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"Truth Bombs on Digital Marketing for Travel Advisors with Wendy Addinsall of Red Grape Social" 

Ros: Hey everybody, it's Ros here. Welcome back to the Travel Agent Achievers podcast. Today, I am joined by a very special guest. We have Wendy from Red Grape Social, and I am thrilled that she's here because I have seen her do amazing things, not only over the last 12 months but definitely over the last few years. Social media, email marketing, and all of these fun things are what we like to talk about here at Travel Agent Achievers. So Wendy, you are the amazing person that I love to come to, and I know that you are helping out a number of our Mastermind and Achievers members. Welcome to the Travel Agent Achievers podcast.

Wendy: Thank you so much, Ros. It is such an honour to be here today, so thank you so much for inviting me. I'm excited.

Ros: I'm excited, and I'm thrilled that you're here. Now, there are a few really cool things about you that I know, but I'm not going to share those. I know, I know. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, sort of where you've come from, your sales and marketing, and definitely your cruising, and where you're at now.

Wendy: Wow, yes, it's a lot. So yes, I have, well, I've been a cruise addict for a long time, from when I first started working with Royal Caribbean. So that was about 17, 18 years ago now, working in the London office and with Tower from the English accent. So I am an Aussie now. I do have both passports, but I'm English. So yeah, I started working for Royal Caribbean as an event manager and doing their sales for events, which was pretty amazing. And back then, they were tri-branded as well. So it was Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises. I think they even were at that point. Yes, I worked across all three brands, doing sort of event management and sales for all of those, and became an absolute cruise addict from doing that. And then from there, I came to Australia, and then I was working with Haman Islands, which was incredible. Beautiful Haman in the Whitsundays, which isn't quite how it looks anymore. We did have to go through a few cyclones, which was interesting, a few closures. So yeah, that wasn't so much fun, but it was amazing to then really become a part of the Australian industry. Because of it being such a prestigious island, such a prestigious resort, I really got kind of thrown into meeting all of the amazing travel agents that we were selling to, and just really became a part of the industry, which was awesome. So I was with them for four years, I think, and then from there to Virgin Australia. So Virgin Australia then moved me, obviously, into airlines, so from cruise lines to islands to airlines, kind of that whole side of the industry, which is very different, and I learned a lot from it, but I also learned that selling seat pitches and meals is nowhere near as much fun as selling beautiful helicopter Whitehaven picnics and all that kind of fun stuff.

Ros: Very different. Yes, we love Richard and Virgin as a brand, but yeah, definitely different.

Wendy: Right?

Ros:
Very different. Cruise lines, resorts, airlines, they are all very different, but all of these were also from, you know, the sales and marketing world, right? And promoting, as you say, it's about the pretty pictures. And they're very different styles of pictures across all three different things.

Wendy: They absolutely are, yes, and but I guess what I also learned that I really loved was I really loved the luxe space. So I loved what we were able to do with Haman and, yeah, just the unique experiences and how like the writing that I used to do. So obviously I was doing kind of the sales and the proposals and things like that, and I was working with the brides as well as groups. So we're really kind of setting the scene with the marketing of, you know, picture yourself on beautiful Whitehaven Beach, and you're going to helicopter in with the champagne, you know, picnic. And we could really do that. And I loved that. I've always loved writing, but I really loved that side of it. So, yes, I guess when I kind of went to Virgin, I was like, Oh, this isn't as much fun.

Ros: It's a totally different story that you've got to tell.

Wendy: It is, and it was interesting because it taught me that, and it taught me how to change how I wrote and how to change that marketing and understanding different customer pain points for each of them. Because you kind of go, what's the pain point for islands? Yeah, it's, it's not. But we sell into brides, we were selling to groups, we're selling to luxe people, and then Virgin you're suddenly on a very different market, because I joined when they had just changed from Virgin Blue as well. So we were the Challenger brand. So it was kind of an interesting time to be there where we were hard with the sales. We were hard with marketing, trying to pull people over from Qantas, so we had to be very strategic with how we did that. So again, it was just that different mindset that we had to use of, how do we pull people from their very, very precious Qantas frequent flyer points and their statuses, to pull them into this kind of, you know, low-cost carrier, but try to make it kind of business, but kind of not quite there yet. And it was, you know, it's a lot of psychology, a lot of thinking of the brand and the positioning and that kind of thing. So yes, I did that. And then back to Royal Caribbean, which I had really missed, and back into my cruise space, which is kind of my happy place.

