel—cruising, coach, rail, etc.
- Experiences available—culinary, outdoor, learning, immersion, etc.
The key to a successful marketing editorial calendar is to build out each weekly theme with related link posts, graphics, and video. Some marketers build their calendar four to six weeks out, others with a shorter lead time. Personally, my team and I build themes six to 12 weeks in advance and then fill in the posts and create graphics three or four weeks in advance.
Circling back to the calendar, it can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or a more complex workflow system. (Some examples of workflow systems include Asana, Project Manager, Work Zone, and Base Camp.) Here’s a very that you’re free to use and customize for your own business. No matter what system you use, it’s important to start with clear goals, tone, and style for each marketing channel.
The bottom line is that your clients will see consistency on whichever channel they connect with you. Ensure you have a complete editorial calendar that includes columns for all your social and traditional channels, such as:
- Blog
- Video
- Social posts
- Newsletter
- Web banner
- Email signature
- Office window décor
- Voicemail messaging
- Bot messaging
The value of this level of consistency is that while you spend some time creating a plan for up to 12 months in advance, the execution is simply to fill in the blanks with relevant content. You’ll save time by not staring at that blank screen!