Ep 277 How to Turn Every Trip Into a Marketing Engine

[MUSIC] Welcome to the Masters in Travel Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of travel entrepreneurship. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, joyous as we explore the ins and outs and highs and lows of building and scaling a successful travel business. This is your opportunity to gain new insights and perspectives from some of the best and most creative in the industry. I'm Brianna, founder of Milk and Henning Travels. And I'm Whitney, owner of Un Discovered Sunset and the Hive. We're thrilled to have you along in this journey. Think of this podcast as your first class ticket to candid conversations and invaluable insights. From navigating industry trends to mastering marketing strategies, we cover it all. So grab your headphones, tune in, and let's embark on this journey together. [MUSIC] Hey everybody, it is Brianna and today I am doing a solo episode with a marketing focus. And essentially, I am calling it how to turn every trip into a marketing engine. I figured that this would be hopefully helpful, also appropriate because I am recording this about a week before I hop on a plane to Portugal. But I will be gone for seven weeks in Europe. And that's what I have ahead of me. It is a little bit mind boggling trying to kind of plan and get everything sorted so you can be gone and out of the office for seven weeks, but I'm doing my best. But the first part of this trip, the time that I'm spending in Portugal, is going to start with a river cruise with Alma waterways. And then I will spend some personal time in Porto, where I'm really excited because there is this crazy festival that just happens to be there when my cruise ends. And then a week in Cumporto, solo, before I head to Spain and have a month with my family doing a boundless life cohort. So so much to look forward to and so much I'm excited about. But it's a significant trip. Also, it is an opportunity for me to really create some valuable marketing content. And I truly believe that when we travel, we have the opportunity to do so much. And I am thinking about this from a marketing standpoint with all parts of my travel, but specifically this first river cruise part. And I know for myself that the work that happens before I get to the trip is sometimes the part that I think a lot of advisors skip. And where I feel I have become more effective with my marketing because I plan for it. And so it's the part that the planning part is what determines whether you come home with a content engine or a camera roll full of pictures that never becomes anything. If that is you, when you normally travel, I am speaking directly to you. So do not press pause or turn this off. I think you are going to find something useful in this episode. I do want it to be practical. As I always say, this is my approach and the way that I do things and it might not work for you exactly. That's okay. But I hope that telling you what I do, why I do it and then showing you exactly what it looks like in real time. If you do happen to follow me on social media, you're going to be able to see these examples come to life. And by the end, hopefully you can create your own framework and whether that models mind directly or just takes bits and pieces of it and then you create your own, you can apply that to your own next trip, whether that is a FAM or a personal trip, what have you. So that is my goal to make this helpful, to make it practical and to get you to do something that you might not be doing now in order for your marketing to generate the ROI that you hope it to. So I really want to start with the kind of mindset shift that I think is important when we're talking about marketing and talking about how we really do create the ROI. Our first-hand experience when we're traveling is our greatest competitive advantage, right? Of course, we need a great website when people land on it and, you know, an aesthetic that really appeals to our ideal audience. All those things are true. But the fact that we have been to the places that we want to sell, that we can have conversations with clients and talk from a real lived experience is hugely, hugely valuable. And so I want to be able to do that and maximize what we get from it. I think that advisors can tend to treat trips as perks instead of an asset. And you might go on the trip or a FAM, what have you, you might post a few times while you're there or a few times that first week when you get back. But then life takes over, the trip disappears and nobody even really knows that you went there. So while you do still have that learning inside of you that expertise that you have gained from the destination or from the product or from the relationships you built, that all is still true. However, what you have been able to showcase from a marketing perspective could have been a lot more if you go into it the right way with a strategy. So I think the shift that should happen that I hope will help with this is to decide before you leave what the trip is supposed to do for your business. Not all trips are created equal. And they don't all serve the same purpose when we look at it from a marketing lens. So you could be going on a trip or a FAM, what have you to build destination expertise. You could be going to showcase a product. Your clients aren't familiar with and you want them to become more familiar with or you yourself become more familiar with the product, which is kind of the case that I am kind of walking into. You could be using this trip to attract a specific type of client, maybe a more affluent client or somebody who's really interested in something specific or you could be using this as simply an opportunity to stay visible