Morris Murdock Travel: Ticket Master
Hospitality
Written by John Zorabedian   
Tuesday, 01 April 2008
Morris Murdock Travel: Ticket Master - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Becky Potts describes how this travel company uses targeted marketing and partnerships to propel sales.
Premier Business Partners:

Princess Cruises
The success of a travel services company is indelibly connected to that of the broader industry—the hotels and airlines that provide the end product. But the relationship goes both ways: the travel agencies are, in a sense, the marketing wing of the broader travel industry, feeding customers into the system.

Becky Potts, president - Morris Murdock Travel: Ticket Master - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Becky Potts, President
During its 50 years in the industry, Morris Murdock Travel (MMT), a full service travel agency headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, has relied on both the market power of its partners in the industry and its own marketing prowess to draw customers to one of its 10 offices (located in Utah, Idaho, and Montana). Using a wide range of media to advertise its services, MMT tracks the success of its marketing campaigns to hone its message in key demographics.

Through newspaper and billboard advertisements, along with direct-mail marketing of travel industry deals from its vendor-partners, MMT has become a travel juggernaut in its market, amassing revenues of roughly $145 million in 2007.

“In the last two years, we’ve taken a deep dive into what really makes sense for us and how we want to let our customers know about all our great offers,” said Becky Potts, president.

The company’s marketing division researches the effectiveness of its campaigns, tracking response rates for each section of its overall marketing campaign. In January, the company held its 12th Annual Morris Murdock Travel Show in Salt Lake City, featuring more than 60 vendors offering special deals to MMT customers.

“Our focus is on reaching our established customers by offering places they would like to visit,” Potts said. “The more we know about our customers and their travel patterns, the more we are able to market things they prefer.”

Target market
MMT was founded in 1958 by Franklin Murdock after he was approached by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about starting an agency to handle the travel needs of the Mormon Church’s employees and missionaries. Fifty years later, the company provides business travel services for large corporate clients such as Zions Bank, Huntsman Corp., and the Utah Jazz basketball team, as well as services for customers interested in leisure travel, luxury travel, and escorted tours.
 
“Morris Murdock is a little unusual,” Potts said. “Most companies focus on one type of travel or another. We’ve found an incredible amount of power by being able to do all travel.”

In the leisure travel market, MMT focuses its marketing efforts on one group in particular—women over age 35. “That’s the big demographic because typically women make decisions about where the family is going to travel,” Potts said. “When we decide what radio stations and TV stations we’re going to advertise on, our demographic is women 35 and over.”

Now that the baby boomers are approaching retirement, this mature demographic is looking to spend money on travel experiences catered to specific tastes. MMT can tailor its travel offerings for any income group, and due to its size, MMT is able to garner frequent discount rates from airlines and hotels. “Since we’re such a large organization, we’re lucky to have fabulous partnerships with our airlines,” Potts said.

When partners like Princess Cruises decide to run a specific promotion, MMT sends that marketing piece out to customers whose demographics and travel history fall into the promotion’s target for price and experience. This type of business partnership benefits both parties. “One of the most important business principles for me is good partnerships,” Potts said.

Internet booking
The rising use of online booking at Web sites such as Travelocity and Expedia has taken business from traditional travel agencies. But Potts said MMT has managed to use the Internet to generate business and provide clients with easy booking tools. The company created a strategy for expanding its client base that included demographics, goals, content for its Web sites, and benchmarking. To meet these strategic goals, the company offers a wide variety of products online designed to direct the customer to purchase from one of the agency’s consultants.

MMT has found that customers frequently use the Internet to research travel options but call on travel consultants to make arrangements. Potts said this allows customers to tap into the knowledge base of the travel agents, which online services lack. “Travelers will investigate travel on the Internet, then they’ll call us and say, ‘what do you think,’” she said. “You can’t replace the human touch of someone who’s already been there, and our agents can tell you what it’s really like there.”

One tool for business clients, produced by Reardon Commerce, pre-populates online booking with customer preferences and select additional services. “By offering our clients the range of services available through the Rearden Personal Assistant, beyond just air/hotel/car booking, we have options, such as entertainment and dining choices, for our business traveler, which is more than most travel agencies in the US,” Potts said.

The agency also provides customers with information and assistance in acquiring passports and making other arrangements for international travel. Despite increased awareness of international terrorism since 2001, Potts said most Americans are not afraid to travel outside of the country. “Are people concerned about flying internationally? There is concern, of course, but the truth lies in the statistics, and we are showing an increase in international travel,” she said.
 
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