Sponsored – How to Gain Customer Trust with Brand Equity

Unlocking Customer Trust: Building Brand Equity with Dream Vacations

Contributed By: Dream Vacations

When you become a travel advisor, one very important aspect of your business is your brand name and the equity that provides you as a small business owner. Does your brand name have large-scale recognition, an award-winning solid reputation, and does it best represent the vacation products you’ll be providing to your customers?

Brand equity is the value derived from a customer’s perception of a brand name, rather than the product or service itself. Consumers will choose a brand – and return to it for repeat purchases – because of their relationship with that brand.

In few places, though, brand equity is as crucial as in the travel industry. Vacations are a significant investment for most people; it’s an investment in a good experience, and customers want to feel assured that when they book a vacation, they will receive what they are searching for – relaxation, adventure, or a unique experience. As a travel professional, you are building your brand equity by consistently providing quality experiences and by forming a relationship in which clients can trust you to coordinate their vacations year after year.

Creating strong brand equity takes time and dedication and involves several factors, such as demonstrating reliability and credibility. This is why many entrepreneurs choose the franchise business model. With a franchise, a business owner “fast-tracks” much of the undertaking of creating brand equity – because they are buying a business that already has a strong, well-positioned, familiar brand name. Trust, of course, is the cornerstone of any durable relationship – and in the travel industry, the client wants to know that they are booking their vacations with someone they can trust.

Dream Vacations has given its ever-growing community of almost 2,000 franchise owners the ability to leverage an established brand name, allowing them to demonstrate to customers that they – as a travel agency – are the go-to resource for getting the best possible value on their vacation. Owning a Dream Vacations franchise provides unparalleled strength in the marketplace – the Dream Vacations brand name makes it clear to customers that the travel advisor sells all types of vacation experiences, from cruises to resort stays to guided tours and more. The shared resources of an industry powerhouse like Dream Vacations mean that franchise owners benefit from dedicated support, meaningful supplier relationships, and a marketing team focused on building national brand awareness.

This year, to promote ever-stronger brand equity for its franchisees, Dream Vacations inaugurated a digital billboard campaign that illuminated one of the most iconic intersections in the world – New York’s Times Square. At an imposing 120 feet in height, the billboard’s azure tropical imagery created an aesthetic oasis in the sky over the eternal “organized chaos” of New York’s streetscape. Amongst the fascinating graphics was a clear call to action: “Paradise Awaits – We’ll Get You There” – and the Dream Vacations logo – inviting viewers to use a Dream Vacations travel advisor.

“We are thrilled to make a splash in the Big Apple with our Times Square digital billboard,” said Alicia Linden, Vice President of Consumer and Recruitment Marketing at Dream Vacations. “It’s the perfect moment for us because we’re seeing a surge in vacations being booked, and the prominent display raises awareness of the incredible value a travel advisor offers.”

With the fifteen-second ad repeating every two minutes throughout the day, over 18 million New Yorkers and visitors alike saw the billboard throughout its run. This translated into each Dream Vacations franchise owner receiving something that’s genuinely invaluable: millions more Americans familiar with their brand.

“As a Dream Vacations franchisee, seeing our brand shine in Times Square is awe-inspiring,” said Aggie Batista, a Dream Vacations franchise owner from Rockaway Park, NY. “It reaffirmed the impact we have as travel advisors and drives me to continue to create everlasting memories for my clients.”

However, the Times Square billboard is just one piece in the larger effort to create a potent, recognizable brand name for franchisees to leverage. Earlier this year, Floridians were invited to enter an exciting vacation contest via digital boat advertisements sailing the harbors of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa Bay. These ads, affixed to powered barges and water taxis, indicated to hundreds of thousands of potential travelers the value of booking a getaway with a Dream Vacations travel agent.

The Dream Vacations brand has also appeared on streaming platforms such as Hulu, which can reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers. One of the most decisive advantages of ads on streaming platforms is that they can be carefully targeted to the right demographics, like age group, gender, geography, and even income. Placing the Dream Vacations brand in front of both the greatest volume of consumers as well as the most advantageous groups of consumers enables Dream Vacations franchise owners to use their established brand equity to earn a client’s trust the second they introduce themselves.

Dream Vacations is always dedicated to providing franchisees with the best support and resources; each national brand campaign helps deliver unparalleled brand equity to franchise owners. At Dream Vacations, you are in business for yourself – but never by yourself.

For more information on owning a Dream Vacations travel franchise, please visit our website or call 888-249-8235.