Selling Travel February 2015 by SMP Training Co

02/2015

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

EDITORIAL

DIRECTIONS: WHICH WAY WILL YOU GO?

THE PROBABILITY AND IMPACT GRID

EVERYBODY SELLS!

CREATING A GREAT PLACE TO SHOP & WORK

TAKING THE CURVE

SETTING UP SELFIES

USING FOUND FEMALE IMAGES

THE ULTIMATE SELFIE TOUR

GRAPHIC EFFECTS IN MS WORD

CREATIVE COMMONS

CREATING YOUR OWN BACKGROUNDS

MORE POWER TO YOU!

TAPPING FOR SURVIVAL

THE TRAVEL INSTITUTE

ARE YOU ON THE LIST?

NEW PUBLICATION: WOMEN ONLY TRAVEL

READ ME HERE: MORE SELLING TIPS

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Share your money making ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. CONTACT Steve Crowhurst steve@sellingtravel.net 250-738-0064 www.sellingtravel.net Publisher: SMP Training Co. www.sellingtravel.net Contributors Steve Crowhurst

Attention Suppliers: Advertising in SELLING TRAVEL reaches the serious business-minded travel agent. Promote your products and services using Selling Travel’s unique promotional formula – you write the articles on how to sell your own products offering step-by-step selling tips, tools and techniques that you know have worked for your agency accounts. Full page rates range from $300 to $425 based on number of insertions. Remember, if you can’t sell it to them, they can’t sell it for you! Please note that Selling Travel, owned and published by SMP Training Co, is not connected in any way to Selling Travel magazine published by BMI Publishing Ltd., and based in the UK. The latter publication focuses entirely on destination and travel/tourism product training and is circulated solely to the UK and Ireland travel industries. To benefit from this resource visit www.sellingtravel.co.uk and be sure to subscribe.

SELLING TRAVEL is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. SELLING TRAVEL can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in any way monetized. Using any images or content from SELLING TRAVEL must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.sellingtravel.net” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, V9K-1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. T: 250-738-0064.

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10/29/13 2:18 PM

SALES & MARKETING TIPS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR ALL TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

The WILL to

Steve Crowhurst, Publisher

Which Direction Will It Be? So many roads. So little time. I know. I’m on a similar track as you. Every trade paper you read gives you a new and “fastest growing” something or other to focus on. Suppliers are offering bonuses, increased commissions for groups, and as always boosting commission when they need you to get them out of a jam. Then there’s what’s going on around the world in real time. The balance of this year is not going to be for the faint of heart. It’s going to take guts and determination to stay on plan and keep the marketing front and center and that’s the main direction you should stick with: MARKETING. Never stop. It’s what Selling Travel is all about – the How-To behind maintaining your presence in your local trading area. I know some travel agents are hankering after the world wide sale, but seriously, over the last 1,000 years… selling has always been best when the customer is closest to you and can refer you to their friends. Once you are well established locally selling outbound, then you can toy with attracting those world-wide sales inbound. The key to success for the average travel agent, existing or starting up, is to first build that strong outbound foundation. In this issue we’ll explore how you can develop the local outbound market and we’ll also touch on the inbound should you be ready to expand. Here’s to your continued success in SELLING TRAVEL. Get your location app ready…

Best regards. Steve Crowhurst, CTC, CTM Hon. steve@sellingtravel.net www.sellingtravel.net

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Alright. Let’s get busy and get on track. Let’s find the best direction for you and your team or just you if you work by yourself. Choosing your direction this year is going to be dominated by a few things that have already hit the news. They would be air travel safety in Asia and terror attacks which are always somewhere else, or so it seems until you are in the heat of battle. Memories of my wife and I arriving into London on the train from Heathrow at the time of the second bombing. What a great way to start the vacation being met by heavily armed police telling us to get off the train we were on and to get on the other. A sign of the times going forward and such common place world events must now be factored into your marketing plan and the overall direction of your business.

Niche Directions Coming up we’ll take quick look at destinations, travel modes, safety and being prepared – but right here, right now let’s focus on your niche direction. If you have not yet secured yourself a niche market, a special interest to sell, then now is the time to ponder the thought and there are many answers to the question. The first thing to know is that most successful travel agents that are niche focused are selling something they are passionate about, know about and have all the data, facts, figures and information on their specific niche to support them. So the first question in terms of coming up with your niche direction is this: what are you passionate about and do you really know what you are supposed to know? In other words, are you an expert in your chosen travel niche? Do you speak the language, can

you write the language, are you certified, can you lead groups? Whatever it takes for you to be considered an expert in your travel niche needs to be addressed. For instance it would help you immensely if your niche happened to be cuisine tours to Europe and you had a cooking school certificate. Something to show your dedication. Apply this “concept of proof” to any and all niche markets: a tour leading certificate would help, being a tea ceremony teacher would help, having knitted 200 sweaters would help and if you have held art shows and sold your art – this too will help. The initial niche direction then is based on what you know about and have credentials to use in your marketing and to show your clients when asked. The Niche Within a Niche There is a new direction that many travel agents miss out on and that is the niche

