Repeat customers don't just help keep your calendar filled, they also help your bottom line: 70 percent of companies report that it's much cheaper to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one, according to econsultancy's Cross-channel Marketing Report 2013. So it's easy to see why "relationship marketing" — activities that help you stay connected to existing customers and help you maintain a positive relationship — is more important than ever.Here are 10 ways tour and activity operators can get more repeat customers throughout the year.

1. Deliver Exceptional Customer Service

You want every customer to have an unforgettable experience and talk positively about your company. Research from NewVoiceMedia reveals 93 percent of customers will take action following inadequate service, and 34 percent would go as far as taking revenge by posting a review online. Take the time to train staff to handle all types of customer issues or guest complaints effectively so that you aren't working extra hard to do some damage control after a customer is upset or disgruntled. This might be something as offering a complimentary upgrade if the guest had problems booking their reservation.

To prevent customers becoming disgruntled during the booking process, put yourself in the customer's shoes as you walk through the booking process.

To prevent customers becoming disgruntled during the booking process, put yourself in the customer's shoes as you walk through the booking process. Make sure they have everything they need to confirm a booking — a reservation confirmation and "thank you" email leading up to their trip can open up the lines of communication and help a guest feel like they are being taken care of. If you offer online booking options, make sure the checkout process is as seamless as possible so that you don't lose guests because of technical issues.

2. Offer Referral Bonuses

Encourage guests to be loyal customers by offering a discount for referring a friend. You can either extend a discount on a reservation for bringing a friend on the next visit, or ask guests to share who referred them to your business and send a handwritten "thank you" card or email to the referring guest with an exclusive discount or complimentary upgrade offer for their next visit. Upgrade offers might include an extended kayaking rental, for example, or an invitation to a class or workshop after a foodie tour. Make sure guests know that they can earn a referral bonus before they leave for the day and follow up with an email reminder to prompt them to share their experience with friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. Guests who know they are going to get a gift or upgrade in return for referring you may be eager to re-book.

3. Host Private Parties and Exclusive Events

Even though many visitors will be one-time guests just trying out a new experience or activity because they were in the area, others may be locals or interested in coming back each season. Consider hosting a private party or other exclusive events for loyal customers. Locals, especially, may be interested in socializing with other like-minded travel and adventure enthusiasts or taking part in a group outing led by one of your lead guides. These types of events build rapport and may create a sense of community around your business.

4. Extend Exclusive Offers for Returning Guests

Maintaining digital records can help you identify which customers are most loyal and what their favorite activities are. Using an online booking software program, such as Peek Pro, allows you keep track of all customers in your database with details about their past purchases and number of visits throughout the year. Segment your customers for a separate email list so you can send them an exclusive offer as a loyal guest — not just those who refer a friend or bring someone along. You could offer a 10 to 25 percent discount on their next booking for a certain time period to fill up empty spaces in your calendar. Or, you could create a special seasonal package or offer to encourage them to book on their next visit.

5. Connect with Guests on Social Media

Maintaining an active presence on social media sites and making the effort to reach out to fans and followers, in the form of contests or by promoting a return guest discount, can encourage non-traveling guests to keep in touch with your company.Make sure to share or retweet posts by guests that mention your company or photos of your activity — this not only generates goodwill between you and your customer but also allows you to subtly market and promote your business to both your fans and followers — and the guest's fans and followers. For example, Doolin Ferry, which offers cruises to The Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher, shared a guest's photo on Instagram and thanked them for the photo and visit within the comments. This is a great way to acknowledge a guest publicly and promote the company. Pro tip: Tag or mention the guest's username or social media handle to get their attention.

6. Send Postcards in the Mail

Allocating some of your marketing efforts, such as sending postcards, to existing guests can keep you top of mind with previous guests.According to the Direct Marketing Association, more than 52 percent of customers report that they will read a postcard in the mail and more than 23 percent ill respond to the postcard if it is relevant to them. If you are putting together your marketing budget for the year, consider sending postcards to existing customers as a way to lure them back for another visit. You could attach a coupon or promo code to the postcard to prompt a booking or simply send a postcard about some of the latest tours and activities of the season.

