What Travel Brand Partnerships Should I Be On The Lookout For To Expand My Business?

Looking for a ticket to success for your travel business?

Establishing the right travel brand partnerships could be your answer. Travel business partnerships can help you add more value to your customers while expanding the reach of your business.

This method doesn't have to cost you anything, so it's an ideal marketing solution for travel businesses of all sizes.

When it comes to creating these partnerships, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. Most importantly, you need to understand the two types of partnerships that exist. This is necessary for being able to find the right brands to collaborate with.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything your travel business needs to know about successful travel brand partnerships. This includes the type of brands you should look for when it comes to creating these key relationships.

Understanding Travel Brand Partnerships 

Travel brand partnerships are the result of one company collaborating with another brand for some kind of special promotion or offer. The right kind of strategic partnership can result in many benefits to your travel company and the other business. This is in terms of accessing a broader market and offering more value to your customers.

When two brands collaborate, it's essential that they:

• Complement each other instead of competing with each other
• Appeal to the same/similar target audience
• Enter into mutually-beneficial partnerships

Whatever the goal of the travel brand partnership, the three areas mentioned above need to be met in order for the partnership to be successful. Let’s unpack why this is the case.

Partnering Companies Should Always Complement Each Other 

If you want to expand the reach of your travel business, you’ll want to partner with a brand that adds more value to what you currently offer.

You should avoid partnering with an associate travel brand that offers the same kind of services as you. This is because you’ll be competing for the same customers. Instead, choose to partner with a brand that will offer additional value to your customers.

For example, if you offer tours, you should aim to partner with brands like restaurants or unique experience providers. Your clientele will be interested in what you both have to offer, so a strategic alliance will add more value to each business, instead of resulting in competition.

Both Brands Should Appeal To The Same/Similar Target Audience 

In order for business partnerships to be successful, they need to share a common target audience. This is because your partnership needs to add extra value to each brand’s target audience.

If you're using the partnership for marketing and generating more brand awareness, this will only work if the company you're collaborating with has an audience who would be interested in your business.

Mutually-Beneficial Partnerships 

Effective travel brand partnerships work both ways. Your travel business should gain extra value and attract more customers through the other business. And vice versa.

If you run some kind of giveaway or co-promoted marketing campaign, it's important to share the results (business leads) equally.

Again, this emphasizes the point of working with a brand that shares the same target audience, and you both need to benefit from attracting the same customers and prospects through the partnership.

Why Travel Brand Partnerships Are Beneficial 

Travel brand partnerships are one of the best ways to reach more customers and generate more awareness and excitement around your brand.

If you collaborate with a complementary brand, how it works is, both your tour business and the other company will promote the offer. This means you get to tap into that business’s audience - which can boost your customer acquisition significantly.

The right kind of travel brand partnerships will also help to add a lot more value to your customers by upselling your existing travel experiences.

Instead of just offering the same travel services, you can expand your product offering with deals from your partners. This can help you to generate a lot more sales/revenue.

Travel business partnerships offer a great ROI. This is because you don’t have to invest money directly into the partnership. Instead, with the right partnership agreement, both brands can end up promoting each other for free. This results in generating more brand awareness, without investing financially.

Finally, travel brand partnerships will also help to generate more excitement around your brand. Instead of just offering the same old thing, you could run seasonal partnered promotions, special giveaways, and exclusive offers.

These are all highly effective ways to keep your audience engaged, encourage repeat customers, and increase your travel brand marketing efforts.

Two Types Of Travel Brand Partnerships Explained 

When looking for partnerships that will help you as a travel business, you have two options to consider. These include partnerships that:

1. Enhance the traveler experience
2. Expand your business reach

Depending on your business goals, you can choose to focus on one, or both, of these types of partnerships. It's important to understand the differences between them in terms of what kind of brands you can work with and what kind of offers you can create.

Partnerships That Enhance Traveler Experiences 

First, travel brands can run strategic partnerships that offer a better experience, or add-ons to their clients. The goal is to collaborate with a company that can make your existing services more valuable, and appealing and entices potential travelers to book a tour.

Some common examples of these types of partnerships include:

• Partnering with restaurants to offer a different dining experience to your travelers
• Partnering with local artisans or communities to provide your travelers with a souvenir
• Partnering with unique experiences, like spa treatments or adventure activities
• And partnering with any kind of brand that resonates with your travelers

Think about what businesses, brands, or experiences would add additional value to your current business offering, and reach out to them with a partnership proposal. This is a fantastic way to boost revenue and growth opportunities for both companies.

Travel businesses will often run these kinds of partnerships as special one-time offers, or limited-edition experiences. However, you could forge long-term, ongoing relationships with the right partners.

As long as the partnership benefits both of you, this is an excellent strategy for growing your travel business.

How To Establish These Partnerships 

As mentioned, it’s essential to establish travel business partnerships carefully, ensuring that both parties benefit from the agreement. This will make sure that the other business partners are equally invested in the process.

It’s recommended that you ask for different pricing options in a partnership, as this can help make these offers more appealing, as well as more profitable for your brand.

Being able to offer a discounted or a special price will also look more attractive to your customers.

You could also offer the other company exclusive amenities in exchange for becoming the go-to provider. If you offer travel experiences to a certain area and only promote a specific business and experience in that area, this could be a useful way to provide extra value and customers to the partner.

In return, you can provide special offers and experiences to your customers from that partner brand.

Partnerships That Expand Your Reach 

The other kind of travel brand partnership refers to when your travel business sets up strategic partnerships to increase your business reach and marketing efforts.

Instead of enhancing your product offering, these types of partnerships are entirely focused on helping you reach and acquire more customers.

Some examples of these types of partnerships include:

• Partnering with hotels to offer your tour services to guests
• Partnering with tourism bureaus in your country to increase exposure
• Working with travel influencers to spread more awareness around your brand
• Partnering with any other relevant travel brands that could promote your business

As with the other types of travel business partnerships, it's essential that you keep your target audience in mind, and only partner with relevant brands to help you reach this audience. If you get this right, these kinds of partnerships can be a surefire way to grow your business.

One of the main reasons why these partnerships are successful is that people tend to trust recommendations more than brands.

In fact, 84% of customers trust all recommendations they get from other people more than advertisements from companies directly. So, if you can partner with external brands that help promote your business for you, it could be a highly successful way to attract and acquire new customers.

How To Establish These Partnerships 

Once you have found relevant brands to partner with, make sure you give them a reason to partner with and promote your travel business.

This could include providing special discounts, or deals, to customers who book through their recommendations. You could also provide your travel services as part of a package that the partner business offers.

If you work with travel influencers, you will likely have to pay the influencer to access their audience.

Whatever the case, it’s vital that the partnership should always be mutually beneficial.

Using The Right Travel Software For Brand Partnerships 

One of the best ways to enhance your travel brand partnerships is to use the right software. This will make it easier to manage the partnership, and it will help you form a better relationship with your newfound partner.

For example, travel businesses using WeTravel’s platform can make use of the supplier transfer feature. This allows you to pay your partners more effectively via WeTravel, which makes it easier to manage your partnership. You’ll also be able to access valuable insights into how the partnership is performing.

Conclusion 

Brand partnerships and co-promotions are highly effective in the travel industry. There are loads of brands that could complement your travel services. It all depends on who you're targeting and what area you're operating in.

Whether you want to add more value to customers, or reach new audiences, establishing partnerships is one of the best avenues to take.

Understand how to make these relationships mutually beneficial, and be strategic about how you approach potential collaborations. Get this right, and brand partnerships could boost your travel business's success and revenue stream in a big way.