within a niche. The trade is bombarded by trade media that cruising is the niche to be in. Well, truth be told, it is no longer a niche – it is full on mass market. However, look a little deeper and you will find there are more than a few niche opportunities to be found in a cruise vacation. Meetings and incentives for one. Weddings at sea for another. Look again and there are small boat cruises, coastal cruises, bare boat cruises and tall ship voyages… and to split the niche even more, these spin offs also sail away from mass market destinations where ten ships line the dock, and seek the unknown. The escorted land tour offers the same idea – you could jump on the large 46-seater band wagon or you could explore smaller 20 pax coaches and higher end accommodation or land rover transportation and tents. Once again, either niche can be driven by the destination and the route within the destination. Niche Destinations There are some 195 to 210 recognized countries in the world – whoops, perhaps another one just got its wings. Today, anything can happen. A military coup and a religious divide and a country can split into two or three new countries. Stick to the 195 to 210 for the moment. Right there is a huge opportunity – which country could you take on and sell as your niche destination? Dig deeper and ask yourself if there is perhaps one area, province, territory, village, city, neighborhood that you could carve out for yourself? Also ponder the type of tour product you would introduce to your chosen area. What About Other Niche Ideas? Do you ski, can you climb, bike, read, draw, sing, knit, walk… so many activities to think

about. Your niche direction could be connected to your sport, your interest or you might simply decide, hey, there’s money in hiking and go for it. Inbound and Outbound Whatever niche you decide on, you have two main directions in this business and they are outbound and inbound. The huge majority of travel agents sell outbound – that would be sending your local customers out of town and out of town could mean a few miles away into the country, or to a big city or flying across one of the many oceans bordering the continent you live on to a country thousands of miles away. Any travel away from home is outbound. Inbound refers to the attraction of people not living in your home town or home country to visit your home town or home country. Not that easy to do and it takes a different infrastructure and set of suppliers to bring this off. Inbound however is a great way to go once you have established your outbound business. For your inbound business to work you should be attracting not only your fellow countrymen but also those overseas clients. Number one on the list is to visit a country that is as safe as it can be, has the tourism infrastructure to support visitors and the scenic wonders to attract them. Every continent and country has these elements – only some, at this moment in time are in the middle of a war zone. If, where you live, is free of war, terror and extreme weather then you are steps away from developing an inbound direction for your business. Also, chances are your national to local tourism commissions already have inbound tourism initiatives that you can explore. These funding programs

can help you market your product overseas via online marketing and attending physical events around the world to pitch your wares. Outbound Safety and Stability Your outbound sales will be subject to world events and at the moment despite the march in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, there is still an element of fear hovering over every traveller. I have it myself as I plan to visit the UK later this year. Any traveller going anywhere today would be daft if they didn’t review the “what-ifs” and decide on a plan if something did happen. If your clients are showing signs of not being too sure to travel then your marketing should turn to erasing those thoughts by suggesting how to prepare for your trip in 2015. You never mention acts of terror at all, you simply suggest trip preparation tips, tools and techniques. Your clients will make the connection and decide accordingly. Your marketing must also combat any “don’t travel news” being sent around the world via both tabloid TV news stations and the more official news stations such as the BBC. You can bet your boots that every client you have is glued to the latest news as they ponder their trip this year. Travelling outbound needs study and preparation. Back To Basics I always come back to the basics and that means travel insurance and travel safety apps. If you are not aware of either, time to study hard. There is no shying away from mentioning either of them as you discuss your clients intended journey. You do need your client to take responsibility for their own safety and it’s your job to advise them. There are more than enough countries that are safe and safer than others – but safe

from what? We know in Japan, a woman can generally walk most places at night without fear – of course there are always places you shouldn’t go and no self-respecting 300 lb sumo champion would go ‘there’ either. But overall Japan is a very safe country from the mugging point of view. In terms of earthquakes and the like, well not as safe as countries not on the Rim of Fire. Every coastal town and city on the Pacific Rim is subject to earthquakes and tsunami. You should be looking for destinations that are both safe for your female clients, your gay clients and your senior clients too. Safe Transportation Air travel is one of the safest forms of travel as most travel agents know. There is a one in eight million chance that something might go wrong and that means if a plane does go down, it is simply wrong place etc., whether downed by weather or an act of terror. Cruising is also considered one of the safest forms of travel and vacationing. Sure we have experienced large cruise ships floundering with a small loss of life. You can remove much of a first time cruiser’s nervousness by introducing them to a couple of gadgets. First is the Personal Locater Beacon (PLB) which should be mandatory for all your cruise clients. The recent mention that Jihadists are cruising from one destination to another to avoid airport cameras etc., is not quite what your long time cruise or new to cruising clientele want to hear. But it’s too late – the words are out and our mass media channels will go back to it every now and then. We know about Somali pirates hijacking vessels and attempting, unsuccessfully, to secure a cruise ship a few years ago, but to