7. Send Emails throughout the Year

Nurturing existing customers via email can be a very effective way to generate repeat customers. According to research by Gigaom, 56 percent of marketers found email marketing to be the most effective for customer retention in 2014. If you're using an online booking software program that automatically captures the guest's email address and contact information for its database, you can set up customized email blasts specifically for returning guests that invite them back for another tour or activity, share information about new packages, or to issue a discount code or coupon for their next visit. The goal is to keep the guest interested in all of your offerings so they think of you first when making their travel plans.

8. Offer Customization Options

No matter how unique your tour or activity experience may be, you want guests to walk away with the intention of coming back again soon. Customizing the guest experience can make you stand apart from the competition and keep guests interested in trying something new next time.The experts at Fusion, a team dedicated to optimizing customer experiences, point out that customers want to buy more but will refrain to do so when it's inconvenient — your job is to present an offer that appeals to your guest and is also easy to take advantage of. Give guests the option to customize their experiences at every opportunity, whether that's by providing the option to purchase add-ons at checkout or upgrade to a premium experience.You can set up this level of customization by using an online booking software program, such as Peek Pro. The Peek Pro platform allows you to create add-ons for different tours and activities so that it appears on the checkout page. You could also create custom packages for guests that may be celebrating a special event, such as a birthday or an anniversary during their visit.

9. Keep an Eye on the Competition

Whether your company specializes in boat tours and excursions or you offer ghost tours, keep tabs on what your competition is offering and their pricing strategy. Staying up-to-date on your competitors can help you stay one step ahead of the game when creating special packages and offerings for the upcoming season. Even if you are in a position where you can't offer exactly what they offer, you can take steps to emphasize the value you provide and focus on creating personalized experiences for all your guests.For example, you could personalize your marketing efforts by sharing testimonials and reviews from recent guests. You could share a few words from the captain or owner in the form of a short video, or put together a gallery of behind-the-scenes footage from one of your tours to share on social media sites. This sets you apart from the competition and can pique the interest of former customers who are planning their next trip.

10. Send a Thank You Card by Mail

Even though it's easy to connect with guests via social media and email in the digital age, stand apart from other businesses with an old-fashioned approach — sending a "thank you" card via snail mail. Saying thank you is a simple way to show your appreciation for the guest and you don't eve have to extend an offer or promote anything at this stage. The Leaky Bathtub points out that handwritten cards have maximum impact. The goal is to show you care and sincerely thank the guest for their visit. It's a personal touch that many travelers will appreciate and most importantly, will remember you for.From offering a referral bonus to connecting with guests on social media, there are several ways to generate more repeat customers for your tours and activities business. Use these tip and strategies to keep your booking calendar full season after season.

There's a whole segment of the travel market beginning to ripen: business travel. This segment of the market is expected to increase by 1.7 percent in volume within the United States by the end of 2015, which is more than previously expected, reports the Global Business Travel Association. The GBTA also reports business travel spending will increase 3.1 percent in 2015, which means more business travelers may be interested in adding tours and activities to their itinerary. This provides tour and activity operators a larger market—that's looking to spend money—to which they can offer everything from corporate events and team-building activities to custom packages for local business groups.Here are some ways tour and activity operators can cater to the growing business traveler market.

Offer Corporate Rates and Discounts

Subtle discounts can help entice larger groups of corporate groups who need to rent out more than 10 units at a time. Set up tiered pricing for group travelers through an online booking software program. Create different pricing schedules based on the number of travelers, type of rental, and even the season to make the booking process as seamless as possible.

Run Corporate Specials Throughout the Year

If you've hit a slower season or know that you have large gaps in your calendar coming up, offer corporate specials to encourage group bookings. Get the word out by sending out invitations to human resource departments and corporate travel agencies in the area to promote your business, in addition to sharing corporate discounts and specials on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.The goal is to promote the options for booking group travel at your location and targeting businesses, corporations, and groups that are busy planning corporate retreats and other adventures. Make sure any listings on local sites, such as the chamber of commerce or other directories, include information about your group rates for corporate travelers.

Ask Customers for Referrals

If you're hosting a corporate retreat or any type of group events, make sure your visitors know they can earn a discount for referring their coworkers.

