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In this blog you find tips on how you can quickly create a simple strategy for a travel company that works.

At the bottom of the article you will find a link to the strategic framework document i use with clients.

What is a Strategy ?

A strategy defines what you have to do to get to a set goal.

Before thinking what you have to do to get to your goal, it helps to visualize and write down what your travel organisation looks like if it reached it's goal, how many clients will you have, how many employees, what will be the role of you, others, with what kind of systems will you work. How will a day in the office look like if you have reached your goal.

Doing this exercise makes it much easier to understand what is needed to reach your goal.

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A strategy helps you to stay focused

The reason of having a strategy is to stay focused, there are so many opportunities these days and with in the internet so easy accessible that its easy to get lost without having a clear idea what you are going to do. And this also is true for your customers. Its important that you are very clear on what you offer but also what you as a company want to achieve by operating the company and or being active in the tourism business. What drives you as an owner, what kind of future do you want to help to create.  

Your focus start with having a clear idea about where you ultimately want to be, what is it you ultimately want to achieve with this organisation: "a so called north star".

Define a horizon of about 10 years from now. How do you want that future to look like ? What will the world look like, what do you want to be the place of your company in that world.

When thinking about your future role, think about how you came where you are now, what were important goals and decisions that brought you here. Which values worked and why.

Look at the outcomes from your swot to have an understanding of where you are now. And define a north star as your ultimate objective.

The north star you brake up in goals that are in horizon of your strategic document i would recommend to keep your horizon at max 3 years, so that your big goal is quite dreamy and maybe grotesque but that your first stops are concrete and doable.

Creating a vision in which you declare how you see the future and the role you want to play in that future gives context to your goals.

Your mission defines what you are doing in the strategic timeline of your document.

Create a Niche

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With the help of digital marketing its easy to reach well defined audiences like for example families who love trekking with children from 6 to 12 year while meeting native cultural customs all over the world.

Creating a business around such well defined audiences can be very successful.

Defining a clear niche with products targeted at such defined audiences (persona's) and a clear positioning of your company stands for and why people should choose it over others (Unique Selling Points) creates a solid focus for a successful digital marketing plan.  

Especially when you are starting a company, a niche is highly recommend, there are very few successful generalists and being one of them will involve big investments.

In stead of start looking at defined audience, you can also take a certain product as your start and select the right audiences for that product.

I like to start selecting what to focus on from my passion and my purpose (why do i do what i do).

What do i like to do, can i turn this into a product or service that creates value for others.

Focus on the positive side of your business and find the product market fit that suits your travel business.

The Strategy template can be filled in this google doc (copy to doc to edit, give me suggestions to improve through the comment section.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17XlKZ4mOueB4K9dnVgIkiw_rqCNTRHPKSJhvjV594Uw/edit?usp=sharing

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Select your target markets

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Set your Top Countries, which countries are your customers coming from are they centered in some top cities ? Focusing on cities is easier because this can help you to get know quickly among friends who recommend your company to each other.

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