At Fora, we're all about empowering advisors with marketing tools to level up their travel business. Advisors get everything they need to succeed — email & social media templates, trainings, office hours (the works, if we do say so ourselves). But there's something to be said about step-by-step guidance from the experts.
Well, you're in luck. At last year's Live Forum, an in-person educational event for our advisors to level up their businesses, Fora's Head of Marketing Kelley Louise shared her expertise — and we're breaking it down for you below. Read on for her playbook on launching and growing your career as a travel entrepreneur.
Like what you see? Learn more about becoming a Fora Advisor today. Or, read how to become a travel agent.
Step 1: Define your dream client
You're officially a Fora Advisor. You've completed the trainings and your first booking is under your belt — congrats! Now what? How do you get clients?
The first step is to define your dream client. What does she do? What is her travel style? All of this intel will help guide your marketing strategy and give you greater clarity on how you’re shaping it.
Deciding who you want to work with is a crucial step. From there, you can develop a framework for how you market to them day-to-day.
That strategy might mean creating a client intake form that includes some key details on who you do bookings for (such as a minimum booking budget). Or, it might mean you’re only going to focus on certain social media platforms (Instagram versus Facebook, say, or vice versa).
Step 2: Market to your dream client, not the world
Now you know who your dream client is. How do you reach them? This is where content marketing comes in.
Start thinking about the type of content (emails, Instagram posts, guides, newsletters...) you want to make based on what content would resonate with your dream audience. This pointed planning will be a key shift from talking about travel and your experiences in general, and honing in on curating content geared toward your clientele.
As far as creating content that will resonate with your clients, the sky is the limit. This strategy might mean incorporating content like room tours, or “just booked” posts onto your Instagram stories and / or email campaigns.
Your plan might include:
Choosing one social media platform you know your dream client is on, and only focusing on that one.
Curating an email with content specific to the types of hotels you want to book.
Creating specific, niche guides that are useful for your dream clients.
Step 3: Build a realistic plan of action, and stay consistent
You’ve got your dream client, an idea of the type of content you want to make and a plan for how you’re going to reach your client.
Now it's time to decide how much time you want to spend on marketing per week. Then, analyze what's working, and throw out what's not.
Consistency is key. You need to consistently create content and put yourself out there (otherwise, clients will forget you’re there to plan and book their trips!).
Step 4: Make word-of-mouth your best friend
Put your clients to 'work' for you. They are your biggest cheerleaders.
You likely will have around five clients who are your star cheerleaders. It’s a lot less daunting to think about identifying your five dream clients than it is to think about building your entire book of business. Prioritize your efforts around those dream clients.
Prioritizing your efforts might look like:
Asking your clients if they wouldn’t mind tagging you in a post about their travels.
Looking for opportunities to reach your clients' travel companions.
Reaching out to your favorite client and letting her know how much you love booking her trips. Does she know anyone else who’s currently planning a trip and could use help?
Like what you see? If you want to build an incredible career as a travel entrepreneur, we can help. Fora provides advisors with everything they need — including resources like this — to build their business. Learn more about becoming a Fora Advisor today.