If you're hosting a corporate retreat or any type of group events, make sure your visitors know they can earn a discount for referring their coworkers.

Following up with an email within a week of their visit could encourage guests to share their experience by referring coworkers and business contacts. Schedule all follow-up emails and send customized referral request emails with online booking software, such as Peek Pro. A follow-up email is the perfect way to say thank you for their business and can help you connect with more business travelers looking for something to do on their next visit to the area.

Invite Business Groups on Meetup

Meetup can actually be a powerful tool in this arena. Reach out to local business networking groups and small business workshop organizers that may be looking for some new ideas for group activities. Many of these groups are listed on Meetup and are always posting activities that group members can sign up for together. You could encourage the group organizer to host an event at your location as one of the get-togethers of the year. For example, the Women Global Leadership Initiative Meetup group in San Francisco, C.A., brings together business leaders for speaking events, yoga retreats, art walks, and other activities throughout the year.Whether you offer canoe tours, stand up paddleboarding adventures, surf lessons, or foodie tours, contact a Meetup group organizer to introduce your business and extend an invitation to schedule an event. Another option is to sponsor a Meetup group to promote your business and generate some interest in what you have to offer to all group members.

Host Wellness Events for Corporate Travelers

The Travel Market Report predicted wellness travel among both business and leisure travelers would be a leading travel trend in 2014 and beyond. They predict that more people will begin to schedule wellness vacations every year, "for the betterment of body, mind, and soul."Many corporate travelers are interested in work-life balance while on the road, or may be simply looking for a new way to spend their time off. If you offer outdoor adventures and activities, such as bike tours, kayaking adventures, or even boating excursions, considering hosting wellness retreats at your location where busy and stressed-out travelers can enjoy a new experience and relax in the great outdoors. You might even consider partnering up with a local company that specializes in wellness activities, such as a yoga instructor, massage therapist, or other alternative medicine healthcare provider to offer services at your location or their clinic or office as part of a complete wellness package.From setting up special pricing for group business travelers to hosting special events throughout the year, there are several ways to cater to the growing business traveler market. Use these tips and marketing strategies to book more business travelers this season.See How Peek's Online Booking Software Can Help Grow Your Business

The vast majority of social media users — 80 percent, to be exact — prefer to connect with brands through Facebook, according to HubSpot's State of Inbound Marketing report. On top of that, the same report shows that social media has a 100-percent higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing efforts. In other words, Facebook is one of the best tools you can be using to generate more bookings for you business. So start sharpening that tool by honing in on your Facebook marketing efforts and fine-tuning your page with fresh, relevant content.To ensure you take the correct approach to this social media platform, here are six Facebook marketing mistakes tour and activity operators need to avoid.

1. Not Responding to Posts and Comments

Unlike, say email marketing, Facebook provides a golden opportunity to not only reach potential customers, but to fully interact and engage them. Don't view Facebook as a mega-phone from which you shout to be heard more. Think of it more as a two-way radio that allows both you and potential customers to let one another know what's happening. In other words, in addition to posting timely content, take the time to check in to see how your fans are responding, commenting on and liking anything your fans post.Keep in mind that people may post both positive and negative comments on your page so it pays to pay attention — SproutSocial.com reports 71 percent of complaints on social media are made on Facebook alone. Your customers could be complaining about anything from technical issues with the website, a bad tour or activity experience, or just sharing a photo of a great experience they had with one of your tour guides. Your goal (as we've detailed) is to acknowledge their comments professionally and take steps to resolve a bad situation if necessary.

What You Can Do:

Get into a routine of monitoring your Facebook page regularly and responding to comments or questions promptly — preferably within the hour, as 42 percent of customers complaining on social media expect a 60-minute response time, according to Convince&Convert. You could delegate all Facebook tasks to a single employee or manage the account yourself by subscribing to all activity via email.

2. Posting Too Frequently

While you may have something to say or share with your Facebook fans on a daily basis — and even multiple times a day — refrain from posting too frequently just to get something out there. Peter Shankman, author of Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World, tells Mashable that it's best to limit the number of Facebook posts if you really want to engage your audience. He also advises against being repetitive. Posting the same photos, updates, or videos just to engage your audience could make some of your fans block your page or unfollow you entirely.