during a slower inquiry period. All of those could be true and many of them can be true. But deciding kind of that main purpose of the trip before you leave really helps shape the content. And I do believe that that starts in a mindset shift. So for me, like I mentioned, I am going on this river cruise with Amoe Waterways, Amoe Waterways. And this is new for me, right? I have never been on a river cruise. I am quite honestly known for saying that I just don't like cruising and I know there are so many different types of cruising. And so it is probably has been an unfair general characteristic that I have said. But it is new to me in terms of types of travel and it could potentially be a new client mix that I attracts if I do it right. And also if I enjoy it, right? So I was invited, which means it is hosted. But I genuinely believe my clients, the clients that I already have could really value this type of travel experience. And perhaps I don't get many inquiries from it because I have never shown myself doing the thing, right? So my job on this trip is to experience it for myself. Find out if I'm right about how I am thinking about it because I do really think I'm going to enjoy it. But I'm going to have the experience fully and then show my audience what I found. So this is a frame that I have built my marketing plan at least as it regards as it relates to this part of my travel around. Before I leave, the first thing I do is I want to know who I'm talking to. So before I post anything, before I create kind of my template for the month, who am I trying to reach? And what do I want them to do, right? It's not people who like to travel. It's the exact client I want inquiring about this particular type of travel when I get home from the trip. So yes, the same trip can serve multiple audiences if you're intentional about it. But know which one leads, which one is at the forefront of your mind and your planning. For this experience, just in case you do follow me on social media, but also my personal page and masters in travel, I have obviously when I talk on my personal page more of a lean towards potential, either potential clients or deepening my knowledge, expertise, what have you with my existing clients, right? Both are going to be part of my follow or mix. So people who already travel to Europe, my empty nesters and specifically black travelers, which is something I'll get to in a minute is something that is going to be the focus for how I am talking to a specific type of client and what I am sharing. Now, when I'm sharing for masters in travel, you'll hear me speak directly to travel advisors. And that's a totally different approach and way that I would quote and quote, market not that you guys are buying anything from me, but I am sharing the content in a totally different way and with a totally different lens. I think there are three questions to answer before you even pack your bags for your next trip. Number one, like I said, what am I posting before I go? This is going to be the thing that builds anticipation that primes your audience, that lets them know that they have something to look forward to as they follow along on your adventure, right? The second question you are answering before you even get out the door is what am I going to capture while I'm there? This is going to be your real-time proof, the intention that you have set out over just simply volume, like let me just get everything, let me capture all the things on all the days in all the ways. That's a little bit of an overwhelming idea. The third thing is what am I creating when I get back? Because I believe this is where the ROI actually lives. It is the opportunity to use this content far past when the trip is actually happening. So before I head out this next week, I will post about where I'm going, what I'm doing, and why. Why this trip matters to me, what I am so excited about. This showcase Hey, let's build anticipation. Let's prime my audience for a heck of a lot of content coming at them. But they know what's coming. It's not just, I'm not going to all of this at show up in another country on a river cruise. And they're like, oh, wow, I thought she was in the office. They're going to have an idea of what to expect from me in the coming weeks. And so I'm also in this first kind of pre-marketing stage, sharing why I chose this specific sailing. So on Amo Waterways, they have this particular sailing called the Soulful Experience. It's on a number of their itineraries. It's a regular itineraries that just, you know, mine is in Portugal, so it's going on the door or river. But the Soulful Experience is another layer to it, which for me personally is quite significant. And I was really, really drawn to it and makes me even more excited to have this experience. But the Soulful Experience is about adding cultural depth to a luxury experience that already exists. So Amo Waterways is a great product. It's well respected. And the Soulful Experience is really celebrate and highlight the black and African diaspora, as it relates to that particular location and destination. And so we're not just excited about going on a river cruise and sing Portugal. We're also getting that cultural depth. It's a traveler who is drawn to luxury, but also is black. This is very, very important to me personally and something that I can highlight and showcase because it is a unique part of this experience, as well as just being a river cruise that I want to kind of show in Chercase, right? So that post and the post that I do before I even leave really sets the scene and it allows that everything that follows from there be built on that foundation. I think a lot of times advisors can think only about the middle, right? They're on