Attention Tourism Professionals: #1 Tour Operator Shares Top Social Media Marketing Tips

Have you ever wondered the best type of content to use in your free and paid tourism social media marketing that generates the most quality traffic to your website and bookings?  What about your website. Is it generating all the traffic, leads and bookings you need?

It can be tricky…  Done wrong, you waste lots of money and time.

But done right you can get your best client marketing for you with “content marketing.”

Listen today as one of the top tour operators in the world shares some of his best tips to get a ton of social media views, likes, and social sharing, and help his SEO ranking that generates tons of quality website leads that become bookings over time.

And the best part is, it cost little to nothing but a smart investment of your time.

Listen Now

 Tourism Social Media Marketing

Click on Player Button to Hear or Download Travel Business Success #63

Get Interview Transcripts for Free Here

Mike Brcic, Sacred Rides Founder

 

Join my special guest Mike Brcic, 21 year year adventure travel business veteran and founder of Sacred Rides.  Mike’s tour company has been rated “#1 Mountain Bike Tour Company on Earth”, National Geographic Adventure magazine and "Best Mountain Bike Outfitter" from outside magazine.

He is also the former Dean of Social Enterprise at the Centre for Social Innovation and the former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Toronto Public Library. Mike says; “Entrepreneurship and launching things are a bit of an obsession, you might say.”  Mike is also very passionate about Tourism Social Media Marketing and specifically user generated “Content Marketing”. 

Why? Because it works. 

The podcast jumps right into “content marketing” and how Sacred Rides use it to build their brand, get the most excited clients selling for them and save a ton of money on paid social media advertising for their global tour business.

Tourism Social Media Marketing Show Highlights:

User generated content marketing Your Target Market Loves

Why your customer’s photos, videos and blog post are most effective in your Tourism Social Media Marketing

Why free “Authentic” non-professional video can be more effective than expensive videos

How to position yourself as an “expert in your space”

 

Facebook Tourism Social Media Marketing

How to use promoted posts in FB to drive quality traffic to websites

How to get 100% or more of your FB audience to see your posts organically

How to use Hashtags to get your content shared

 

How to Do Effective Content Marketing for Your Travel Business

What is the type of content your customers are looking for?

How to use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to target high value/ high volume key words

How to search engine optimize your target key words to earn page 1 ranking and lots of quality web traffic for free

How to get your staff to create valuable relevant content for your blog.

Why embedding video into your blog (your own or someone else’s relevant content) will increase your ranking.

How to get more bookings with Social Media and Content Marketing

Tourism Website Marketing & Social Proof:

Why testimonials are their #1 source of referrals and low cost business growth.

TripAdvisor badge prominent on every page

Why earning awards from media helps book trips

What is the hierarchy of types of testimonials?

Why video testimonials are the most effective

What is the best type of emotional video testimonial to capture

3 Elements for Successful Video Tourism Marketing

Join us for part II on video tourism marketing to learn what type of video marketing is best for your travel, tourism or hospitality business. This includes how to plan, budget and use your promotional video (s) for building your brand, advertising and increased bookings.

In late 2015, Lost Campers USA, a medium-sized campervan rental company with three offices and 140 campervans, and one of my ongoing clients, agreed with my recommendations that they were overdue for some video tourism marketing.  They had done very little video marketing previously.  Mostly short clips and slide show videos on their YouTube channel, Facebook and nothing on their website.

I knew that a good short video was a great opportunity to improve their tourism marketing with a great return on investment (ROI) and we could use the videos everywhere.  (see video below) Next steps were the planning and production process.

Listen Now

 Tourism Video Marketing – Part II of II

Click on Player Button to Hear or Download Travel Business Success #62

 

This is part 2 of a 2-part interview on video tourism marketing and how you can create more successful tourism marketing videos too. If you missed part 1, listen to that here.

Below are three important elements we considered to create our 90 second “lifestyle video”.   Our video tourism marketing ROI has been great.

