First, a heartfelt congratulations to JourneyWoman Women’s Travel Directory partner Stephanie Jones, Founder of the Cultural Heritage Alliance for Tourism, who was awarded the fourth annual JourneyWoman Award for Lifetime Achievement this week. This is an award we have done in partnership with the Bessie Awards since 2021 and was presented by Christine Winebrenner Irick, host of the Soul of Travel Podcast and CEO of Lotus Sojourns, as Carolyn Ray was out of the country. You can see Stephanie’s acceptance speech on our social media channels.
Partner Call Updates
Thanks to all who joined our April 10, 2024, Partner Call this past week, which focused on Building Your brand. We wanted to share the video and some of the more salient observations and comments. (Click here to watch on YouTube.)
Top takeaways:
- The consensus was that brand is more critical now than ever, given the expansion of the marketplace and the challenge to be unique and different.
- Remember that your brand is what people say when you leave the room.
- How and what you make is far less important than defining and expressing why you exist. What is your ethos? Why women should care.
- Brand-building and storytelling help create differentiation and awareness, ultimately making selling easier.
Questions to ask when interrogating your brand.
- What is my key selling proposition, and does it reflect my values?
- Do I express a purpose of my business that compels women to learn more about me?
- If I am the embodiment of the brand, is my narrative reflected in how the brand looks, speaks and behaves?
- How are you telling your story authentically?
If you have only 15 minutes, listen to Simon Sinek’s video clip which we reviewed at the beginning of the recorded video of the call. TED Talk with Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action. In regards to marketing and messaging to JourneyWoman travellers, I might also suggest you revisit this feature article that speaks to why and what women want from you — are you following this advice?
Next month’s call: Wednesday, May 8th, 12 ET
Given the importance of the Brand, the next call will expand on the themes and comments from the April partner call. Click the link to register!
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctdOytrzgtHdGxxcRil1sj4KryE0LHhVH6
How we are helping you build your brand
As a reminder all of this information is available on our Partner Portal which you can access here.
- Nominate yourself or another business for the JourneyWoman Awards (either the Innovation in Hospitality Award or the Purpose-Driven Entrepreneur Award before April 30, 2024
- Join our booth or send along materials for us to distribute at the Toronto Women”s Show, November 8-10. This show attracts 25,000 new potential customers, most of whom are women 50+
- Join our Women’s Speaker’s Bureau which provides organizations with expert female speakers
- Editorial and webinar schedule here – our April 23 Africa webinar is closed however May (North America) and June (South America) are open.
- Facebook group for Partners – find ongoing editorial opportunities
- WeTravel Academy: How to Write Tour Descriptions That Sell, Marketing Your Trips to Women Over 50 (by JourneyWoman)
Editorial features
We’re grateful to our partners who have collaborated with us on editorial features. Thank you for sharing these on your social media platforms and tagging JourneyWoman! Please continue to do so and remind them to sign up for our emails too!
- ”How Solo Women Can See the ‘Real’ Cuba, From a Woman’s Perspective”, featuring JoyRide Charters, Travels with Talek, Cuban Adventures and Wanderlust Solo Women Tours
- ”Getting Back Into Travel: Widows Who Travel On Their Own Terms”, featuring Advivum Journeys and Babes in Bali
- ”Reimagining Solo Travel: Insight Vacations Creates New Women-Only Tours”, which applied JourneyWoman research to create a new line of small group tours
- Our next Women in Travel feature on how women can make travel better will run in May. See the last feature here, which included The Travel Corporation, Cultural Heritage Alliance for Tourism, AdventureWomen, Wanderlust Solo Women Tours, and Advivum Journeys. Please reach out if you’d like to be featured.
- Have you been in business for more than 15 years? Send us a note, we’d like to feature you.
- Several JourneyWoman writers will be joining trips soon with Trafalgar Tours, Wild Women Expeditions, European Experiences and Absolutely Southern France. If you’d like to have one of our writers join your trip, please reach out.
