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Having dedicated the past 28 years of my career to helping travel agents grow their businesses to the next level – and despite the continuous momentum of change to the travel industry and the agency business model – it’s clear to me that the fundamentals of a sustainable strategy remain the same. As an agent, you must be able to define and articulate what distinguishes your brand from others while at the same time be wholly committed to attracting new clients into your fold.

For most agents I’ve worked with, referrals remain the number-one source of new clients. While referrals are an awesome stream of new business, I recommend augmenting your growth plan by capitalizing on both the marketing research and momentum of a destination’s visitors and convention bureau. With Hawaii being the focus of this editorial, I’d like to inspire you to take a closer look at the latest research and marketing targets of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB) and how it can help you grow your business.

From my experience, it is safe to assume that client satisfaction fuels your referral business. Similarly, Hawaii, as a leisure travel destination, has a high satisfaction rate that fuels its significant number of repeat visitors each year. Currently 75 percent of U.S. and Canadian visitors to Hawaii are repeat visitors – which means only 25 percent are first-time visitors. As you know from your own experience, in order to take your business to the next level and achieve sustainable growth, you must attract new clientele on a regular basis, which is exactly what the HVCB is trying to do by turning its focus to the “Never Been” traveler profile. I recommend you infuse this strategy and its messaging into your own marketing efforts.

But first, to help you understand the Never Been travelers and what is unique about their travel habits, attitudes and preferences, the HVCB shares key research findings, which will provide you with a deeper look into demographics, travel values, motivators and most desired activities.

Never Beens are described as avid, frequent, long-haul travelers who average two to three vacations a year. They’re slightly younger than those who previously visited Hawaii, and they are well educated and have a relatively higher household income.

They place the greatest value on new experiences and relaxation. Their most desired activities are visiting unique landmarks or historic sites, sampling local food and cuisine, and partaking in outdoor adventures. I recommend that your messaging efforts laser in on sharing your top picks in these categories for each of the main Hawaiian Islands.

While Never Beens expect Hawaii to offer the escapism they desire in a vacation, they categorize it primarily as a “sun-and-sand” destination – one that offers something they can easily find in more accessible and less costly places throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. And, although unique cultural and historical experiences are key travel motivators for this group, they don’t view Hawaii as a destination with cultural and historical appeal. If your Hawaii marketing is based primarily on sun-and-sand images and content, you may want to rethink this approach based on what the research reveals about converting Never Beens.

What I love about perceived obstacles is how the entrepreneurial mind can turn them into gems of opportunity. To overcome this barrier, design your sales and marketing strategy to include education and awareness to align Hawaii with your clients’ core values. This is a great opportunity for you to promote your Hawaii expertise and engage potential new clients in your business and the destination itself before they make their final decision on where to travel next.

How vast a leisure market is the HVCB quantifying for a high propensity to travel to Hawaii in the next five years? Its says 26.7 million Americans are defined as the “Hawaii Target Traveler” or HTT. For the HTT, the bureau developed the “#LetHawaiiHappen” social media campaign, now in its second year, to sharpen the focus on reaching and influencing the Never Beens. 

The objective of the #LetHawaiiHappen campaign is to capitalize on user-generated social media content where visitors share stories of Hawaii that highlight the unique experiences of each of the main Hawaiian Islands. I recommend that you hop over to the social media platforms you’re currently using for your business and follow the #LetHawaiiHappen audience. I’d then develop the daily discipline of engaging in meaningful conversation with both Hawaii suppliers and consumers.

If you’re already a certified Hawaii Destination Specialist, I encourage you to jump in the #LetHawaiiHappen campaign as one of Hawaii’s most passionate and expert ambassadors and begin sharing valuable recommendations from your first-hand experience that align with the Never Beens’ travel values and motivators.

Leveraging the HVCB’s focus on building new first-time visitor business to Hawaii is a great way to augment your travel agency’s own marketing strategy. The real “secret sauce” is where you pair the first-time visitor message with the unique differentiation of your own business.

If you’d like ongoing coaching on how to build your Hawaii business, including additional conversation on the Never Been target traveler and marketing campaign, feel free to link up with fellow Agent@Home readers by joining the Hawaii Mentorship Alliance private group on Facebook. I’ll see you there!