Broadly speaking there are two ways travel agents market; electronically or paper-based.  Is one better than the other?

Electronic marketing is faster, easier and cheaper.  The biggest risk being with so much e-mail that the email is treated like junk or spam.

However, the beauty of electronic marketing systems such as  Vision 6 or Mail Chimp (amongst others) is instant reports on percentage of spam, open rates and click through’s. That's valuable business intelligence.

Conversely speaking, a paper based marketing campaign may cost 25 to 50 times more per unit to distribute. There is no feedback loop when you post a letter to somebody;  the potential for real world “trash” is likely and you can never assess the statistics.

But this entirely disregards the emotional connection that a piece of paper can make with your target audience.  Independent research shows that  for paper based marketing,  the following trends exist:

• the heavier the weight of the paper, the greater the recall of the brand and content
• cheap paper conveys a feeling of “cheap”
• texture stimulates more senses and stimulates higher recall

Here's a thought – do you really want to give a brochure to a customer that advertises a third-party airline? They will remember the airline, not your travel agency; you may have just thrown that client away.

It does not pay to put someone else's brand in your customers hand, especially if it is a beautiful brochure!

So some takeaway messages when composing an electronic and paper marketing strategy

• electronic marketing makes for a good wide net to throw to start a campaign
• use paper stock for face-to-face interactions
• make sure the paper and card is high-quality
• think twice about giving out another company's logo or brochure
• it may seem expensive to produce your own brochures  but the return on investment is likely to be significantly greater