What You Can Do:

Plan on posting between five and 10 posts per week, say the experts at Socialbakers. If you find yourself posting fewer than two posts a week, you might struggle to fully engage with your audience. On the flip-side, posting more than twice per day can make you lose your audience. In addition, change up the types of content you post so that you don't bore your audience. Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours does a great job with this by posting a variety of content including articles, random photos from various tours, videos, and non-visual content. La Jolla Kayak invites guests to join the fun on various adventures by posting photos and a brief intro to the tour experiences they offer. The combination of strong visuals and creative copy makes it an interesting page to follow.

3. Posting at the Wrong Time

Do you time your posts throughout the week or just update your page randomly on any day and at any time? Maximize your Facebook marketing efforts by making sure you post when the majority of users are actually online and tuning in to their Facebook newsfeed.

Maximize your Facebook marketing efforts by making sure you post when the majority of users are actually online and tuning in to their Facebook newsfeed.

The bit.ly blog reports that the highest traffic occurs in the middle of the week between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and it's best to avoid posting on weekends since fewer people are on Facebook on those days.

What You Can Do:

Whether you manually post your updates or use scheduling programs like HootSuite to automate the entire process, make sure your most interesting and important posts go live during the late afternoons on weekdays. You want to generate as much interest from prospective customers and existing fans as possible. Updating your page during these times with video clips of tours you offer, high-quality photos, or simple messages spotlighting a tour or activity could help you drive more traffic to your website and increase your bookings.

4. Neglecting to Use the Facebook Reviews Feature

According to Stikky Media, 70 percent of global consumers say online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising — with word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family being the first. When it comes to Facebook, people may be more likely to tune in to what you have to offer when they see positive reviews posted by friends or a list of glowing reviews from satisfied guests.Facebook offers businesses the option to maintain a reviews section on its page where fans can give you a star rating and write about their experience. This is an adaptation of the former "Testimonials" tab that was adopted by many companies a few years ago. Marketing Sherpa reports on how Costa Rican Vacations took full advantage of this feature and acquired more than 200 testimonials as a result. Since the reviews and ratings are posted publicly, the review gets posted not only on your page, but also appears in the guest's news feed where their friends and fans can see them.

What You Can Do:

Make sure you turn on the Reviews feature and encourage guests to post a Facebook review after their visit. You could even send a link to your Facebook page in a follow up email encouraging the guest to write a review and offer incentives to those who do participate. We shared some tips on how to ask for online reviews without annoying your customers here.

5. Only Posting Your Own Content

Consider how many guests take pictures during a tour and post them to social media. You can encourage guests to share those photos with you or tag your company on their public posts so you can share them on your page as well. The Tourism Australia social media team has made full use of user-generated content to attract a following of more than 4 million Facebook fans. They treat their fans as brand ambassadors and encourage people to share their best photos to promote them on their social media channels.

What You Can Do:

Showcase user-generated content regularly, such as fan photos and video clips. Make sure to tag the guest who shared that piece of content so they are eager to share their moment in the spotlight with friends and social connections on their own. This is a great way to promote your business and show your guests you care about their experience.

6. Neglecting to Offer Booking Options Directly Through Facebook

When you've worked so hard to capture your audience's attention and keep them engaged, make sure it's equally as easy for your audience to go ahead and book that exciting tour or activity with your company.Rainforest Adventures has set up a Facebook Store with a highly-visible "Book Online Now" tab redirecting visitors to a checkout page after selecting from different products and options. You can set up something similar so that Facebook fans and visitors interested in what you have to offer do not have to click through to your main website to book.

What You Can Do:

Use an online booking software program to coordinate all online bookings so that interested guests can just click through and make their reservation without a hitch. You can list all of your popular tours and packages right on your Facebook page and connect the checkout process to the online booking software program for a seamless checkout experience.

Final Thoughts

Facebook can be one of the most valuable social marketing tools available for your tours and activity business. Make sure you're taking full advantage of its features and creating a high-impact marketing strategy that generates more bookings season after season.

