TravelMole Guest Comment by Simon Thorp, business development director, independent media agency MNC



The recent ABTA Travel Convention in Gran Canaria coincided with the industry as a whole entering the eye of the ongoing economic storm.  



It was interesting to hear a diverse range of comment and advice, in the main arena and the smaller sessions, on the best ways forward for travel organisations large and small both.  



Much was said about the need to get a grip on long term business planning, cash flow and profit. 



All good and sensible. A lot was also mooted about the need to batten down the hatches, disappear into the storm shelter and emerge in a year or two, once the tourism village has been flattened, to start the rebuilding process.  



All of this pre-supposes that the credit crunch also heralds the disappearance of opportunities.  



It was disappointing that more wasn’t said and done at the convention to offer hope and help on this front, though there were a few optimists still in attendance.



There’s a risk this will sound like a plug, but what the heck because it’s one worth giving.  



Bean-counters will of course tell you that there are many ways to safeguard the bottom line: sell more (at the risk of a price war), reduce cost of sales (at the risk of squeezing suppliers so much they become alienated) and cut overheads (doing away with people and costs in the business, often at the cost of customer relationships).  



How about a new idea? What if it were possible for existing marketing budgets to go further in creating more brand exposure, sales enquiries, conversions and in turn competitive edge?



We have helped several clients including Confused.com, Moonpig and AA Travel Insurance deliver cost effective ‘direct response’ campaigns.  



We don’t start a relationship with our clients by arrogantly demanding sensitive information about sales turnover and marketing budgets. We plan on and off line campaigns on the basis that each of our clients has unique strengths which give them an advantage.  



We take pride in working hard to understand our clients’ business aims and build marketing campaigns with and for them which reflect this. It is this ‘return on investment’-based approach which has worked so effectively to maximise results and minimise risk for our clients.  



Many of them have been ‘challenger brands’ with the vision and appetite to become market leaders.



Let’s face it, when times are tough, most people in marketing are charged with getting the phones ringing or variations on this theme. If they fail, then the red hot poker approaches them quickly.



So the choice is pretty clear. Go underground until the storm passes, hope customers stay loyal and things don’t change too much whilst you’re out of the way of the twister.  



Or seize the opportunity and make the marketing budget go further to retain and win new business.  



Any company decision makers preferring the latter may well benefit from a coffee and an hour’s discussion with us. We’ll treat you to a decent latte.



One other thing. We strongly suggest not putting this off until tomorrow or next week or next year.