Scottsdale, AZ - (September 15, 2005) — Today at the "TRAVELSAVERS Amazing Race for Success" 35th Anniversary Convention, TRAVELSAVERS launched a new, three-pronged marketing initiative called the Custom Solutions Suite. The program integrates the organization's existing CONSUMERDirectMail campaigns with the new EMAILEditor and SITEMaster components. The cost-effective solution helps TRAVELSAVERS agencies maximize their marketing efforts both online and offline.
"The original Custom
Solutions direct mail program has become very popular with
TRAVELSAVERS agencies and preferred suppliers since its launch a few
years ago," said Anne Marie Powell-Moebes, Chief Marketing Officer
at TRAVELSAVERS. "We have now expanded it to include an e-commerce
marketing program and complete website solution in order to further
unleash the power of the Internet to help our agents build their
leisure travel sales."
SITEMaster Builds
Websites
One of the new components in the Customs
Solutions Suite, SITEMaster (powered by Passport Online), is the
latest website development and hosting product for travel agents. It
is a comprehensive website program that gives agents advanced tools
to capture a greater share of the online travel market.
SITEMaster incorporates customization capabilities,
sophisticated website and email marketing tools, rich preferred
supplier content and a powerful search engine.
"Passport
Online is thrilled to be working with TRAVELSAVERS to be able to
provide agents with such a powerful and dynamic online presence,"
said Greg Kott, President & CEO at Passport Online. "SITEMaster
allows agents to gain a greater advantage over their competition,
boost their Internet sales, and be able to market their agency in a
whole new, and much more exciting, way than ever before."
In addition, during the first quarter of 2006, the CruiseXpress booking engine will be added to the Pro version of SITEMaster.
EMAILEditor
Cost-Effectively Sends E-Promos
The new EMAILEditor,
powered by Passport Online, allows TRAVELSAVERS agencies to
cost-effectively create and send e-promos to new clients, and use
e-promos to stay in close touch with the clients they already have.
Agents simply log onto the TRAVELSAVERS Agent Extranet,
select the promotion(s), and send them to their own e-mail address.
They can customize the promotions to their liking, using a palette
of templates and color schemes. Next, agents select which clients
from their database will receive the promotion(s). With the click of
a button, they forward the e-promos to their clients using their
e-mail system. Links in the e-promo then direct the recipients to a
landing site branded for the agency. There, the agency's clients can
see additional details, shop for other promotions, and choose to
call or e-mail their personal TRAVELSAVERS travel agent.
Another appealing feature is that the ClientBase Plus
interface allows the agency to import e-mails into their ClientBase
Plus database.
"To stay competitive in our e-world, with its instant messaging and equally instant e-purchasing models, every travel agency needs to incorporate e-marketing as a core component of their overall marketing strategy," said Powell-Moebes. "Our new EMAILEditor is a turnkey solution. This is another tool that we're offering to help our agencies build awareness for their brand, stay in close contact with customers, and utilize the Internet as a communications and sales vehicle."
Consumer Direct Mail Brands the Agency
Year-Round
The nationwide Custom Solutions consumer
direct mail program gives TRAVELSAVERS agencies the tools to brand
their agency through regular communications with customers and to
incite them to book their travel through their dedicated
TRAVELSAVERS agency. This powerful tool allows agents to boost sales
by mining their client base and generating incremental business.
TRAVELSAVERS has created a portfolio of professionally
designed marketing pieces, ranging from postcards to brochures.
Agents simply submit their mailing lists, and TRAVELSAVERS produces
and distributes customized direct mail pieces to their chosen
clients on their behalf.
Top suppliers in every segment of
the travel industry participate in the monthly mailings, as well as,
specialized quarterly lifestyle campaigns.
"Overall, the
Custom Solutions Suite offers a host of programs that will help
agencies build awareness for their brand, stay in close contact with
their customers, and utilize the Internet as a communications, sales
and marketing vehicle all in one," added Powell-Moebes."
For more information, TRAVELSAVERS agencies can visit the Agent Extranet or call their local Service Director. Those agencies interested in joining TRAVELSAVERS can go to www.travelsavers.com or call 800-366-9895.
About Travelsavers
Travelsavers is an international marketing
organization with a retail chain of more than 2,850 independently
owned full-service travel agencies in 14 countries that generates
more than $18 billion in annual travel industry sales. Headquartered
in Oyster Bay, N.Y., TRAVELSAVERS offers a comprehensive range of
products and support services to help its agencies maximize sales
through a select group of suppliers -- and stand out as travel
leaders in their local communities. The marketing company also
features a unique exclusive territory system based on populations of
50,000, so agents maintain control over clients and prospective
leads in their exclusive area. For more information about
Travelsavers, see the web site at www.travelsavers.com
.
About Passport Online
Passport Online connects travel industry suppliers and
retailers to a broad range of travel buyers. VacationPORT is a sophisticated
marketing system to actively promote and influence the flow of travel
offers throughout the sales cycle in a highly customizable manner.
VacationPORT has been selected by top U.S. travel companies as a
comprehensive web marketing program to build leisure travel sales,
as well as many of the top cruise, tour, and hotel companies in
the world to distribute and market their latest product and pricing
information. For more information about Passport Online, see the
web site at www.passportonlineinc.com.
For More Information, Contact:
Passport Online, Inc.
Randy Goodrich, 503-626-7766 ext. 3030
email: randyg@passportonlineinc.com