When the phones are busy and customers are about to travel, marketing is easy to put off. There are bookings to finish and people who need an answer now. The next campaign can wait until things calm down.

The difficulty is that looking after today’s customers and attracting tomorrow’s are separate jobs. You can be busy with departures while very little new business is coming in. By the time that becomes obvious, the work needed to generate interest is still waiting to be done.

Marketing belongs in the business plan of a small or medium-sized travel company. Decide who you want to reach and why they should choose you. Give them reasons to remember you while they’re thinking about a holiday.

A full workload does not tell you where the next booking comes from

Busy can mean several things in travel. You may be processing balances, helping customers prepare or sorting out changes to existing bookings. All of that work matters, but none of it automatically tells you how many suitable new enquiries are on the way.

Look at existing work and new enquiries separately. Both need attention, even when the same people handle them. A busy departures list gives you only half the picture.

Marketing decisions become clearer when you connect them to the business you want next. Perhaps you want more repeat bookings, more customers for a particular departure period or better awareness of a holiday type you already sell. Each objective gives you a reason to communicate beyond keeping a social page active.

Avoid promoting heavily when quiet and disappearing as soon as enquiries return. Decide what you can maintain during a busy period. Include that activity in the cost of running the business.

Recommendations work alongside the places customers research

Word of mouth is a valuable way to earn trust. It’s still sensible to consider what someone finds after a friend recommends you. They may search for your name, look at your website or check the advice you share before deciding to get in touch.

TUI Musement research published on 25 August 2026 offers useful context. In the study, 42% cited Google and other search engines as sources of travel inspiration, while 41% cited family and friends. Appinio carried out the research in January 2026 across Spain, Italy and the UK, so these are combined-market results rather than UK-only figures.

For a smaller business, the practical lesson is that a recommendation and a visible online presence can support each other. Someone who has heard your name should be able to understand what you do and whether you’re right for them. Make that information easy to find.

Choose the places your likely customers use. Give them enough detail to recognise what you can help with. You don’t have to compete for everybody’s attention.

Customers cannot buy the expertise they do not know you have

Inside the business, your range is obvious. You know which destinations the team understands, which suppliers you work with and which complicated requests you can handle. A customer may know you only for the last holiday they booked.

Suppose someone bought a short break from you and now wants a special family trip. Would they think to ask you? Have you given them a reason to believe you can help with it? If your public content only shows discounted short breaks, they may have a narrower picture of the business than you intend.

Marketing gives you a way to correct that. Explain the choices you help people make and the experience behind your recommendations. A useful explanation of room arrangements or itinerary pace can show expertise more clearly than saying that your service is excellent.

Be selective about the picture you build. Promoting every product equally can leave customers unsure what makes you worth contacting. Lead with the areas where you have a good reason to be chosen, then show the relevant breadth around them.

Give your marketing a clear commercial job

Before commissioning content or spending money on reach, decide whose attention you need. A walking-tour operator and an agency helping families plan school-holiday trips have different things to explain. They may also need different routes from interest to a conversation.

Be specific about the decision you want to help with. A customer at the beginning of their research may need advice about whether a holiday suits them. Someone who has chosen the trip may need dates, availability and a clear way to book. The content should serve the point they have reached.

That gives you a better brief than asking for something engaging. You can judge the finished piece against a real purpose: does it answer the question, make your value clear and offer a sensible next step? Attractive design helps people notice it, but the message still needs a job.

Keep the promise consistent with the experience. If you promote careful advice, the enquiry process should let someone explain what they need. A promise of straightforward online booking needs relevant product that’s easy to find and understand when they arrive.

Stay useful to people who already know you

Existing customer relationships deserve a place in the plan. You’ve already had the chance to demonstrate how you work. Staying in touch appropriately can remind people of that experience and show them another reason to contact you.

Relevance matters more than filling every gap between bookings. A message about a suitable holiday type has a clearer purpose than a general blast to everyone in your database. Use the preferences customers have shared and the permissions you hold, while giving them a straightforward way to change what they receive.

Leave room for their interests to change. A previous booking gives you context, not a permanent definition of the customer. Invite a conversation about what they’re considering next rather than assuming they want the same trip again.

This is also where your wider product range can earn attention. Explain a holiday the customer may not realise you arrange, and why it might suit them. You’re making the relationship useful between transactions.

Budget for a business activity you intend to keep doing

Marketing can become difficult to assess when spending is driven by a quiet week or the latest platform trend. Give it a defined purpose, an amount you can afford and a realistic period in which to learn. Include the time your own people spend as well as invoices from outside suppliers.

Avoid setting a universal percentage because another business uses it. Your margin, repeat business and capacity to handle enquiries should influence the decision. A campaign that brings in work you can’t serve well is a problem, even if it produces an impressive enquiry count.

Judge the result against the objective. For an awareness campaign, look for evidence that the right people are noticing and investigating. With a specific bookable offer, follow suitable enquiries through to bookings and the contribution they make. Keep the limits of the evidence clear instead of claiming every sale after a campaign came from it.

Give useful activity a chance to improve. If the response is poor, check the audience and offer before assuming the answer is a bigger budget. Make an informed adjustment, then review it again.

Use technology to support the commercial plan

You decide whom to reach and what to say. Technology can handle some of the preparation and help people book when they respond. That’s useful help for a small team.

Luna Marketing prepares social posts, emails and website articles in your chosen voice. Its approval controls let you check what is going out; automatic posting is optional. That capability sits within a wider Travelgenix platform covering supplier content, quoting, live booking and operations.

Our interest is in helping the business make use of that connection. Marketing should introduce something you can sell and serve well. The sales tools should help the team deal with the interest it creates. Looking at both together makes more sense than treating the content calendar as a separate project.

At your next business review, give marketing its own decision: who needs to hear from you next, and what useful reason will you give them to respond? Talk to Travelgenix about supporting that plan. Looking after current customers matters every day. So does giving the next customer a reason to choose you.