Ros: Into the happy place. And of course, I mean, Royal Caribbean has grown over the years. And as you said, you started, and it was tri-branded. But then when you came back into the brand, it was just the one brand that you were focused on, but a lot more ships.

Wendy: Yes. So actually, when I joined in Sydney, we were still tri-branded. Azamara, I think, went first, and then actually they split. So I was still tri-branded celebrity and royal when I was there, and then they split, literally a few weeks, almost weeks or months, very shortly afterwards, anyway.

Ros: A lot of different experience in speaking to different clients and customers, the luxury space, the group space, events, and from a cruise, a resort and land-based, and then also into the air as well. That's quite diverse in everything that you've done. So, what, I mean, where did Red Grape Social come from? I do know that you love red wine.

Wendy: You do, and that is absolutely where the name came from. So, from leaving Royal Caribbean, I actually quit to become a full-time cruise blogger, which was very exciting. So that's how my cruise blogging came into it. Because, yeah, I guess I kind of missed that part of the story. That's where I continued from that part. And so that's me on cruises for a couple of years. My husband's a cruise director, so very lucky that it meant I was able to be on ships with him for a couple of years, and I could then use that sales and marketing into my cruise blogging space, which taught me a whole lot. There's a lot to blogging, I don't know, it sounds super exciting, and it is, I'm not going to lie. You know, going into amazing destinations, different ports, and hanging out on a luxury ship for two years was pretty amazing. But I also had to learn what it means to get your blog ranked on Google. So that was a bit I hadn't really done. So I really had to learn, firstly, how to build a website, and I don't like shortcuts. So I wanted to learn WordPress. I wanted to do it properly. So I learned WordPress. I had to learn SEO, like, really deep dive SEO. Like, how do you get that rank? Because you're competing with a lot of people in the blogging space.

Ros: SEO is search engine optimisation for anybody that doesn't know. So if you go on Google and you type in 'Royal Caribbean cruise with a destination,' for instance, it's about getting ranked so that you are towards the top of that search, and that’s search engine optimisation. So it is, I mean, that's so in-depth to, you know, get ranked, but it's one of those things that you need to master if you want to get into blogging and writing. And I think even with social media and YouTube these days as well, you need to know a bit about it.

Wendy: Absolutely, 100%. I think that's what helped me with my social media is because SEO, so search engine optimisation, is whether you know you're using it or not. You kind of are. Hashtags are actually a form of SEO, using keywords in your bios, in your captions—that's actually how Instagram is finding you these days. So SEO is actually everywhere and used in so many places, but you probably don't realise how much it is actually being used. So yes, learning all of that, putting it together. My degree is actually in professional broadcasting, so the filming part was really easy for me. But yeah, kind of putting all that together to then create that, you know, the blog that I had, and it ranked really well. And I was, gosh, can't remember who the voting company was, but I was, like, in the top 80 cruise bloggers in the world in my first year. It was, like, 10,000 hits. Like it kind of went nuts, which was really exciting. But yeah, so what I was able to do was use that to set up Red Grape Social because I felt like I had that really big, kind of rounded picture of how everything comes together. Because people kind of go, "Oh, social media is just Instagram or Facebook," and it's really not. And if you're just posting on Instagram or Facebook, I'm sorry to break it to you, but that is not going to get you a full marketing plan. That's not going to generate leads, that's not going to get you followers, it's not enough. So I guess having all of that different experience—having the SEO, having the website, understanding the bigger picture of how everything links in together and email marketing—which, anyone who does follow me, knows I'm very passionate about email marketing. I'm sure we'll talk about that in a minute, Ros. But it all has to work together. So yeah, Red Grape Social for me was that. Then the horrible C-word that totally destroyed our blogging career kicked us off the ships and had us completely grounded.

Ros: You were not only on the ships at that time when the pandemic hit?

Wendy: We were on a world cruise. Wow. It was supposed to be a record-breaking world cruise, and it did not get very far, yes. So yeah, it was pretty huge for us. We were actually living in Penang at the time, so yeah, in Malaysia, and that's where everything was. We were on the ships, and then we were in Malaysia. And because of COVID, and because we got, you know, the ship ended, we couldn't get back into Malaysia. They shut it down for anyone who wasn’t a citizen. So we actually, we lost a home. We lost everything, like, literally everything. So my husband's mum, my mother-in-law, allowed us to stay with her for about a year. And of course, Victoria did that whole lockdown thing.

Ros: So you moved to Harrier as well? My gosh, this is like a double, triple whammy that you got sucker punched with.

