Agent’s YouTube Channel Is Driving Sales

If you’re quick to dismiss YouTube as being for the under-40 crowd, Paul A. Belletiere says think again. His travel-centric YouTube channel has received 60,000 views in less than three and a half years. The majority of his viewers? They’re 46 to 55 years old.

They’re also buying travel. Between 10% and 20% of the views of Belletiere’s YouTube channel have been translated into business for the Cruise Planners franchise that he owns and operates with his mother.

Today, YouTube is an essential part of Belletiere’s marketing strategy for the agency, which is in Glen Burnie, Md.

Age-appropriate
It’s not surprising that Belletiere relies heavily on technology. He’s in his 20s, and he was raised in a tech-savvy household. “We were the first house on the block to have more computers than TVs,” he told Travel Market Report.

Still, it took Belletiere a while to figure out how to make the most of technology. “For a year I was sitting thinking, we need to grow this business, how can we do it?”

Then he took a card from the playbooks of his tech icons – Leo LaPorte and Kevin Rose, both of whom operate their own web shows. “They’re sitting there with $2,000 cameras – but all they’re doing is sitting in front of the camera and talking – and they’ve got millions of viewers. Why can’t I do this?”

Belletiere’s most successful YouTube video, in terms of bookings generated, was a promotional video for a baseball cruise with Rick Dempsey. That video led to five separate bookings, he told Travel Market Report.

The power of video
Now, several years later, Belletiere believes video has more growth potential than social media.

“One day YouTube is going to be a huge resource. When people disregard it, it’s a shame. You can write a post on Twitter and Facebook, but as we’re turning into a society that doesn’t read, doesn’t write, they’ll watch a video over and over,” he said.

Rough start
Belletiere admits his first few videos were pretty terrible. Armed at first with a $200 camera he bought at Costco, Belletiere created simple videos of him sitting in his office offering travel tips. It took a while to get used to being both in front of and behind the camera.

Eventually, he ran out of tips. That’s when his weekly Travel Show was born.

Modeled after the evening news, Belletiere’s show highlights two or three travel industry-related news items.

Face time
Belletiere has two main goals things for the show. One is visibility.

“I don’t think in the grand scheme of things it’s one of the biggest moneymakers, but it keeps my face in front of people. And one of the most important things in sales is keeping your face in front of your clients.”

The second is establishing himself as an expert. By reporting on the travel industry, he is showing current and prospective clients that he knows the industry, he said.

“That’s the most important thing in my mind. I want my clients to know that I’m a travel expert and I’m keeping up to date.”
 
Adding reviews, interviews
After airing the weekly travel show for several months, Belletiere added onsite reviews and interviews. He began creating onsite videos of cruise ships and all-inclusive resorts and conducting video interviews with ship captains and cruise line executives.

“People love looking at the most expensive room. They may never be able to afford it, but they love watching it. I did a video of a suite on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas – it has over 10,000 views.”

Spreading the word
Getting the word out about his YouTube show is a challenge. Belletiere uses every channel available to him.

“I post it on Facebook. I comment about it. I put it on my Twitter feed. I put it in Digg. I talk about it in my leads clubs. I talk about it any time I go out. I publicize it in my e-newsletter.”

He also relies on search engine optimization. He understands that search results improve with the number of people who watch his videos and comment on or link to them, so he asks friends and clients to leave comments or mention his videos on Facebook.

It’s a reciprocal effort. “I just helped a client who started a fan page for Caldwell Banker. I made sure I ‘liked’ her and had a couple of other people ‘like’ her. So within an hour she already had 10 fans.”

Pieces of a puzzle
Belletiere has no plans to abandon other, more traditional forms of marketing, he said.

In addition to email, social networking and YouTube, Belletiere and his mom rely on traditional marketing, including newspaper ads, direct mail, flyers, Chamber of Commerce networking and lead clubs.

“No one should ever give up any other marketing effort. You should be writing blogs and emails; you should be doing Twitter and Facebook. You should be doing an ad in a local paper.”