You Can’t Boil the Ocean: A Smarter Way To Market Your Travel Business

If you’re trying to grow your travel business, there’s a good chance you have a running list in your head of all the things you think you’re supposed to be doing.

• You should be posting on Facebook.
• You should be making Reels.
• You should be on Instagram.
• You should start a Facebook Group.
• You should send marketing emails.
• You should try TikTok.
• You should be on YouTube.
• You should probably be on LinkedIn, too.

And before you know it, marketing your travel business feels like a full-time job on top of the full-time job of actually running your travel business. That’s why I want you to remember one simple phrase: “You can’t boil the ocean. So don’t try.”

You Were Never Supposed To Do It All

I was recently reading “Day Trading Attention” by Gary Vaynerchuk, and the idea he wrote about not trying to “boil the ocean” really stuck with me. Because I see travel advisors doing this ALL THE TIME.

You see another advisor doing Reels, so you think you need to make more Reels. Then someone tells you how well their Facebook Group is doing, so you decide you need to put more energy into a group. Then someone starts talking about YouTube. Meanwhile, you haven't sent an email to your list in three weeks because you've been so busy trying to keep up with everything else. And suddenly you're overwhelmed.

Boil the Water You Need for YOUR Recipe

Think about making pasta.

You don't go outside and try to boil the ocean because you need hot water. You fill a pot with the amount of water you need for your recipe. Marketing your travel business should work the same way. There are dozens of marketing tools available to you, but that doesn't mean every single one needs to be part of your business.

You need to decide what belongs in your recipe.

For me, email marketing is a non-negotiable. Social media platforms can change. Algorithms change. Reach changes. But your email list gives you a way to continue communicating directly with people who have raised their hands and said they want to hear from you. From there, decide which social media platforms make sense for you.

Pick One or Two Social Platforms

You do not have to be everywhere.

Read that again.

You do not have to be everywhere.

Instead, choose one or two social platforms where you can realistically show up. And one of the easiest places to start is by looking at the platforms you already understand and enjoy using.

• If you're naturally a Facebook and Instagram person, those might be the right places for you.
• If you love TikTok and understand the type of content people watch there, maybe that's where you should focus.
• If you have a Facebook Group filled with potential clients and you're getting great interaction there, nurture that group.

The point isn't to choose the platform someone else tells you is the “best.” It's to choose the platforms where you can consistently connect with the people you want to serve.

Then Decide What You Can Consistently Create

Choosing a platform is only part of the decision. You also need to decide what you're going to do there. Take Instagram, for example. You could create Reels. You could create carousel posts. You could post photos. You could use Stories.

Do you have to do all of those? No! Choose the types of content you can create and then pay attention to the results.

The same applies to Facebook. Maybe your business page serves as an important home base for your business, while your Facebook Group is where you spend more time interacting with potential clients.

That's okay.

You don't have to give every platform — or every feature within a platform — the same amount of attention.

Your Marketing Is an Experiment

Here's another important piece of this: You are allowed to try something and decide it doesn't work. Sometimes we hear about a new marketing strategy and immediately feel like we need to commit to doing it forever.

You don't.

Try it. Test it. See what happens.

• Did people engage?
• Did it start conversations?
• Did it lead to inquiries?
• Did it help people understand what you do?
• Did it bring potential clients closer to working with you?
• And just as importantly: Is it something you can realistically continue doing?

If something works, do more of it. If it doesn't work, do less of it — or stop doing it altogether. That doesn't mean you failed. It means you learned something.

Stop Letting Someone Else's Marketing Plan Become Yours

One of the biggest traps you can fall into as a travel agent is seeing what someone else is doing and automatically adding it to your own to-do list.

• Just because another travel agent posts three Reels a day doesn't mean you should.
• Just because someone has a huge Facebook Group doesn't mean you need one.
• Just because someone tells you TikTok completely changed their business doesn't mean TikTok needs to become your priority tomorrow.

Their marketing recipe is not necessarily your marketing recipe. Your job is to figure out what works for your business, your audience and your life. Because the danger of trying to do everything isn't simply that you'll be busy. It's that you'll become so overwhelmed by everything you're not doing that you'll stop consistently doing the things that actually work.

Do What You Can Do — and Do It Well

Maybe your recipe looks like this: Email your list consistently, maintain your Facebook business presence and nurture a Facebook Group. Or maybe it's email, Instagram and TikTok. Someone else's combination may look completely different. That's the point. There isn't one recipe that every travel agent has to follow.

Do more of what works and let go of what doesn't.

And the next time you see another marketing idea and immediately think you need to add it to your already overflowing list, remember: You can't boil the ocean. You don't need to. Just boil the water you need for your recipe.