If travel companies can include this campaign in all their traditional and digital marketing efforts, then they would surely contribute a lot to the campaign.
Travel is one of the most high-budget expenses people spend on. A typical tourist trip would entail a few hundred dollars on travel expenses alone. A business trip could go up to a couple of thousands of dollars, not counting the stay in hotels and resorts for a few nights. Thus, travel companies are always in touch with the spending power of consumers.
In You shop, brands donate, companies and brands donate a certain percentage of what the shoppers spend to a cause-oriented, advocacy, or non-profit company of the shopper’s choice. This is a campaign that hopes to be a win-win alliance between the most profitable brands and charitable entities; travel companies can become a part of it.
Here are a few suggested ways:
1. You travel, we donate
One of the surest ways that travel companies can support ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ is by participating in the cause or campaign of this group. They may donate to the groups behind this cause a certain percentage of the booking and travel fees paid to them by their clients and travelers.
As mentioned, people spend a lot on their travel. They spend not only on their airline tickets and car rentals, but they also spend on hotel accommodations and restaurant meals. When they land at airports, they even shop at duty-free stores before they exit for their ride. If travel companies can pledge to donate a certain percentage of their booking charges, travel fees, and commissions, they'll surely add a lot of funds to these non-profit causes.
2. Encourage travelers to participate
Travel companies can support ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ by drumming up support for the activity. Travel companies can do this by encouraging their clients and travelers to participate.
For example, they can set up small boutiques or information booths within their ticketing offices featuring this shopping donation campaign. They can be more proactive about it by including a step in their ticketing process where they briefly tell their clients or travelers about it.
Furthermore, if they have a website or an app, travel companies can encourage their clients, site visitors, or app users, to shop in listed ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ stores. They can feature digital posters about the participating stores and brands. They can also feature infographics on where the donations have gone so far and how they’ve made a difference in the lives of people. They can also feature the destinations where these brands have existing stores and how they can participate in the promotion.
They can even be more proactive about it by including new functionalities in their app that promote ‘You Shop, Brands Donate.’ If some of the donations are being given to places that they service as a travel company, they can feature links or buttons to videos or pictures that demonstrate how the donations are being spent to uplift the lives of those in need.
3. Give travel incentives to shoppers
Travel companies can also provide support to ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ by giving travel incentives to their shoppers. They can come up with a points system based on the dollar amount of shopping that their clients or travelers have done to help the campaign. Those who reach certain threshold dollar amounts may be given travel incentives, such as discounts on their next ticket. They can also give freebies to top shoppers, give free upgrades to first or business class for the winning participants, or tie up their travel industry partners to offer free car rentals or free hotel expenses for a couple of days. This is the kind of company mindset that would make giving back a part of their DNA.
They can also raffle off free tickets to select travel destinations. Those who can show proof that they’ve done shopping at the ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ shops and stores will be given raffle tickets or participation stubs. The winner may receive free tickets to top or popular domestic or international travel destinations.
4. Promote brands that donate
Another way for travel companies to support ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ is by helping promote those brands that signed up to be included in the campaign. Since travel companies spend a lot of money on their advertising and marketing campaigns, they have an enormous power to influence the brand awareness of their clients and travelers.
They can encourage more companies and brands to support ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ by pledging to promote those brands that participate in this non-profit campaign. For example, they can put up a list or gallery of the logos of the companies who make donations as part of the campaign. If they have a website or app, they can post a similar banner about this. They can also post articles on their site or app about the participating companies.
Have travel, will shop & donate
Travel companies can go a long way in supporting charitable companies by promoting the ‘You Shop, Brands Donate’ campaign. Clients of travel companies spend a lot of money on travel hotels, restaurants, and, of course, shopping. If travel companies can include this campaign in all their traditional and digital marketing efforts, then they would surely contribute a lot to the campaign.