This new video has generated almost 17,000 views, increased bookings, and radically enhanced their brand in a very competitive US campervan rental marketplace.

Highlights & Key Questions on Successful Video Tourism Marketing. Part II

What are the potential costs and returns for you?

If your return on investment is big enough, the investment is certainly worth the time and money.

Your video can be a corner stone of your marketing and branding

Video tourism marketing provides long term return

 

What is the best format & how do you intend to have it benefit your business?

A key question to ask is: Is this video for long term branding?  Is it to educate someone on your tours or service or both.  This will help you to determine your budget and style of options below.

Low budget: better to do “How to videos”

How to videos can be great, get lots of viewership and build your expertise and brand. Our “How to set up a roof top tent,” video has gotten over 8000 views.

Medium budget: you can include “how to” elements, a more creative story, plus client testimonials to increase credibility

 

Marketing & Promotions with Video

The key question on video tourism marketing is: Where will you use your video?

A good travel marketing video is best used in a highly conspicuous location on Website. Preferably the home page. See LostcampersUSA.com

Your video should show viewers what it would be like to work with you, go on your tours, stay in lodging, etc.

Another key is your travel marketing video must build your “credibility”. Also called “Social Proof”. Watch the 1-minute video and see our small but important “Credibility Statement” at the very end of the video. 1:18 seconds.

Tourism video advertising: Short videos for YouTube or Facebook ads are the best. They can be as short as 30 second videos. You can take your existing video or “ B” roll extra footage and put together more short clips for advertising your travel business online.

 

Tourism Video Marketing: "Lifestyle Video"  Client Sample

 

My guest today is Lawrence He from Polygon Visuals.

Have you ever thought about tourism video marketing to promote your tours, travel lodge, travel agency or destination? Or do you already have a promotional video you use for travel marketing that just doesn't seem to be getting many views or really building your brand?

Listen today and learn how my client, Lost Campers USA, a small campervan rental company, created a 90 second “lifestyle video” that has generated over 14,000 views, increased bookings, and radically enhanced their brand in a competitive US marketplace. (see video below)

Listen Now

 Tourism Video Marketing - Part I of II

Click on Player Button to Hear or Download Travel Business Success #61

 

Listen to Part II of this 2-part interview on tourism video marketing here

Before we created this promotional video for this client, a “lifestyle video” for tourism video marketing was a new concept for me. I used to create travel marketing videos much like I created a travel website. These videos were really marketing oriented. Mostly telling more about the company or destination, instead of giving a viewer the experience of the trip, destination or how the travel services might be enjoyed.

Lawrence He, Polygon Visuals

My guest today is Lawrence He from Polygon Visuals. He helped me understand a “Life style” video is about telling a story.  This type of tourism video marketing shows how a customer might experience your product or a story on the kind of experience they might have.

This short video has been very successful in representing how our customers use our camper vans for regional camping trips, when they do not have any camping equipment or vehicle.

This lifestyle tourism marketing video is a great example of what you can do to create awareness for your tourism product offering, service or destination and to really solidify what your brand is all about. At the end of the day, a tourism marketing video like this, will improve your marketing, brand and bookings.

Lost Campers Lifestyle Tourism Marketing Video

This is part I of a 2-part interview on tourism video marketing and how you can create more successful tourism marketing videos too.

Subscribe for free today. Find out why 1000’s of global travel, tourism and hospitality worldwide just like you, listen to and prosper from the tips and no BS advice Tourism Tim and his industry experts share to help you prosper in your travel business dream.

Thanks for subscribing to Travel Business Success Radio Podcast on iTunes here for free.

 

What is your #1 Travel, Hospitality or Tourism Marketing Video Question or Comment?

Please post them at the bottom of the page in the Comments window. We’ll get back to you with more answers and advice to help you succeed.

Have you ever dreamed about being a travel entrepreneur?  Turning your passion for travel into a fun profitable business or career?

