If you run ads for your travel organization online, there’s a good chance you’ve been wasting your money.

Marica Mackenroth Brester has seen it firsthand. As a tourism marketing veteran and founder of the Von Mack Agency, she has helped companies throughout the travel industry combine smart advertising with time-tested, relationship-based selling strategies. She joins this episode of the podcast to discuss what travel marketers should be doing to get their message out in 2025 and beyond.

Marica tells us why digital-only strategies fall short and why old-school advertising is making a comeback. She gives examples of how create advertising campaigns that serve customers and boost sales at the same time. Plus, we have news about the booming Millennial cruise segment; a road tip about saving yourself from back pain when traveling; and a Hot Minute about how much you should — or shouldn’t — rely on social media to market your travel business.

Marica had lots of great insights on the changing world of advertising and how small companies can succeed in it. Here’s a surprising take she had on the resurgence of traditional advertising:

“The old-fashioned stuff is coming back. In the marketing and advertising community nationally, it’s a big, documented movement to go back to creative and back to the old school…. [This] means your creative has to be good. You have to know your unique selling points. You have to know why you’re different from the guy down the street. You need to know why someone would take your tour over the tour next to you…. And then you have to have that human element in your ads.”

Plus, she had insightful thoughts on:

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• How to measure the return on your marketing spend
  
• How tour operators should approach their marketing strategies
  
• What you need to know to run your own marketing campaigns… and when to enlist a pro
  

Learn more about the Von Mack Agency and explore their free marketing resources at vonmackagency.com.

Follow the Von Mack Agency on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok

Sign up to receive The Group Travel Minute here.

1:41 — Travel News: Young cruisers are driving growth for Royal Caribbean

2:50 — Road Tip: Save your back with a trolley strap

9:15 — Our best content in your inbox — free

13:37 — How Hurricane Katrina helped Marica Mackenroth Brewster find tourism

16:02 — Lessons learned from real-world tourism sales

20:48 — How to measure return on your marketing spending

23:45 — Why old-school advertising is making a comeback

27:33 — How to advertise online without being creepy

30:49 — Marketing tips for tour operators

35:55 — Can you run a marketing program on your own?

51:45 — Hot Minute: How much should you rely on social media for marketing?

See the full interview with Marica, including content not in the regular episode, on our YouTube channel.

Thanks to our sponsor Visit Lincoln for making this episode possible. Learn more about Lincoln’s travel experiences for groups at lincoln.org.

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.