The document summarizes the journey of Holidayguru, a Dutch travel deals blog, from its origins to current operations and future plans. It began in 2012 in Germany as Urlaubsguru, founded by Daniel Krahn and Daniel Marx. In 2013, Holidayguru.nl launched in the Netherlands under Mike Schroeck. It has since grown from 1 person to 7 staff members based in Amsterdam. Holidayguru finds and publishes about 10-14 travel deals per day on its blog and social media after thoroughly researching and quality checking each one. Its goals are to improve deal writing, increase brand recognition in the Netherlands, and expand to other countries while growing its Amsterdam office to 10 employees.

1. A JOURNEY INTO
INNOVATIVE CONTENT
MARKETING
Mike Schroeck
Country Manager NL
Holidayguru/Urlaubsguru

2. A JOURNEY INTO INNOVATIVE
CONTENT MARKETING
The journey so far: Where are we coming from & how did it all get
started
Where are we now: How are we working & what are our challenges
Where are we going: What lies a head in the (near) future for
Holidayguru(.nl)

3. HOW DID IT ALL GET STARTED
1. Began ‘’travelhacking’’ at age of 17 (Over 10 years of experience)
2. Founder of the first ever traveldealblog in The Netherlands: Travelmazing(.com)

4. THE FIRST
TRAVELDEALBLOG IN NL
Travelmazing is no longer
online

5. HOW DID IT ALL GET STARTED
1. Began ‘’travelhacking’’ at age of 17 (Over 10 years of experience)
2. Founder of the first ever traveldealblog in The Netherlands: Travelmazing(.com)
3. Began building relationships with today’s major German blogs (at that time still
very small)
4. Dutch competitors started to copy paste the blog, got media exposure and due to
the pressure environment + a fulltime job travelmazing died a silent death but
kept my relationships with blogs.

6. HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED:
URLAUBSGURU
1. Founded in the summer of 2012 by Daniel Krahn & Daniel Marx
(‘’The Daniels’’)
2. The blog grew to around 5000 Facebookfans when national media
pickup the blog and through this the blog simply ‘’exploded’’ and
reached 100 000 fans

7. THE FIRST VERSION OF
THE GURU LOGO

8. HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED:
URLAUBSGURU
1. Founded in the summer of 2012 by Daniel Krahn & Daniel Marx
(‘’The Daniels’’)
2. The blog grew to around 5000 Facebookfans when national media
pickup the blog and through this the blog simply ‘’exploded’’ and
reached 100 000 fans
3. By 2013 the realization came that you can take this ‘’hobby’’ and
turn this into a serious business and an office was rented and the
first (of many) staff was hired to help build the company.
4. By mid 2013 is was clear that this concept of Guru could be
translated into international markets and next to Austria &
Switerland the search started for someone to setup, build & run
Holidayguru.nl
5. In the fall of 2013 I got word of Guru’s expansion and was hired on
the spot

9. AND SO HOLIDAYGURU.NL
WENT LIVE MID JANUARY
WITH A FULL LAUNCH ON 1
FEB 2014 IN THE HOPES THAT
IT WOULD BE BECOME A
SUCCES

10. WHERE ARE WE NOW:
GURU (UNIQ) IS ON ITS
WAY TO GROW TO 100
STAFF
But today it is not ‘’just’’
Guru anymore…

12. WHERE ARE WE NOW: AMSTERDAM
1. Grew from 1 man (laptopjob) to as of 1 november: 7 staff within 10
months
2. Rented an office in a center location in Amsterdam (come and visit
us)
3. Focussing on: Quality and building sustainable partnerships and
developing the site as a ‘’fun’’ online destination.

13. HOW ARE WE WORKING? 5 Steps to posting a deal
on Holidayguru (.nl)

14. STEP 1: RESEARCHING THE
MARKETPLACE
1. We spend hours every day looking at your website
2. We manually look for 80% of our deals and 20% are given to us
3. We know your product better than you do
4. We can only post 10-14 deals a day so our number of partners is
limited
5. However the deal is always leading as it’s about giving as much
value as possible

15. STEP 2: QUALITY CHECK
1. The most imporant thing is not price but quality
2. Holidayguru has a standard of 7.0 reviewscore minimum
3. The Guru wants everyone to have a great holiday and cheap does
not equal ‘’ holiday from hell’’
4. After we found a deal we always check for 1 more similar deal that
is ranked a bit higher. (To see if the value for money can be even
increased more)
5. We think from a consumer persective: Would I go for this?

16. STEP 3: WRITING THE DEALS
1. Guru tells a story that is centered around excitement & facts
2. The deal can be devided into 4 parts:
- Introduction
- Fact lines
- Call to action
- Bulletpoints
- Screenshot

17. INTRODUCTION
The Guru is always excited. He spend
hours & hours looking to find the best
deal for today and now that he found it he
wants nothing more then to share this
deal with you!
The tone of voice needs to be: excited,
personal and believable. (something we
are improving)

18. FACTLINES
We give you a clear paragraph of what it is
that the Guru found for you.
- Destination
- Departure date
- Airline
- What type of hotel + rating

19. CALL TO ACTION
The Guru always tell his readers that the
availability is limited and therefore the
always reccomend that you dont wait to
long before booking this deal!
- To make sure we are covered if a deal
expires
- To give people a sence of: If I act fast I
can get a great deal!

20. BULLETPOINTS
The Guru provides you with an easy
overview covering everything you need to
know to be able to book this deal.
- Easy to read for the readers
- We add info that is not included in the
tekst such as climate information

21. SCREENSHOT
The Guru ALWAYS shows proof of the deal
he found! It is very important for the
Guru. Through screenshots he proves to
his reader that what he found it true and
that he or she can also book the same
deal

22. STEP 4: SCHEDULING THE DEAL
1. We spend the morning times searching and writing the deals
2. The deal of 6PM could be written at 11 AM
3. The consumer often times think we are working around the clock
(including weekends)
4. Wordpress/Facebook/Twitter – you can autopost/schedule
everything!

23. STEP 5: PUBLISH THE DEAL ON THE
BLOG AND ON THE SOCIAL
CHANNELS

24. TO SUMMARIZE
1. We created this alter ego
2. The Guru knows everything. He has an answer to every travel
related question
3. Unleashe a constant stream of great travel deals that are affordable
and offer great value for money
4. Use the the social channels to create a buzz

25. WHAT ARE OUR (CURRENT)
CHALLENGES
1. Implementing quality assurance
2. Improving the tone of voice of the Guru by adding more
personality
3. The Guru must become more trustworthy: If I say, people will buy!
4. Intensifying our current partnerships and looking for new potential
(long term) partnerships with companies who can see our potential
5. Increasing the brand recogniztion of Holidayguru.NL
6. Getting a better understanding of our reader and how to connect
with him or her (Inspiration, Information and Interaction)

26. OUR BIGGEST MISTAKES SO FAR
1. The Guru got ‘’catfished’’
2. Malaysia deal bad timing

27. WHERE ARE WE GOING: WHAT IS
NEXT
1. As a company we are looking to expand Guru into a few other
countries
2. Our mobile app is on its way which will have some cool features
3. Starting with our newsletter
4. Overall turning Holidayguru.nl into a slightly more allround online
fun blog where peope can find the best traveldeals & read fun
travel realted content
5. Creating a very strong brand within The Netherlands
6. As we grow our office in Amsterdam grows and within the next few
months I hope to grow to 10 people working on holidayguru.nl
7. Introducing one of our other projects in the Dutch marketplace

28. THIS IS OUR JOURNEY SO
FAR…
Thank you for listening.
Any questions?