WASHINGTON -- The goal of ASTA's new digital marketing campaign, "We'll take you there," is to increase traffic to TravelSense.org to over 100,000 visitors per month, up from its current rate of 60,000 to 80,000, ASTA president and CEO Zane Kerby said.
Speaking during a press conference at the ASTA Global Convention Wednesday at the Washington Hilton here, Kerby said this campaign has a "much bigger scope" than previous campaigns ASTA has conducted.
The Society is working on the campaign in conjunction with public relations firm, Alexandria, Va.-based Reingold. Kerby said ASTA's "overall budget with Reingold is well into the six-figure commitment."
So far, one video in the campaign is complete. Starting next week, Kerby said, its online push will begin. The video will be targeted to consumers on Facebook and YouTube. Stills from the video will also be used in marketing efforts.
According to the CEO, it is a more professional advertisement than the Society has created in the past.
"This is definitely much more professional in grade and it moves fast and it gets the point across that we want it to, which is that when you use a travel adviser the chances of things going wrong on the road are much less," Kerby said. "The chance of you getting the best value for your travel dollar is the best."
Another video focusing on corporate travel, which is currently under production, will be released as part of the campaign, as well.
In the past, ASTA has seen "huge spikes" in traffic to TravelSense.org -- its agent-finding website for members -- that correlate with campaigns, Kerby said. For instance, in 2016, TravelSense.org traffic spiked to about 140,000 visitors a month for the two months that ASTA was running an ad on the Travel Channel's electronic platforms.
"We know this kind of thing can work, and we want it to be more than a sugar high, though," he said. "We want it to be sustained."
If needed, he said ASTA has supplier partners it could reach out to for help in underwriting future endeavors with "We'll take you there."
Right now, though, ASTA has the reserves to run the campaign independently. Kerby credited those reserves to wise money handling and selling two floors of a building it owned several years ago.
This year's ASTA Global Convention saw 1,120 people registered in advance, with several dozen on-site registrations adding to that number, Kerby said. There is about a 45-55 split between agents and other attendees (suppliers and staff).