We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julia Asselin & Stephanie Gallo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Julia Asselin, appreciate you joining us today. If you’re open to it, can you talk to us about the best (or worst) investment you’ve made. What’s the backstory and the relevant context behind why you made the investment

Starting a travel agency in this day and age has practically no barrier to entry and minimal investment to start. Think about it; you’re really only spending TIME to learn, research and provide information back to clients. There is no hard product you’re selling or many tools you need to start besides Google, plus you can get away with free tools for quite some time. We recently have invested in a few niche specific tools that have elevated the business, with plans to invest even more money in the next few months. Our recent investment was a CRM that serves multiple purposes in our business; tracking where each client is in our workflow, collecting credit card information, paying invoices, managing client information and so much more. This software had been on our radar for a while, but we knew a year ago, heck even 6 months ago, we didn’t need it. Now, it has helped us stay organized, more efficient and come across as more professional at a time when business has felt like it’s out of control. We also have plans to invest in professional branding photos and a website redesign in Q3.

If you aren’t willing to invest in your business – why would clients want to?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We first met in college, seven years ago at West Chester University of Pennsylvania through their sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon. After being named Big & Little (we still laugh about that now), we became close sharing similar interests; fashion, marketing and travel. ​
In 2021, while planning a girls trip for us and our three best friends to Napa, an idea struck us. We both LOVE planning and researching trips, and have been doing it for friends and family for years – now we get to do it for a job! What started as a small itinerary creation business has turned into a full service boutique travel agency where not only can we plan your trip, but we can book it too – saving you HOURS of time (did you know planning a trip can take anywhere from 10-20 hours?).

We currently offer 3 plans:
Bare Bones: Only looking for a few recommendations to get you started? Or prefer a more spontaneous trip but want to know the BEST restaurants and things to do to have in your back pocket? This is the option for you. We’ll give you the top restaurants, bars, hotels and things to do – and you can craft your vacation from there.
The Itinerary: This option is for the traveler that just wants to show up – we will plan each day, hour by hour, giving you the best restaurants, sites to see and things to do in logistical order. It starts with a complimentary consultation call where we’ll learn about your travel style and what you want your trip to look like, whether its jam-packed or more spontaneous. We can work together on the planning if you like, or let us take the reins. You’ll receive a digital itinerary and map for your trip; all customized for you.
VIP Package: Our most coveted package – we will plan and book your trip from door to door including all airport transfers, hotels, restaurant reservations, tours and everything in between. If you’re overwhelmed with planning and just want it DONE – this is for you. We’ll work with our in destination partners to curate your perfect trip, giving you guidance before, during and after you return.
*Hotel bookings: Hotel bookings are always included in all packages and are complimentary. It can also be used as a standalone service! When booking a hotel through us, you have an opportunity to access various perks that
you wouldn’t be able to if you booked independently. Some examples may be:
(they vary depending on hotel):
• Early check-in / late check-out
• Complimentary room upgrades
• Complimentary breakfast
• VIP welcome treats
• Up to $100 hotel credit
• Complimentary wi-fi

We always strive to match our clients with their perfect vacation. And if you aren’t 100% happy with your itinerary, we always offer 1 free edit.

Working with a travel agent is a deeply personal decision; you’re trusting someone with a trip you’ve worked all year to save for, or for a once in a lifetime honeymoon and you need it to be PERFECT.

We understand that and treat each trip with the attention and care it deserves.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Instagram is our highest performing marketing asset – it is where most of our current clients and our ideal clients spend a lot of time and where most (if not all) of our clients come from.

There is no “one size fits all” for a social media strategy, but I’m happy to share what worked for us.
Branding: I cannot stress how important branding is. When a potential client hears about your business, or stumbles across your Instagram – they’re going to look at your page and make an instant first impression. You likely do it yourself without even realizing. If you don’t have a design eye yourself, I’d HIGHLY recommend investing in a graphic designer or freelancer to assist you in creating a logo & brand kit (colors, fonts, etc.) as soon as you feel like your business can support that. It will change the game.

Education: People don’t want to be sold to. They’re sold to all day long. So you have to get creative and make them want to come to you because you’ve given yourself credibility. The best way to do this is showcase your knowledge about the industry you’re in through posts/stories/blogs/etc.

Paid Ads: Organic growth is slow and can be hit or miss with the mysterious Instagram algorithm these days. We have a small budget that we put towards monthly ads that expose the brand to a few new faces each month.

Encouraging referrals: Your family, friends, current & past clients are some of your biggest opportunities to talk about and share your business. Giveaways or asking them or reminding them to share are some of the best ways to get your name out there.

Consistency: Most social media apps reward (aka put your content at the top or in front of more people) accounts that spend a lot of time on the app and are consistently posting and interacting with other accounts. You HAVE to stay consistent and interact. General rule of thumb: 3-4x posts per week, stories every day, 15-30 minutes of interacting with other accounts (liking/commenting). If you feel like you don’t have the time to do that every day, batch out your posts 1 week, 2 week, 3 weeks in advance to take it off your plate.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As a travel agency, repeat and referral clients should be around 2/3 of our business. It is much easier to convince someone that has worked with us before (and knows the value we provide) to work with us again, rather than convince a stranger. As our second year of business comes around, we are reaching out to clients that worked with us last summer and asking what their plans are for this summer. We try to check in without acting sales-y, and usually it sparks their memory that they have been meaning to reach out for XYZ trip. People are more likely to respond to an email than start a new email (simply because it’s easier).

After working with us once, we get to know your travel style, what kind of hotels you like to stay in, what your favorite foods are and if you have any dietary restrictions, which makes it ALL the much easier to work together again next time, and hopefully keeps our clients in our circle since going to another travel advisor – they’d need to start all over again.

We also collect birthdays and anniversary dates to make an effort to send our best wishes when those milestones come around.

Social media is a great casual way to stay in touch and top of mind, but shouldn’t be the only form of contact you have with your client.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theitinerarygirls.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theitinerarygirls/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theitinerarygirls
• Other: TikTok: @theitinerarygirls Email Newsletter Sign-Up: https://mailchi.mp/cb691f4777b5/new-email-subscriptions

Image Credits
Lexi Brown Photo