Travel & Leisure Magazine Award Winner Dan Austin Video Shares Tourism Website Marketing Tips
While interviewing my long time friend Dan Austin, owner of Austin Lehman Adventures, and Travel + Leisure Magazine; “#1 Tour Operator in the World” and 2011 Global Vision Award, he shared some awesome tourism website marketing tips you do not want to miss. Plus some very exciting sales news.
Dan’s 2011 sales were up 50% over 2010 and 2012 pre-season booking are “off the charts”.
This is very exciting because Dan re-enforced what all the tourism providers I have been interviewing, and hundreds more I have researched over the last 12 plus years experience too:
- When you use the right mix of marketing message and E-marketing, with a focus on how your website sells (converts), your travel business or destination can have record sales.
Watch Dan’s interview now and see why his website is his #1 source of new prospects and sales and learn how you can have that too.
Unfortunately Many of You Are Hurting
Based on the dozens of emails and blog posting questions (thanks for sending them), so many of you do not have the sales or arrivals you need…
Your web traffic is down, you don’t know how to improve your marketing message, you don’t understand or even like technical web stuff, you’re not sure what to invest your time and money in to increase sales… Or all the above.
Can you relate?I can because it’s exactly what my brother Kevin and I experienced as we started to market Kevin’s Mexico eco-adventure tours in the early 90’s.
So that’s when I started studying the business, marketing, and later on the E-marketing strategies, of hundreds of successful tour operators, lodging and destinations.
The “Defining/Credibility Statement”
That’s when I discovered and created the “Defining/Credibility Statement” (D/C Statement).
The D/C Statement taps into the key psychological buying triggers of 98% of all travel consumers and helps turn travel shoppers into travel buyers on ALL your tourism marketing, especially on your website.
When I applied the D/C Statement to clients websites, inquiries and sales started to climb and and business took off. Their travel business was fun again.
How I Can Help You – Tourism Tim’s Secrets Revealed…
During the mid 90’s while at travel industry conferences, I met lots of people just like my brother whose travel business dreams were often a nightmare. I could really relate to those people. I wanted to help them because of our tourism business struggles and how I had learned to improve our inquiries and sales.
That’s when I decided I would help the industry I loved.
So since 1994, my mission has been to help current and future tourism professionals make a great living in their business or career. I do this by providing actionable No BS tools, guidance and best practices that increase sales and revenues.
You may have heard, because it’s been a bit of an “open secret”, over the last year, I have been working hard on a very comprehensive tourism marketing course. I want to share some of my best marketing secrets, especially online travel marketing since that’s where all the action is.
I wanted to be able to give you the same exact strategies that Dan used on his website and my consulting clients have paid many $1000.’s of dollars to get. But with the power of online learning and video, I can provide these proven strategies for sales increases, for a fraction of my US$1,600.00 a day consulting fee.
Well I am very excited to say it’s ready…
The New 2011 Tourism Marketing Success Course is now LIVE
Last week while in British Columbia, the Canadian Tourism College loved it, and wants to get it approved by the Canadian academic accreditation process to use it in all their colleges.
Needless to say I am pretty excited how this will help 1000’s of global tourism professionals turn their marketing and websites into a money-producing investment instead of a drain. I look forward to sharing more about my new course soon.
Travel Marketing Highlights from Video Interview
This is a great interview because Dan shares key travel website marketing tools and philosophies that have helped him have record sales when most were struggling.
He references what I call the Tourism Website Marketing “field of dreams: build it and they will come…” Most of us rely on our web designer to create a good website, and get it indexed so we get lots of inquiries and sales right?
Well most web designer are not sales-oriented marketers and totally overlook the #1 goal of your website, to generate lots of target prospects into your “sales funnel”, that you can convert into sale, arrivals and profits over time.
This I why most travel websites are “dead on arrival”. They lack a D/C Statement and the key psychological buying triggers.
Dan re-enforces what I have been preaching. Your website must communicate:
- Social proof, so prospects know if you are experienced
- You have to make a good first impression super fast
- Prospects must have clarity in what you do
- Prospect are all thinking; “Why we should choose you?”
Even if think your travel website is doing OK, watch this interview now because I bet you will learn a thing or two that will improve your website marketing ROI and lower your marketing cost.
Be sure to check out the very end where Dan shares a great example of a “Social Proof” testimonial.
To your success, Tourism Tim
PS Learning and applying the advice from travel professionals like Dan is exactly how I have helped turn many, many struggling tourism business around. Watch. Learn. Take Action.
PPS I apologize if I haven’t responded to your email or blog question yet. I have gotten so many and I’ve been traveling I need to catch up. 🙂
Dan and Tim – Thank you for this very informative, content rich interview, you really have me thinking about my D/C statement and those buying triggers. I will take this into account and know this will improve my Belize travel business. Laura
Yes the D/C statement is foundational to all effective tourism marketing.
I was flattered when Dan Austin said in the interview the D/C statement was so important to his marketing message, he “tatood it on his butt”. With Austin Lehman’s trips averaging $500 + per day and his sales up 50% plus, it shows how important proper marketing communications is.
I think you should take a look at your credibility statement, make it bigger and move some of the header opt-in info and donation info to the side bar so your credibility statement is more conspicious.
Thanks for “Liking” ,tweeting and sharing this video. To your success, Tim
I very much enjoyed your video and hope to emulate some of your proposals, keep up the good work
thank you Gary
Thanks Gary.
We are all in this together. I love help tourism professionals realize their dreams and make a difference in the world. And in order to do that, one has to succeed in the business and marketing of your travel business.
Be sure to check out my special tourism business and marketing training video series I launch next week. It will show you the 3 top reasons why travel shoppers turn into buyers. You do not want to miss them.
To your success, Tourism Tim