Most advisors can’t tell you exactly what their day will look like when they dive into work. Maybe they have plans to confirm several guests attending a destination wedding in Aruba or wrap up an extensive itinerary for a client headed to Africa. But, of course, the morning begins with rebooking travelers on a canceled flight followed by sitting on hold with a cruise line to add a passenger to a last-minute reservation.
By the time they’ve gotten all their existing travelers situated and worked on new reservations, the clock strikes closing time, and just like that, another day has come and gone. When you’re busy putting out fires and creating new business, it’s difficult to find time in the day to do things like freshen up a website or social media account.
Solstice Collective’s Jane Linsea, CEO & co-owner, and Kate Barnes, COO & co-owner, understand this and made it their mission to help small businesses find success online. Established in 2019, Solstice Collective is a website design company started by two best friends with the same goal.
“We met in college and immediately bonded over a lot of different things — one of them being the desire to launch a small business with the goal of helping other small businesses navigate and succeed in the online world,” Linsea said. “When we first started out, we focused solely on social media management as Solstice Social Media, but as we grew and got into the industry, we really saw the need for website design services. So, we changed our plans and learned A TON about best practices for designing and maintaining professional, successful websites.”
While it might be difficult to keep an updated website and active social media pages, there are many benefits to doing so.
“The internet is where people go to find things — simple as that,” said Barnes. “So, why would you not make sure that the top search engines can find you and your services? A website not only gives your visitors a more robust presentation of what you do/provide, but also increases your SEO — which helps those search engines find you and keep you at the top.”
Linsea is a luxury travel agency owner herself and not only knows how quickly an advisor’s day can fill up but also understands the needs advisors have. “Having insight into the industry is extremely beneficial to ensuring that our travel clients are getting what they need and what fits their business plan best,” she said. “We understand the ins and outs so that definitely helps in developing any of our clients’ communications strategies.”
Solstice Collective and VAX VacationAccess recently collaborated to provide resources that can make travel advisors’ lives a bit easier. Advisors can access free social media templates on VAX, located in the Travel Inspo Tool Kit.
“We also provide social media services for advisors and custom content creation, management, and design,” Barnes said. “We also are offering custom website design, website revamps, and our new ‘Website In A Day’ service! Travel advisors who book any services with us that are referred through VAX receive an exclusive discount, as well.”
To learn more about Solstice Collective, visit www.solstice-collective.com/vax.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of The Compass magazine.
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