the trip, okay, what should I post? But when you set the stage, when you lay the foundation, when you get people ready to know what to expect and what to be anticipating from your content, the before and also the after, I think is where the business actually grows and where real movements can come from your marketing efforts. The next thing that I think is important to do is to identify the anchor moments of your trip. So every trip, whether that is a fan that has been planned by somebody else or your own personal trip that you have outlined and designed, can two to three moments that really become the signature content, right? Now, if this is like a trip to a destination that is really focused on like a hotel, heavy, you know, itinerary, then maybe it's a particular hotel, but if it is moments or experiences that you know you're going to have during your trip and that are in your itinerary, you know that kind of before you even leave, that they are going to be the anchor moments or the things that you want to highlight and really bring to life and really understand how do I storytelling about these moments? So identify them before you leave, not just to kind of script them out and know exactly what you're going to say before you even have the experience but you want to have the idea already kind of ruminating and in your mind so that you can not not only be present in the moment, but also know what you want to capture when it happens. So you're going to know kind of the format, you're going to know who the audience is that you're sharing this information with and the general direction and how you want to share it. So when you get home, you're more so refining your content, not starting from scratch and not kind of being like, well, what should I post about this? And I guess this is interesting but you already have that kind of laid out and mapped out. When I am on this river cruise with On the Waterways, it happens to be, it's a soulful experience so it's celebrating the Black and African diaspora. It's also a Juneteenth celebration while we're on board. So if you don't know what Juneteenth is, you can look it up. But this celebration is really important to Black history and we get to have this experience on the ship together with all the other travelers. I'm super excited about it. It's a core moment of this itinerary. And so I know that that is going to be an anchor moment for my content and something that I want to really lean into and share well because it's unique. It's exciting and I feel excited about getting to have it. I still need to experience it to know exactly what I want to say, to know exactly how I want to approach it. But I already know what type of content is going to be created from that night and what kind of my shot list is in order to capture it correctly. I know what's coming so to speak and I know what matters. And I know where it's going to be placed in my social media content and mentioned in my newsletter and potentially a blog post you get my drift. It is going to live and it be an anchor moment of the trip that has a lot of content built around it. So when I get off the ship and I am digging into my content creation, I'm not staring at a black blank screen. I'm shaping something that I already know the bones of so to speak. So what I do before I even leave is I think about these things and I do the thinking before I go. This is so helpful for being able to not feel like I have to do all the capturing and all of the content creation. While I'm in the moment, I already have things laid out in a way that really really makes sense for the way that I market, the way that I share, and I have a plan in place. I know that you can't write authentic content before you've actually experienced something yet. And I'm not saying that that's what you should do, but what you can do is get clear on the direction, the format, the audience, and the point of view going in. So the goal is you arrive prepared, not necessarily pre-scripted. And I think there's a difference between planning and scripting. So planning means you don't miss the moment when it happens and you are able to actually get from it what you want. And scripting means you're probably not in that moment at all. So there's a difference there and I think planning is the way to go. While you are actually on the trip, that's kind of like this next part of it, right? You're capturing with intention, not anxiety. And you're actually capturing, maybe I should make that clear as well. You got to do the work, right? So you don't need to document everything, but you should be documenting the right things. I choose to use stories as kind of my daily log while I'm traveling. Why? I think there's no better engagement from your audience than when you are actually doing the thing that you are an expert at. Right? So when we are traveling, this is our best opportunity to sort of invite our audience along for the right for them to be able to experience by curiously through us. What we are experiencing on a day-to-day basis and it doesn't need to be polished or perfect. It just literally is up behind the scenes and behind the scenes inviting people into that part of the business is really, really valuable and really gets people excited. So treating my social media and specifically stories as like my daily log, I don't need to have a perfect plan. I just literally need to be able to kind of share and story tell the flow of the day and what I've experienced. It's low production, it's high authenticity, and it keeps your audience with you without you needing to be on the phone all day. So my particular approach to this is literally to kind of just go through the day, a video here, talking to screen here, a photo here, whatever