Your Core Values
Do you know why your clients do business with your travel agency? Do they have a clear picture in their minds of what your travel practice represents? What type of relationship do you try to develop with your clients? How are your relationships reflected in the conversations you have with clients, your advertisements, your website and your other marketing efforts?
The answers to these questions goes to the heart of your company’s reason for being. When you can answer these question easily, you are farther down the path to authentic marketing. This means business conducted from a principle set of core values and client relationships built on trust. |
A travel professional true to a core set of values has an easier time defining themselves to the community. The travel agency’s marketing collateral, newsletters and blogs, once in alignment with those core values, more clearly communicate with clients and potential clients. The community perceives the travel agent with a strong mission statement as more “real” – more authentic. The public is increasingly adept at determining when a company is truly authentic and when it is merely veneered. An authentic company will have a compass, and its efforts will reflect the direction of its ownership.
Authentic companies set expectations and provide a framework of trust in which those expectations can be fulfilled. Early in the relationship with its clients, the authentic travel agency will outline the mutual responsibilities of both agency and traveler, and will operate within those parameters. Because the central mission of the agency is well articulated and the mutual responsibilities are clear, problems tend to be more easily observed in advance and solved more quickly at their source.
But what does it take to be authentic? Don’t most companies claim to deliver “real” results and “real” value? Don’t most companies claim to be unique in their market segment? Yes, most companies make these claims – which is precisely why the public tends to be very skeptical of such promises.
Our goal is to ground your travel agency in a core set of values that are well understood and communicated. To help you communicate them to you clients, systematically maintain those values, and put them into place internally and in your marketing efforts.
Authentic companies set expectations and provide a framework of trust in which those expectations can be fulfilled. Early in the relationship with its clients, the authentic travel agency will outline the mutual responsibilities of both agency and traveler, and will operate within those parameters. Because the central mission of the agency is well articulated and the mutual responsibilities are clear, problems tend to be more easily observed in advance and solved more quickly at their source.
But what does it take to be authentic? Don’t most companies claim to deliver “real” results and “real” value? Don’t most companies claim to be unique in their market segment? Yes, most companies make these claims – which is precisely why the public tends to be very skeptical of such promises.
Our goal is to ground your travel agency in a core set of values that are well understood and communicated. To help you communicate them to you clients, systematically maintain those values, and put them into place internally and in your marketing efforts.
Positioning for Authentic Marketing
Positioning a company, and retaining hard-fought-for positioning, depends on a strong core brand message, clearly articulated. The unique selling point differentiating your company from all others must be clearly and consistently articulated. Like any message, however, branding can be distorted and misinterpreted if not properly transmitted at its source.
For a brand to be clear and strong, it must be “authentic” – honestly presented with integrity. Your positioning must align perfectly with your core values. Travel consulting, because it depends so heavily on one-to-one encounters between the consultant and the client, is particularly dependent on a sense of authenticity. If a consumer believes that a company or service is authentic, they will gravitate to it, support it and even promote it to others. If they perceive it as inauthentic, they will shun it as one more noisy imposition, a part of the marketing and advertising clutter through which they must daily wade.
So what does it take to be an authentic travel consultant? It begins with the very reasons you are in business. If you are a travel consultant because you love travel and want to assist others to travel well, then you are well on your way. But the next step is equally important – your marketing efforts must convey that core passion without distortion. If your marketing copy or efforts betray canned language, hype, a “one-size-fits-all” mentality, many of the most attractive potential clients will not have anything to do with you. Much advertising that we would characterize as “inauthentic” appeals to base motivations like price, and comes across as a form of trickery.
Even the best travel agents can fall into this trap, especially when motivated by the need to “make a sale”. When the primary motivation and psychological underpinning of the transaction is helping the consumer make an informed travel purchase, it rings authentic. When the primary motivation is to “sell something”, however, the client’s defense mechanisms are alerted and the process begins to fall apart.
Here is how to re-enforce the authenticity of your travel practice:
By following these simple steps, the public will perceive your travel practice as genuine, as a desirable partner in their travel experiences.
For a brand to be clear and strong, it must be “authentic” – honestly presented with integrity. Your positioning must align perfectly with your core values. Travel consulting, because it depends so heavily on one-to-one encounters between the consultant and the client, is particularly dependent on a sense of authenticity. If a consumer believes that a company or service is authentic, they will gravitate to it, support it and even promote it to others. If they perceive it as inauthentic, they will shun it as one more noisy imposition, a part of the marketing and advertising clutter through which they must daily wade.
So what does it take to be an authentic travel consultant? It begins with the very reasons you are in business. If you are a travel consultant because you love travel and want to assist others to travel well, then you are well on your way. But the next step is equally important – your marketing efforts must convey that core passion without distortion. If your marketing copy or efforts betray canned language, hype, a “one-size-fits-all” mentality, many of the most attractive potential clients will not have anything to do with you. Much advertising that we would characterize as “inauthentic” appeals to base motivations like price, and comes across as a form of trickery.
Even the best travel agents can fall into this trap, especially when motivated by the need to “make a sale”. When the primary motivation and psychological underpinning of the transaction is helping the consumer make an informed travel purchase, it rings authentic. When the primary motivation is to “sell something”, however, the client’s defense mechanisms are alerted and the process begins to fall apart.
Here is how to re-enforce the authenticity of your travel practice:
- Make it client ecCentric – put the client and the client’s needs at the heart of every transaction;
- Remind yourself daily of why you have chosen travel as your profession – surround yourself with reminders;
- Feature a person – yourself or your agents – in your marketing efforts. Demonstrate the humanity of your business.
By following these simple steps, the public will perceive your travel practice as genuine, as a desirable partner in their travel experiences.