Wendy: We really did. I mean, I know there are a lot of really sad stories out there, so, you know, I'm one of the many, many horrible stories of us in travel. But yeah, we got shut down for a year in Stawell in the Grampians, which, you know, no offence to my mother-in-law, it's a beautiful area, but it's not really where you want to be for a year. There’s not a whole lot there, but there are some very good wineries. So we did drink a lot of red wine. And so I guess for me, also, I started Red Grape because a lot of the travel agents that I used to work with so closely—I was account managing them from Royal Caribbean—had shut their bricks and mortar. So they're used to customers walking into the door and being able to speak to them, sit down with them, and not only had the world shut down, but they no longer had that. So I was literally reaching out and/or they were coming to me, but I was able to say, "Let's set up some socials for you. Let’s set a website up for you. Let’s move you to an online space." Because a lot of them actually had no idea how to do that. So because I was able to help them, I kind of thought, well, maybe this is a business. Maybe I can actually make this out of something. And because I was, you know, kind of becoming a bit time-poor, helping as many people. So that's actually where Red Grape Social started, was from me reaching out to help travel agents. Travel agents coming to me just saying, "How do we move forward from this? How do we change our bricks and mortar travel agency to be a mobile travel agency to kind of keep going?" And, yeah, that’s where it all began.

Ros: That's amazing. And, of course, the red wine comes into that as well, and the location everywhere that you were, but there is definitely—I mean, for me, I have seen you are more visible amongst advisors and in the industry, especially over the last 12 months. I know you've been doing it for a number of years now, but there are certain things that I see you come out with that I go, "Oh my gosh, Wendy is fired up today, and she is so passionate about this," and seeing you speak on stage or having you at different events, it's almost like there are things that piss you off. And from what we do as travel advisors and how we promote ourselves. So can you just tell us, you know, a couple of those things that you go, "Oh man, I wish you guys just knew this so that you could cut through," or that you didn’t just follow everybody else. What are some of those things that just frustrate you or piss you off about what we potentially do as advisors because we may not know, and you don't know what you don't know, so a little bit of guidance is always helpful.

Wendy: Absolutely. So this is what Charlie and Anna from Destination Webinars and Travel Agent Finder have called "Wendy's truth bombs." They’re just like, "Oh, she’s off again." So #WendysTruthBombs is when Wendy gets fired up, yes. And you're right. I guess there’s a lot of things that frustrate me, and because I've been on both sides—because I've worked for suppliers and I've worked for agents—I can see what works and how things aren't working, but they could if we just kind of came together. So yes, I guess my number one is when suppliers provide those tiles with their graphics and their text all over it. So, you know, "free upgrade" or, you know, whatever, "$150 onboard credit," all that kind of stuff. And it’s a little—you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, right? This, right? This white tile with the text written on it and their branding on it, and every single travel agent posts that same tile, and maybe even with a copy-and-paste caption. And for someone who is a potential customer who may be following a few different travel agents, think what their feed looks like because they are literally scrolling through that same tile and the same text over and over again, and that's why people aren't standing out. But on top of that, also Instagram hates copied content. So if Instagram sees the same piece of content go out over and over again, it's going to kill your reach because it wants to show unique and original content, so it will kill it. So again, everyone who's kind of posting going, "Oh yeah, those posts never work for me," that's why. Because it's boring, because everyone's posting the same thing, and Instagram is not giving you the reach because it's not an original piece of content. So please stop using those. That would be my number one.

Ros: Just on that, then when you say original piece of content, it is just using the same, exactly the same thing. So if a supplier is saying, "Here's a social media tile," it's just using that one piece. What if you also have extra tiles there, or you're using, or a reel, for instance, and it has an overlay, like is that considered the same?

Wendy: No. So if you make your own changes to it, it then becomes original, right? So that’s why I say from suppliers, if they can supply so clean—when I say clean, I mean no text on top—if they can supply agents with a whole library, and some of them do, some of them do it really well. Some of them are terrible at it, but if they can supply, like, 100 or even 1,000 images that are clean, that allows travel agents to take those images and put their own text over the top, or to mix them up, or to put them into a reel. You know, you can even use the templates in reels. It can be super easy to do, but it then becomes an original piece of content because you’ve created it yourself. You haven’t just taken the exact same one from the supplier’s website and just put it out there like everybody else, right?

Ros: So that’s the difference. It's not that you are using exactly the same thing as everybody else, but if you make adjustments to it, then it's your own, and it’s original, whether it’s a reel, whether it’s a story, whether it’s a Facebook post or an Instagram post or something on TikTok, as long as it is original in a way that you’ve made adjustments to it, it’ll be okay, correct?