As though it were a new toy, you may have become hyper focused on social media, banishing other marketing efforts to the dusty corner of the shelf. One that you've likely been neglecting: email. But direct email marketing can be a powerful tool. Experian Marketing Services reports that, for the travel industry, "email provides a means for ongoing conversations with travelers across all travel categories." Another recent study from Silverpop finds that email open rates for the lodging and travel industry are almost 57 percent, the highest rate among all 17 industries reviewed in this study. What does that mean for you? That you have a better than 50-percent chance of engaging a potential customer.So it's high time for you to begin nurturing and maintaining an email list. Here are some of the most effective ways for tour and activity businesses to grow their email list:

1. Run a social media contest.

If you have a strong social media presence or are just starting to build a following on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, consider running a contest where entrants have to subscribe to your newsletter or join your email list as part of the entry. Whether you're running a giveaway of free tickets or extending a deep discount to new subscribers, take full advantage of social media platforms you use regularly to spread the word.

What You Can Do:

Implement an email subscription widget on your Facebook Page and direct fans to the subscription area at every opportunity. For instance, Hillarys Boat Harbour's Facebook page features a clean and simple newsletter signup widget that takes seconds to fill out. If you have a dedicated page on your website with a simple subscription form, drop links on your Facebook page, Twitter stream, and post about it on Instagram to encourage people to sign up immediately.

2. Ask for emails upon check-in.

Customers that may have booked over the phone or walk-in customers may not have had a chance to share all of their contact information, including an email address.

You will want guests to share their email address as part of the check-in process

You will want guests to share their email address as part of the check-in process, which will help you populate your database.

What You Can Do:

Place a tablet computer at the check-in desk and train staff to capture emails at every opportunity. If you prefer to use a paper method, make sure someone is encouraging guests to sign in with their email address when they check in so you can add them to the database later.

3. Confirm emails at checkout.

Take full advantage of the online booking process by including the recipient's email as one of the requirements for completing the reservation. The customer would simply need to include their email address alongside other contact information, such as their full name, address, and method of payment. You can send a transaction receipt to this email address and automatically add this customer to the database.

What You Can Do:

Invest in an online booking software program that requires the guest to provide their email address upon checkout. Create email or database lists to organize all incoming emails based on where they are with the sale — just registering as a user, already booked a tour or activity, or are coming back for another visit. This enables you to create customized and targeted emails to send out to each group.

4. Send a monthly or biweekly newsletter.

Even though email can be a valuable marketing channel for small business owners, you don't have to use it solely to share news about special offers and promotions. Consider sending out a newsletter with interesting information an avid traveler or adventure enthusiast might find useful.For example, a zip line tour operator can send a newsletter that includes highlights of a recent excursion, educational information about the rainforest, or rainforest preservation efforts in the area. A boat tour operator can share some insights from the captain, details about a new boat in the fleet, or provide a summary of a recent boating adventure. A real-life example comes from Reef Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel, which posts newsletter content directly on its website in its "Brief from the Reef" series and also has a newsletter signup form at the bottom of its website. The goal is to share interesting stories and insights from the company's perspective to keep the subscriber engaged.

What You Can Do:

Pull together stories from tour guides, captains, and other key employees, or research interesting content about the area in which you operate to use in your newsletter. Consider seasonal themes, such as how colder or warmer temperatures affect your business and how travelers can still enjoy the experience.

5. Add social sharing buttons.

If you are investing time and resources into creating compelling content for your email marketing efforts, make sure you get the maximum exposure you deserve by giving subscribers the option to share the message with a friend. According to SocialTimes, emails embedded with social sharing buttons could boost click-through rates more than 150 percent. For example, if you're running a fall discount on boating tours or running a bring-a-friend promotion on ghost tours for a few weeks, encourage the recipient to share the news by posting the offer on social media. Placing social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram within the email make it easy for the reader to click and share without much effort.

What You Can Do:

Embed social sharing buttons within the email or post them at the bottom of the email near the recipient's name. Include a simple message, such as: 'Share this!' to prompt a click through to the social media site. You can use free tools like AddThis to insert buttons in the body of an email without any HTML or complicated programming.

