Think your travel agency needs a bit of change? Are you not making enough sales or are you not reaching the right audience? Businesses need to be constantly evolving to match up with new industry trends. Technology has advanced in a way that can help your company boost its sales and improve its visibility. Here are some ways you can climb the ladder and be one of the most sought-after travel agencies.
Specialize and Personalize
Instead of trying to cover everything under the sun, it is a better idea to specialize and pick a niche. Focus on select destinations or touring activities such as watersports, ghost-tours, nature tours, etc. Narrowing your focus will help you become an expert in that area and this expertise is what will draw customers to your agency.
Additionally, use your experience to offer custom travel plans to differentiate your company from other self-service ones. Pay attention to your customers and give them personalized service and recommendations. Market yourself as an agency that supports complex travel plans. It is easy for visitors to draw up plans and itineraries for simple, local plans. But they will seek help for more complex ones, and this is where you come in.
Improve Communications: Make Your Company Reachable
Another important aspect of running a successful business is keeping communication lines open. More recently, companies are switching to web-based phone service providers, like Global Call Forwarding (https://www.globalcallforwarding.com/), for example. And this is because such providers offer a relatively inexpensive way to handle the call volume. In fact, with such a virtual service, you don’t have to pay high international calling charges when connecting with customers across the globe. You only pay what you subscribed to with the provider.
Additionally, toll free numbers for business can help your company become more accessible to prospects. Callers know that a call to a toll free number is free of cost and so, they are more likely to dial a business with such a number. Calls to toll free numbers for business charge the receiver instead of the caller. And with a virtual phone service, the toll free costs incurred are inexpensive as well.
Besides your business number, consider other communication channels such as instant messaging, web chat services, emails, etc. Not all clients enjoy talking on the phone, and so offering other methods can help you expand your reach.
Pay Attention to How Your Agency is Doing in the Market
Do self-checks. Study the market and compare how your agency is doing against other top, leading ones. What are they doing that you can do as well? Are they providing additional services or add-ons? Are you offering the best prices and getting competitive rates? What strategies are you employing to increase conversion rates?
Understand Customer Preferences and Behavior
It is also quite important to understand what your customer wants and what they would like to get out of this trip. Ultimately, your agency exists to provide travelers with a memorable travel experience. And to do this, you need to pay attention to their preferences. At the same time, conduct market research to get insights into general consumer behavior so you know when to push forward and when to take a step back.
Use Digital Marketing Tools
If you are not using digital marketing yet, then you are way behind in the game. Website development and optimization, email and social media marketing, and online ads can greatly improve your agency’s visibility. Optimize your website with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that will help it rank higher in search results. Send out promotions and coupons through emails and social media posts. Use social media ads, Google ads, and pay-per-click (PPC) ad options to promote your business on social media and the internet. You can either hire in-house online marketing specialists or outsource to agencies that offer packages to cover your needs.
Start by Raising the Bar
It is always important to stay on top of it, study yourself, and keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Trends and preferences change and businesses can either succeed or fail, based on how quickly they are willing to adapt. Be on the lookout for new strategies and trends, and make your way towards being the best travel agency there ever was.
Author Bio: Meryl D’Sa writes creative and professional content and is a lover of travel, memory, and war narratives.