date nothing drastic has happened since the hijacking of the ship Achille Lauro in 1985 by the Palestine Liberation Front. When it does happen and only time will tell, imagine the event with cruise ships now carrying 5,000 people. Your marketing direction this year must consider these situations and have a back-up plan as and when something does occur. As I have written before, when a plane does go down, promote cruises. When a cruise ship is in the news, promote coach tours. This is basic survival response marketing to media events that challenge travelling. Inbound and Safe Havens To attract clients to your neck of the woods is more or less an untapped market for local travel agents and yes, some agents already specialize in marketing their own country, booking and arranging tours for their inbound groups. They also work closely with national and local tourism bodies to help produce their tours. Two of the safest countries to travel, Canada and Australia have joined the list of the notso-safe with recent events in each country. Shootings on Canada’s Parliament Hill and a hostage situation in a café in Australia. Still in the overall scheme of things both Canada and Australia remain very safe as does Japan and many more countries around the globe too. The idea here is that if your country is considered safe, then you have a marketing opportunity and a chance to build an inbound department or niche market. For instance, if I was back in the saddle I would be selling inbound to Canada’s north where the only act of terror would be a very hungry bear or cougar coming towards you

on a 12 inch wide trail along the side of a very steep mountain. Scree running experience in this situation would be a plus! This action is usually followed by the use of a few rolls of tissue upon reaching the tree line! Posting Your Directional Signs Time to get off the main road here and pull in to ponder the overall direction you might go in. Remember: 210 countries, some 80,000 places, over 300 activities… WOW that’s a lot of thinking and drilling down. Once you do it however, you’ll be good to go for at least 3 years subject to the world blowing itself up. The kind and type of signage you create should be both physical and online as in digital. Hard copy for your mailings, showing in your agency window, digital for your website, emails and videos. Make sure your “signage” informs the viewer-reader exactly what it is you do and sell. This takes perhaps collaboration with a local artist, marketing group or your head office if they can help. Video is the new business card and within a three-minute vid’ you can show and tell it all. Posters for your agency window are cheap enough – go large. Go 60 inches long. Full colour. Consumer events are the best. Get up on stage and work your magic. Engage your audience and sell them on YOU and be sure to have them just wanting to travel with you when you leave on your next niche based departure. I tell you, I’m getting excited just thinking about what you are going to be doing and which direction you will go in. Rock on! 

When deciding on a new direction this particular tool allows you to quickly ascertain whether or not your next best idea will fly. You can use it in a staff meeting and manager’s meeting and when there are ideas bouncing off the walls and every idea seems to be a winner. It’s easy to use with PROBABILITY based on Time, Money and Human Resources and IMPACT SCALE based on ROI: will this idea deliver bookings? Let’s give it a try. The outcome you are looking for is a 10/10 with two arrows meeting in the TOP RIGHT bright green box. Scenario / Idea: We need to boost sales. Options are: to use email, direct mail and or start a social media campaign. Remember, your decisions are based on: do we have the time, do we have the money, do we have the people? Email:

Direct Mail:

Social Media:

In this case as we pondered all three marketing ideas is seemed that e-mail was free, everyone on the team knows how to use it, learning time was not an issue, and the impact was reasonable if the offer was a good deal. So we came in at 10-9. Direct mail scored lower re the cost of creating and mailing 500 pieces, manpower to do this, and time was short. It could be done but we came in at 7 for probability and in terms of impact the ROI is usually 1 – 2% which would mean 1 to 10 inquiries. We scored 8/7. The social campaign: no cost here really, but we didn’t have anyone who really knew how to do it, and the ROI as so many reports indicate is very low unless the offer is free. Scored 5/3. 

Here’s one way to boost your sales and who knows you might find your accountant to be a rain maker, a super sales person hiding in the back office. The title is a truth. Every person in the company is in sales. That doesn’t translate as responding to the “What do you do?” questions with a faint, “Oh, I work for a travel agency as their accountant.” Nope. That’s got to change. How would you want your employees to answer that question?

Well that response should go something like this: “I’m an accountant for a travel agency here in town…” now here comes the transition, “… and let me tell you, we do have some wonderful trips to anywhere in the world you’d want to visit…” and now the sales question, “… so tell me as I’m always interested to know, where would you want to go, money no object, what would be your dream trip?” That was easy! What do you think? Could you turn all your so called non sales people into sales people, or if that’s too drastic, a “travel mentioneer” – a new word for you: mentioneer, someone who mentions travel to others when they get the chance. Surely your non sales people could mention what your agency does, sells, where they go and what they do. Answer: yes. Here’s the challenge: some people will feel they are now in sales and if that’s the accountant, don’t bet on the books being up to date. Your accountant is out there mentioning travel to everyone. The rules of the game need to be tight and written down

so that everyone understands how the new idea that everyone sells is supposed to work. Another level of staff who should be trained to mention are those who work on the upper floors or who happen to be on the board. I have personally witnessed a senior executive unable to articulate what it is “we” actually do, what we sell and so on. A situation you would not want to witness. You must make sure everyone from the CEO down can actually talk about the business of travel, what we do and where we go and sell the talents of the front line sales and management team. Your supplier BDMs should also know how to talk about your agency when they are discussing you in their sales meeting. You don’t want to be “Oh they’re great…” you want to be, “Wow, they are on the ball, do you know they have the most fantastic approach to selling, let me tell you…” Next, your top clients: they also need to know what you do, where you go, so that they too can truly be an ambassador for your agency and generate referrals. How about you? Can you articulate a 2 minute spiel that would WOW me?

