These quick tips are designed to help you get through these hard times. If you have any tips that you want to share, send them to marketing@tourismtiger.com(opens in a new tab)
Marketing during a global pandemic can be a daunting task. Especially if your budget now doesn’t reflect what you were expecting at the beginning of 2020. There are, however, benefits that you won’t want to miss out on if you decide to continue to market your business even when tourism isn’t at its peak. The whole industry is feeling the burn at the moment and many small tour and experience operators have cut back on marketing. That means that there is less noise for your business to break through to be heard. This comes at a time when people’s travel and escape fantasies are at their highest! It is worth the extra push now to capture the attention of future visitors. They might just move you and your business to the top of their post-lockdown wish lists.
Partner to Lighten the Load
Yes, other tour operators in your area are generally your competition. The world today, however, is a different place than it was just a couple of months ago. It is a time to band together as an industry to help people feel comfortable and excited about traveling to your region. Perhaps you and fellow tourism industry professionals in your area could share the expense of a marketing campaign that benefits you all!
Use Canva
If you have never heard of the free, web-based design platform Canva(opens in a new tab), now is the time to check it out! You can make all sorts of images and designs and its free version has high capabilities. Maybe now is the time to try your hand at the creative side of design that you had previously contracted out. In the process, skim some fat off of your marketing budgeting without sacrificing quality!
Beef up Your Email Marketing Strategy
This might be an ideal time to take a look at what types of email marketing campaigns you are running. If they are already a major part of your marketing strategy how can you improve them? If you aren’t doing much email marketing, it is time to start! Sure email marketing isn’t the sexist, but it’s low cost and it works! If you are collecting email addresses at some point in your booking process, don’t let that information fall by the wayside. Stay in touch! It can help you to increase your repeat visitors and word of mouth reputation.
Focus on Social Media
Social media is a great way to reach a large audience without spending a ton of money. If you are new to the social media game, check out Tourism Tiger’s recent blog post on making a social media marketing plan(opens in a new tab). If you are an old pro, take it a step further by digging into what your social media insights and analytics(opens in a new tab) have to tell you!
For more ideas about affordable marketing strategy check out Checkfront’s article, Inexpensive Marketing Ideas for Tour Operators on a Shoestring Budget.(opens in a new tab) Happy marketing!
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