18 Feb 2021 Business Insights

Six of the Best Tools for Travel Brands

Everyone needs their trusty tools to do the best job possible, whether you’re a handyman, baker or work in the digital sphere. But what are the best tools for travel brands to help you maximise your efforts and increase bottom lines?

Being on top of trends is necessary to connect with the ever-changing mindsets of customers. And because your target audience is so varied, it’s even more important to arm yourself with the best equipment available.

Fortunately, there are plenty of resources at your disposal, including marketing technology, sales-enablement software and much more. In this guide, we’re recommending six of the best tools for travel brands. Read on and find out which ones made the list.

1) Buffer

An impressive 84% of travellers under 34 use social media for travel inspiration, and it goes without saying that you need a presence across several social media platforms from Instagram to Facebook and just about everything in between.

Managing all those channels might be tricky, though, which is where scheduling tools come in handy. Buffer is our top choice, thanks to its simplicity and fluid design. Plan your posts across the week, get better insights into how they perform, and stay on top of your social media output to increase brand awareness and forge a better connection with your customer base.

2) Axus

One of the best itinerary management platforms, Axus helps travel brands and tour operators build itinerary systems for a seamless customer experience. It can help you sell faster with time-saving tools that let you build custom itineraries for your clients.

Axus can also be customised to promote your travel brand, implementing your logo and other important business information into its platform. It’s a helpful time-saver too, claiming to save up to around 60% of the time it takes to produce valuable customer documents so your sales team can focus their efforts on selling even more.

3) HubSpot

There’s so much more to marketing than social media, and you’ll need a range of content to promote your services, whether your brand is business or customer-facing. HubSpot allows you to easily craft blog posts, create bespoke landing pages and schedule email marketing campaigns all in one platform.

It’s a system designed to get the best out of your marketing efforts, with metrics and data insights into how your content performs. You can even build your entire website with HubSpot if you’re looking for a refresh. But whatever you use it for, it can help you grow your inbound marketing and rack up more sales.

4) Hitlist

For travel brands working directly with travellers, Hitlist can help you curate a bespoke experience. The search tool scans millions of travel fares and makes recommendations on the best time to travel over a four-month period.

Using Hitlist can give you an advantage over competitors and provide your clients with the best deals available to them. If you’re a travel planner, you can even add on the flat booking fee and still provide a more affordable service than clients trying to find holiday deals on their own.

5) Fly Now Pay Later

Ok, so we’re not quite a tool. But we do offer some serious sales enablement. The checkout stage is where brands suffer the most friction, especially in the travel industry, where it slows down sales and can act as a roadblock for customers trying to finalise their travel plans.

With Fly Now Pay Later, you can offer customers flexible finance options at checkout so they can pay for their travel in multiple payments. Holidaymakers have more choice and will feel emboldened to complete their purchase, which means you can benefit from better conversion rates and increased bottom lines.

6) TravelContact

A handy CRM is necessary for all travel brands, and TravelContact enhances performance and customer service for travel agencies and advisors. Through a detailed client base that keeps track of user history, you can get a better profile on your leads and customers to provide a more seamless service.

From costs to payments and invoices, users of TravelContact can stay on top of vital parts of their process. It also becomes a multi-tool platform, allowing you to manage your sales process in the cloud and handle everything from travel itineraries to in-depth reports.

 

Staying on top of trends

There’s no doubt that the best travel brands use the tools available to them, whether building a social media profile, promoting their brand or offering flexible payment options for customers. Whether you use one of the tools on our list or all six, you can work smarter and build an efficient travel brand ready for the demands of modern-day customers.