Wendy: Correct. And then also the caption. So if you're also copying and pasting the caption, that’s still just boring, quite frankly, but it’s going to make people flick through because, again, they’re seeing the same thing over and over again. So what I would say is, you know, many of you have already been on the product, right? So if we’re talking about, you know, say, a Regent cruise ship, many of you will have been on for meals if you haven’t cruised or you've done a ship inspection. So talk about why you loved it. Don’t just use the suppliers' content, because also think the suppliers are promoting what’s in it for them as well. You know your customers. So Regent doesn’t know your customers. So you talk to what your customers want to know. If you know your customers love the dining aspect, talk about what you loved when you were on that ship. What did you think when you walked into the Compass Rose? Were you like, "Oh my goodness, this place is amazing. I love the chandeliers." You know, talk through all the different things, the beautiful—I think they’re Versace plates that they use. Talk about those things because that makes it personal to you. So it’s showing your authority, it’s showing your experience, and it’s talking directly to your own customers. So that is going to set your piece of content miles apart from Regent's same caption, same image that everybody else is posting.

Ros: Yep, absolutely. Do you think that there are some trends that are happening at the moment in this area? So I love that you're saying, use your own stuff. And I know for myself, I just look at my phone and go, "Oh my gosh, I need to sort all of these photos into, you know, one theme or one destination or one cruise ship inspection." But do you think that there are any trends that are happening at the moment? I’m sure that there are across different areas that you think we should jump on, or are trends like, they just come and go, stick with what you know?

Wendy: That's a really great question. Trends do work sometimes. So there are certain trends like, at the moment, shareable content is going nuts. So I want to say shareable content can be anything like a meme or something that’s just giving a ton of value that people connect with and go, "Oh yeah, I see myself in that." So if you think, you know, everyone’s kind of talking about this, you know, micro-travelling. You know, "I can fit three weeks’ worth of clothes into seven kilos. Aren’t I amazing?"

Ros: Don't trip that! I’m tripping for three weeks on carry-on. I’m like, how are you doing that? I go for a weekend and I need to check in a piece of luggage. Like seriously.

Wendy: Exactly, me too. Because I want options! I don’t even know what I feel like.

Ros: Right? Like, when I packed, I thought, "Black dress." Now I’m like, "Oh, I feel like a black jumpsuit."

Wendy: Exactly! So if you put a meme out that, you know, literally has you with a whole ton of suitcases and goes, "Sorry, I’m not buying into this 7kg—I like my choices," people are going to go, "Yeah, me too!" And they’ll share that.

Ros: It's relatable.

Wendy: Exactly. It's relatable, they see themselves in it, it's connective, they’ll share it. So that kind of content is doing really well at the moment. But as you said, ultimately, there are some things that are—they’re never on trend, but they're always going to work. And that is just being you, being connective, talking to your audience. So as I kind of mentioned before, it's knowing the audience’s pain points, knowing what it is that your customers are looking for from you, and speaking to that. So, telling that story, saying why they should book with you. Why do you do what you do? Why do you love what you do? Why are you an expert at that? That is never going to go off-trend, that is always going to work, that is always going to be connective to anyone who comes along, and your new audience—that's going to make them go, "Oh, let me dig a bit deeper here. Who is this person? I think I might want to work with them."

Ros: Why do you think, though, that people don't do that? Like talking about themselves and their own experience and their knowledge and their expertise. I mean, I have my own theories around it, but why do you think that they don't do it?

Wendy: I think it is a lot of that imposter syndrome, and I think people feel that they are the same as everyone else. So it's like, "Oh, well, I'm just a travel agent." I hate it when people say that!

Ros: Me too. Oh my gosh, it's one of my pet peeves!

Wendy: Yeah, let's get on a high horse now! Roslyn, yeah, you're not just a travel agent at all. Think of all the amazing experiences that you've done, think of so much advice and knowledge and all the things that you do. How many happy clients you've got who've come back, and you've literally made their dreams come true, their memories that will last a lifetime—and you did that! Or something went wrong, and you went above and beyond, and you fixed that, that—you know, if they just booked online, they wouldn't have had that, they don’t have that care factor. You’ve done that because you care, and that’s what sets you apart, is telling your story, and it is the care aspect. I think that’s the bit that we kind of forget about, or travel agents forget about, is that is what sets you apart. That’s why someone’s going to book with you. It’s, yeah, talking that through, talking about why you're so passionate, why you do what you do.

