Tour Operator Branding & Marketing Guide
The importance of a tourism branding strategy:
Choosing a business name
Your tours and activities shouldn’t be the only unforgettable thing. Guests should remember the name of your tour and activity company, too. That’s where the importance of branding comes into play.
As a marketing tactic, branding personifies your tourism business. It gives you a voice, looks, personality, and values — which makes you more relatable to your guests and other travelers. Ultimately, a well-defined brand helps you appeal to the right audience, as well as leave a lasting impression. This outline provides what you need to know about positioning and differentiating your business
Register your trade name and logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The trademark registration process is a legal proceeding that requires you to act within strict deadlines. See the trademark application and post-registration timelines.
Marketing Plan & Resources
What’s your Marketing strategy?
A marketing plan doesn’t have to be complicated and at this stage most of what you know already about your business plan, business model and product will help you develop your marketing plan. A well-designed marketing plan can help you raise awareness of your business, attract more customers and boost sales. Here are some tips and guidance on preparing a marketing plan:
- SCORE Marketing Plan Guide
- SBDC The Marketing Plan
- Viator Marketing Plans for Tour Operators
Additional resources for social media, e-commerce presence, NM Safe Certified, Google Ads, Trip Advisor:
Social Media presence: establishing a social media presence can play a huge role in generating business growth.
- https://www.facebook.com/business
- https://business.instagram.com/
- https://business.twitter.com/en/basics/create-a-twitter-business-profile.html
E-commerce presence: Creating a website for your tour company is an important step to gaining customers and awareness about your brand. Travelers often discover new tour operators online, and they want to be able to learn about you and what your business has to offer.
- How to develop a Tour Operator web site
- NMTD Learning Center - Website Builder Resources
- SCORE website builder tips
- Sqarespace.com
New Mexico Tourism Department Marketing PR Toolkit
This toolkit provides samples and best practices that cover the following:
- 2021 Earned Media Travel Trends
- Best Practices for Working With Travel Writers + Influencers
- Sample Influencer Contract Agreement
New Mexico Safe Certified: trains New Mexico businesses in COVID-Safe Practices to help ensure all of us —customers, employees, and families—remain safe as New Mexico reopens for business and recreation.
Google Ads: Be found when customers are searching. Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google. Only pay for results, like clicks to your website or calls to your business.
Trip Advisor: Stand out from the competition to win incremental bookings with Business Advantage.
Next Steps:
Refer to the Entrepreneur Tour Operator Toolkit - Register Your Business Guide as your next step.