Or are you already a travel entrepreneur and finding your dream turning into a nightmare sometimes because you lack enough bookings…?

Either way, listen and learn today from world traveler, travel entrepreneur, travel writer and author Nicolas Kontis. Nick shares his travel business insights and tips that will help both new comers to seasoned pro’s avoid painful mistakes, increase bookings and create a travel business that today’s global travelers love. Or if you want to land a cool career in tourism, this show is for you too.

 

 

Seasoned Travel Entrepreneurship Advice

I often get emails from people who have a great passion for travel, and decide to turn it into business or career. This is great!  Passion is key to your success.

And I also get requests for help because many who jump into a new travel business, with no experience in the business and marketing of travel, struggle to generate leads or bookings and are not sure what to do to make their travel business dream come true.

Can you relate to any of this?

Listen Now

 Travel Entrepreneurship Tips

Click on Player Button to Hear or Download Travel Business Success #60

 

My guest Nicholas Kontis is truly a travel entrepreneur. He turned his travel passion into a business, and sometimes struggled along the way. At age 24 he took a 13-month around the world trip where he learned how to buy airline tickets at great discounts. He knew others where just like him, loved to travel and save money too. So when he returned home to San Francisco, armed with US$25,000, a major in history and minor in marketing, started America’s first travel agency specializing in discount around the world airfares…

Did Nick have some “learning/ growth opportunities” as a new travel entrepreneur? You bet!  24 years later Nick is an accomplished entrepreneur, travel writer and recent author of a top selling book, Going Local” Experiences and Encounters on the Road.

Join me and Nick where we cover key areas to help current and future travel entrepreneurs and tourism career seekers succeed.

Travel Business Success #60 Travel Entrepreneurs Summary:

How to turn your travel passion into a travel business.

What are some of the biggest start up challenges for travel entrepreneurs?

Top recommendation for someone considering starting a travel business.

Why should a college student or someone quit their job and travel around the world, if they are interested in the travel biz?

Why travel consumers want more authentic “going local” experiences now.

How can a tour operator integrate more meals, learning and volunteerism into their itinerary?

How to find local "experiential tourism" providers, and experiences to integrate into your tours?

What are the some of the top online resources from your book, travel businesses should be engaged in?

What are some of the things small to medium sized operators or destinations can do to integrate more responsible travel into their programs?

Top do’s & don'ts of working with travel journalists for travel professionals.

 

Subscribe for free today. Find out why global travel, tourism and hospitality worldwide just like you, listen to and prosper from the tips and no BS advice Tourism Tim and his industry experts share to help you prosper in your travel business dream.

Thanks for subscribing to Travel Business Success Radio Podcast on iTunes here fo...

How did Doreen and Bob Toller, who run a small family-owned tour operator business in Alaska since 1998, increase sales 200%, to over 7 figures of bookings in 1 season - in spite of very heavy competition?

Want to learn their tourism marketing, sales and operational success secrets?

Listen today to learn for yourself how their small and steady tour operator business and marketing improvements – especially on their website -  has helped them transform their life, their staff’s and their future security.

Doreen Toller, Co-Founder, Alaskan Tour Guides

Do You Wear Too Many Hats Running Your Tour Operator Business?

Doreen and Bob, founders of Alaskan Tour Guides are like so many of us in the tourism, travel & hospitality business who have too many things to do… This includes: operate tours, manage and inspire staff, do marketing and sales, create and manage online marketing, social media, manage equipment and facilities, legal, accounting, learn new things and on and on and …

Can you relate?

If so you will love to hear how Doreen and Bob have built their tour operator business for a different experience. They now have more time to focus on building their business, actually take two 2-week vacations to Hawaii a year, are happier and have more profits by re-investing in their business human resources, vans and more.

