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July 2007
Supplement to Travel Trade

By Mitchell J. Schlesinger

Starbucks, Toyota, Ritz-Carlton, State Farm, Birds Eye, Apple. All of these are extremely well-known brands that over time have engrained the quality, innovation and value of their products and services in the consumer marketplace. This is what developing a brand is all about and what you have to emulate to establish yourself as a travel selling “brand”.

Establishing a strong brand position is crucial in order to:
• Effectively communicate the value and positioning of your services
• Create visibility
• Provide sustainable competitive advantages
• Generate very long-term loyalty

The subject of demographics and psychographics and the opportunities in key consumer groups discussed in this series of articles represents a foundation on how you should develop your brand position. (visit homebasedtrade.com) The first article reviewed selling products that will bring you the most success based on the demographic profile of the consumer base in your marketplace. That product type is will be the foundation of how you build your business, earn your reputation and establish your brand.
And your brand position will be established and based on two key elements:

1. EXPERTIS. Emphasize your expertise in the product category, whatever it is. If you specialize in selling family vacations, you must be knowledgeable about a broad spectrum of children-friendly experiences, from sun/fun to enriching/fulfilling. If you primarily promote and sell worldwide destination travel, you must display an expertise in destinations around the world and how customers can best access them. Cruises are better in multi-island locales (Greek Isles, Indonesia) and destinations where the primary venues are along the coasts (New Zealand). On the other hand, there are numerous destinations where land tours can provide a more meaningful experience.

2. SERVICE. Whatever you sell, it comes with an expected level of service, which is the foundation of your reputation. And the expectation of service will be commensurate with the amount of money being spent by your clients. You are in a position that will always be judged after the fact. Was your cruise line recommendation correct? Did the destination suggested provide the experience clients were seeking? Were other the guests on tour like your clients? And most importantly, did their experience represent a strong value, based on what they paid?
Once you have established your brand position, the work really begins. Next are multiple steps required for successful communication of the brand position. And as a Home Based agent, this is critical because more than likely you have “slightly” smaller budgets to promote yourself than the companies I listed at the beginning of the article.

Here are some “musts” to effectively communicate your brand:

• The internal delivery must match the external promotion. Whatever you state you offer, you must deliver.
• Any employees must reflect the brand. It is YOUR business and reputation and any employees must deliver on this promise. It is also your responsibility to make sure they understand the brand position, what it means and how it must extend to clients and potential clients.
• The brand must be projected in every message you send out and on every “touch point” clients and potential clients come in contact with regarding your agency.
• Your Web site is the ultimate platform to project your brand. It must be completely obvious by the look and feel of your Web site that you are the specialist in your selected product range. And this is reflected in the information you provide on the site about your services and those of preferred suppliers. Add links to other destination sites to further educate clients looking to purchase a particular trip. AND, show pictures (with permission) of clients from recent trips to enhance referrals. Most will enjoy the 15 minutes of fame!
• PR releases sent to local media and all advertising should always reflect the brand....”Ann Smith Travel, selling groups for 15 years”....or, “Exotic Travel, specialists in destinations across the globe”... etc.
• Be personally visible in your community at events and programs that match your brand position.
• Make sure all local media in the community is aware of your brand position, so that when they get ready to run a story about that product type or destination, they contact you for insights, recommendations, quotes, etc. And you should be proactive and send these media contacts information about popular destinations, trends, etc. to give them more ideas for stories.

This discussion of brand establishment and management is important because all consumers are “brand centric” to one degree or another. Think of yourself as a consumer. Where do you shop consistently, what product “brands” do you buy regularly, what companies you are loyal to, and why? It is probably a combination of quality, value and service, which are the same qualities you must project.
Best of all, as consumers age, brand centric loyalty only gets stronger. Once they find a product or service provider they believe in, they stay with it. For travel, this is an enormous opportunity as seniors travel longer and spend more, so it is crucial you establish brand loyalty while your clients are in their 40’s and 50’s, so that they stay with you in their 60’s and beyond.
Focus on developing and communicating a strong brand position for your agency so that you can reap the rewards of brand centric loyalty in your clients.

Mitchell J. Schlesinger, president of MJS Consultants and a cruise industry veteran, can be reached at mjschlesinger@bellsouth.net