6. Prevent unsubscribes.

Getting a site visitor to subscribe to your email newsletter or submit their email address for updates is only the first step of an effective email marketing campaign. You need to keep that subscriber engaged for a long enough period of time until they book — and possibly even afterwards for future bookings to prevent unsubscribes. TripIt has had great success with this strategy, focusing on engagement activities for the first 30 days. The company keeps the subscriber updated when new features are rolled out and after a year of joining, sends an anniversary email thanking them for being a member.

What You Can Do:

Implement a series of welcome emails that consist of sending the subscriber a series of introductory emails about your business, latest specials and offers available, and exclusive offers for first-time bookers. Include high-quality photos or even a video link as a teaser within the email so that first-time visitors can get a taste of your tours and activities with little effort. The goal is to keep subscribers engaged and interested enough so they don't unsubscribe.Growing and maintaining your email list is a high priority as a tour and activity operator since email continues to be a preferred method of communication for many of your guests. Use these tips and strategies to grow your email list and maintain a large list of happy subscribers.

Attention spans online have never been shorter. In fact, only 4 percent of website page views lasted more than 10 seconds, according to the Static Brain Research Institute. So when a potential customer lands on your tour website, you need to make sure you're grabbing them and not letting go until they buy.The first place they'll arrive is on a landing page, so that's where you need to be most captivating. Landing page optimization is something of a dark art—and some people are paid big bucks to make sure landing pages on the world's biggest websites are converting as many visitors as possible. But you can easily optimize your landing pages without earning a masters degree in digital marketing. Here are five tips to keep in mind when building your tour landing pages to grab visitors' fleeting attention.

What action do you want visitors to take?

This is the simplest of questions to ask about your landing page, but still one that's frequently overlooked. A landing page might be asking visitors to do too many different things. “Follow us on Twitter!" “Subscribe to Our Newsletter!" "Book Now!"All of this only serves to confuse visitors. If they land on a page about a river cruise, they want to find out more about your cruise, and to possibly book it. So make it easy for them—focus on the action you want the visitor to take, and ditch everything else. Email subscribers and Twitter followers are nice, but you make money when somebody clicks the “Book Now" button.

Focus on the action you want the visitor to take, and ditch everything else

Are you speaking their language?

The text of calls to action on websites are frequently agonized over—what words, and in what order, will make people click?A good rule of thumb to get you started is the WYLTIWLT test. Make sure you're anticipating what your customer wants, not asking them to do something. WYLTIWLT means “Would You Like To" / “I Would Like To", the idea being your buttons should reflect what the visitor is trying to do, not what you're asking them to do.For instance, imagine your site has a page where visitors can search for trips. Your button for the page might say “Trip search." But a more effective call to action might be “Search for trips." Your visitor is thinking “I would like to search for trips," so your call to action is literally finishing their sentence.

How are your visitors viewing your site?

It's no good designing a beautiful landing page for desktop if the majority of your users are on smartphones.In a perfect world, you'll have a responsive site that looks great on all screen sizes. But at the very least you should be looking at which screen sizes are most popular in your website analytics and making sure your site works well on as many as possible. Run your website through Google's mobile-friendliness tester to see how it fares on smaller devices, and think about revising your buttons and links to be easier to hit with large fingers on tiny screens.

Benefits, not features

Humans are emotional beings, and we always respond better to feelings and emotions than bland feature lists. It's the reason Apple ads focus on people having a great time using iPhones, rather than talking about screen resolutions and gigahertz.Are you showing the benefits people will get from your tours and activities, or just listing features? Show them how they'll get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime tour of an unspoiled paradise, or get an insider's view of their favorite breweries. Full-width images and immersive videos are a great way to get your message across, and many big companies have found that making their landing pages more image-heavy increases conversions significantly—by around 40% in some cases.

The first click is the first step

You've got people clicking on your call to action. But your job isn't done yet—that first click is just the beginning. Make sure your customer's journey from first click to final confirmation is as easy as possible.All good website analytics packages will let you identify dropoff rates for each page in your purchasing process—see which pages are performing badly and get to optimizing them. Smooth out any bumps and you'll soon have new customers flying through your checkout.