When changing direction, sometimes you need to upgrade the premises to represent the change. A new coat of paint on the walls, a little interior design work and your agency could look brand spanking new. Why would you do this? Well the outcome of an agency makeover could be business building. For a start, when you brighten up the agency with pleasing colours your staff will in fact brighten up their sales and sell more plus the new look and “feel” of the agency will attract more customers. It’s just the way it works. The Law of Attraction at work. The exterior should also be updated with a coat of paint, and you should conduct an exterior review each year. Many times we’re so busy, wrapped up with what’s happening inside the agency, we forget the outside, which is what a walk-in or drive-by prospect is going to see first.

Energy flows from all things, yes even that dark gray wall! Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it – a dark gray interior. What a feeling that will invoke as opposed to white, off white or a gorgeous blue. You can Google all sorts of websites related to colour and which ones invoke the human buying response.

Check the signage and make sure there are no cracks or holes, that all light bulbs work and that the imagery is current in terms of what you are selling / new directions.

Fragrances are now off limits in the work place, given the variety of allergies and I see more signs asking everyone to: ‘keep our store free of fragrances” –a nice clean smell should be okay. If you run a niche based agency that deals in let’s say India, then chances are you and your team and your client base actually enjoy the smell of incense. In this case that fragrance actually stimulates the client’s desire for travel. They want to experience that aroma ‘for real’.

Think about today’s technology, too. Be sure to list your email address on the window, your website, mobile numbers, Facebook URL… even a QR Code so that those with smart phones can scan your window and surf to your website. Check what’s “playing” in the window of the agency and then check what you are promoting online, on your website. They should match. Feng Shui – I know you’ve heard of it, and you might know something about it, too. The concept is simply all about placement as in the correct place, design, angle, colour, position and so on, that will, once all things are in order, create harmony, balance and for what w target here in Selling Travel, NEW sales.

The idea behind an agency makeover is to increase your profit potential by making your agency a terrific place to do business and highlight your new direction if you have one. There was one cruise agency that actually had the agency built out as a cruise ship, portholes and all. Invest $200 in paint and start there. It might increase your profit potential – but best to check if anyone on the team is queasy about a certain colour. If so, white is good – add colour through art on the wall. 

One of your marketing roles is to watch The Curve and know when to take it without crashing into the barrier. That curve is the Bell Curve and every agency or department will reach it at some point in time. The ‘curve’ or that bend in your business road comes at a time when your business has peaked and you stand at the crossroads wondering what to do next. This moment is a great time to consider a different direction. Here’s the graph:

You will be very familiar with the start up and growth phase if you were the original owner / manager who launched the agency for yourself, or the company that you work for. Somewhere along the way your agency will max out, the sales flatten. At this point in the life of your agency you have one or two options. At #1 you could re-think your business and decide to change, add, subtract or merge what could keep you profitable, or what could make you more profitable. Once you initiate a ‘more profitable’ plan you will endure the start up and growth phrase once again PLUS somewhere along that new line, you will flatten out and at #2, you will need to once again, rethink your business model and what you are selling and to whom. Both 1 and 2 moments in time, require new ideas, a new direction. A new plan must be written.

That new plan may not be too ambitious other than “to train all staff in how to sell more cruises…” and that could be the turning point. You might decide to sell luxury travel, however if you do not have a luxury client base established, then your business will curve towards #3. To stay ahead of the curve you should meet often with your team to discuss the ‘where are we going next’ topic and how you could all get there. Keeping the curve going in the right direction does not have to be expensive either. A little training, a decision to charge fees, a move to a social media platform, writing a blog or hosting consumer events – all of these are ideas that can keep you profitable and on the right side of that upward trend. Study now when that curve will swerve for your agency and plan ahead. 

The image on the left consists of a dark doorway, a ceiling light, a black toque, a stick, a rock, an imported image of smoke, and a slight crunching of the face for a far-away look. Let’s take a closer look at setting up Selfies and go step by step.

1. First things first – what’s the intended Selfie to do, or represent, or sell, or promote. Once you decide that, you can start to build the picture you are looking for. In the case of the ‘old sailor’ image on the left hand page… the idea, the concept was to promote cruising and going to sea as memories that last a lifetime. 2. The props: the toque I had, the pipe I didn’t have, so I improvised and found a piece of wood and a stone that just fit together in my hand to look like a pipe. 3. Next… the smoke: hard to create as you need to see through the smoke… i.e. you need a transparent image, a PNG. So I searched online and bingo… so imported the one that looked just right. Repositioned the smoke image to the front so that it showed over the main image. 4. Thought about the lighting of the image I had in mind, which was to highlight the face and hands and fade to black at the same time. Flash etc., wouldn’t work. Natural light, would light too much. So it was down to shooting into a dark room, with a source of light above and that’s it. Here’s how it would look as you watched this selfie being set up.