the captures are and we all might have our different mix. But what I do is I post the previous day's stories the morning after. So this helps me because I'm more present in the experience. I'm not trying to capture it, post it right then. But my audience is getting daily content and they're essentially following along. It's a simple system. It works for me. I know that there are people who will just literally post in real time. And if that works for you and if you don't feel overwhelmed by doing it, by all means, if it's not broke, if it didn't broke, don't fix it. No, you know what I mean. But there are also people who have intention of, you know, sharing on a daily basis in stories. However, when you don't have like a system set up, you get three days behind then four days behind and forget it. Never mind. I last time I posted, I was literally checking in and here I am. The trip is over and I have so much stuff. It just seems overwhelming to kind of like lay it all out now. So if you have the plan going into it, that this is what I'm going to do on a daily basis to keep my audience engaged to just give them that behind the scenes access and to not feel like it all piles up on you. And it's just so overwhelming. Try that out and stick to it. It's essentially a 30 minute commitment on my part. And you can do it in the morning at night, whatever the case may be in terms of like how your schedule allows. But this is what I commit to when I travel to really make sure that I bring people along and let them experience my travels with me specifically when it is a fan trip because I think there is also something to the fact that an obligation if you will from who has invited us from who has sponsored us from who has given us this opportunity that we showcase that opportunity appropriately as well, not just for our own knowledge with the actual marketing that exists from us being there is really important on their side also. So a lot of times it can be easy to I don't know maybe not know what is worth capturing what is worth sharing. So I feel like this small details can really matter. It's more your point of view. Right. So it's not just hey, look at this view. It's incredible. It's showcasing like for me, for instance, maybe what did embarkation feel like? Like how does it feel to get on the ship? What was my first moment of oh wow, like what did I feel it when I was in the middle of the night? and I first walked into my room. What about the crew stood out? What about this special dinner stood out? What did the morning briefing look like? These are specifics that make your content more credible because we aren't influencers. People do want our point of view. And quite honestly, anyone can say this place is beautiful. Only you can say what it was like to be there and those specific details that you noticed on your end. I also believe that honest reactions are really, really beneficial in our content. So unscripted moments where something might surprise you, that's the kind of content that builds trust the fastest. So don't edit out authentic moments in pursuit of polished ones. Polished, perfect, all of that kind of stuff. It might have worked at one time. It is not as effective anymore on social media specifically. And so go for your true unscripted moments and your honest reactions to things as you're experiencing them and be okay sharing that. Like I mentioned, this is going to be my first River Cruise. And I generally don't know what to expect. Like how am I going to like having to be around people all the time and what is it like to kind of be on this schedule and all of these things. But the uncertainty, that's also content because there are people like me in my position who maybe like to travel a certain way and don't know if a River Cruise is right for them. What better person to give that perspective than a person who has also felt that way before going on a River Cruise for the first time? My real reactions is the content and is the thing that people will, I think, be drawn to. And as advisors, we're not just travelers. We're actually in most cases, experts that are evaluating products for our clients, right? We have so much more to work with. And so you're asking yourself, who is this actually for? Who thrives here and who doesn't? What's the thing? I tell clients that they won't find in any brochure or advertising or what have you. These are the things that your advisor lens is going to be so helpful with. And that perspective is what separates your content from everyone else posting a photo of the same place because let's be honest, that's what happens, especially in this day and age. Everybody goes and gets that same beautiful view. Now, what does your point of view say that there's doesn't? This is what makes that content much more valuable. All right, so the next part in this marketing engine that we're hoping to build on your next trip or your next fam is when you get home. We do not want to let it die on your camera roll, right? You took the photos, you wrote down some notes. What happened to it two months later? Nobody knows, it's gone in the black hole. Never to be seen again. If this rings true for you, you're not alone, but just know you can do so much better. And I get it, we come home, we're jet lags, our inbox is full. The trip already feels like it's in the background and we are just pushing forward. But this is where most advisors lose the content entirely and it's not laziness. It's because there was no post trip plan for what they were going to do when they got home. And so life be life and nothing got done. I want differently for you and I want differently for myself. And so I know before I even head out on a trip, what my plan is for when I'm home, this