15 Marketing Ideas for Travel Advisors in 2021

Last year was undoubtedly a difficult year for your travel advisor business. We've put together a list of marketing ideas you can reference to update and re-focus your travel advisor business in a way that is mindful of everything we went through last year (and are still dealing with now). Turn your efforts to the future and be open to changing how you operate and market your business, and you will surely find success.

You may be asking, "What does a loan have to do with marketing?" Stick with us. Last year, small business owners had the opportunity to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in lieu of the pandemic. If you didn't take advantage of it then, there is good news: PPP loans are now being offered again.

While there are many free ways to market your travel advisor business, there are many other ways that do cost money, and if you were hard hit in 2020, your best bet is the PPP loan. Applying for the loan is easier than ever, the rules are more flexible on who can apply and how you can use the funds, and the entire loan (or partial) can be forgiven! If it's not forgiven, the interest is only one percent. (Writer's note: as a full-time freelance writer, my 2020 PPP was entirely forgiven).

This loan could give your business the marketing boost it needs. And know that if you received a PPP loan in 2020, you could qualify for another one in 2021.

Put your best face forward in 2021 with some updated headshots. Travelers want to know the travel advisors they're working with and a friendly and professional smile can go a long way in making them feel comfortable working with you. Be sure to book with a local photographer (don't do this on your cell phone!), as you want high-quality photographs that can be used on your website and social media.

We were introduced to Zoom in 2020, and it's not going away. So take advantage of Zoom and host your own seminars, classes, and discussions. You could host a panel of travel advisors and discuss what's going on in the industry at the moment or offer a Zoom seminar for travelers on the savings they could get by using a travel advisor. Be creative with the topics, market them online, and gather the e-mails of those who sign-up for your email blasts.

The photographs that you use in your marketing materials speak volumes to potential customers. So spend a day (or two) and change these photos. Replace old photos with those that are inclusive of diverse travelers -- those of different racial and ethnic communities, different family types, solo travelers and couples, etc. You may also want to include more photos of domestic destinations versus international destinations as many travelers are still not comfortable or unable to travel abroad during the pandemic.

Social media is a free and useful tool to gather new customers. Create a social media schedule that determines when you're going to post on what platform and how often. Come up with creative ideas for your social media posts, whether it be engaging photos or videos, Q&A's with industry experts, or discounts to loyal customers.

Up your blog game this year by inviting others to write guest blogs on your website. You may know a lot about being a travel advisor or the tourism industry, but your customers may be interested in hearing other voices who have authority in different travel expertise. It'll create more engagement among your customers, and offer you a chance to network with other travel professionals in a fun and creative way. And if you ask the guest blogger to post on their social media sites, it could draw new customers to you.

"New year, new you," doesn't just have to apply to your personal life -- it can apply to your brand. Take this time to rebrand your website, business cards, and marketing materials. Choose new colors, layouts, logos, and photos. Create a more professional look or something that's fun and exciting. If you don't know where you want to start with the rebranding, ask yourself, "What do I want customers to feel, experience, or be able to do when they come to my website or look at my business card?"

Make a commitment to host your own Instagram or Facebook Live event this year. This can be as short or as long as you like and showcase a wide variety of topics like COVID-friendly travel tips or an experiential cooking class clients could take on a trip you book for them. Entice people to join by offering a discount or giveaway at the end.

Everyone loves to win, so why not offer a giveaway to those who follow you on social media or book a trip with you in 2021? Connect with a destination, tour company, travel clothing business, airline, or attraction and see if they'd be willing to offer a prize for a giveaway. In exchange, you could market their business on your site and social media during the giveaway or write a blog post about the company.

If you'd like to get your name and business on the national or international stage, you're going to want to connect with travel writers, journalists, TV news producers, and editors. They're always looking for experts to quote in their stories and you could be the perfect travel advisor source. When you reach out to these journalists by e-mail, share a bit about yourself, your expertise in different tourism subjects (like family travel or LGBT travel), and say that you'd love to be a source if they ever need one. One simple e-mail could lead to a mention in an article or even an appearance on your local TV station.

Reach out to old clients and ask them to write an in-depth review of their experience with you. They could write a review on your website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, or Yelp (or hopefully all!). You may even want to offer an incentive for them to do so.

If you've ever wondered how people are guided to websites or find websites when they type in keywords in Google, you've got SEO to thank for that. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization," and when you incorporate SEO into your website and social media, it can make it easier for people to find your business when they search "travel advisor" online.

We highly suggest you learn more about SEO, either through a class or by reading a lot of articles. By utilizing SEO practices, like keywords on your website, you'll see your business grow exponentially.

If you want your travel advisor business to stay afloat, you have to get creative in the services and packages you offer to clients. Set aside some serious brainstorming time and come up with new and innovative services or destinations you could market. You might also want to reference research in 2020 that looked at how travelers' habits and interests changed in the pandemic and what we might expect from them in 2021.

Your goal as a travel advisor is to find new customers and keep old ones, but finding new customers can be a little tricky. Word-of-mouth is great, social media works well, but you should also examine who you've been marketing to and who you haven't been marketing to. Make a commitment to be more inclusive in who you market to in 2021.

You may not have purposely been excluding certain travel communities in your marketing efforts, but you may not have included them either or marketed to them in mindful and concerted ways. If you want to access customers in different communities, whether they be LGBT travelers, travelers of color, travelers with disabilities, solo travelers, or group travelers, you should do research about those communities and the experiences they have while traveling. Write blog posts aimed at those communities, highlight those communities in your photos, target those communities with FB ads, and forge connections with those in the community for word-of-mouth referrals.

If you're not a member of a travel advisor association, organization, or community, you may want to consider joining one this year. They often provide training and information to grow and market your business and can connect you with a great network of other travel advisors that can offer even more ideas than we've presented here.

As you search for the perfect community for you, don't forget to consider our very own Travel Agent Academy or AGENTatHOME.