COVID-19 Business Communications
Inspiration Cruises & Tours
“Pillar Brands supported the marketing of our company through the hardest season our business has ever seen. They steered us, and each of our clients, through a global crisis while keeping travel at the forefront of consumer minds—and ensured we were prepared for when travel resumed. ”
SITUATION
COVID-19 shut down travel entirely in the spring of 2020. Inspiration Cruises & Tours knew their ministry partners were concerned about traveler sentiment and hired Pillar to help Inspiration customers stay engaged during the pandemic. GOALS: Weather a travel shutdown by maintaining customer excitement and gaining quantifiable insights about travel decision-making.
ACTION
Pillar knew Inspiration’s ministry partners were struggling to make decisions about previously planned and future trips. Using creative content and crisis communications strategies, Pillar helped Inspiration’s partners continue to book travel. A “Staycation” microsite and private Facebook group built excitement among Inspiration’s loyal Christian travelers, and an online “Christian Traveler One-Minute Survey” supplied measurable data on traveler sentiment. “We needed a single solution that met Inspiration’s needs by organizing the voice of consumers into actionable data. We had to help them make marketing decisions in the face of the unknown,” said Pillar Principal and Creative Director Josh Smith.
“[The survey] provided us with actual information. We were able to adjust our planning and expectations, directing our energy toward options and products to meet travelers’ needs, wants, and desires as travel resumed.”
RESULTS
Thinking outside the box, Pillar’s content marketing strategy helped Inspiration and its ministry clients weather the global travel shutdown. The survey provided valuable observations to guide future marketing decisions and even helped Inspiration launch a new domestic line of USA tours.
86% survey completion rate
25% of all survey web traffic came from organic social media posts
20% avg. email open rate and 11% avg. email clicks