Ros: I think that there's another part of that as well. It’s almost like, "Oh, doesn't everybody know that? Like, why do I need to talk about that?" I mean, surely everybody knows that seven kilos is the carry-on amount. But the reality is that a lot of people don't know what you know. And I get caught up in this all the time because I’m like, "Oh, don't people know that?" I mean, that for me, I feel—sometimes I feel it's like a little bit silly. Should I really be sharing this sort of stuff? What's your experience on that from an advisor’s perspective as well, and from a supplier’s, where you see people posting things, and you’re like, "Yes! Go for it, that’s awesome, I’m so glad you shared that." Or is it like, "Do you really think you should?"

Wendy: 100%, I think they don’t realise how much knowledge they have. Do you know something also I think is things like connection times? And when you go into Facebook groups, and you see people going, "Oh, I’ve got like a 45-minute connection time in Chicago, that’ll be alright." And I just go, "Oh my goodness. Are you kidding me? It will take you 45 minutes just to even get anywhere!" Like, you know.

Ros: Oh my gosh! I just had two and a half hours trying to get through customs in LA recently! That was crazy.

Wendy: Right! And you know you need at least three hours. But someone who doesn't know that will go, "Oh, 45 minutes, I’m just going from one plane to another, I’ll be alright." They don’t know that, but travel agents do! So I absolutely do think, you know, the more that you give your knowledge—and you can never give too much knowledge. I don’t think anyone's laughing at you, and I think maybe that’s where people think, "Oh, people are going to think I'm silly."

Ros: Yeah, that’s always the fear, right? Fear, imposter syndrome. Is someone going to think that I’m silly for sharing this? Oh, is this really basic knowledge that everybody should know? But they—you know, they don’t. You don’t know what you don’t know. And so to share your knowledge is certainly going to help your clients at the end of the day.

Wendy: 100%, yeah. I think fear holds back a lot of people from showing up in person as well. So I mean, reels are so good if you're trying to grow your account, and you're wanting to bring new eyes onto your account—reels are the way to do it. It’s still—it used to be that reels were everything. Like, if you weren’t doing reels, you weren’t going to get anywhere. Now, there’s more of a balance. We’ve kind of—you know, carousels are working really well. As I said, shareable memes are doing really well. But reels are still the number one platform to bring—or format to bring new eyes to your account. But people are so scared to do it because they don’t...

Ros: Everybody just goes to the reels button, as an example, on Instagram down the bottom, and they doom scroll. Yeah, why? When you say it brings more people to your account, how does that actually happen?

Wendy: You don’t have to get into it technically, but yeah. No, it is literally that people like video, right? We’ve become a video generation. We want something fast. We want it quick. We want those three seconds, and then we move on to the next thing. So that's why YouTube is so big, and so reels are the same. People kind of get bored of just looking at static posts. They want the videos. So when you look at your stats—obviously, I do a lot of analytics. A lot of my clients, we go in, we see what posts are actually working, what formats are working, but reels always have the highest number of views. So you're always going to get more views on a reel than you will from any other piece of content because of exactly how people are scrolling—they’re just flicking through, just on the reels tab. So it’s the number one. But people are scared to show up and do it, and people are scared to talk to the camera. And you don’t have to talk to the camera. I think that’s what people are scared of—that they’re going to have to snap, go, "Hi, my name is such and such, I work for..." You don’t have to do that. You really don’t. And if you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. But you can literally upload the photos that you’ve taken, take some B-roll—so your background roll of, you know, when you're on holiday or when you're doing a ship inspection or a site inspection, you're taking videos. I know everyone’s...

Ros: Everybody is doing it. As I said, I reckon there’s 17,000 photos and videos and all the rest of it on my phone. But putting those into those folders so that I can share them, I know if I go on a ship inspection, there’s at least 100 photos and short video clips. You're walking into a room, how many advisors are walking into a hotel room or onto a cruise ship, and they take a video of that cabin. Everybody does it, right? Whether it's a photo or a video, because they say they want to come back to it later. A lot of people don’t come back to it later. But what you can do with that content is certainly be putting that out on social media and showcasing that, hey, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, this is my area of expertise.

Wendy: Yes, it just brings that authority, like you and I were talking about earlier, of visibility, right? It’s getting yourself out there and showcasing yourself to bring in more of those ideal clients. And we talk about niche, we talk about ideal clients a lot. Who you want to attract—what’s your opinion at the moment on social media and attracting audiences? Do you think you can sell on social media still?

