USING YOUR CAMERA TO SELL MORE TRAVEL
Photography and travel are related. They are married. They are sister industries. They just go together.
You can attract more business through sharing a great and even not so great image that YOU shot personally, ON LOCATION. Think about what you shoot. Add a slogan to it. Send it out. I bet you, whatever you shoot, there is a group just wanting to visit that spot where you took that picture. Image and slogan. It’s Selling Travel Ng.
If you like to shoot with a camera then you can be the tour leader, or you could work with a professional photographer and let them do all the work (!) as they help your clients get the best from their cameras. Work with a local photographer or tap into someone famous. There might even be a pro photographer somewhere in your client list. Check that out for a start. You can work with your preferred suppliers or you could go it alone and put your camera tour together yourself. You can also sell into ready-made camera tours with the likes of National Geographic who run photography workshops and specialty tours. They work with travel agents and they pay commissions, yeah! Next – you can create what I’m showing you here. I am using my own photographs, all low res, adding a title that might fit the image, and then uploading to Issuu.com. You can do the same thing and then send the link to your clients. You can also print to PDF and upload that document to your website for your clients to view it too. Start to turn your images into calls to action and close a group, too.
Hiking Old Japan
Wild Bird Painting Tours
Gardens of America
Waterfalls of the World
China in Black & White
Come with me to...
Okay… you get the idea. Make sure you are also in your pictures – you need to prove you were there and these images can be used in any and all promotions. Don’t be camera shy! Just get in there and pose. Start sifting through your old travel photos too. Historical shots can sell present day tours as well as current images. So an eagle shot means wild bird tours. A flower shot means garden tours, a statue could mean museum tours, a shot of you rafting can mean adventure tours… then there’s sunsets of the world, walking tours of wherever and any shot of you standing anywhere is a “Come with me to…” promotion. Learn how to turn your photos into posters and use them in your agency window, on your website and wherever your clients can see them.
There’s also opportunities in promoting photography tours for women only, for families and you might even promote a tour for photographers who use a specific camera and model – such as Canon 60D. Not everyone carries a semi-pro camera… so many tourists who want to shoot a nice scene are using point-and-shoot cameras and of course there are the smart phone photographers too. What many of your clients want is to be taken to where the best locations are for the best shots. No need to transport all that camera gear for this group. A nice small camera that takes a great shot is all they need – PLUS your knowledge of where to go and where to stand to get the best angle, for that best shot. I’m seeing an iPhone Camera Tour of Europe! What do you think? Something new. Would attract new and younger clientele and then you can post the best images upon return. In case you didn’t know, there are adapters for the iPhone that allow you to attach one of your long telephoto lenses from your Canon collection for instance. Imagine that. So let’s say you’ve put together the iPhone Photography Tour of Europe and now you’ve returned and chances are your clients who would be savvy about all things social – well they will be sending their shots virally and talking up a storm about YOU and your Point and Shoot Tours. Give it a try. Be first!! Regards Steve Crowhurst, CTC
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