Copywriting for Travel Pros with Emily Matras

Welcome to the strategic travel entrepreneur. My name is Rita Perez. Hello. I've been a travel adviser for over 10 years and I'm navigating this winding road of entrepreneurship Chip, with you. I created this podcast because I wanted to share all the things I've learned from leaders both in and out of our industry that I really wish I would have known way back then. But, alas, the important thing is I'm aware of them Now and I want you to be too. Ready for this week's show? Let's jump in. Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to the podcast. So nice to have you here for another week, and we have Another wonderful special guest with us today, Emily Matrice is the owner of Bon Vivant Copy, a copywriting and content marketing Studio that helps travel professionals create profitable, sustainable businesses. She shows travel pros how to write their way to more and better Travel clients through the psychology of selling with a background in marketing, journalism, and travel, Emily brings an expert perspective on how to stand out in the travel industry today. She shared her expertise with thousands of travel pros Through leading industry organizations like the Travefy Institute, G. I. F. T, Travel Weekly, Classic Vacations, and the Romance Travel Forum. Welcome, Emily.

Hi, Rita. Hi. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here.

Yes. I am I am so excited that you're here as well because and I may have said this in one of the sessions, with with you that I have never Written as well as I ever have since high school after working with you on my own rebrand a couple years ago.

That's that's so good to hear. That's you know, I I work with a travel a lot of travel agents. I work exclusively with travel agents, But a lot of them hate the writing portion so much, and I feel like you really embrace it. And so it's really nice to hear how much you're enjoying writing again. So thanks for hearing that.

Yeah. Yeah. And I always I always try and keep, like, certain things in mind that you've you've taught me from the course. Good. Good. Have an offer. Yeah. So I know when I first met you, it was through a gift event.

Mhmm. It was Travefy entrepreneurship week. And, when they brought up copywriting, I was like, copywriting? I'm like, what the heck is copywriting? So can you give us, like, a a brief synopsis of what Copywriting is, and Sure. Why we should know about copywriting.

Sure. Absolutely. So first things first, I do copy Writing w r I t e, not r I g h t. That is, like, a whole another thing. I'm not a lawyer. I can't tell you how to, like, I don't know, Patent a product or anything. So when I say copywriting yeah. And and I get that question a lot like, oh, what law school did you go to? Nope.

Didn't do that. So copywriting is, it it's marketing writing. Right? And I make a slight distinction between copywriting and then Content writing, which I can explain really quickly. Basically, I think of copywriting as, writing that you do to Spur someone to take a specific action. Mhmm. So for example, writing all of the text on your website, I would classify as copywriting because you should be writing all of that with an end goal in mind of getting, your web visitor to reach out to you. Right? That's the action you want someone to take. Slightly different is what I would call content writing where the main goal is to really build and nurture a relationship with your audience.

You know, there couldn't you you probably do want people to reach out to you as a result, but the main goal is relationship building.

Mhmm.

And so, that is typically your enewsletter, your blog posts, often your social media posts. So copywriting in my mind is, like, a little more strategic And a little more focused than using sales psychology to push folks to take a specific action. Does that answer your question?

Oh, yes. Definitely. And I think that's such a an an important thing especially now because you can't just write a post to be like, look at this pretty beach. Call me if you wanna go to this beach.

Right. Right. You really wanna really wanna think through what your end goal is. How can you push someone to take a specific action? How can you really build a relationship With your reader. And if, like, everyone else is writing the same type of content, well, then how you know, that's that's not gonna get you anywhere. If everyone writing, you know, top 10 places to visit in Italy. Yes. Same way without, like, a unique perspective, your content isn't isn't gonna do much for you.

Mhmm. So going on to the content, what are some buzzwords that travel entrepreneurs should Or should not be using in the content that they're producing.

Sure. So one of my favorite words, and this is kind of a funny one, is Get, g e t. And, you know, some of my clients push back when I use this word in their copy because it feels really casual. But the truth is, it's sort of like a power word, because everybody likes to get things. Mhmm. Getting things is easy. Right? It implies that you don't have to work for it at all. So for example, on your website, if you had, like, a little place for Folks to sign up for your enewsletter, often on your button, it might say something like, subscribe here.

Uh-huh. Right?

And and and that word subscribe implies work. Right? You have to, like, fill out a form or you have to do something in order to get on the list. Right? But what if that button instead said get on the list or something that required e or something that implied, like, ease and, like, an instantaneous reward. Right? I would recommend, you know, going that route. So the word get is really, really attractive, and and sort of like a a magical word when it comes to copy.

