By Matt White

Recently, I spoke to an industry forum about travel trade advertising and why it works. The premise of my speech was that for the most part, it doesn't! You see, most of the dollars spent on travel trade advertising are a complete waste of money.

Why? Most travel trade advertising is too consumer focused.

Many advertisers make the mistake of thinking that the features and benefits that appeal to consumers will appeal to travel agents as well. In fact, agents are much more interested in what a given product will do for their business, and how it will affect the satisfaction of their customers.

Travel agents are your sales force; not your ultimate consumer. This means their wants and needs are quite different. Think about it. Consumers tend to look for deals; they want the most travel for the least money. Travel agents want to make these consumers happy, but they need to sell products that earn big commissions or they'll be out of business. If you try to use the same message to reach both agents and consumers, chances are, you'll appeal to neither.

To be successful in advertising, you've got to know what your customers want to hear and then deliver it. That's why the E. James White Company commissioned a study with Plog Research to find out exactly what travel agents are most interested in.

The first information came as no surprise. 83% of agents said they wanted travel trade advertising targeted specifically to them. Take any typical consumer vacation ad. You'll see they tend to feature big packages at small prices. From an agent's perspective, this is an immediate turnoff. They can't make money selling cheap packages. However, a smart advertiser could take the same package and direct it at the trade by highlighting the commission an agent could earn, along with all the add-on opportunities a vacation offers. This sends the agent a very different message: vacation sales present the opportunity to earn real money.

Agents are looking for trade advertising to convince them of the relevance of products and services by pointing out direct benefits or rewards solely for them. Tell them how much commission they can earn by selling your package. Show them why their customers will be happy when they buy your package. Offer them the opportunity to learn more, and give them a direct way to get in touch with you. Whatever you tell them, make sure it is information they want to hear.

In the Plog study, we found out that what agents are interested in depends on the characteristics of the agency. For example, large volume travel agencies focus on different issues than smaller agencies, and corporate travel agencies have different concerns than leisure agencies. In general, you'll find that travel agencies seek products and services that benefit them directly, such as familiarization trips, or indirectly by appealing to their clients.

Our survey shows that familiarization trips (or "fam" trips) lead all other topics in interest among most agencies large and small, followed by educational and training seminars and programs on client satisfaction. Why? Travel agents are looking for ways to increase their value to customers. While big commissions and cash bonuses are appealing in the short run, happy customers are even more so. The best way to keep customers happy is by demonstrating superior product knowledge.

It is interesting to note that as agencies grow, their interest seems to shift. Agencies with revenue greater than $5 million place higher emphasis on volume sales rewards, and mid-sized agencies place and rank fam trips #1. I think this is a reflection of the fact that larger agencies deal with a more transient sales force. But no matter how large the agency, travel agents tend to hold their own interest at bay, placing agency incentives behind special offers and discounts that will benefit a large number of their clients.

We asked agents what types of information interested them. Did they want to know about discounts and special offers? New packages to destinations? Fam trip programs? Again, the answer varied depending on their size and business mix. For example, cruise discounts ranked #1 with leisure-focused agencies while corporate-focused agencies were more interested in the latest airfare discounts. Among all agencies, these types of promotional offers were followed in importance by information on new packages, agency incentive programs and familiarization trip programs.

What does this tell you? If you don't have a specific promotional offer that will entice the travel agents' clients and thus contribute to volume sales, your next best bet is an incentive program that will generate trial among agents.

Logically this leads to the next question. What incentives appeal to agents? Do they really work? Are these programs an effective use of marketing dollars?

Plog looked at programs that travel agents had participated in the past year. Airline promotions and discounts clearly lead all other items in preference. Car rental incentives and tour package sales incentives ranked second and third, with resort incentives and hotel sweepstakes ranking last.

