The TravelAgentChallenge.com is Here to Help YOU and YOUR Business find the Best Templates for Professional Marketing and Documents!
Interviewing: Jasmin Bedford, Owner – Travel Agent Templates
Interview By: Andy Ogg, CTIE – Travel Professional NEWS
Thanks for the time today Jasmin and I am so excited to chat with you about the new offerings from TravelAgentChallenge.com! Before we dive in, can you share a bit more about yourself and your history in the Travel industry?
Hey Andy, I am so excited to be here! Well, I live in Australia with my young family. I have a 2 and 4-year-old who run circles around me most days. When I am not running around after them and my husband – I am in Canva, working on my next template or recording a Canva tutorial. I have a soft spot for ocean cruises and destination weddings as you may have guessed from my offerings.
That is so great! Can you share how TravelAgentChallenge.com got started?
My journey started all the way back with COVID and like everyone else it completely turned my world upside down. My daughter was born in the middle of COVID and I was made redundant thanks to the pandemic, so I had to rethink how to make money when the world was closed while looking after a newborn. Fast forward and I was designing in Canva then had this crazy idea to combine Canva with travel and I opened an ETSY store at the end of 2022. After a few months on ETSY I began receiving messages from Advisors who needed help with Canva basics. From there the demand for Canva support grew and I opened my Facebook Community and YouTube channel last year offering Canva tutorials, resources, and education to empower Advisors. This year I officially opened my own website and email newsletter to help better serve the travel community. Canva has also recognized my educational contribution to the travel industry and I am an official Canvassador, I got this blue badge and I am very honored by the whole thing.
What can Canva do for a Travel Professional’s business?
The most common thing Canva is used for is social media posts, but it can do so much more! Canva is changing the travel industry because it offers Advisors creative control over their brand. This is everything from social media posts, advertising flyers, lead magnets, client welcome guides, destination brochures, textable cards, mobile phone itineraries and that is just what I have templates for! We have barely even scratched the surface of what Canva can do, for example, the new AI feature that creates short-form content videos in seconds from your own footage. It’s a really exciting time to be in a travel business!
With Travel Advisors constantly looking for new ways to market their business, what advice can you share to assist them?
To not be afraid to personalize their business, and make their planning process and client service experience unique to them. This is done by enhancing and personalizing what they already do, from beautifully branded welcome guides to thank-you textable cards or cruise handbooks for booked clients – it’s the little things that are memorable and stand out. Clients are savvy, they recognize when something is unique and personalized and appreciate your handbook, guide, textable card or what ever it is. When we focus on improving what you already have, it has a snowball effect – it keeps clients coming back, boosts word-of-mouth referrals and Advisors build a brand and reputation they are proud of.
From your experience, what kind of feedback have Travel Professionals who have used your Templates shared?
The response has been overwhelming, I have never been thanked so much in my whole life! I would say the most common thing I hear is how much of a time-saver my templates are and how polished and professional they look. Templates make it easy as you are not starting from scratch and Canva’s drag-and-drop interface makes branding simple. I am very grateful to be able to help so many, both with the templates I create as well as the Canva education side of my business.
With 2024 well underway, can you share what templates are working best for Travel Professionals?
Without a doubt, the Cruise Handbook Templates! There are 8 handbooks in total, one for each of the major US cruise lines; Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess, Disney, Celebrity, MSC, and Norwegian with the most popular being Virgin Voyages. These templates are 30ish pages of specific pre-written content, with stock photos and links for each cruise line. They are a super shortcut in client cruise prep and are very popular, especially for those new to-cruising clients who need extra hand-holding.
Do you have any tools or resources that Travel Professionals can utilize to assist in their business?
Absolutely, my main focus is empowering Travel Advisors to use Canva within their business, and a large part of what I do is education. I know everyone is at a different level, both in their travel career and Canva knowledge, some are completely new whereas others are highly experienced. So I do a lot of video training where I share my Canva screen and encourage following along at home. For beginners, I have a few absolute beginner videos that cover Canva basics. And for those who are more advanced, I show off what Canva can actually do, from creating and editing short video content with Canva AI to mobile phone textable cards and of course social media posting. All of this is free and shared in my Facebook Community: Canva Made Easy for Travel Agents. There are already thousands of Travel Advisors there and everyone is welcome.
For anyone reading this, what is the best way to get started in utilizing your exciting templates and marketing assets?
Take advantage of the Facebook Community for inspiration, free resources and Canva know how firstly. Then head over to my shop www.travelagentchallenge.com to check out the range time saving, pre-made Canva templates that TA’s can brand and use in their business straight away.