Travel companies are more abundant than ever. Just because the tourism sector is at an all-time high, doesn’t mean you should watch from the sidelines.
The competition might seem like a demotivating factor if you’re running one, but a competitive market has its perks. There is more competition than ever, but there are more tools to make your company known.
Among the fastest-growing, online customer-acquisition method, influencer marketing leads with 28%.
The popular and in-trend method every marketer should choose is influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is good way to establish your travel company.
By using key brand advocates, you can take your business to the next level. To guide you through the process, we’ve assembled an 8-hack list that will help you grow your brand.
1. Let Them Handle the Hosting Part
A travel company can be anything. From hotel and flight bookings to customized travel plans, providing an unforgettable travel experience is important.
With that being said, you can urge an influencer that you’ve cooperated with to handle the hosting businesses. The best fit, of course, are influencers that have previously worked with your brand. However, any reputable individual will do.
The key factor is making sure that there is a fit between you and the influencer. How exactly can you handle the hosting part? Let’s take a look at a few ideas.
- If you’re an owner of a tour company, you can arrange a 10-day trip. The customers may join the influencer in a particular region and engage on a truly unique tour around the area. With the influencer as the tour leader, people will be more motivated to join your tours and buy your other programs. Oftentimes, the only thing you need is a good detail to motivate people.
- Don’t think globally just yet. If your budget is not ideal, you can always organize sightseeing tours at a local level. Every city or region has its perks and iconic parts. An influencer can highlight them.
- Not all influencers can cooperate you on a year-round level. Always ask them about their preferred time of year and plan accordingly.
2. Send Them on a Family Trip
Giving your influencers gifts will motivate them into trying harder for your brand. There is no better gift than an all-expenses-paid trip to a destination of their choice. Always allow them to bring their family, to please them even further.
Not only will this marketing hack allow you to have a closer relationship with an influencer, but there is also an additional benefit. The investment in this hack might look like a lot, but it pays rich dividends in long-run.
As per a recent survey, influencer marketing generates $6.5 for every $1 invested. Now, that’s pretty impressive and you can’t ignore it.
Paid trips for influencers are great ways to promote your brand through the perspective of an already successful individual. Have them put hashtags and tag your social media pages on their daily posts.
Make sure the promotion is subtle. Otherwise, it will be obnoxious and annoying to their followers and could damage your brand’s credibility.
3. Don’t Be Hesitant to Create a Plan Together
While there are influencers that are more demanding than others, your travel company isn’t required to abide by every demand. Before starting a business relationship, make sure that the influencer you’re cooperating with is open for suggestions.
Remember, it is your brand that’s being promoted, and you should be the sole decider of the way you’re going to promote it.
For travel companies, it would be best if you created a plan together. Have a meeting and talk to the influencer you want to cooperate with. Find out about their outreach, previous experiences, and preferences.
An ideal influencer marketing plan is characterized by balance. Neither you nor the influencer is required to operate in a way that doesn’t suit you.
4. Urge Them to Do The Content Creation
More and more travel companies use outsourced content creators for better results. When you’re cooperating with an influencer, you should let them do the creation. Why is this the case?
- The influencer’s audience will notice different styles in their posts on social media and the campaign will be seen as a less credible one. A genuine approach by the influencer himself will attract more people and grow your company.
- Experience is something every reputable influencer has. Since their job is to use their presence to promote brands and companies, they will know how to approach your goals and demands.
- Giving someone the reins of the operation instills confidence. When your influencer realizes that you trust them, they will be more motivated to provide excellent results. Letting a person use their creative power with additional freedom can result in an amazing marketing campaign.
5. Ask Them to Design and Create
A common mistake that travel company marketers make is limit their relationship with an influencer. While the first and foremost role is promotion, there is a lot to be discovered in the creative sector.
The promotion that influencers do revolves a lot around creativity and ingenuity. If they’ve managed to get their social media management down to a fine science, you can always make use of that quality. How can you accomplish this?
- Let the influencer think of a special travel itinerary that can become a regular in your offer. With this move, you will ensure long-term participation.
- Don’t be hesitant to reach out to other brands that your influencer works with. A luggage brand or anything related to traveling will do.
- A good way to carry out an influencer marketing campaign is to let them “refurbish” old offers. While the locations remain the same, the style and experience will be different.
6. Produce Videos and Other Forms of Owned Media
Influencers are some of the most passionate and creative people on the planet. They can become a driving force for your travel company because they can make something out of nothing.
As we all know, content creation is the driving force behind all successful marketing campaigns. The sheer creativity of the influencer can greatly aid you in content production.
Videos are a great way to approach your audience. By having influencers record videos from their travels, people will get an up close and personal look of the experience they will have.
The videos should be short and posted on the regular. In other situations, you can have a team of influencers record testimonial videos. In them, they can talk about why they’ve chosen your company and what are their impressions from cooperating with you.
Both big and small brands may benefit from this way of conducting business. Videos are more interactive than images and less boring than blog posts. The interactive videos will help your travel company grow.
7. Make Them Permanent Members of Your Team
A dedicated and passionate influencer is hard to find. If you manage to find one, the chances are that you are going to want to cooperate again. Instead of stressing out over their availability, why not secure your future success by inviting them to become a part of your team.
Due to an increasing number of influencers today, most of them revel at the opportunity of getting a stable position in a company. If they’ve proven themselves to be trustworthy, creative and passionate, you should offer them a spot on your team.
You shouldn’t do this after your very first project together, but after the second round of success, you will want to think about it. The best part about this move is that they will still keep their social media channels and could use them solely for the promotion of your brand.
Having an influencer on your team is like having any other talented individual on it. With different ways of approaching a challenge, your team members can use the expertise of the influencer. As a result, they will be able to create better campaigns and take your travel company to the next level.
8. Organize Social Media Takeovers
A major part of every good campaign is the hype surrounding it. While constant promotion and excitement are good, the hype is only created by unexpected moves and events.
Letting an influencer take over all of your social media channels is a great way to create hype. The takeover can be of any type. AMAs are a good way to switch things up. Just announce them in advance.
While they’re traveling, influencers can use your channels for better advertising and gaining more followers. In most cases, this is an effective and very economical decision to make, and your travel company will surely benefit from it.
To Conclude
On a daily basis, we should look up to influencers. Just by being a tad bit more creative and open-minded, you can take your travel company to the next level. Always be a visionary and think of new ways to promote your brand. And remember, an influencer can also be an advisor, allowing you to learn valuable things.
Author Bio:
Serena Dorf is a blogger at EssayOnTime. She is passionate about marketing, writing, and traveling. In her free time, she is reading classic American literature and learning Swedish. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter @DorfSerena.
Image Credits: Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash