Become a Travel Agent

An Interview With Karen Dawson CTC, CTIE
Marketing Special Groups
on YouTube.com
By: Tom Ogg

After I wrote the article on using YouTube.com to market travel services I received a good number of e-mails from readers that wanted to know more, or had used YouTube.com successfully. One lady, Ms. Karen Dawson   CTC, CTIE shared a fascinating experience that I wanted to share with you, as it got my mind racing about the possibilities for video marketing and YouTube.com.

Karen is a seasoned travel industry veteran that has been involved in high-level positions for years and finally started her own agency to follow her passions (which includes cooking). She wanted to put a cooking tour together to Europe and managed to get Princess Diana’s personal chef to escort the tour to the U.K. and cook for the group in various venues. Known as The Royal Chef, Karen marketed the special cooking group on YouTube.com.

You can view her video at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Rs_ZCoGNo&feature=related

I called Karen for an interview and here is what she shared:

How did you find The Royal Chef?

As I have shared with thousands of travel professionals, you have to start with your passion.  Mine are golf, so I have organized a golf tour to The Ryder Cup with a local head golf pro. I also love to garden, so I have organized a garden tour to the U.K.   My third passion is cooking, so I wanted to put a group together with a chef to Italy or Spain. An acquaintance of mine that knows many gourmet chefs referred the Royal Chef to me. I made three proposals to him and he zeroed in one a tour to London, as he had a history of cooking for Buckingham Palace and later as Princess Diana’s personal chef. He worked for Princess Diana when her tragic accident happened. I negotiated all of the components and The Royal Chef tweaked the itinerary to his liking. Before I knew it, I was ready to go to market. I started the project in October of 2007,  met the Royal Chef in December and started marketing at the end of January, 2008..

How did you get the idea to promote your group on YouTube?

My husband (who is a former President of the American Marketing Association in Dallas) had the idea of using YouTube to reach potential clients in areas other than Dallas. The AMA successfully uses YouTube to announce their next meetings in a 30 second video teaser.

How did you develop the video to post on YouTube?

I used a videographer to shoot the video and edit it. He shot it on Wednesday, edited it and then published it to YouTube.com on Thursday. He was a friend of mine so the cost was minimal.

Has the video developed many bookings?

Women who were on the fence saw the video and it closed the sale. The video was a solid close to the group and developed group members from other parts of the United States. The Royal Chef’s wonderful personality came through in the video and immediately made the potential group members relax and gave them a feeling that they already knew The Royal Chef.

Did the video generate any leads from the keywords?

Yes, many visitors were looking for cooking tours to the U.K. and also The Royal Chef. If you do a Google search for The Royal Chef, you will see the video near the top of the results. Google loves YouTube.com (editor’s note: Google recently purchased YourTube.com)

Do YouTube generated clients still need personal contact?

Yes, just like any other method of developing client leads, one must contact them and turn the lead into a relationship. The benefit of the video presentation is that they already are connected to the idea of a cooking tour with The Royal Chef.

What have you found to be the best way to contact YouTube leads?

E-mail initially, then telephone.

Do you feel that YouTube represents an opportunity for agents to promote special groups?

Yes, it is so logical it shouts out to be exploited. One obvious opportunity is to use past group videos for future groups. Potential group members can see exactly what it is going to be like and how much fun the last group had.

What would you have done differently in your promotion?

I would have started earlier and published the video before I started marketing. I also would have promoted more to my local marketplace and budgeted more money for marketing. By doing the video early, I would be able to include the YouTube url in all of my advertising.

Any tips for agents wanting to use YouTube to sell travel?

Yes, publish short keyword travel snippets from your groups with a call to action to the next group on your website. Interview your group leaders having them pitch the group (like the Royal Chef video). Focus o the group’s itinerary showing the highlights of what they are going to see and do on the tour or cruise. Any group trip can benefit by creating a video with the Group Leader talking about the tour, or showing what they will do on the tour. e.g. Cooking lesson or a Dance lesson for a Ballroom Dance cruise…. coupled with some snippets of the destination or venue (cruise) It’s all in the visual!

Are you going to run the same group again?

Absolutely