In such a simple word.

It's such a simple word. Yeah. Yeah. So try it in your copy particularly on, like, buttons, you know, that people have to click and see if that ups how many people are clicking one other word I would wanna chat about, which is kind of controversial, is the word free. Right? A lot of travel agents feel like this is kind of a dirty word to use in their marketing because they don't wanna come across as, You know, cheap, they don't wanna attract, folks who are only concerned about price or budget.

Yeah.

And, I really respect that, and I'm mindful of that, and I think that's a very real Concern. I don't think if your goal is to not attract price shoppers, I don't think you should be leading your messaging with the word Free in, like, big bold letters. That doesn't need to be showing up in, like, the headline on your website, for example. However, The word free, kind of like the word get, is sort of like a power word. It's really, it's magnetic. Everybody likes free things, Even rich people. So so I everyone likes to get something for nothing. So I think you don't necessarily have to excise the word free from your vocabulary.

Just use it strategically. So maybe you could try instead of, calling it your complimentary planning session, maybe it's your free planning session. Or even better, if you're creating, like, an opt in offer that you're, advertising, promoting to get people to join your list, make sure you're calling it free guide, free guide. You know? Free free whatever it is, because that's gonna that's gonna lure people in. And, again, free in this context will only attract the price shoppers, or folks who are really conscious about budget because everyone likes free things. So just be really careful about where you use the word, But it can be really powerful.

So even use free over complimentary? Because that I have I have everything with complimentary, so I'm like

I know. I know. And I use I use the word complimentary a lot, in my clients as well, and I think it kinda comes down to Your brand personality and your tone of voice. Okay. You know, if my clients, have, like, more of a sophisticated brand personality, I might choose the word mentoring. If they're more casual, fun, a little more youthful maybe, I might use the word free in that specific context. But even if they're more sophisticated upscale brand, I use the word free often, when promoting, like, their opt in offers, for example.

Okay. Alright. And so then going from these buzzwords, what are kind of, like, some content formulations that are kind of like attention grabbing, like, this plus this equals wow.

Yeah. That's a good question. And I was thinking About this, before we chatted. And I think the one I would just share right now for your audience is a really simple one that that folks have probably heard before, And it's like the it's the elevator pitch formula. Right? We do x, for y, so that z. We do x for y, so that z. Whereas x is what you do. Right? The type of travel you plan or your specialty.

Where and then y is your target audience, the specific type of traveler you wanna work with, And then z is like the big outcome. Right? So for example, it might be like, we plan Effortless, all inclusive escapes for busy families who want to finally take time to make memories together. Right? And I and I wanted to share that because I think it's a really great way to, instantly clarify Exactly. What you do and who you serve, which is so important. Like, it's nice to be flashy. It's nice to be attention grabbing, but the most important thing You, can do as a travel adviser is be really, really clear on, who you're trying to attract. So that formulation, is not just great as an elevator pitch. It's actually great to be used as an opener on your home page, for example, under your headline.

If you're struggling with how to start your home page, if you feel all this pressure to be, like, cute and clever and attention grabbing, set that to us To the side and just use this elevator pitch as your opening line. Right? It's also a great way to open professional bios you have have or the, bios on your social media sites, like on on the Facebook story, profile portion. It's just It's all about, leading with clarity. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. Now that you said that, I you said social media profile, and I started to think of LinkedIn because I have more of a LinkedIn client. So I'm like, Okay. I need to brush that up a little bit then. Yeah. Yeah. Then the other thing I thought about is that you're you're so true that you can Put that on your website because especially from the StoryBrand team, they are big on clarity, and that's one of the Things that they mentioned, like, can you pass the grunt test? So if a caveman was looking at your website, can they go, Okay.

I could I could

Yeah. Yeah. You don't you wanna you've got, like, 5 seconds to capture someone's attention when they land on your website. Right? So if it's not immediately clear that you can help someone just like them, they're probably gonna x out. So having a really Clear opening line like that, cuts right to the chase. Right? And then one thing I would emphasize is you really need that, z part. Right? The big promise. It's not just about what you do.