5. Finally with all things found, time to shoot the Selfie. Dressed in a dark zipper jacket, donned the toque, positioned the stick/stone pipe, used the 10 second self-timer on the iPhone allowing enough time to position the “pipe” look up and squint that far-away look and also move the iPhone / camera into the best position for capturing the “look” I was after. The selftimer is activated by tapping the red dot on the screen and the best thing about using the self-timer is that it reduces the shakes and fuzzy images. Just hold it steady and let it click. 6. Once you are set up, you can shoot many more images, pulling this and that face and selecting from the best images that support your marketing idea. After selecting your best selfie shot, you can import/copy/paste the image into Word, or PowerPoint for a quick and easy mock up using the basic graphic tools offered in Windows, Office and any other graphics program, software you have purchased. And here’s what your finished Selfie shoot will look like – or as close as, based on what you are promoting. The “old sailor” look can help sell bare boating, adventure cruises, canal and barge cruising and much more.

So that’s one idea for using your selfie shots and if you want to use models other than yourself, look around for family and friends to sit for you. You might have a gran or granddad willing to jump in and have some fun. You’ll find that most men in the family or friend circle will not mind dressing up in some old gear, mussing up their hair and pulling faces. Your female friends and relatives not so much. They will however condone looking good and having their images portrayed in high end promotions featuring glorious cruises, shopping in Madrid and beach resorts. If you are looking to create a promotion with a female image front and center then you can look within the clip art images that come with MS Office (via BING) or download from other online sources that you may have to pay for. The other option, if you are female and not wishing to use your own self-image, is to purchase a software that contains images of women that suit your promotion. See Using Found Female Images…

So easy for men to scruff up and look the part, but for my female readers not so quick to do so and that’s alright. You can however create your own Selfies to help sell your niche markets and you can also borrow from stock image websites that offer female model images that can be adapted to suit your promotional needs. Let’s explore this side of using Selfies to sell more travel.

Step one is to start searching for images featuring women in various modes and activities such as travelling in general, shopping, adventure, with a companion, eating & drinking, driving etc. Whatever your niche is focused on, that’s the female focused imagery you are looking for.

Placing Your Image Over Another Image 1. Select an image showing a destination that you love. Could be the destination you focus sell and term it your niche destination. Could be a beach, a shopping mall, a mountain top… you know where you wish to be shown.

You should however capture your own likeness, and the best way to do this is dress to the nines, get that hair up and trimmed or let it go (depends on the look you want to achieve) dress up, dress down, go casual or business smart. The idea here is to dress for the selfie shoot. If you have someone who can click the shutter for you and can add to the “shoot” then get them over to your place or on location for an hour or two.

2. The concept of placing one image over another requires the image of you to have a transparent background. Or, it takes time, but you can erase the background using any photographic editing software. Some come with a one click option. To help remove the background – when you complete the selfie shoot, use a green background, or a light plain background… i.e. one colour. That way, most editing programs can zap that colour cleanly. The Remove Background feature in MS Word is excellent.

If you have a team working with you or for you then you might as well arrange a selfie photo shoot and involve everyone. No need to go super professional here as pro photographers charge a thousand bucks to start. Not only that, you do not need professional imagery here. What you need is your final output to look good enough to attract and generate a phone call, an email and or a visit to your website. That’s the mission.

3. The image on the next page features YOU, a shot of a beach you love very much, one pair of legs and two text boxes using WordArt. Here are the bits that I put together followed by the final image:

Background…

You…

Words…

Legs…

    

As you look at the final image think about the background and what you would like to have shown there. Think about YOU and how you should look… what other images should be ‘in the picture’ to help explain the slogan, tag lines and overall text?

Alright. Your mission now is to source as many women / female related images you can find and store them in a special folder where you can access them when you need them. Add another folder labeled Selfies and from here on, shoot yourself a selfie wherever you are. On the beach, in a bar, flying at 30,000 feet, walking main-street and so on. Keep it all businesslike. No children in the shots, no family home / house – keep your family life out of everything to do with your business life. Retain the original image plus one with the background removed, featuring just you, or your model. For other images you can also work closely with your suppliers and departments of tourism who also maintain a decent image gallery and it’s free for you to use. You may want to access the website I use and take advantage of my affiliate program to save money – if so, by all means click here for GraphicStock. Any questions about creating your Selfie based promotions, just email me and ask. 

There are indeed existing Selfie tours but perhaps not where you live and sell travel and that spells opportunity! The selfie trend is not slowing down. It is beyond fad and now part of everyday life and more so when those phone-addicted tourists as one blog labelled them, are travelling. What’s the difference between a “regular” tour and a tour dedicated to Selfie addicts you ask? Well here ya go:

With consumer point and shoot cameras and most mobile phones with excellent built in cameras plus other features such as GPS location, wifi enabled, a variety of photo related apps… the Tour for Selfies hits just about anyone with a phone, camera or both. So what’s special about a Tour for Selfie Shooting Tourists? The key thing is that you know and plan in advance those special places that are both on and off that tourist route. Everyone will shoot themselves and partner with Diamond Head in the background. That’s a given. Then there’s that special moment each person or couple or group find happening to them in the moment and record it… and then there’s the special places only YOU know about. It’s these special places you factor into your itinerary. The outcome for your tour group then is a selection of images that few other tourists have taken unless they are on your tour. Of course, this type of tour would also appeal to photographers who are not into the Selfie

aspect of photography at all – they just want access to that special place you know about, and that could lead to another type of tour that focuses on the pro-photographer. When you promote your tours for Selfies you should feature yourself in the image (of course) and never give away the location as it is the location and the final Selfie image that’s your point of difference. If your niche includes a specific country or region of that country then the Selfie Tour concept is one more way to fill a tour and it’s all in the word Selfie. You’ll know who you are going to attract and you’ll know their needs too: wifi for sure so they can share their location with those they are connected to. Step one is to explore your niche destination and select the best and least well known scenic sights. For this you can work closely with the tourism board of the country you are interested in. Let’s create a flyer / poster you could adapt and use in your Selfie Tour promotions… like this:

COME WITH US TO MEXICO AND SHOOT SELFIES AT LOCATIONS ONLY WE KNOW ABOUT! Visit our website for more information or call us now at 000-000-0000



Here’s a couple of neat tools to be found in MS Word… one of them even allows you to remove the background from an image, another offers various artistic values you can apply to the same image and last but not least you can crop your image into a shape and or frame. So let’s get started.

I’ll use a recent shot I snapped of a fishing boat heading out to do what it does – and so this is the original shot. To change the look of it I can employ the Format Tools found on the Picture Tools ribbon. Once you have inserted an image into your Word document you can add a nice frame to it, angle it and add it to your website or email or newsletter or blog. Here’s the Picture Tool ribbon:

Picture Frame Let’s assume you want to frame your image and use it in a brochure or capture two or three of your images and create a collage. So, starting with the frame, click on your image, the Picture Tools tab will appear, click on the tab to view the rest of the ribbon. You will see the Frames right before you. Play with them by clicking each one to see how you image would look and then select the one that works best for you. As you can see I have selected the Double Frame - Black which is very dramatic. If I wanted to create something like a photo album, I might select Bevelled Matt, White, and then capture another image, use the same border for consistency and lay one image on the other using the Bring Forward or Send Backwards tab. In this way you can create a collage – varying the sizes and angles too like this:

Crop To Shape This is a graphic tool that not many people are aware of. If you are familiar with Shapes then you can imagine how your image might look cropped into one of those shapes. To do this you click on the Picture Tab again, look to your right along the ribbon and spot Crop.

Click on Crop, then Crop to Shape. I selected the Right Arrow shape as shown above. Artistic Renditions of Your Image This is a very quick and easy method to change the look of your image without having to use Photoshop or any other editing program. Click on Picture Tools, Format and then look for Artistic Effects. As before, test them all by clicking on each one and watch your image change.

I’ve selected Glow Edges so that the change is obvious. However you might want to use the Paint Brush style and then frame it – you might use such a graphic to promote Art Tours. Let’s see how that Paint Brush effect might look on the image of the fishing vessel:

Well here it is – looks a little like a painting and that’s good enough for our Art Tour promotion. You just want the look and feel of the “art”. Pay attention to the frame you use – ornate for a classic art tour and solid black like this for contemporary art.

Removing The Background To show this tip, I have selected a recent shot of an eagle atop the mast of a fishing boat. The solid blue sky is what I would like to remove. So once again, click on Picture Tools, look left, far left and you’ll find Remove Background. When you click on Remove Background you will see the Background Removal options and it tells you to Click on the Green Plus sign and with your mouse to mark the areas of your image you wish to retain. Then click on the Red Minus sign and mark the areas to be erased. Click Keep Changes.

And there is my transparent image that I can place over another image if I wish to. Let’s see how my fishing boat image and my revised eagle image work together – you’ll notice I flipped Mr. Eagle to get the best “look”.

Okay, the job is done. I can now lay Mr. Eagle over my fishing boat image and then resize either image until I achieve the perspective I want. I can also flip / rotate my eagle to be facing the same way as the fishing boat. I can now screen capture this collage and for that I use Snag It.

Once I have captured the image in Snag It I add a small white boarder and then it is back to Picture Tools to select a Frame. Final image shown here. Hope this helps you create your own PNG images in MS Word or PowerPoint. As always, if you have challenges just email me for help.ď &#x2018;

The next time you create a promotional flyer using MS Word and then click on the Insert tab, followed by Online Pictures to access Microsoft’s clipart you will notice it is no longer there. Your choices are Bing and depending upon how your computer is configured, One Note or some other program where images might reside. Microsoft has closed its clipart department and now Bing is the supplier of images for Microsoft.

The Microsoft clipart images came somewhat pre-approved for your use - the Bing images are tagged and this means you MUST research whether or not you can freely use the image you have selected. I know personally of a travel agent who received an invoice for something like $7,000 for an image that had resided on her website for a couple of years after she copied it from Google images - so this is important. Unless the image states it is categorically FREE of any and all fees, it isn’t free to use.

small and reside close to the image for instance. Change the direction of the text to point vertical and place it by the right side of the image. If you are producing a brochure and adding the source of the image disrupts your page, then add a list of credits to the inside back cover. Same thing for any PowerPoint slides you produce, you can list the images and who created them on your last slide. If the Creative Commons usage requests that the credit be shown beside the image then you must comply with that request.

