Are you trying to run a travel business amidst this pandemic and are feeling utterly helpless about surviving it? Well, we have a solution for you that might be just perfect. 

Instead of focusing on reviving your business the traditional way, why not use this time to actually work on some long-term solutions that will help your business, like marketing? You have all the time in the world to come up with a solid plan to ensure your customers that when travel does pick up, you are their go-to solution. Here are some basic tips to get started:

1. Promote off-beat spots

It is obvious that people will be open to travel soon, but still going for popular tourist spots will not be the first choice. Since popular spots will obviously be flooded with tourists and cause a huge crowd, people might still not be open to them. 

This is your chance to promote all the off-beat spots within and outside the country. All the ones that are oozing with natural and man-made beauties just waiting to be discovered. You can take this chance and boost not only your business but also that location and help put it on the country's map. Travel fanatics are just looking to discover new places and cannot wait but help you further promote them. If, during this, you score a good travel blogger that puts this on their site, you are gold! The tourist spot will not promote itself.

2. Encourage local

A lot of businesses have been affected severely during the course of this pandemic. Among them, some are the local vendors and small businesses that earlier used to thrive on the tourism industry. Right from van and bus drivers to chai shops, to small-scale hoteliers, everyone has been hit severely. 

This has caused a wave of appreciation for small-scale entrepreneurs where everyone is willing to contribute to the cause and uplift this part of the economy by buying local. Use your marketing so as to show that you stand in solidarity with these people and use that as your anchor to promote your own business. This way, you are not only doing yourself a favor but also helping others in running their enterprises.

3. A little marketing goes a long way

You might not have delved into hardcore marketing before this. Having a small business and serving your regular audience might be doing the job for you, and that's absolutely right. 

However, since you are expecting a certain amount of setbacks, why not ensure that you have the same revenue coming in by expanding your audience a bit? That is where a good marketing strategy comes in. If you haven't still got your business page on socials, this is the best time to do it. Set up a business account on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whichever platform suits you the most.

4. Use nostalgia

This is, by far, one of the best things that work in marketing and advertising. Using nostalgia to focus on one aspect of the brand, its message that the people can relate to might as well be your ticket to a successful campaign. 

When it comes to travel, the emotional aspect is quite easy to figure out. People have been locked up in their homes for the longest time, with nothing to do and absolutely yearning travel. They miss the time they could just pack their bags and go on a vacation, and you can capitalize on this feeling. However, don't push it and become too overbearing. Your marketing has to show that you understand and acknowledge this need and that you now have a solution for it. 

5. Luxury travel is the key

Just like any other mode of travel, even luxury travel hasn't seen the light of day for ages. And as we all know, luxury travel has its own set of audience. If we want to recover the tourism industry as a whole, especially in the financial aspect, it is important to focus more on luxury travel. 

This industry will be the push the travel sector needs and bring in some huge amounts of money that it so badly requires. Focus on this audience since it is one that will be as eager as anyone else to resume travel and bring normalcy of sorts to their life.

6. Promote your safety measures

The major concern for anyone taking up travel in the near future will be just one- how safe can they be? At times like that, specific assurances from the company they are going to be using as their agency go a long way. 

Talk about how you sanitize your buses regularly, how you have provisions for thermal checks, how all your social distancing rules are in place, etc. Basically, anything that is in line with the government norms will help. This gives your audience a reassurance of sorts that when they use your services, a certain standard of safety will be upheld. This can help boost your business not just through advertising but word of mouth too. At such times of uncertainty, reassurances are what the audience needs the most.

7. Interact with your audience

While setting up a marketing plan and social media calendar for your socials is a great idea, it is also important to understand how well it is actually working for your audience. 

This can be done by ensuring some communication between the brand and the audience by means of comments, messages, tags, etc. This will give your page a more personal feel and not make it look like just another professional account. Interacting continuously can also help you ascertain which strategies are working and which aren't, and what you should continue doing. Using analytics to check engagement and maintain its consistency can be helpful too.

Conclusion

These are some ways in which you, as a small and medium enterprise owner, can bring your travel business back on its feet like never before. Do not underestimate the power of some basic travel marketing tips since these go a long way in sustaining your business. 

The process might seem daunting at first, but in no time will you get the hang of it and see your business booming unlike any other in your field.

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