As travel advisors emerge from the pandemic, they will need every possible tool at their disposal to engage with clients and generate bookings to help make up for a year or more of lost earnings.

With travel expected to see a strong rebound for late 2021 into 2022, it’s going to be more important than ever for agents to use social media tools to market and strengthen their reputation, and to drive bookings.

A refreshed, updated version of the free Facebook marketing tool from Vancouver-based “BranchUp” is available to travel advisors across the country. After a successful run with advisors in the United States and a few years of solid performance under their belt on their home turf here in Canada, the company is rolling out a strong marketing campaign to the Canadian travel trade to get the word out. Their goal is to help as many agents as possible prepare for the post-pandemic world. It is arguably the only turnkey marketing tool of its kind that's been developed specifically for travel advisors.

The best part is it's 100% free for travel advisors, and takes mere minutes to gain access to and to start using.

“We have a large number of our network members, stores and home agents on BranchUp,” says Susan Bowman VP, Marketing & Industry Relations, TDC. “It’s an amazing opportunity to get into social media marketing that’s turnkey and with professional content. It’s not just a marketing platform or ad, it’s a system that’s easy to use and add your own flavour.”

Bowman says she’s also been very happy with the level of reporting BranchUp provides TDC, which in the marketing field is key.

“We’ve done 25 campaigns since we first started with BranchUp last June. We have been able to see firsthand the upward or downward growth rates, which helps us to better understand the overall market.

BranchUp is backed by the experience and knowledge of industry experts – BranchUp is founded by Expedia Cruises Founder Michael Drever.

"I have nothing but good things to say about BranchUp,” said Bowman “It certainly helps that Michael Drever is behind it. Coming from the travel space, Mike is very aware of the complexities of our business.”

During his more than 32 years in the travel industry, Drever has been recognized for his visionary leadership, including induction into the CLIA Hall of Fame, as well as numerous awards in the franchise industry. He is a passionate advocate for travel advisors, and has dedicated his career to developing marketing, sales, and technology tools to help travel advisors succeed. BranchUp is his latest creation.

"BranchUp has been in operation for some time," Drever said from his office in Vancouver. "We wanted to make sure that when we were ready for a large-scale launch we would be able to deliver an incredible social media marketing program for travel advisors, allowing them to reaffirm their status as a relevant, tech savvy professional to their social media network at no cost. We drive leads, and ultimately sales with their favourite suppliers for FREE and directly to their inbox."

How does it work?

Branch Up creates a mix of editorial content and special offers that are posted daily to travel advisors’ Facebook Business pages, automatically generating leads and ultimately, sales. Close to 80% of advisors have their own Facebook business page, and if an advisor doesn't, the group will help you set one up. The posts help advisors avoid spending countless hours sourcing relevant content to share with their page friends and followers.

Advisors have the ability to edit the posts to include their own wording or recommendations, as well as having the ability to control the posts, ensuring content is always on point with their business, should they so choose. Advisors can sit back and let BranchUp do all the work.

When a friend or follower clicks on a post on an advisor's Facebook business page, they are taken to a dynamic, co-branded landing page featuring all of the travel advisor’s contact information, logo, phone number etc. Should the friend or follower wish to learn more about the special offer or information in the post they connect directly with the travel advisor. Any post the user clicks on automatically opens an email window with the advisor's email address auto populated along with the offer name in the subject line. It’s a completely free, lead generation program and marketing platform.

Advisors’ favourite suppliers, cruise lines, tour operators, airlines and hotel groups work directly with BranchUp to provide them with special offers and content, which BranchUp then passes along to the advisor's Facebook audience through their proprietary technology platform.

All bookings are made directly with the supplier by the advisor. All of the advisor's negotiated commissions remain 100% intact.

"We believe as travel advisors emerge from the pandemic they will be entering new waters and we think this tool will help them navigate those waters. They're going to love it."

Drever chuckled and then apologized "Sorry, cruising's in my blood."

Travel advisors are invited to sign up for free at BranchUp.com today.