content is gonna last. And it's going to have a purpose and a plan far beyond the trip itself. When I board, I already know my Portugal content is going to feed my channels throughout the end of summer. So yes, the cruise content is where it starts. That's going to be happening during after I get off the cruise but I still have more of Portugal. So we'll be showcasing that and then obviously I go to meet my family in Spain. So there's a lot of traveling being done. But I'm still going to take this first part of my trip which I think is very rich in content ability to like create content. And I still have blog posts that are gonna be written. I still have newsletters that are gonna be shared. I still have LinkedIn posts. And I have my deeper social media content that's going to be created from the things that I learned and the things that I want to highlight about river cruising specifically. And I'm a waterways and the soulful experiences are so many layers here, right? And so there are things that I know that are going to be showcase and this is going to happen throughout the summer and beyond. I know it's coming and I know what job it has with that type of content. And so the clarity is what makes it actually happen. The content that converts is the long form content more than any story. So the stories, yes, they have a purpose, they have a job and they really do a lot for that kind of initial incitement. But what is going to actually move the needle? A lot of times it's long form content. So your blog posts, your newsletters, that's all right. And it can be easy to under invest here because it does take time. It does take you thinking through some things and curating that content appropriately. So this is where and maybe your business is different but I'll throw a lot of us. I think this is where we can see more inquiries by doing this long form content well. One well written post from firsthand experience with a very specific point of view or a unique perspective is going to drive more qualified inquiries than 30 cool pictures on stories, right? Both have a job. I just want you to understand that their jobs are different. And long form content is what works while you sleep and works in perpetuity. That is the standard that I want you to kind of set for yourself when you're considering what your plan is for when you get home. Essentially think of, this is what I do. You can make it longer short or what have you but I'm inviting you to consider this. Think of every trip as a 90 day content window, not a one week posting sprint. So weeks one to two, when before you're right when you get home, you can do an anchor reel, a feed post, a blog, a newsletter. This is when everything is fresh when your audience is like, wow, you just got home. We want to know all about it. Great. It's like your first hand account and you're putting it out into the world. That's the first couple of weeks, right? But then what happens when the next month comes along? How can you still use this content? You can do comparison. You can do decision care sales. You can do posts that help your specific client self-identify. You're thinking through the depth of your content at this point. Month three, you're still kind of uncovering details within your trip. So hidden moments, thing that did maybe fit the main narrative, content that age as well and keeps working. I know that all of us have more material than we think. It's just how we pace it out and how we are intentional with it. You don't need a big audience. You don't need a production team. You don't need a social media manager. You just need a plan before you leave. This trip is happening in real time. So that's why I thought it would be really cool to record this episode before I leave. And then if you do follow me @Branaglan, which is my milk and honey's travel, milk and honey travels social media, and then masters in travel, you're going to be able to see the strategy and action. And hopefully that just makes it a little bit more real. Now, I have a plan and I bet I will stick to it about 80 to 90% of the time. Are there going to be spontaneous things I didn't plan for? Yes, are there going to be things that I'll be like, I thought I would talk about this and just didn't work out, whatever. Yes, but I am saying that I will leave with literally all the things that I'm going to capture, all of the types of posts I'm going to make when I'm going to share why I'm sharing it. And it will be so much easier because the plan is in place before I even leave. And I want you guys to be able to see that strategy and action, not just in theory. So I'm hoping that listening to this episode just gives a little bit of clarity. And again, a behind the scenes so that when you do see it in action, you see the purposefulness behind what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. And I hope to share another episode on the podcast after I do my River Cruise about the experience and being able to share openly and honestly about what the experience meant to me, how I learned from it, what I learned about myself, what I learned about the product, and sharing a way that is helpful for this audience specifically. That is my goal. Let me know if this episode was useful, share it with an advisor who might, you know, travels and comes home with nothing to show for it. Hopefully that they can get something who's next time they go on a trip of their own. That's exactly who this has made for. So I hope it is helpful. Let me know and I will see you next time. (upbeat music) Thank you for listening to the Masters in Travel Podcast and learning alongside us as we strive towards building profitable aligned travel businesses. 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