Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Rebranding Travel Agency Name

Posted by Anonymous on 4/18/2013 at 5:05 PM ET 500 Points
I am looking at rebranding of my travel agency business since my niche market is cruises and all-inclusive resort travel. I looking for a business name that would encompass these two types of travel. The common factors between the two are ocean, stress free vacation and relaxation. I'm having a hard time pulling a name together. Please help.
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  • Posted by Moriarty on 4/18/2013 at 5:45 PM Member
    You've got a business. So let's start with what your current customers are saying about you. Only if you don't know - just ask them and pop an open-ended question like "why did you choose to travel with us?". Nice and easy, and the results might just put a perspective on your current dilemma. It'll probably do you a lot of good in choosing a direction for your re-branding too. Even if it doesn't it'll show you just how much your customers really appreciate your hard work (and it's worth doing just for that!)

    After all, it's customers who have bought from you who really are the king-pin of any business. Seeing things from their perspective usually helps with names too. They pop out like rabbits out of a hat.

    None of which actually gets you any closer to a name right now. So here's a few general suggestions before it's bed time for me.

    The Far Away Club - forget the stress on an ocean beach
    Pina Colada Paradise (no, that sounds too much like a nightclub!)
    Deck Chair Travel. All you have to do is relax and enjoy.

    Are these any good?
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/18/2013 at 7:44 PM Member
    Alone, a name will not brand you. Only value that's delivered over time and that matches your ideal buyer's expectations will do that.

    WHY do you need a new name? Is business down? Are people not booking vacations through you anymore? And if not, why not?

    Why not launch a sister business that MEETS the needs of your target? If you simply re-name you run the risk of confusing current buyers, many of whom may be more loyal to you than you might imagine. The life time value of your best customers has a great deal of leverage here. What steps have you taken to assess the viability or popularity of the name change? Do you know for a fact that it will increase business?
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 4/18/2013 at 8:10 PM Member
    What Moriarty and Gary said.

    Also, cruises appeal to travelers because they are considered all-inclusive vacations. Why do you state "cruises AND all-inclusive resort travel". What do you mean?
  • Posted on 4/18/2013 at 8:16 PM Author
    Cruises are not considered all inclusives because you have to pay for alcoholic drinks, sodas and other items that you would normally not have to pay for at an all inclusive resort.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/18/2013 at 8:35 PM Member
    Have Fun & Travel
    Fun In The Sun Travel
    Ahhhhh: A Resort & Cruise Travel Agency
  • Posted on 4/18/2013 at 9:44 PM Author
    Moriarty and Gary,

    Most of my current client base are referrals. People come back to book travel, but the business is not steady. As a travel agent, I cannot be all things to all people. Cruising and all-inclusives is where my specialty lies. Business is not down, but business is flat and I'm trying to work on heavily marketing. I would like to kick my business up a notch.
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 4/18/2013 at 9:46 PM Member
    Truly Inclusive Cruises
    Fully Inclusive Cruises
  • Posted by Moriarty on 4/19/2013 at 2:06 AM Accepted
    Now "Most of my current client base are referrals." is fantastic news. Those people when asked will give you all the info you need about you and your business that will set you apart in this closely packed world. What's more focusing on not being all things to all people is a very good way to differentiate yourself. There's another key to this, and your customers know it - you and I don't. Yet.

    That business is flat is for two reasons - one is the poor state of the economy. There's not much you can do about that. The other is the source of your leads. Are you actually advertising, and if so how? My point is that after a certain point advertising in one manner "hits the wall" that is to say, using the same techniques and the same ideas means that at some point you're marketing to the same audience. Leads get scarcer and more expensive. There are ways around this, especially if you are using online advertising. Google's display network is great for this (those are the ads that show on newspapers, blogs, magazines - even here! It's amazingly powerful).

    So let's not work "heavily" on marketing. Get clever. Listen to why your customers refer you, and use that in a campaign to get the right ones for you.

    The other issue is this - as is demonstrated by our answers to you: do your target audience understand what an "all inclusive holiday" actually means? You can tackle this nicely on the display network.

    In the light of this how about:

    relax and know that everything is paid for
    relax and know that you've paid for everything
    relax and know that now, everything's free
    with us, everything else costs nothing.

    What do you think of these?

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/19/2013 at 6:21 AM Accepted
    For the expense of re-branding (logos, design work, printing, writing off current advertising and marketing) it may be a false economy to rebrand.

    If you have customers the trick is to bring in more customers of the same kind, OR to encourage existing customers to spend more through upgrades and add ons. You can do this by changing your messaging and by messaging in the places where new, ideal customers are likely to see those messages.

    New customers need to know that other people who are like them have used your services and have been DELIGHTED with the results. So, it's time to start using testimonials IN your messaging.

    To reach new customers you might want to look at non-traditional ways of reaching them: sending cheap sun glasses in with sales letters to your list and referring to the sun glasses in the letter; getting connected in some way with travel websites as a trusted voice in travel deals; partnering with other, related niches or businesses to gain more visibility, all these ideas can give you more traction.
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