Strawberry Holidays raises profile through prestigious SmallBiz100 event

Holroyd was selected from thousands of firms to take part in Small Business Saturday as a member of the SmallBiz100, where each firm gets one dedicated day in the spotlight in the run-up to the event on 5 December.

She held a series of online interviews on Facebook on Thursday (12 November) with 10 guests including Conservative MP Jake Berry, TV chef Nigel Haworth, Jamie-Lee Abtar, executive director of BAME Women in Travel, and several travel-focused influencers.

“It was a brilliant day and I loved doing it – it was so good to talk to people about their very different travel experiences,” Holroyd told TTG.

“It made me feel more positive as it reaffirmed how important travel is to people and the appetite people have for it. Everybody was speaking about their plans for next year – whether it’s travelling in the UK or further afield.”

Holroyd said that her series of interviews on Thursday had increased her social media engagement by 10,000% through platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

“It’s been really nice to get support – not just from people in travel but other types of small businesses as well,” she added.

Business had already started to pick up for Strawberry Holidays this week following the announcement of a successful trial of a Covid vaccine on 9 November.

“I made three bookings in two days – I’ve not done that since February,” said Holroyd. “Enquiries have been up as well. That’s really encouraging as they had died away with lockdown, now people are feeling a bit more confident.”

She hopes to continue to increase her profile in the three weeks before Small Business Sunday next month with an interview planned with BBC Lancashire and the hope of more PR opportunities to promote Strawberry Holidays in the coming weeks.