It's not just about who you serve. It's about what they really get out of working with you. And I would, you know, encourage travel agents to think beyond simply the, like, surface level benefits, like saving time, saving money, That kind of thing, and and really dig deep into what your ideal client's true desires are. So, like, in our example, it was, like, Finally making time to make memories as a family. Right? That's like a deeper desire beyond simply saving time. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. Especially for me, I'm a single girl, so I don't have a family, but that even gravitates to me. I'm like, oh, I like I like what that person is saying. Mhmm. I know for myself, I have been trying to clarify my own message because I was big into just group cruising, and now I've kind of niched My own travel business to cruise ship retreats. The strategic travel entrepreneur is is brought to you by Mailbox Power. Harness the power to attract and nurture your clients through something many entrepreneurs have forgotten about, the mailbox.

Create beautiful custom campaigns and automate annual mailings for birthdays and holidays. And with a pro account, get access to mailboxes not currently on Your mailing list that are just waiting for the travel service you offer. Visit my mailbox power affiliate Link in the show notes to get started today and support this podcast. Mhmm. So my who is corporate decision makers and small business entrepreneurs. Mhmm. And what do I do? Plan cruise ship retreats. And the why the immediate why is obviously because it increases retention.

But like you were saying, I need to dive deeper. And really what it is is that you're looking for a transformation people and Yep. Opt, like, Big big picture is looking is you're looking to change the world. So that's something on my messaging, I guess, try to do that I'm working on self personally to, like, really what's gonna grab them.

Yeah. Because even though that, formula Sounds really simple, and it is simple. It has a really strong emotional appeal when you make sure you hit that that z element, the big y at the end.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Total and, I mean, one of my friends who's there in the food industry, they just redid their messaging too. And the first one, I was like, I don't I don't really know why this is important. They gave me their 2nd one, and I'm like, yes. That's good. It was just So exciting.

Right. Right. You know when you nail it. You know when you've nailed your messaging, when you get that kind of reaction, particularly from, like, Your ideal clients, the folks you're trying to reach.

Yeah. And then lastly, I mean, We all know that we're still in COVID times even though I feel that we're a little we're a little Right. Heading in the right direction. And I know a lot of people are hesitant about posting different things about travel because we have this crazy travel shaming that's going on now too. So how can people in their content word things that will still attract the people who are like, I need to get out of here.

Yeah. Yeah. That's that's it's a tough one. It's a tough one for sure. I think it's starting to become a little easier because I think, Like, we have that light at the end of the tunnel. At least I'm I'm hoping. Right? And I yeah. And and so I think now, Folks are starting to think about travel again, whether it's travel this year, maybe not, but they're starting to, like, dream again.

Right? So I think, travel agents can Capitalize on that. Like, you know, simply starting out the posting, starting to dream again about where to go next, and then, I don't know, you can go in a tons of different directions with that. But I would say there's, like, 2 big, messages that travel agents can really hit, in terms of Attracting clients or getting getting their audience to at least start thinking about them. Right? Number 1 is that, okay. You haven't traveled really for past year. Right? So, make that next trip, like, really big. Like, live it up. You know? It's time to forget, you know, those quick weekend trips.

It start it's it's time to play in your bucket list, trip. Right? You've you've, accrued time off. You've accrued, hopefully, you know, vacation savings, And you don't really know how long you have that you know, in terms of being able to Travefy, that's something that the pandemic has certainly proven. Right? So I think travel agents can certainly encourage their, clients, to to dream big for this next big vacation. And then I think the other sort of message that Client Travefy agents should be hitting and really taking advantage of his luck. I think we can start dreaming, but it's complicated. Right? The it's a constantly evolving, situation. You know, we don't quite know when we'll be able to travel.

Well, there's a lot of confusing, entry requirements from country to country. There's a lot of confusing, cancellation clauses at properties and cruises, etcetera. It's a lot to navigate on your own. You really need a pro to lead you all through this. Right? There's absolutely a a opportunity for travel agents to take the helm and say like, hey. Look. It's confusing out there. It's it's constantly changing.

You know, work with us to protect your investment. Work with us to ensure that, You know exactly what requirements you need to meet when you are ready to Travefy, work with us, and if things do have to be canceled, you know, you have someone who's gonna work hard to, get your refund back. Great. I think yeah. It's it's it I think people do wanna start dreaming about and planning travel again, but All of the the constantly evolving, situation and not quite knowing, like, when things will get back to normal, is is making people hesitant. And I think travel agents can really pick up the slack for the traveling public and and really be leaders in this space. So those are sort of the 2 messages I would encourage folks to, try to work into, their content right now. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I was thinking about Because I feel like some consumer wise might be thinking, oh, they're well, everything's kind of shut down, so travel agents aren't probably working either. And so I think another message to add on top of that is to be like, yeah. I'm open. I'm ready. I'm ready for business.

