• Visit tourpreneur.com for more show notes.
• Tourpreneur is hosting two conferences! Join us in November in Marrakesh, Morroco for CONNECT:Multi-day, and in February in New York City for CONNECT:Profit. More info here.

In this episode, Lia Garcia, CEO of Practical Wanderlust and Louisville Food Tours, shares her journey from starting a blog to becoming one of the largest travel blogs in the world. She discusses her monetization strategy, which includes ad revenue and affiliate marketing. Leah emphasizes the importance of authenticity, trust, and storytelling in content creation. She also provides insights on partnering with bloggers and tour operators, highlighting the value of building relationships and offering competitive commissions. Leah advises tour operators to focus on personal storytelling and finding ways to differentiate themselves from OTAs. Lia Garcia shares her strategies for affiliate marketing, SEO, email marketing, and scaling a food tour business. She emphasizes the importance of using native affiliate links and leveraging bloggers to promote tours. Lia also discusses her use of keyword research tools like KeySearch and her preference for simple tech tools like WordPress, Flowdesk, and ConvertKit. She highlights the effectiveness of lead magnets in building an email list and explains how she uses automated sequences to target customers at different stages of the buying cycle. Lia also talks about the challenges of scaling her business and the importance of establishing trust and authenticity through storytelling.

Takeaways

• Authenticity, trust, and storytelling are key in content marketing.
• Building relationships with bloggers can drive sales and conversions.
• Tour operators should differentiate themselves from OTAs and offer competitive commissions.
• Personal storytelling and partnerships with bloggers can be effective strategies for tour operators.
• Consider the audience and buying cycle when selecting content creators. Consider using native affiliate links and partnering with bloggers to promote tours
• Use keyword research tools to optimize content and improve SEO
• Create lead magnets to incentivize email sign-ups and use automated sequences to target customers at different stages of the buying cycle
• Choose tech tools that are user-friendly and meet your specific needs
• Scaling a business comes with challenges, such as scheduling and finding the right balance
• Establish trust and authenticity through storytelling to build credibility with customers

00:00 — Introduction and Background

04:42 — Leah's Journey from Blogging to Content Marketing

08:17 — Monetization Strategy: Ad Revenue and Affiliate Marketing

11:48 — Partnerships with Tour Operators and Bloggers

16:33 — Developing a Blogging Strategy for Tour Operators

23:12 — Selecting the Right Content Creators for Partnerships

26:38 — Utilizing Booking Software and Automating Processes

29:28 — Differentiating Between Bloggers and Social Media Creators

33:05 — Optimizing SEO with Keyword Research

35:19 — Effective Email Marketing Strategies

38:15 — Choosing User-Friendly Tech Tools

45:14 — Challenges and Strategies for Scaling a Food Tour Business

53:25 — Building Trust and Credibility through Storytelling

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us for our TourpreneurCONNECT conferences!

November 18-20 we're hosting CONNECT:Multiday in Marrakesh, Morocco, focused on learning and partnership building for multi-day tour businesses. And from February 17-19 we're hosting CONNECT:Profit in New York City for all tour operators looking for the latest sales and marketing skills to grow your business. Visit tourpreneur.com for more information.