Ros: You can, but you can't do it just by sticking three posts up a week. I think that's the key thing, and I think you have to be strategic about how you're selling. So it kind of goes back to what I said with my blogging days—you’re building a web. It's not just one or two things. That web is having a website, having Instagram, having Facebook, having email marketing. It’s, you know, showing up on Google, having your profile—all of these things all work together. So it takes so many more touch points these days for someone to want to work with you than what it used to. Yeah, I think it's something like, it used to be sort of 7,000 ads, and now we're at like 14,000 ads we’re exposed to per day—it’s nuts.

Wendy: Crazy, yeah.

Ros: So you have to keep showing up. You can't just post once or twice and think that's enough—that won’t sell for you. But if you are creating a really rounded, a really holistic marketing strategy, which does include email marketing—very strong, that has to be part of the whole plan—but also, it's how are you attracting the people that you want? So I also see people who are just smashing with price points. So, "Oh, amazing, you know, early bird sale, discount, three nights for $200," and I'm kind of like, "Is that really who you want to attract?"

Wendy: Exactly, that is my point 100% as well. Is that who you want to attract? And if it is, great, because it could be about volume, and that you've got a very slick processing funnel that people can go through to book that, so there's minimal touch points. But it's really down to who are you wanting to attract.

Ros: 100%. I agree with you on that. Now, just coming back to email marketing, because we've spoken about it a couple of times—SEO, email marketing, we've got social media, we've got Google, all the different places that we need to show up, including on Travel Agent Finder, one of our favourite platforms with our good friend, Anna Shannon—that's for advisors here in Australia. So I apologise to all of our American listeners, but we've got lots of places that we can show up that will give us a really good digital footprint or blueprint across, you know, the interwebs. So when you talk about email marketing and being part of your marketing strategy, this is something that you're very passionate about. I know when we talk about it inside the Achievers, you know, open rates and how many times you're sending it out, what’s your sort of foundation for email marketing? Because this is where you are connecting with or you are receiving a client’s email address, you're putting it onto your database, and then you are sending them regular emails. What’s your foundational suggestions on this?

Wendy: Absolutely. So I generally—so once you set up your email, I guess the first thing you need to do is, you know, choose which system you use. People use MailChimp. I love AWeber. I actually think MailChimp is really expensive.

Ros: When I get into the numbers, absolutely! I’m the same with—I think ConvertKit, you know, you can use it for free, and it's great. You know, there are so many different options. So you’ve got to have that email marketing system initially, and there are plenty out there. What’s the next thing?

Wendy: So then it's set up that nurture sequence, also known as a welcome sequence. And this is basically once someone signs up. I think we now expect a response. So if we don’t get that response, we’re gonna go, "Did it work? Did they care? They don’t care. I just gave them my email address, and they don’t care."

Ros: They don’t care, why didn’t they send me the first email?

Wendy: Absolutely! So we have to have that, you know, and I’d say maybe five to six as automated. And that’s the fun thing—that it’s automated. You only write them once, and then you just set it up, and it’s just going to trigger through. And then from there, you’re then putting them onto your newsletter, which should go out regularly. Now, I guess, in an ideal world, the more the better, but we're all busy—travel agents are super busy. We can't, you know, spend hours just writing emails. So I would say at least once a week would be ideal for you to keep yourself front of mind.

Ros: Still a lot! So once a week—I know a lot of advisors are saying, "Oh, you know, once a month, can I get away with that?" Why do you say once a week?

Wendy: Because I think once a month you're going to get lost into a spam folder, whereas once a week you are front of mind. But it's not just sending out content for the sake of content. It needs to be good, interesting content as well. So give them something that they actually want to hear, and make it personal again. I think people are scared to be personal with emails, and so they're just sending out the latest offers. So, you know, a supplier is sending an offer on XYZ, and you stick that in, and you go, "There you go," it’s just a load of offers. They can get that from anyone.

Ros: Yeah, they get that from their Qantas emails, right?

Wendy: Exactly, exactly. So it needs to be from you. And it's the same as I say with the content. Have that personal aspect. Why are you promoting this thing? What have you done? I mean, your week can literally be, "This is what I’ve done this week. These are the suppliers I’ve met with. These are the inspections I may have done this week. These are some cool events that I’ve been to this week." All of those, exactly as you were saying, Ros, is building that authenticity, it’s building that authority, it's showing that you're invested in your business, it's showing that you're invested in always keeping ahead of updates and new products and new offers—all these things. But it’s personal. So people want to hear from you, and you're building that "know, like, trust," yeah. So that’s really important. And that’s why I say once a week—because I think otherwise, they tend to forget about you, and you tend to just go into that spam box.

