An app is really just a digital software program that performs a task.
For travel businesses, there are apps that can help with marketing strategies.
As a small business owner you’re probably busy. Being so busy working on the daily tasks will keep you from doing certain marketing strategies even if you have great marketing ideas.
For my business I realize that social media presents a great branding opportunity, but I don’t have time to be on social media all the time. That’s why I’m going to share information about Buffer with you and how it helps me with social media.
That’s what the following apps can do for you. They’ll help you with your marketing without taking up all your time.
1. Buffer (Better Social Media Engagement)
Buffer is the best thing that’s happened to me in terms of social media. I used to have time to follow Twitter and provide updates, but as business got busier I would go days without publishing.
Now I can take 20 minutes early in the week and schedule 10 posts per day for the entire week. That’s 20 minutes to schedule a week’s worth of social media updates.
Buffer is a scheduling service. You can schedule posts on just about all the social networks.
Part of my business is publishing regular blog posts. I’ll share those blogs posts along with other thoughts and other articles.
I get in the social media zone for 20 minutes and then knock it all out.
Visit: Buffer
2. MailChimp (Better Email Engagement)
Online marketing requires prioritization. You can’t do it all even though there are tons of things you can do.
One of the items that should be at the top of your marketing list is email. An email list is something you own and something you control.
You can’t control how Facebook lets you communicate with your followers. However, you can control pretty much everything about how you communicate with an email subscriber.
MailChimp makes it really easy to setup your email program. You can add signup forms to your website and you can setup automated emails and regular email newsletters and updates.
Visit: MailChimp
3. OpenTable (Online Reservations)
OpenTable is primarily an app or software that helps restaurants with online reservations. But you can use the app for other kinds of reservations.
With travel businesses, reservations are important. They’re also time-consuming if you try to take them manually on your own. Think of the time you would save if reservations were automated.
Online reservations are also a marketing tool. Again, some segments of the population don’t want to call you on the phone anymore. They want to visit your website on their phone and setup their reservation whether you’re a restaurant, hotel or destination.
Make it easy for them with OpenTable or with a similar app.
Visit: OpenTable
4. SurveyMonkey (Better Target Customer Understanding)
In order to market to your customers you have to understand more about them. SurveyMonkey is a tool you can use on your website and your email program to learn more about your customers.
I recommend sending out the occasional short survey to your current customers. Ask them one or two questions each time. This makes it easy for them to provide a quick answer.
It might something as simple as “What is missing from the service we provide?”.
Always look for ways to get actionable insight. You’ll learn about your customers and what they want. Then you can tweak your efforts to better target them with your marketing whether that’s picking a certain social media network or a certain online advertising platform.
Visit: SurveyMonkey
5. issuu (Turn printed brochures, guides and more into online formats)
Travel businesses often publish all kinds of printed marketing materials. Restaurants print menus. Destinations print brochures. Conferences print schedules and guides. Hotels print welcome materials for guests.
These printed maerials aren’t going away anytime soon, but a certain segment of the population now prefers online information.
With issuu, you can turn your printed guides, brochures and other materials into beautiful online formats. You upload your .pdf file and issuu creates an online version that you can publish on your website.
Visit: issuu
Conclusion
Marketing is necessary to grow your travel business. You can live on word of mouth, but if you really want to grow or if you’re new to the industry you’ll need a marketing plan to find new customers.
The apps listed above can help you and most don’t have any cost or have a small cost for businesses that aren’t just starting out.
Use them to help you find new customers.
Did we miss your favorite app?
Share it in the comments!
