Lorraine Simpson: How to reinvent your travel business during a pandemic
Yes, many of us keep saying the same-old, same-old thing: “COVID-19 has ruined my travel business, and I will never recover from the dramatic affects of this pandemic.”
I am going to be blunt and offer you some very important advice: stop complaining, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.
Life happens, and we all get blown some punches from time-to-time. This is why you all need to learn how jump right back up once you get knocked down.
Do famous tennis players give up if they don’t win Wimbledon? Do major sports teams fold if they don’t make it all the way to the championship? And, do famous actors and musicians alike call it quits if they don’t make the cut on the silver screen or sign with a major record label?
The answer is simple: No!
Tennis players will try new routines on the court; hockey, basketball, baseball, and football teams will maneuver new plays and switch players up in different positions; actors will go back to the basics, rehearsing over an over; and musicians will try new sounds, and experiment with vocals, synthesizers and horns. In other words, the pros know how to rebrand and reinvent, and so do you.
What I am saying is that when you experience a loss, you need to go back to the drawing table and rethink how to better change up your brand, business operations, and, more importantly, yourself.
Let’s look at what the airports, hotels, and airlines are doing in in these challenging times and how they are working hard to regains the confidence in consumers to travel again.
Airports are employing all sorts of new technologies to amp up health and safety; hotels are offering touchless check-in, and some now even have robots that will deliver your breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks right to your room; and, the airlines, too, are coming up with faster ways to clean planes and baggage with the aid of new technologies, and they are making travelers more comfortable on planes with well-branded hand sanitizers and nicely decorated bottles of water.
That’s right, the airports, hotels, and airlines have all found ways to revolve and you have the power to harness change and be a success story.
Those that do give up are the ones who don’t belong in the game. Don’t be one of them and don’t throw the towel in yet: you built a travel business, enjoyed the good times, and now you need to forge ahead with perseverance and be a winner in this new era of travel.
Here are my top tips that will help set you on a new flight path.
Get a new website
Most likely, your website hasn’t been updated in quite a while. This is innocent as many of us get busy. So, take the time now to give it that refresh it needs with a new logo, new colours, new verbiage, more video and images, and offer new ways of communicating with current and potential clients through chat or feedback forms; even a live chat feature is very beneficial as it shows you are serious on the communication front. Once you do all this, then send out a friendly invite to your clients that they can check out your new site and brand and remind them that you are fully open for business. Trust me, you will get calls from people wanting to travel, so keep the lines of contact open with everyone and you will see instant results for your business, and more importantly your bottom line.
Get creative on social media
Most of you have social media channels, so start having fun with them and learn how to engage your audience on a daily basis – yes, daily! Don’t just post a few times a week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – be on social media all the time. When you are active on these platforms, your followers will think you are the hottest travel business in town, and you will grow audiences in a big way. Offer contests and giveaways, and come up with clever content in the form of images and videos that will engage and entertain your fan base. This all works, and remember, those who see you all the time on social media will be more inclined to book travel with your brand. Even better, I always tell everyone to think outside the box, so launch a YouTube Channel, get subscribers, and offer travel tips and deals, and the list could go on. What you should also do is utilize new social media channels, like TikTok or Instagram Reels – they will also do wonders for your travel business and get you new followers.
Get your travel brand in the press
Some of us love the press, some of us hate it. Either way, your travel brand needs to be featured in print, online, or on TV. Being in mass media will solidify your authority, trust, leadership, and ethics among news consumers who most likely travel. When people search for your brand on search engines, like Google, and see you pop up in news stories on Page 1, trust me, they will be more inclined to work with your business since you are featured in credible sources. Simply put, being in the press places your brand in a new light: people will see the realness and innovation in your business and in you as a business owner. How do you get into the press without paying for advertising? It’s easy – write a press release, send it out and call the newsrooms to share your story with them. If it’s interesting enough, the press will cover. Try pitching all sorts of neat stories to the press: How your travel business has survived COVID-19; How the travel industry has changed since the pandemic hit; What the future looks like for the industry in this new era of travel. What’s even better, launch a community outreach campaign in your own backyard where you give back to a charity or cause – the press enjoys these feel good stories and so do readers. So, think of some story angles, get writing press releases, and work the phones to secure coverage. You will see your brand grow and your reputation shine.
Get yourself on Zoom
There are lots of video platforms to host info sessions, and the popular one for many these days is Zoom. What you need to do is start hosting education sessions for new and current clients on Zoom and educate them on what’s happening in our world of travel at present. Highlight how airlines, airports, hotels, and limousine services have improved their safety measures, and remind everyone how safe it is to travel right now. In other words, do all that you can on video calls to reduce your clients worries with traveling during a pandemic, or post-pandemic for that matter. What you should also do is host special event nights on Zoom with chefs, wine and mix drink experts to engage your client base – these are fun, and they are a great way to promote travel and hospitality. Zoom is a perfect tool for educational and entertainment purposes, and never worry about the size of your audience, they will keep growing the more you host different events online. So, turn on your camera, check your mic, and invite everyone to your Zoom platform – you will be glad you did.
Get innovative on all fronts
These are unprecedented times, which means you have to realize that the “impossible” is really “possible.” Think big when it comes to your website, press coverage, social media, content, videos, and marketing. There is no such thing as a silly idea – take the weird and witty and run with it. You need to stand out among the rest and the only way to do it is to remain confident, innovative, and full of drive and determination.
The airlines, hotels, airports, taxis, and limousine companies are doing it – so can you.
The pandemic will not last forever and soon you will see your business explode with new clients who want to book that travel destination wedding somewhere down south with friends and family, or you will find yourself busy with booking river cruises, safaris, and a number of exclusive travel trips abroad for clients.
We hit a bump in the road, but the road doesn’t end here. Get back on it and follow the tips I have outlined above, and you can’t go wrong.
For those of you in the industry who need help on the public relations front and don’t know where to start, then contact me today as I am glad to help. I have been helping travel brands – agents and big corporations – rebrand for many years, even during this pandemic, and I can do the same for you.
Don’t look down, you are not going that way my friends.
The only way is up.