 

Listen Now

Tour Operator Business & Marketing Tips

Click on Player Button to Hear or Download Travel Business Success #59

 

Who are the Toller’s, Co-Founders of Alaskan Tour Guides?

Doreen and her husband Bob are the founders of Alaskan Tour Guides and Toller Timbers Chalets started 1998. In their first year of operations, with no experience in tourism, they did a total of 6 only tours. They were not even sure if this tour business was right for them. But they persisted.  They ran the tourism businesses themselves. All the while, continued to grow their tourism business and travel marketing knowledge. Every year growing a little. Sometimes a lot as you will see…

 

How Did Doreen Learn & Apply Her Successful Tour Operator Business Marketing?

Doreen bought my original Tourism Marketing Success book after attending one of my live workshops at a travel conference around 2004. In addition, she has also has gotten some 1 on 1 coaching from me, plus attended some of my live phone and online webinars with me too.  Listen and read today to learn how their steady growth with some of my guidance has helped Doreen and her husband Bob create a super profitable, fun and growing tourism business they always dreamed of, and how their sales up 245% over the last three years. 

 Listen to Doreen's Comments When Their Bookings Increased ONLY 45%

 

Operations: blessings & insights of building a successful tour business.

The best way to grow your business and keep quality operations

What hiring an operations and office manager has done for them

How to create financial & retirement security

Employee retention and creating a benefits plan

Build a great team that’s fun to work with

The wisdom of owners investing in their own vacations every year

Tourism Marketing Discoveries

Ops manager gives her more time to focus on business development

How social media really does help promote selling travel

Why testimonials are their #1 source of referrals and low cost business growth

Online Tourism Marketing Tips

Why you DO NOT have to be a “tech master” to marketing travel online.

How to increase sales – even if your website is not super fancy

Tracking Google analytics to uncover quality & crappy traffic and how to improve leads even more.

Are You Going to Market at a Travel Trade show this Year?  

If so here are four of my top travel trade show marketing tips, training videos and a free online webinar training to help you succeed.

Watch, listen and learn to increase your bookings and AVOID costly travel trade show marketing mistakes most tourism professional make.

Even if you are not marketing travel at trade shows, the tourism marketing tips I share will help radically improve ALL your travel marketing, especially on your website.

It’s that time of year that tour operators, destinations, lodges and travel agents in the northern hemisphere are thinking about how can I get more bookings this summer. One of the marketing strategies many are looking at are travel trade shows.

Is this a good idea? Are you going to make a lot of bookings or waste a lot of money and time…? 

Find out by listening to Travel Business Success podcast Episode #58 or watching the video below filled with travel trade show marketing tips guaranteed to help your tour operation, destination, lodge or travel agency succeed in trade shows (and ALL your tourism marketing).

The sad truth is most business & destinations suck at travel trade show marketing.

They leave the show tired, confused, little or no new bookings, and may have spent US$6,000 – over US$80,000 or more in travel expenses, booth costs, tradeshow space, marketing materials, staffing and more…

The Good News on How to Market Travel in Trade Shows

The good news is travel trade show marketing can be a profitable investment, when you do it right. In one of the last consumer travel trade show one of my tour operator clients went to booked almost US$25,000 in new bookings.

Over 90% of tour operator exhibitors left empty handed… This sucks. Good new is by following the proven tips in my Travel Business Success podcasts, the videos below and free detailed webinar training on travel trade show marketing, you will radically increase your odds of success.

Four Free Travel Trade Show Marketing Tips – Overview Video

That is why I am giving you these four free travel trade show marketing tips. These are the same trade show marketing tactics that top travel marketers and my tour operator client used to earn US$25K in new booking.  

This includes how–to get great leads, book trips, make awesome new alliances, connect with old and new suppliers, get free publicity and more that you can learn too. All these free travel trade show marketing tips are posted here in Travel Business Success.com under the Topic of Trade show Marketing on the right-hand of this page. 

