Promote Your Brand: Write a Dynamic Newsletter
Promote Your Brand: Part Two
This is the second in a series of columns dedicated to helping you promote your brand. Critical to marketing your services is establishing your brand, which is an extension of you.
Helping you be the best travel professional you can be is our 24/7 mission. This month, we are delighted to be able to offer our Promote Your Professionalism 50% scholarship opportunity for our Certified Travel Associate (CTA®), Certified Travel Counselor (CTC®), and Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE®) certifications. To apply, individuals must complete The Travel Institute’s scholarship form. Scholarship value is $275.
The following excerpt is taken directly from the NEW Marketing and Promoting Your Business module, which is part of CTA curriculum.
What is the best way to reach potential clients? Successful promotion of your product or service requires you to carefully match your marketing message with the most effective medium. A well-crafted newsletter can be a powerful tool in speaking directly to your target audience.
A newsletter gives you a versatile platform to reach your current and potential clients in an informative and persuasive way. You can include tips written specifically with your clientele in mind. Be sure to include pictures from trips you have planned and executed. You can make the newsletter as inviting as you want.
Today’s computer software allows even a novice to produce an attractive and interactive e-newsletter. A travel agency’s newsletter might include reports from team members or clients about recently visited destinations, FAM reports, or list of specialist courses you’ve taken. This also is the perfect place to announce upcoming trips and possible incentives for early-bird signups.
When you are ready to send your newsletter, you can use your own database of names. There are several email marketing tools—such as Constant Contact, MailChimp, iContact, and others—that offer templates and analytics for you to design your own e-newsletter and to track opening rates, click-through rates, and other information. They also allow you to easily maintain your database.
Here are some specific tips for writing effective newsletters:
- Make sure the company name is front and center and/or the most visible text on the page.
- Use the word you as often as possible and ask questions to readers to draw them in.
- Target content around the ideal clients to give the newsletter direction and interest.
- Provide crisp, eye-catching images and compelling captions.
- Give readers advance notice of upcoming group trips.
- Use white space to make the newsletter more appealing and inviting.
- Incentivize clients by providing added value or other benefits for subscribers only.
- Offer new subscribers the chance to win a gift.
- Provide tips and news related to your niche with links to specific pages on your website.
- Be sure all hyperlinks are current and functioning.
- Use quotes from your best clients.
- Consider using Constant Contact, etc. to create digital newsletters.
- Prominently place your full contact information—especially your credentials.
Displaying your education, certifications, and other credentials is an impressive way to convince potential clients that they can place their full confidence in you. Enrolling in The Travel Institute’s certification courses—and taking advantage of the current Promote Your Professionalism 50% scholarship opportunity—is a great place to start in strengthening your brand.
