The marketing epiphany of my career didn't happen in a course. It happened on a trip, listening to my highest-value clients tell me, unprompted, in detail, exactly what they wanted more of. And I realized I'd been spending my energy trying to win over everyone else. Figure out who your superfans are, lean in hard on them, and push the other people out. It sounds counterintuitive. It's the entire game.
“You've got to figure out who the superfans are, lean in hard on that and push the other people out.”
Your list is lying to you
After I raised prices meaningfully, I audited my email list and faced the truth: most of it was legacy buyers shopping below my new floor. Thousands of subscribers who were never going to book again, and whose silence I kept mistaking for a marketing problem. The fix wasn't a discount. It was segmenting honestly, messaging the right people differently, and accepting that some subscribers simply aren't your client anymore. That's fine. Survey your non-buyers after every launch, price? dates? itinerary?, and let the answers sort them.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Give your believers structure
an early-booking window, a private launch chat with voice notes and first looks. People want to feel special because they are.
- 2
Watch what free VIPs do, mine behaved so well the
- 3
Remember where the easy money is
people who already bought. Most businesses over-invest in strangers and under-invest in the clients already in the room.
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
How to lean in
- Give your believers structure: an early-booking window, a private launch chat with voice notes and first looks. People want to feel special because they are.
- Watch what free VIPs do, mine behaved so well the free list became a paid program.
- Remember where the easy money is: people who already bought. Most businesses over-invest in strangers and under-invest in the clients already in the room.
Superfans fund the brand, refer the brand, and defend the brand. Build for them, and let everyone else find a brand that fits.
Common Questions
Who are your superfans in a travel business?
The clients who book repeatedly, refer friends, and tell you unprompted what they want more of. They are the audience worth designing for, and the one most businesses under-serve.
What do you do with subscribers who never buy?
Survey them after a launch about price, dates, and itinerary, then accept that some are simply not your client anymore. Segment honestly rather than discounting to chase them.
How do you make repeat clients feel special?
Structure: an early booking window before public launch, a private group chat with first looks, and access that is genuinely limited rather than nominally exclusive.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in luxury travel sales.
About Claire
