The World Travel Market (WTM) is taking place this year but, to protect the safety of attendees, it will be an online-only event.
Taking place on the 9th-11th November (7am-10pm), the online ‘virtual fair’ will involve three days of virtual meetings, live conference sessions with industry leaders, roundtable discussions, online marketing experiences and digital press conferences. As one of the world’s largest travel events, WTMVirtual is the perfect place to launch your 2021 marketing plans.
To ensure your organisation can get the most from this year’s event, here’s our two-part guide to WTM Virtual success.
1. Know your PR & Marketing deadlines
The WTM press office is beneficial for communicating new campaigns and promotional focuses. It is important to prepare and submit a media pack featuring 2021 news and story ideas, media trips and announcements for the coming year.
As one of the biggest travel events in the world, it’s the perfect springboard for any marketing campaign, so don’t forget to prepare and submit your marketing materials on time.
2. Brand awareness marketing & WTM content
Tourism marketing is currently all about brand reminders and showcasing what is on offer when tourism will fully re-open. Has your organisation created key content for backend videos, graphics and presentations to cover key topics? Is your graphical content ready?
Plan your virtual ‘look’ and ‘brand’ presence that will connect your organisation to virtual customers. Prepare trade marketing assets, and social media posts that can be connected to key hashtags.
3. Prepare 2021 media & sales kits tailored for online viewing
There will be no physical press room this year, which means that all media and sales kits need to be tailored to online audiences. Think about how you can incorporate images, videos and other forms of engaging content into your kits to help them stand out. The concept of ‘show, don’t tell’ has never been more important.
In a post-COVID landscape, it’s important to ensure you include up-to-date information on travel restrictions and other safety measures that travellers will have to abide by when visiting your destination.
4. Utilise WTM communications channels
Similarly to their press office, WTM’s communication channels provide a direct line to key audiences for your organisation. With a combined 330k social media reach and an email database of over 250k, you can amplify your campaigns, messaging and social media strategy through a collaboration with the WTM marketing team.
Reach key industry decision makers, media representatives and potential buyers / partners by joining the digital conversation the WTM creates annually.
5. Follow up with your leads
This may sound simple, but you would be surprised at the amount of people that spend time building connections and then don’t follow up with them (believed to be around 80%). When you have a conversation with someone, follow up the same day with an email. Within that email, state the next time you will get in touch and ask them if that’s ok.
By establishing the next point of contact every time you speak to someone, there will always be a follow up conversation, which establishes an ongoing relationship and increases the likelihood of generating business / partnerships with that person.
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