Here is a summary of the 4 travel trade show marketing tips covered in the video below or this Travel Business Success Podcast episode.

Does Your Tourism Marketing Suck? 3 Top Tips on Travel Trade Show Marketing

"Tourism Tim" is the professor of harsh travel marketing reality.

If you don't have enough prospects or clients… chances are your marketing needs help. Here's 3 travel marketing tips guaranteed to increase sales and arrivals, simple, fast and easy.   Just back from San Francisco and the OneWorld Travel Mart trade show. After seeing how poorly over 50% of the exhibitors marketed themselves at [...] More here…

 

 

7 Secrets to Travel Trade Show Marketing Success

Travel Trade Show Marketing Fact: 85% + of travel trade show exhibitors struggle at marketing their tours, travel destination, services, lodge, resorts, etc. The other 15% rock and it's one of their best tourism marketing investment. Find out why... Can you relate to any of these common travel & hospitality marketing challenges at trade shows [...] More Here

 

Award Winning Tour Operator Dan Austin Shares Sales Conversio...

Do you think you know the top 3 business skills guaranteed to increase your travel, tour or hospitality business success?  I bet you will be surprised….

** Sabrina Braham MA PCC ** Tourism Leadership Coach

Listen today and learn the same skills that great business leaders use like Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Warren Buffett, richest businessman in the world, Howard Schultz and Chip Conley, global head of hospitality and strategy for Airbnb.

According to top research, your ability to clearly envision your business (dream, purpose, plan, scope), communicate it and enroll your team (including vendors, suppliers, partners, stakeholders), is a best practice of the most successful and profitable businesses in the world.

Can you relate to this?

I hate to say it, your abilities (or lack of them) to manage and lead others, (especially yourself) is part of the 3 top reasons why travel and hospitality businesses and careers struggle or fail…

Good news. You can learn to communicate, lead and manage yourself and others better.

In this issue of Travel Business Success Radio, I interviewed Fortune 1000 executive coach (and my wife) Sabrina Braham MA MFT PCC (Professional Certified Coach) on top tourism leadership and management tips you can put to use right now.

All the brilliant travel marketing in the world (and you know I LOVE Marketing), will not help you, if don’t follow these 3 simple leadership and management tips Sabrina shares during this short fun video interview.

Tourism Leadership & Management Topics Include:

Customer Service

Leadership Development

Problem Solving

Conflict resolution

Core Values

Strategic Alignment

Operational Systems

Emotional Intelligence

Communications

How to Get Promoted

Tourism Leadership “Soft Skills”

These tourism leadership “soft skills” are a muscle in your brain you can develop. Invest in your abilities to vision with clarity, empower others and grow yourself. It will help you go far – guaranteed!

Thank You Fellow Travel and Hospitality Professionals

Thank you for forwarding this tourism leadership and management podcast and link to others, “Liking” and commenting in Facebook, tweeting and sharing in other social networks and groups. Please use the links above and below this post to share.

 

Click on Player to Hear or Download Travel Business Success 57

Please post your travel business, marketing, sales, social media, management and operations and strategic planning comments and questions below.

Let me know in the comments box below what you think of this one on one interview format.

Also let us know other “Soft Skills” you would like to learn from Sabrina, me and other top gun organization development (OD) and entrepreneurs I know.

Do you think you know the top 3 business skills guaranteed to increase your travel, tour or hospitality business success?  I bet you will be surprised….

Listen today and learn the same skills that great business leaders use like Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Warren Buffett, richest businessman in the world, Howard Schultz and Chip Conley, global head of hospitality and strategy for Airbnb.

According to top research, your ability to clearly envision your business (dream, purpose, plan, scope), communicate it and enroll your team (including vendors, suppliers, partners, stakeholders), is a best practice of the most successful and profitable businesses in the world.

Can you relate to this?

I hate to say it, your abilities (or lack of them) to manage and lead others, (especially yourself) is part of the 3 top reasons why travel and hospitality businesses and careers struggle or fail…

Good news. You can learn to communicate, lead and manage yourself and others better.

