The Butcher, The Baker, The Cruise and Vacation Maker
by Anita Pagliasso-Balamane
Author of "How I Made A Small Fortune as a Home-Based Travel Agent"
(www.redticketproductions.com)
President, Ticket To Travel (www.aticket2travel.com)
OSSN Western Regional Manager Email: sanjoseca@ossn.com
Phone: 408-531-9228

On a regular basis I am asked "Can you really make a living running a travel business from home?" The answer is definitely yes, but, only if you are willing to really get serious about marketing yourself.

If you want to take lessons from some of the best marketers out there, take a look at what your neighborhood realtor does. On the average, a person moves only once every 7 years. Knowing these statistics does not deter the realtor to market to you from the first day you move into your new home. You will get post cards, recipes of the month, calendars, market updates, community events, lists of recommended local businesses and regular newsletters. And I am certain that you have all received the post cards with pictures of homes marked "sold" in bold letters across the advertisement. Now, why would they waste the paper, printing and postage to show you a property that was no longer available? It's their way of sending you a testimonial of one of their successful transactions. And all of this correspondence will surely include a picture of the realtor. Why? All this is an effort to position themselves so that their name and familiar face will be the first to pop up. Maybe not now, or 2 years from now, but in 7 years when you become that statistic and are ready to sell or buy a home. They are investing their efforts and advertising money in your future business.

Translate this into the travel business. How often does the average person take a vacation? Once a year, right? Does that mean that you only should contact them only once a year? Not with today's travel marketplace. You need to be first and foremost in their thoughts when it comes time to plan their vacation.
Find your neighborhood realtors and become marketing partners. Just by asking, I was given an excel database from my neighborhood realtor who was also targeting the same area. In return I gave her discount travel coupons to put in her "Welcome Baskets". To get the attention of the new neighbors, I put the coupons in envelopes that I had made from maps and on the outside of the envelope I created a large sticker that says, "Welcome to beautiful Silver Creek…NOW GO AWAY!!! These coupons went into the welcome baskets of all the new home owners!

Ask other neighborhood realtors to get on their lists of recommended businesses. I have also partnered with other neighborhood businesses that regularly send out local advertising by suggesting that we co-op producing a joint marketing piece to cut down on costs. Wherever your neighbors shop is where you should concentrate suggesting cross promotions. Contact the editor of your local or neighborhood newspaper and offer to write a travel column. Set your goal to become known as "The neighborhood cruise and vacation specialist."

Unless you live in a rural area, try focusing your marketing to a 10 mile radius. Believe it or not, I learned this business strategy from a window washer!!! I hired this company strictly because his advertisement was targeted specifically to my housing development. He detailed what he could do that they competition couldn't, and he quoted prices by the names of the models of the homes. When my daughter wanted to utilize his services, he politely refused saying that he only worked in my community and that was how he could provide great service and low pricing. You see, his travel time and expenses were minimized by only going to one area. He could also service more homes per day than his competition that were spending a large amount of their time getting from one appointment to the other. He was successful by focusing his business on what he knew best, namely my neighborhood of 1500 homes.

How would your business look if you could be the vacation and cruise provider for just 5% of everyone who took vacations within a 5 mile radius of where you live? According to the San Francisco Insider, there are 15,000 people per square mile in San Francisco, New York has 24, 000 and Los Angeles has 7,000. If like me, you follow my realtor and window washer's advice, you also will find success right in your own backyard.

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