Danielle Lea – Travel Marketing Executive
I’m Danielle, an experienced travel marketing executive passionate about engaging audiences through creative social media content, thought-provoking copy and innovative marketing campaigns. I have a demonstrated track record of developing and executing integrated marketing campaigns and communications plans from end-to-end. I am a meticulous project manager and am skilled in balancing multiple deadlines, while maintaining an organised and accurate, yet creative, approach. I’m a naturally energetic and independent person, I thrive in the workplace by finding a happy medium between working in a team environment and on my own.
I have worked in travel marketing for the past five years and I love what I do. The reason? I love solving problems through fun, engaging content. Some of the best content alleviates our prospect and customers’ pain points. Moving a piece of content into design is the part of the content marketing process I look forward to the most.
Here are some examples of my work:
Marketing Campaigns
At The Walt Disney Company I launched the first ever joint marketing campaign between Disney and British Airways Holidays. The purpose of the campaign was to promote an ‘Early Booking Offer’ as well as educate the audience of the benefits and value of booking their on-site holiday to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, with British Airways Holidays. The campaign ran across a mix of print, social, digital, email and radio channels over a six-week period targeting an audience with children aged 0-14.
Marketing Campaigns
At G Adventures I was responsible for independently managing three annual, international, multi-channel campaigns, from end-to-end. In addition to this, I supported colleagues with regional and global trade and consumer campaigns, to ensure seamless campaign launches; this included campaigns for household brands, including National Geographic and the Jane Goodall Institute.
My most recent campaign saw a 135% increase in featured participants, a 21% increase in sales and a 34% increase in engagement versus the previous comparable campaign, managed by a colleague. The campaign was promoted across digital and social media. It also had a strong presence on the high street.
Brochures
Brochures are incredibly popular for high-value items, especially where the time taken between making the decision to purchase and experiencing the product can be lengthy. Customers switch between online and traditional channels during a booking process, so it’s essential a tour operator gives equal prominence to both offline and online channels and ensure cohesion between the two.
G Adventures previously released six brochure titles annually. Not only was I responsible for proofreading six brochures, in three different currencies, I also managed the print, distribution and end-to-end budgets for all six brochure titles for the UK, Irish and South African markets.
Trade Events
Live event experiences are more engaging and can shape our memories much more profoundly than anything else. An event facilitates face-to-face discussions, and those in attendance establish a much more personal and intimate relationship with a brand than what is possible in the digital space. To celebrate the launch of new products and initiatives, G Adventures hosted six informative events across the UK and Ireland for travel industry professionals and media partners. It was my responsibility to ensure that all events were promoted effectively and that all collateral was designed and printed on time and to a high standard.
Feedback from attendees cited that the thing they enjoyed most was hearing about new initiatives from members of G Adventures staff, in person. Turnout increased by 43% versus the previous year.
Incentives
The ripple effect of incentives leads to long-term benefits for a brand, including repeat customers, increased purchases and brand advocacy. To celebrate the launch of the new Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines 2020/21 brochure, and in conjunction with Travel Weekly and the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines offered seven lucky travel agents the chance to win a place on the ‘2019 Plane Sailing Mega Fam’; to the Caribbean. I was solely responsible for managing all aspects of the incentive from artwork to launch.
Incentive communications had a reach of over 25,000. During the seven-week incentive period, 2020/21 fly-cruise sales increased by 37%, compared to the seven weeks prior.
Social Media
When I started working at G Adventures, I highlighted that the trade social media channels could be used more effectively. I conducted a social media audit, decided what was important and pitched a social media strategy to the Head of Sales and the Director of Marketing. The strategy included specific, measurable and attainable goals relevant to the brand and commercial strategies. Specific goals included increase followers by 100% and increase the average engagement rate by 50%, over six months.
Six months after implementing the social media strategy, followers increased by 112% and the average engagement rate increased by 833%. The click-through rate increased by 46%, while the conversion rate increased by 53%.
Content Creation
Frank Body, an Australian, vegan, cruelty-free skincare brand with a mission to make natural skincare fun, approached me via social media to create content promoting two new products; Perky Sculpting Body Hydrator and Booty Drops Firming Oil.
Frank Body shared the content that I created to their Instagram account, including stories, where they have over 790k followers. My content was also featured in their ‘Babe Mail’ and on their website.
GIFs
I noticed an opportunity to further promote G Adventures (and it’s 18-to-Thirtysomethings travel style), through branded GIFs. Not only are GIFs easy to consume, but they also meet the audiences’ content needs while enhancing a brand’s message with visual content. GIFs tell a story and the impulse of sharing a GIF is instant, which is precious at a time where attention is harder than ever.
29 G Adventures branded GIF’s were created and since their release in February 2020, they have been viewed 81.7 million times.
Danielle's Walkabout 