In this issue of Travel Business Success Radio, I interviewed Fortune 1000 executive coach (and my wife) Sabrina Braham MA CPC (Certified Professional Coach) on top tourism leadership and management tips you can put to use right now.

All the brilliant travel marketing in the world (and you know I LOVE Marketing), will not help you, if don’t follow these 3 simple leadership and management tips Sabrina shares during this short fun video interview.

Tourism Leadership & Management Topics Include:

* Customer Service

* Leadership Development

* Problem Solving

* Conflict resolution

* Core Values

* Strategic Alignment

* Operational Systems

* Emotional Intelligence

* Communications

* How to Get Promoted

Tourism Leadership “Soft Skills”

These tourism leadership “soft skills” are a muscle in your brain you can develop. Invest in your abilities to vision with clarity, empower others and grow yourself. It will help you go far – guaranteed!

Thank You Fellow Travel and Hospitality Professionals

Thank you for forwarding this tourism leadership and management podcast and link to others, “Liking” and commenting in Facebook, tweeting and sharing in other social networks and groups. Please use the links above and below this post to share.

 

Click on Player to Hear or Download Travel Business Success 57

Please post your travel business, marketing, sales, social media, management and operations and strategic planning comments and questions below.

Let me know in the comments box below what you think of this one on one interview format.

Also let us know other “Soft Skills” you would like to learn from Sabrina, me and other top gun organization development (OD) and entrepreneurs I know.

Are You a Tour Operator, Lodge Owner, Travel Agent or DMO That Needs to Book More Trips or Increase Arrivals?

Join me today and find out how my small tour operator client booked $100k in sales in only 3 weeks using very effective adventure travel public relations as a key element in his tourism marketing.

 

Episode #56 of Travel Business Success Radio podcast is an interview and case-study on how one well-done travel press release on Baja whale shark tours, professionally handled, and followed-up on, yielded a joint client of my guest and myself almost a US$100,000 in bookings in only three weeks.

Want to know how we did and you can too? Read on and listen below.

Dave Wiggins & Tourism Tim happy about US$100K in new bookings flying back from Baja

This record amount of bookings was the results of a long-term investment in adventure travel public relations and professional follow up. At the end of the day, the client booked a whole bunch of trips in just three weeks.

So he’s super happy, I’m real happy and my special guest Dave Wiggins is very happy too.

Dave Wiggins is a personal friend and associate with 33-year adventure travel industry and media expertise that I’ve worked with on many projects over the years. Dave’s ability to create effective travel press releases and build relationships with travel journalist and editors that yield profitable media trips and article is first class. More info on Dave Wiggins here.

Adventure Travel Public Relations Successes: Interview Highlights

How an adventure travel press release resulted in a San Diego Union feature story and US$100K in new bookings

Where else did Baja AirVentures earn over four million impressions

Why smaller travel press releases pickups collectively equal huge website traffic, increase search engine ranking and bookings

The importance of having good travel website marketing as part of your travel public relations marketing

Dave’s recommendation on having a press room, or press page on your website that links to old press releases and articles

How to work out a win/win travel journalist media trip that yields success

Learn how to get $1,000's in quality images and videos free, plus a great article from a media trip

Where does getting endorsement and Tripadvisor reviews fit into a media trip?

Why this feature article helps this tour operator and ecolodge owner establish more credibility and broad global awareness forever.

Want to read the entire Adventure Travel Public Relations Case Study transcripts?  Get them here.

 

 

Thanks for subscribing to Travel Business Success Radio Podcast on iTunes here for free.

 

Click on Player to Hear or Download Travel Business Success 56

What is your #1 Travel Press Public Relations or Media Trip Question or Comment?

Please post them below the audio player at the bottom of the page in the Facebook Comments window. We’ll get back to you with more answers and advice.