This week’s message may make you a little uncomfortable. It may even make you a touch angry. This is one of those handful of times per year where I feel it is important to talk about the thing that can make us uncomfortable in the hope that it will strike a nerve, at least for those ready to hear it.
I’ll start with a very simple question: How much do you, the travel advisor, spend on marketing each month?
If the honest answer is zero, don’t feel too bad, you are in good company. My read is that the vast majority of solo travel advisors and a surprising number of multi-advisor agencies have no dedicated marketing budget. Not a small budget—none at all.
We all know client referrals are the best thing going, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. A warm introduction from a happy client converts at a rate and cost that no ad campaign can touch. So don’t mistake my point: I still think delivering personal, attentive service, amazing travel experiences, and building a referral engine should always be the foundation and primary growth driver for any travel business.
But here’s a question worth considering: how fast do you want to grow your business? Because while generating referrals is the best marketing strategy, it is not the fastest.
Why don’t more independent travel advisors and agencies run paid marketing?
I think there are a few reasons this happens, and most are understandable.
It feels risky. When margins are thin, spending $300 on Facebook ads that may or may not produce a single lead feels like throwing money into a dark room.
Nobody taught you how, either. Advisor training covers product knowledge, booking platforms, and supplier relationships, but rarely paid marketing strategy.
But the thing that I hear most that stops paid marketing in its tracks is the belief that "I am not big enough for that yet."
I want to push back on that last one and flip it around.
I would contend that marketing is one way to get big enough. Waiting until you can afford it comfortably usually means you have a big enough book of business that you don’t really need to run paid campaigns unless you’re trying to scale higher and faster. The revenue that would make you comfortable is on the other side of the visibility that marketing can create.
What Is Actually Out There?
"Marketing budget" doesn’t mean a Super Bowl ad. There are real options at every price point.
Google and Meta ads let you run targeted campaigns to travelers in your area for a couple of hundred dollars per month. That’s not free, and it does require investment, but it isn’t as expensive as many believe. The targeting has gotten genuinely good for local service businesses, and you can start small while you learn what works.
Local events are one of the best ways to build a clientele. The proverbial ‘Cruise Night’ has worked for decades and will continue to do so as long as people like a free glass of wine. Many travel supplier partners can help execute one of these, but if you have a proposal that involves spending a little money and extending your budget to put on a first-class event, you’ll hopefully see first-class returns. Talk to a Business Development Manager from the supplier that might come to mind and do it this week.
Local community sponsorships can work (little league teams, etc.), but this is my least favorite marketing channel. But getting involved in local community events, chamber groups, tradeshows and the like is a much better bet.
Direct mail, too, is drastically undervalued and underutilized. Our advisors at WorldVia Travel Network have access to direct mail campaigns, but anyone can also run one themselves, and we encourage that as well. This is one of my favorite channels and I’d encourage everyone to be in the direct mail space if possible. In a world where inboxes are overflowing, physical mail stands out.
The Investment Conversation
Marketing is the same kind of investment as a certification or a FAM trip—something that costs money up front and pays back in revenue over time. The real question is whether you can afford to be invisible to everyone outside your existing circle.
Two hundred to five hundred dollars a month, consistently applied, changes the trajectory of a business over six to twelve months. I know that’s not nothing, and to some even a lot of money. Think about it as one or two bookings' worth of commission reinvested into the thing that produces more bookings.
Your Move This Week
Pick one channel from the list above that you have never tried. Research what it would cost to run a 120-day test, set a budget you can live with, and try it. Ensure your test has clear success targets. The goal is to find out whether there is a source of clients you have been leaving untouched because it felt too expensive or too complicated. You don’t have to shoot for the best marketing campaign of all time, only a place to start from and continually improve.
Referrals will always be your best source. But they do not have to be your only source.
Best Success,
Jason