Does this mean that suppliers other than airlines should forget incentive programs? Absolutely not. What this does point out is the value of structuring partnership arrangements, where you can leverage your own sales by offering popular incentives that a partner can bring to the mix. For example, we put together a program with Alamo Rental Cars and Spiegel that offered agents an opportunity to earn merchandise from Spiegel every time they booked a car. We later put together a similar promotion with Hertz and JC Penney. Both were fabulously successful; in fact, the Alamo promotion generated $6 million in incremental revenues.

Equally important to presenting relevant messages and appealing incentives is choosing the right medium for the message. So we asked travel agents if there were particular information sources that are more useful to them than others. Which media should you select? The answer is, it depends-the best avenues vary by type of agency as well as the type of information presented. That's why you need to look not only at advertising, but at an integrated marketing campaign that takes advantage of traditional and non-traditional media.

Out of nine distribution channels, agents prefer to receive information by mail. This is followed by a personal visit from a sales rep or company sponsored sales promotion such as a breakfast seminar. Next come faxes, followed by trade advertising. Telephone sales are a distant sixth, followed by consumer ads, CRS bulletins and e-mail.

Again, these results clearly demonstrate the importance of a targeted integrated marketing program encompassing the use of direct mail, sales promotions, travel trade ads, and promotional faxes-all designed to break through the clutter of information tossed at agents.

Why do agents prefer some methods over others? Take personal visits, for example. Agents felt they represent the best way to get through the clutter of information tossed at them-an average of 4,000 messages at any given time! In spite of efforts spent on telemarketing, agents simply do not believe that telephone calls substitute for personal touch.

You should also note the low value placed on consumer advertising by all agencies. They just don't give it much credence. So if you're running your consumer ads in the trades, it's a waste of money. Better you should spend your marketing dollars on relevant messages delivered through media that makes a difference.

Depending upon what you're selling, different mediums do, indeed, work more effectively. For example, faxes are the preferred method for specific promotional information, particularly discounts and special offers, outweighing other media alternatives by numbers as large as 5 to 1. This is because quick timing is an important issue. Agents are most interested in cruise discounts and special offers-a tell-tale sign that they're looking for income sources to make up the difference in the loss of airline commissions.

Does this mean you should limit your spending to faxes? Absolutely not. Faxes are a great support mechanism, but it still takes an integrated effort to break through the clutter. And depending on your message, another media may be preferred.

For example, when it comes to new package information on destinations, agents prefer mail, sales rep visits or video. Here are messages that need visual support to enhance sales. Agents want to see what a new property looks like. They want to be able to describe it to their customers. The more visual support you can provide through your sales reps, your advertising and your sales support collateral, the bigger the potential payoff can be.

So what can you do with this information? And how can use it to grow your business?

First, make sure your messages are relevant to your target audience. Use your advertising to show you understand their business, and even the problems they are facing (i.e., commission reductions). Smart advertisers are already running ads to sympathize with their new financial plight. They are pledging support and reminding them of alternative opportunities with higher commissions.

Second, develop campaigns that are of interest to the travel agent. Remember that their needs differ from those of consumers. Advertise your packages and arm your travel agents with the tools they need to sell to consumers.

Third, offer incentives knowing that discounts and special offers appeal to agents. Seek out unique and exciting partnership opportunities to take advantage of the incentive travel agents prefer most.

Finally, educate your agents. Make sure they understand why their customers will want to buy your product. No one knows your product better than you. Explain it and educate them the same same way you would your direct sales force. Convince agents that their clients will be happy with your product and they can make money selling it.

There has never been a better time to focus on the travel trade. The industry is clearly at a crossroads and agents are desperate for new income opportunities. Motivate travel agents like you would your own sales force with a targeted integrated travel trade campaign and the revenue results should speak for themselves.

You can have the best of both worlds: a brilliant consumer campaign and an equally brilliant trade campaign. But sometimes it takes working with two agencies-a travel trade specialist and a consumer specialist-then you have an advertising agency that truly understands what makes each audience tick.