Yeah. I think I think for sure. And, you know, I I I've been hearing chatter from travel agents about how Because people have been cooped up for so long, there's gonna be, like, rising demand possibly all at once. If you start planning earlier, You're gonna get you know, you'll have the most flexibility, the most availability, probably the best pricing. It pays the plan early if you're planning with a Pro who can protect you. So I think that's another messaging. Like, there's there are some good deals out there right now. You know? I never I I don't wanna Encourage people necessarily to lead with, like, deal messaging, but, you know, if if If you're willing to chance it and, again, willing to have a pro planet floor you, you can have a really amazing vacation.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think That's a really good point too is that you identify who in your ideal client is this best for. Because I would say this is like, right now, it's most best for people who like to fly by the seat of their pants and who are willing to take risk and who are a little bit flexible. Yeah.

You have to be flexible. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. It's not gonna be for everybody, but who And there's people that are looking because I've seen lots of agents booking right now, so people are out there. And I know If I could, I'd be getting out there right now myself as well.

Mhmm. My my fear is that, like, as soon as it is deemed, quote, unquote, like, Safe to to travel again. Everybody's gonna rush all in at once. Right? But if you start planning now sort of predicts, okay. Maybe it will be safe at this x date. Okay. Maybe you're wrong and you have to cancel, but if you're right, Man, you're gonna be ready to go, and everyone's gonna be jealous of you as you're taking off on the jet.

Yeah. Because even in my in my own marketing for my travel business, I haven't even, like, mentioned anything with 2021 because in the cruise retreat aspect, you need all that time to plan. So I've already been saying 2022 and 2023. And I Mhmm. Added on, like, you need to start planning now because Mhmm. Cruise ship wise, Space is gonna be ultra limited and people have had their vacations pushed back so much. They're rebooking that far in advance. So in order to, like, Secure yourself a spot because like you said, once the flood gates open, you might not have a spot to go on vacation as soon

as you

want to.

Yeah. And even if this were a normal year for some types of travel, it wouldn't be too soon to start planning for 2022. Right. I mean, we're already into February 2021. Those winter vacations for the next year for certain destinations, You know, planning should already be underway. So

Yeah.

I think there's definitely opportunity for for travel agents to if you've been, like, sort of holding back on Making it known that you're open for business, I think you can sort of start start putting those feelers out, right now.

Yeah. So, I know that you periodically run courses or special programs. Do you have Anything coming up soon in the next few months that people should know about?

So Sort of. Kind of. I so, Rita, you you took the the travel agent website road map course, which is like, a course that teaches you how to write your own website copy.

Mhmm.

So right now, folks can, Get on the wait list for that, and I think what I'm gonna do is I'm actually gonna be closing that, course down for probably 6 months, starting in March, just so I can focus on, like, the current cohort of students. So if this is something you're interested in or you wanna learn more about, definitely hop on the wait list, Like, now so that I can maybe open the doors one more time before I close them for for a longer period. And you can learn All about that, if you go to my website, which is bon vivant copy.com, and then I think under the, like, shop tab, there's there's a link to learn some more about so, yeah, I'm sort of looking to scale that back and maybe bring it back later this year or even next year. So if working on your website is a priority, and and you wanna DIY it, but you want some guidance, definitely definitely get on the list so you can, get started before things close

Yeah. And that's Yeah. I highly recommend that as a student of the course taking it not only for your website, but I think a lot of the tools that you Teach and bring out can be very versatile and used on multiple different platforms as well. Mhmm.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It's and that's because, you know, the the messaging you use on your website is really the foundation for all of your marketing So once you figure out what you're saying on your website, you can easily translate that over to all of your social media sites, you know, your professional bios. It's It's it's really great. You get a lot of bang for your buck that way because you can carry those messages, throughout all of your platforms.

Yes. Yes. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Absolutely. Informative.

I mean Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Stuff, but I I especially like the get and the free. Those are things I'll be implementing.

Yeah. They're like magical words. Yeah. I certainly love to get things, so I'm sure other other folks do as well.

Yes. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, and everybody Have a wonderful week. Thanks, Travefy leave a show rating on your favorite podcast platform. Oh, and don't forget to take a look at the show notes for important information and links. See you next week.