Ros: It’s remaining front of mind. It’s having the email once a week. Best practice—having three to five, you’re suggesting for social media posts a week go out, or do you think every day is still important?

Wendy: I don’t think every day because I think—if you can, amazing, but I think it's a lot of work. And it’s, you know, people generally don’t have time. I would say five times a week is kind of optimum for your socials. But you can repurpose. You're not having to keep redoing every one from scratch. Because, oh, they go, "Oh God, I’m talking about the same thing over and over." No one is seeing that same piece of content over and over. It’s new eyes on it all the time. So if you create a reel, turn it into a carousel, turn it into a static post. Don’t keep reinventing the wheel. You can, you know, literally have key pillars—which you know, your content pillars—and then we just keep on reworking them, yeah, and repurpose so you get more bang for your buck.

Ros: And you're right, you're working smarter, not harder. We're all about that. We’re all about, you know, oh my gosh, all the hours! No, because...

Wendy: Exactly!

Ros: I think even just talking about this now—it sounds like a lot of work. But do you have a system or a process that—I mean, you talk to your clients with on how to actually set this up? Because I just heard you say you've got your key content pillars. We’ve obviously got email marketing. I use themes, for instance. So when I do any of my planning sessions with our Achievers, I say, right, every month have a theme. And we know in the industry what's potentially coming up. So here in Australia, being October, you’ve got cruise month, right? I know for the Americans, their cruise month is in January, but they’re starting to do the planning now for it. So having content pillars, or what I think is themes, would that be the same sort of recommendation that you have—start with your theme, start with your content pillar, and then break it down, and you can do the planning for this? And maybe you block out a day or half a day, or even a couple of hours to just say, let’s write it out so that it takes out the guesswork. Because I think that’s another thing that advisors really get caught up in is, "Oh my gosh. What am I going to create tomorrow?" I've got to keep thinking about this, it’s just another thing to do, so I won’t do it. Do you find that those hurdles come up as well, and what do you suggest for content pillars or themes and coming up with your plan?

Wendy: Yeah, absolutely. So I really recommend mind mapping. Behind me, I have my whiteboard where I literally—and I know you're on a podcast, you can't see, but Ros can see it here—so my mind map is basically where I will think of each of those themes, or think of your specialty. So if you are a cruise specialist, think of everything that you can talk about to do with cruise. So is it river cruise? Is it ocean cruise? Is it expedition cruise? And then we can break it down into your onboard entertainment, your activities, your excursions, the destinations, and break down all of these things and literally mind map it out so you end up with a ton of content on your board. And every single one of those can be a post. So then we can also break that down. So exactly as you said, Ros, we will have a theme of the week—can be one of those things. And we can talk about that piece of content to say we’re talking, you know, dining on a river cruise. We can talk about all the different restaurants and who are each of them for. And we can do one as an educational post. So educational, like, "This is what they have. These are the different restaurants. This is who they're for, whether they're included or not." Then we can do an inspirational post. So, "Did you know? Picture yourself in this restaurant eating this." It's amazing, or, you know, we're putting them in the picture. We're making it inspiring for someone to look at that post and go, "Oh, I want to be there." And then we can do an offer with a connected piece. So, "I love this because it's XYZ, and we can do an offer of XYZ. Contact me for more details." So we kind of take them on a journey, but that one piece of content on a huge board that we've created is then one week's worth.

So we put all of that into a spreadsheet. I have my content planner, and we break it down into every platform, or you break it down into weeks and your content, and then they just work through the spreadsheet. So it’s all there. Doing that initial planning work makes it so much easier that you then know exactly what you're talking about and exactly what your campaigns are, as you said. So, you know, cruise month is now, so you can literally break all that down, and you've got—you know what you're posting week in, week out because it’s all planned out. So if you do it last minute, you're probably going to fail because your brain’s all mush, and you're trying to get something out quickly, and it's just—if you plan it out, it's going to be so much easier for you.

Ros: The structure and just to have that brain space. And this is one thing that I regularly talk to advisors about, is being able to step away from your business and the day-to-day doing in your business because you need to be able to have that helicopter view as a business owner. And you know, the advisors that I know you work with, and the same with me, they are business owners. And to be able to separate time for planning and working on the business is just as important as working in it and getting the work done. So I love that you have that plan, that you’re obviously looking forward, you're always trying to guide the advisors to be thinking bigger and also just get organised. It's a really big deal. Can you share, you know, I know that you work with a lot of advisors, but some of the success stories of people that you've worked with that you go, "Wow, look at where they were and look at where they are now." Have you got something that immediately comes to mind?

