TrekAmerica and Grand American Adventures Announce a January Sales Surge
New Marketing and PR Approach Grows Sales by 33%
Biggest Sales Month EVER Seen in the Brand’s 42-Year History
London, 20th February – TrekAmerica and Grand American Adventures, tour operators specialising in small group adventures to the Americas, have revealed that sales across both brands increased by 33% in January compared to the same period in 2013.
It has put the dramatic sales increase down to its new approach to marketing and PR, which began last Summer. TrekAmerica and its sister company, Grand American Adventures, decided to adopt an entirely new marketing and PR strategy, which involved refreshing all communications and appointing Fred Marketing to run a proactive PR campaign.
As well as revamping both company brands, new marketing initiatives have included brand and destination specific videos, blog posts that give live stories on the road, top destination advice, customer reviews on tour pages and a big push on social media through PR communications and acquisition campaigns such as TrekAmerica Toons.
Hayley Griffiths, senior marketing manager, says: “We’ve enjoyed growing both brands over the last few years and felt that it was a good time to refresh our approach to marketing and communications. Integrating social media and blogs into our marketing strategy was always one of our key objectives and we are delighted with the results so far.
“Most of our marketing and design is run in-house, the only thing we outsource is PR, so it was important to appoint an agency that had a deep understanding of blogging, social media and PR, with the ability to think wider than their immediate remit. It is not enough anymore to simply send out a press release and hope for pick-up, you need to form intelligent, well-thought out stories and campaigns which integrate into your overall marketing plan. Fred have achieved this and we’re delighted to have them on board.”
The fresh PR approach aligns social media, traditional media and blogger relations into one targeted campaign. Fred Marketing, a fully-serviced marketing and PR agency based in Hull, are responsible for all PR activity across TrekAmerica and Grand American Adventures. The account team have developed a number of innovative campaign ideas that have been created to target core brand audiences with engaging content and to ultimately drive sales. Its current campaign, #Blog4Trek, was launched last week and is already generating a lot of interest in the blogosphere and amongst key target audiences.“
Michelle Smithson, senior PR manager at Fred Marketing, says: “We are delighted to have been a huge part of such a successful initiative. We strongly believe in aligning social media, blogging, online and offline PR into one campaign in order to deliver consistent communications and positive results that impact a business’s bottom line. It’s all about communicating the right message, to the right audience in the right way, at the right time to ensure that PR ideas don’t just create a piece of coverage, but drive sales and deliver a strong ROI.”
Hayley concludes: “We are pleased to have had such a great start to 2014 and hope that it continues. We have lots more exciting ideas up our sleeves and look forward to rolling them out throughout the year. “
For more information, please see www.trekamerica.com or www.grandamericanadventures.com or call:
0333 999 7951 - TrekAmerica
0333 999 7961 – Grand American Adventures
-ENDS-
About TrekAmerica
- Regarded as the North American specialists, TrekAmerica has been the leader in small group adventure tours to North America since 1972
- TrekAmerica tours have been specifically created for young, international travellers aged between 18-38 with year round departures and a choice of over 50 unique itineraries from 3 to 80 days in length, covering the United States, Canada, Alaska and Central America
About Grand American Adventures
- Small group tour operator Grand American Adventures offers a wider selection of tours and more varied styles of travel than any other North American tour operator
- The operator offers over 60 itineraries that take in North, Central and South America
- Committed to offering the finest small group adventures, most Grand American Adventures holidays are for groups up to a maximum of 13 people
- Grand American Adventures offer several types of tour including; Active, Walking, Wildlife, Cruises and Family Discovery, aimed at people of all ages
NOTE TO EDITORS:
High res images available on request.
For any questions or requests, please contact:
Michelle Smithson
01482 227227
Michelle Smithson
Senior Account Manager
Fredquarters | Lock Keepers Cottage
42 Wellington Street | Hull Marina | HU1 1UH
Office: 01482 227227
Mobile: 07554 013334
michelle@fredquarters.co.uk
www.fredquarters.co.uk
Follow us on twitter.com/FredMarketing
