Spring clean your marketing this August
Ah, August. The quiet month for travel marketers? The final push to promote your late deals to depart during the summer is over, and the turn of the year ‘Peaks’ is still far enough away to still feel like a ‘tomorrow problem’. Perhaps it’s time for travel trade marketers everywhere to sample for themselves the thing they’ve spent the previous year working hard to sell – a well-earned holiday.
Well, yes. And no.
For while August may traditionally be a lull in the annual travel marketing cycle – after all, your customers are likely to either be preparing for, going on, or just returned from the holiday you’ve successfully sold them – it isn’t necessarily the same for travel marketers themselves. Output and activity may slow down or change emphasis, but August is the critical month for getting the marketing house to ensure your team and your brand are at optimal performance levels ahead of the Autumn and Winter peak selling periods.
So, before you set off for your sun lounger, two areas of focus during what remains of this month are strategy and planning, and the team.
As the dust settles on the first phase of the financial year, take the time now to step back from the day-to-day. Think back to what you set out to achieve, what was the strategy or the plan, and assess how you have performed against the tasks and targets that were agreed with your stakeholders and agencies. Based on that – and considering any unforeseen events which have occurred that could have knocked your plan off course, such as the threat of airport strike action or the recent wildfires in Greece – do you need to change your activity, budget or targets for the next five months? Do any new opportunities that have arisen during the year need incorporating? How are any one-off projects or partnerships tracking?
August is also the perfect time for you to take a breath with your team and reflect with each of them on their contributions and levels of personal satisfaction. Are their development goals being exceeded, and is everyone aligned across the team for optimal performance for the rest of the year? Is there enough resources for the months ahead? Have they collectively and individually had a chance to reflect and see how their contribution has made a difference and been celebrated? Spend time reviewing the strategy as a team, to make sure everyone understands where you’re heading and give them an opportunity to input their thoughts. The best ideas don’t just come from the top.
Likewise, if you’re using an agency, take this time to review their performance – both in terms of activity and results delivered, and processes and ways of working. What needs a tweak?
September isn’t far away, and the turn of the year is looming on the horizon. Whether you’re a travel agent who juggles marketing your agency with selling holidays, or part of a big brand inhouse team operating across multiple territories, if you do nothing else this August (other than relaxing with a good book beneath a palm tree), make sure you’re ready for when the travel marketing machine needs to crank back into action in September. You and your customers will be back from their holidays, and beginning to think about the next one.