Check the image on the next page that shows a search for travel images. As you will see there is a yellow band advising you about the images being licensed. The arrow is pointing to a type of licensing called Creative Commons which refers to how content creators license their work for use (nor not) by others. Depending on the content creators needs, some of the images will be free to use, others will require that you credit the creator, company or website and some are for purchase if you wish to use them.

If like me, you have made tremendous use of Microsoft’s clipart, you can source your image needs elsewhere. I will focus more on the subscription services such as GraphicStock where for a small annual fee you can copy and download and use their images without any fear of being sued. In addition if you have any artistic talent, why not create your own images as mentioned in this issue.

To add a one liner crediting the content creator or photographer, website or company is very easy to do. The text can be

In the meantime... be careful out there and click here to check out Creative Commons. If you are a content creator yourself then you should also check out how you can use Creative Commons licensing.

Here’s how Creative Commons works: I want a rainbow image and typed ‘rainbow’ into the Bing search box and then I made a selection from the results. In doing so, the owner of the image was shown below where the arrow is pointing – my next click is to find out if I can use this image. I click on the owner’s link. Once there, I click on the Licensing tab and review how this owner allows his image to be used. Below is the actual verbiage of how one image owner / photographer wrote his Creative Commons licensing information. I have removed his name and contact details and the rainbow image above is actually mine. The message here is to make sure you comply with the rules of how any image you select can be used. You can always contact the owner directly by email and ask to use their image. Keypoint: If you will profit by using their image, i.e. bookings will be generated by the image, then of course, you should pay for its use. 

LICENSING I have the philosophy that art is meant to be seen and not hoarded. My licensing policies are thus designed to balance the costs that go into creating and sharing my images with the desire to provide inspiration through my images on the internet and around the world. I allow the use of my images in two ways: CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE With Creative Commons you are free:  To Share: Copy, Distribute, and Transmit the image  To Remix: Create Derivative works of the image Under these conditions:  Attribution: Attribution to (owner’s name) must be made along with the image.  Non-Commercial: The image must not be used for commercial purposes under any circumstances. For clarity on what defines commercial use, please see the Sample Accepted Uses below. SAMPLE ACCEPTED USE OF THE CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE:  Blog Post describing a trip  Online article discussing photography  A website for an online project about the use of photography  An individual using an image as a desktop background for the computer monitor

LICENSE TO COPYRIGHT ‘Commercial Use’ regarding the use of images online or offline is defined very broadly. The determination of commercial or non-commercial use is based on the contextual use of the image. The determination is NOT based on the tax-filing status of the entity using the image nor on whether or not a financial transaction takes place. Commercial use of my images is allowed only if expressly granted by (Owner’s Name). All commercial uses will incur a licensing fee. My fees are based on the following criteria:  

 

Media – print, web, television, etc. Distribution Size – number of copies printed, viewing audience size, exposure (regional, national, international) Length of Use – 1 year, 2 years, etc. Prominence of Display – 1/4 page, 1/2 page, full page, spread, front cover, back cover, home page (online), interior page (online), etc.

All licensing inquiries should be sent to: (Owner) SAMPLE USE REQUIRING A LICENSE TO COPYRIGHT:  A marketing campaign for a commercial entity  A fund-raising campaign for a not-for profit entity  License to create an individual print for use in a private home

All you need to create a crazy fractured background like the one opposite is a few seconds of your time, your mouse, and that’s it. Here’s how: Click on INSERT, Shapes, Lines, Scribble… Place your mouse on your page and “scribble” just go wild and scribble those lines any way you like to fill the page. Next: click on your Scribble and then the Drawing Tools tab will appear. Click on Shape Fill and select your preferred colour, then Click on Shape Outline and click No outline… or if you wish you can select a coloured line and increase the Weight of the line for a dramatic effect. Now you need to frame your work so click on INSERT, Shapes, Frame… then select Shape Fill and select black, or white… or the colour of your choice. The idea here is to “frame” your scribble…

Now, what’s next? Well, what will you use your background for? In the example on the opposite page I wanted to use it as a cover page – so I added a Rounded Rectangle from the Shapes collection, sized it and added my title. Last but not least, I used Snag It to screen capture my finished job, and then saved it as a JPEG. Once saved as a JPEG, I inserted it into the page you see to the left. I clicked on it, the Picture Tools tab popped up and then I selected a Frame – i.e. the thick black frame with the shadow. If you want to go all out – you can select a Rectangle from the SHAPES list, add a coloured fill, I chose the orange, then clicked on DRAWING TOOLS and positioned the orange rectangle behind my scribble – as you can see the orange shows through the white spaces. I changed the fill colour of my scribble to blue, selected a darker blue for the outline, widened it and then added the red outline to my Title Box. Sounds involved but once you do one, you’ll whip off a background anytime you wish. There a thousand and one combinations of colours, shapes etc., so play to your heart’s content and enjoy no cost graphics! 

