Bottom Line Up Front: This summer, vacations & reunions are returning with a vengeance. And so are the swag sales opportunities that come with them. We break down how to catch every last sale — so you can increase your earnings AND your exposure.
Theme parks are opening. Season passes are selling. 83% of travelers are comfortable enough to take a road trip as soon as June, and RV rental bookings have the stats to prove it. (They’re up 114% year over year.)
Reservations for campsites across North America have increased by 150%. And there’s been a 300% increase in those travelers booking multiple trips. 42% of individuals asked are already looking to book a cruise vacation, and airlines are finally seeing ticket purchases tick up with a vengeance.
50% of Americans are planning to take a trip in the next 3 months.
Everyone is striving for a return to normal.
What does that mean for you? It means that it’s time you started paying attention. Because the world is opening up, the people are breaking free of their home-office cages, and the families are ready to come together.
There will be vacations. There will be reunions. And there will be a traveling surge unlike any we’ve seen before.
A waterfall of sales potential is coming right for you — and it’s coming fast. The question is, how are you going to deal with it? Are you going to stand around waiting for it to hit you? Back away when the pressure gets too high?
Right now, the smartest decorators are getting their swimsuits and breathing masks ready, gearing up to make the best of the incoming splash. They’re getting prepared, they’re getting grounded, and they’re getting innovative. They won’t be backing up to catch a break. They will be seizing every last drop.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is 2021’s greatest pocket of potential. It has the power to lift your whole year of sales to a new level, but it also has the power to leave you in the dust. So what will it be?
We can give you the roadmap, but we can’t do the driving for you. So buckle up. Eyes straight ahead. We’ll show you the route to maximizing your vacation & reunion sales opportunities — and then clear the way so you can get to getting there. One wowed customer at a time.
Let’s go!
The Breakdown
There’s no question that people are ready to shake things up. They’re ready to visit new places, see new things, and commemorate being with new people. (As in, anyone who hasn’t been an immediate roommate for the past 12+ months.)
Travelers are ramping up to get out there. Families are ramping up to reunite. There’s so much pent up excitement, energy, and need — and that’s exactly where you come in.
Because there’s no better way to commemorate anything than with branded merchandise. There’s no better way to heighten experiences, reconnect with enthusiasm, or nail an “altogether-now” photo than with the sparkle of custom gear.
They might have their flights, their RV’s, and their itineraries. But what they’re missing is you. And guess what? If you don’t let them know it, they won’t. It’s as simple as that.
Don’t sleep on this deep, deep pocket of potential. Don’t wait for the herd of travelers to come to you. Go out and find them. Go out and spread news of exactly what you can do. Because when you do that, you’ll be perfectly positioned — right under the waterfall of profitability.
Here’s how you get there.
Real-world Family Vacation & Reunion Marketing Example from InkSoft Customer Gandy Ink.
The Implementing
When it comes to captivating your audience — of families who are more than ready to get out there — you’ve got to inform, inform, inform.
That means showing off the value of what you can do as loudly, and frequently, as you can. It means posting about your offerings and waxing poetic about your capabilities, but it also means standing out from other decorators looking to infringe on your target.
So… how do you stand out? Simple: you equip yourself with the right tools.
E-Commerce
To compete for your audience’s attention, it’s all about emphasizing ease. Ease that the prep-work won’t require anything laborious from them, and ease that every stage in the process is guaranteed to lead to exactly what they want, exactly when they want it. With Online Stores, you have that ease in the bag.
Not only can you advertise your end-to-end fulfillment service, where everything from the actual transactions to the at-home distributions is taken care of by you, but you can also advertise the experience. The buying experience. Where this custom-made, family-wide Online Store is just the beginning of their time together. A precursor of the vacation or reunion — stroking their excitement for what’s to come.
But the most important point to hit home is that, for your customers (and their families), the whole process is 100% stress-free. No hustling to collect payments from Cousin Jim, and no requirement of ponying up the initial bulk-order payment in advance (with bated breath). Online Stores empower your customers to create the merch they want, put it somewhere special for the group to check out on their own time, and streamline the whole buying — and distributing — process.
Preparing for vacations and reunions is stressful enough. You’re giving them a way to up the experience while reducing the weight on their shoulders. It’s a win-win — so leverage it.
Graphics
Where the e-commerce tool speaks to the latter half of the process, what you can do with graphics is critical for determining how the first half will play out. Will you entice your prospects with wow-worthy and relevant options? Will you blow them away with how quickly you get that perfect design in front of their eyes?
The answer comes down to whether or not you have GraphicsFlow in your arsenal. A digital tool that gives you 25,000+ expertly crafted vector-based design templates, clip art, and fonts, a user-friendly, always-organized workspace, and the ability to create, send, and manage online art approvals — it has the power to revolutionize your operations. And not just in a way that your team notices, but in a way that your customers can’t ignore.
The truth is, a product’s design makes or breaks it — and we all know that a family traveling to a beach vacation in Hawaii needs a completely different, thematically aligned design than the family traveling to their reunion in Big Sky, Montana does. Instead of spending countless hours formulating the right design for every project — and limiting your sales capacity as a result — GraphicsFlow enables you to have top-quality graphics ready and waiting.
It increases your options for stunning, relevant designs, gets your customers their art approvals quicker (and with more professionalism), and stretches your capacity for taking on new projects immensely. Wow your customers with the high-style designs they want — and with the expedited processes they deserve.
The Wrap Up
Like it or not, these sales opportunities are coming. You can either be prepared to catch them — or miss out on the rewards they’re ready to dole out.
Promote your offerings. Show off your capabilities. Hands-off processes, seamless production and distribution (so goods arrive before the vacation starts), and infinite impact.
There’s nothing like a group coming together to celebrate. Beach vacation, mountain reunion, or anything in between — custom branded merchandise is the answer. Tell your audience. Wow them with product photos. Stun them with flawless designs. And then deliver.
With the right tools behind you, you can do all of that. And then some. So stop waiting around, stop letting other decorators get ahead, and get to that waterfall. Because we promise: there’s a ton of profitability in it for you when you do.
And hey — if you’re sitting there thinking, I don’t have Online Stores or GraphicsFlow in my wheelhouse yet, here’s where we tell you: don’t fret. It’s not too late to offer your customers the ease, efficiency, and customization power that these tools bring to the table. So get to know them. Explore what they can do for your business. And then get embracing. Because in 2021, technology is everything — and we don’t want to see you left behind.
Tap into online stores to drive serious revenue results.
If you sell branded merchandise and custom swag then e-commerce powered online stores represent the single most powerful sales tool available to you. Today’s consumers are digital-first and demand the ordering convenience and simplicity that online stores offer. If you are an apparel decorator, screen printer, promotional products distributor, or team dealer you need online stores to succeed. InkSoft offers the industry’s best and most feature-rich e-commerce stores solution available. With over 11 years of e-commerce experience and expertise, InkSoft is the leader and innovator. Learn more about InkSoft online stores, or request a personalized online tour with one of our experts to explore all the potential available to you.
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