Wendy: Um, I think actually what I really love—and because I do talk about reels, I love the power of reels—not enough agents are doing it. So I did a workshop recently, and I think about 60 agents were there, and we literally broke down, "This is how you create a reel specific to your business." So we broke down some content ideas, we brainstormed some ideas for them, we sent them out so they all had cameras, they all had tripods, and they knew exactly what they were filming. And they filmed these reels, and we created the hooks to go on the screen, we created the captions together—which again, your hook, the story, a call to action. Like, always have to have those. And then they posted them. We made them post them then and there so that, you know, there was no thinking, "No, don’t be scared, just get it up there now, hit post," and then we all shared them. And the feedback I got from that, from so many people, was like, "I have never done that before. It’s now my highest-viewed piece of content. I got three enquiries straight away from it." It was so cool—just kind of them seeing how beneficial creating a reel can be. And it didn’t take them long, but just getting it out there, getting over the fear, posting it, and it just gave them those instant results on another scale.

So that was kind of working with independent agents. And then I'm also working with some bigger agencies. And with them, it is doing more of that holistic plan. So with them, we’re doing Facebook advertising, as well as blog posts, as well as EDMs, as well as their LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook—a blog post and an EDM with Facebook ads. So we’re creating that bigger whole web coming together, and they're getting some really great results. So using the Facebook advertising, we do lead magnets, and through really good targeted lead magnets, we’re bringing in exactly the clients we want, but we're also bringing that lead cost right down. So lead cost, if you do it badly, can be around $20. We’re doing it around $3 at the moment—$2 to $3—which is amazing. And then we’re bringing them into that email list, we’re doing the nurture, and then we’re turning them into converted clients. So that’s really awesome, but it’s obviously on a different scale, so it depends on people’s budgets as to where they’re at. But both work well, from just getting a reel out and getting success, or from doing a bigger picture and going all in and then getting some, you know, we’re getting about 60 new leads a week at the moment through lead magnets and Facebook advertising. So that’s exciting.

Ros: I love those sorts of results! It’s bringing the people in, nurturing them, taking care of them, that then results in the funnel getting smaller, and the bookings then coming through as well, and working with those ideal clients, and understanding who it is that you want to work with. But you're attracting them through the right processes, and the nurture sequence is there as well. That’s so awesome, Wendy, I love that! And I love hearing all of the success that is happening for advisors out there at the moment, and especially the ones that you're working with as well. How can people find you? So if they want to work with you, or they want to follow what your truth bombs are and recommendations, what's the best way for people to get in contact?

Wendy: So Instagram is super easy. So I'm just Red Grape Social. I’m Red Grape Social on everything. You can find me on Instagram, you can find me on my website, you can sign up for my newsletter. I think Ros will have it on the show notes from here, but also you can find that on my website, you can find that on my Instagram. And I'm also—so yes, my newsletters, I send them out every Tuesday, of course, every week, with my Wendy’s Truth Bombs. So there’s a ton of info in there, so do sign up, I’m sure you will love them. And I’m also launching something pretty exciting. So there’s a lot that's obviously changing with the industry at the moment that we’re moving forwards—new tech, AI—and that’s something that I have been working with, creating my own bots that can really help travel agents. So bad AI is horrible. Good AI—amazing, it’s going to save you a ton of time. So I am about to launch something that is also going to help travel agents in how to use AI properly, and also includes Facebook advertising, the lead magnets, and all of the things together. So if you sign up to my newsletters, you will find out when that is coming soon.

Ros: I love it. I love it. And get the insights. Wendy, that is absolutely awesome. So make sure you track Wendy down on Red Grape Social across all the platforms. We will link to everything in the show notes. There is so much great stuff that has come out of our chat today. I love it, Wendy. You are an inspiration to travel advisors all over the world, and I just want to say thank you for sharing your truth bombs, your knowledge, your background, and experience to help all of us become more visible in what we do as well. So thank you so much for being here today, and I can’t wait to do more work with you in the future.

Wendy: Oh, thank you so much, Ros! It’s been an absolute pleasure. I love working with you too, and thank you so much for having me. I look forward to doing more with you soon.

Ros: Alright everybody, wow! I don’t even know what to say. What an amazing conversation we’ve just had with Wendy. Make sure you sign up for her newsletter—I can guarantee it is amazing. But we've got links to everything inside the show notes here. Thank you for joining us today, and I’ll catch up with you all very, very soon. Bye for now!