Your hotel is on fire. Lights are out, power grid down. You are trapped. You need to call someone now. You reach for your smartphone and call your friends and after a few minutes… the line is dead. Your battery just died. Now what? You can create your own scenarios or you can simply watch the news on TV to get a real time view of what’s happening to people as they travel the world. A couple of things that cause pain would be lousy weather and a dead battery. Think about where you are travelling whether on a FAM or on a personal trip. Are you travelling with your family? Kids too? Okay, so now it gets serious. You need to be able to maintain communication with your agency, your manager, your loved one, the police, the rescue team, your kids… but, your battery is dead. What to do?

part of their daily attire and especially when travelling. There are booster gadgets galore for you to explore. Some are small and USB sized others are as large as your smartphone but bring with it a full day of extra power. The Energizer XP18000AB shown here costs around $200 +/- and that’s a decent investment to save your life.

Depending on your situation, you may be near a power outlet and may have the cord connector that you’ll use to connect your device to the power source. It takes time.

The Mobie products offer a powered case for your smartphone – an all-inone so no need to carry two gadgets.

You could, as a survival alternative, reach into your purse, rucksack, tote and pull out your super-fast battery booster, charger gadget and in seconds be back on line to reach whoever you need to reach.

So, from here on make sure you have More Power To YOU and also your kids and your family members and friends.

Each of your kids should carry their own battery booster no matter what. Make it

Also make sure you have SOS alert apps downloaded and prepped. 

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In the January issue of Selling Travel we looked at Signing for Survival and this month, based on the Bee Gee’s theme of Staying Alive, Staying Alive… we’re trying out Morse Code which did not die out with the end of WW2. Morse Code is still to this day a viable form of communication and used militarily as well as by people like you and me. For our Staying Alive purposes, it means learning how to transmit your information by tapping, or using a flash light.

Alright. Here’s a few real time situations you might (and hopefully not) find yourself in. 1. Trapped in a room or cabin… exit is locked, something bars your exit.

The sound you’ll need to make has to reach for those people trying to locate you. Keep in mind the following:

4. The lights are out and it is pitch black…

1. Rock on rock, metal, tin, tree, concrete… 2. Wood on wood, on tree trunk… sounds like this in the forest do penetrate – also beware as this is, apparently, how Sasquatch also communicate! 3. Keys or pen on metal, cabin wall, hotel wall, doors…

5. You are trapped under rubble, hard to breath, hard to shout…

So anything that’s hard enough to create a noise when tapped against something else.

You get the message and the situation. Could happen in any number of circumstances – during your vacation or Fam, at home or around your home town.

If your smartphone has a flashlight it probably has the basic Morse code signal for SOS built in. You can however download an app for that – like this one. Click to view. There are many more – I selected the first one to pop up. Now you need to know a few basics. First things first - SOS is: DOT DOT DOT, DASH DASH DASH, DOT DOT DOT. Three short, three long, three short.

2. Lost in a forest… 3. Lost atop a mountain…

Given the situation you find yourself in your “friends” become anything that you can use to tap a signal such as a rock, a branch, a stick, a flashlight, a whistle and your smartphone.

Here is a Morse Code Translator that you can play with to work out a few signals you feel would work for you. In addition to the SOS signal, you should be able to tap out your surname. Here’s mine.

Here’s the Morse Code Translator I used to decipher it. Type in your name (1) click (2) to translate and then your name in Morse code will appear (3). Click the PLAY button to hear how it sounds when it’s delivered electronically. http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html

The only challenge to using Morse code is translating the message you receive back. Chances are the people coming to find you will shout, shine lights etc. Or phone you! For them to do that… you’ll need to know your cell number in Morse code and that works out to be a mess of dots and dashes – but worth remembering. You should probably add to your Morse knowledge the phrase Call my mobile… followed by the number.

You can see the Morse code for communicating Call my mobile phone and the line of Morse underneath that represents a 10 digit phone number. There you have it. You can sign your way to survival and you can use Morse code too. You should also study how to use the GPS finder in your phone and know how to email your GPS location to a friend or the police. There are many SOS apps that do this. If you are serious about your safety, pay the fee and subscribe to a real-time service that can dispatch a team to extricate you from your situation. Staying Alive… yeah! 

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The Women Only market is there for every female travel agent to consider as a niche – so think about what you currently sell and ask yourself if there is a ‘women only’ opportunity where you live. This new publication starts off with a review of travel safety which is the #1 challenge women advise to travelling. Travel safety then is a key component to running a successful women only niche. Not every female traveller is a shopper. Some like fly-fishing, cuisine tours, others a discussion group around a campfire lost in the mountains… so never generalize. For every activity there’s a woman waiting and wanting to do it, by herself or with like-minded women. Check the store in March.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where you find even more ideas on how to sell travel and boost your revenues. Ct is the trade magazine and every article I write is always geared to new business generation for YOU and your suppliers. The content ranges from a step by step how-to article to a comment about a current topic. Many of the articles are worth reviewing with your suppliers should you be able to work together to generate that new dollar for all. Click here to read.

The full Canadian Traveller logo represents the consumer magazine that now reaches millions of readers. Even if you have your own in-house magazine it is always a good idea to tell your clients about the consumer CT and the main reason for that is some supplements are shared between the trade and consumer magazine. Now you know what your client is reading, you can, from the trade issue, learn how to sell various destinations and then make the call. Everything CT does targets new business generation and hopes to put more money in your jeans. Click here to read.

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