The Internet isn't just a place to peruse social media and complete BuzzFeed quizzes; it's a wealth of business tools- and resources-gold just waiting for you to mine. So whether you're on a tight budget or just looking to trim some fat, small business owners can find dozens upon dozens of free tools and resources available that can help their business grow. There are free apps that can help to streamline business operations. There are free apps that can manage administrative tasks. There are even apps to help strengthen your writing for email and website content.But, with the web being such a jam-packed and confusing place to roam, it can be hard to find those resources. So, just consider us your prospector: Here are 21 free tools tour, activity, and recreation businesses can take advantage of.

1. Free Accounting Software: Wave

If you're just getting your business up and running or working with a tight budget, take care of invoices and basic accounting activities with this free accounting software program. The company behind this program offers free, unlimited invoicing to make billing suppliers and vendors a breeze. Make use of the free accounting tools to manage expenses and few financial snapshots.

2. Free Legal Docs: KISS

Approaching investors for seed funding? Then you'll want to make use of Keep It Simple Security (KISS) docs—a set of free legal documents that small business owners can customize without missing out on key legal details and terminology, while also outlining investor rights. The company behind the open-source documents, 500 Startups, consulted a number of law firms to design the documents—so they contain all the necessary legal features, while also keeping it fairly customizable. Just add a few prompted figures and information, and you'll be on your way to getting funding—without the cost of lawyers.

3. Create and Sign Legally Binding Docs: Shake

If you need to create legally binding agreements for a vendor, employee, or contractor, you don't have to pay high fees for a lawyer to put together your documents. Make use of Shake to create legally binding documents within minutes and send it to the recipient for a digital signature. The free version allows you to create, sign, and send unlimited agreements from any device with a set of starter forms.

4. Create Stunning Graphics: Canva

It can cost a pretty penny to buy graphics and fonts (or to pay someone to create them for you), create attractive blog posts and content to share on social networks with the Canva design tool. The tool contains dozens of designs, shapes, illustrations, icons, and charts. And everything is drag-and-drop, which means you can create stunning graphics, Facebook covers, posters, and other visual media within minutes.

5. Image Editing Tool: Pixlr Editor

Since you practically need a PhD to use Adobe Photoshop these days, use Pixlr to edit and enhance existing images for your blog posts, social media sites, and website. This free online editing and image re-sizing tool has almost all the features of Adobe Photoshop—but is easy to learn and use. Tour, activity, and recreation businesses that want to post high-quality images can make use of this tool to edit and enhance all types of professional and candid shots within minutes.

6. Content Editing and Grammar Check: Hemingway Editor

Why does everyone love Ernest Hemingway so much? He wrote clearly and to the point. And that's a lot harder than it sounds—until now. So whether you're publishing blog posts or tour descriptions, make sure your content is free of grammar errors and has good, easy-to-read sentence structure. This cuts the cost of hiring a freelance editor or blogger, while also making your content clear and more relatable for potential customers.

7. Advanced Grammar Checker: Grammarly

Don't rely solely on your word processor or personal editing skills to catch grammar mistakes. This tool is downloaded on your web browser to help you write without mistakes no matter what you're doing. It corrects mistakes on everything from Facebook posts to email messages. Your text is checked automatically as you type and the program monitors activity in an editor panel. You can also upload documents for a quick check.

8. Marketing Lessons: Primer

If you don't have much experience running your small business and navigating the digital world to coordinate a marketing strategy, read up on the basics with this free online learning program. The mobile app features five-minute lessons with practical advice about marketing basics. Use it as a guide or refresher to put together your marketing strategy for your tour, activity, and recreation business.

9. Blogging Guide: FirstSiteGuide.com

Blogging takes a good deal of effort and know-how to make the most of it. So if you're just about to launch a blog to compliment your business website or are completely new to blogging, use this free guide to learn how to launch, maintain, and grow the blog. The guide serves as a blueprint with step-by-step guidelines from expert bloggers, covering everything from customizing and designing the blog to adding content and blog promotion tactics.

10. Schedule Instagram Posts: Latergramme

Promoting your business via Instagram with a series of candid shots, behind-the-scenes images of tours and activities, or even professional shots to give viewers a glimpse of what you offer? Well, you no longer need to worry about posting to Instagram in real-time. Use Latergramme to schedule and manage your Instagram posts so you simply upload a collection of images, add captions, and let those posts get released on a certain date.

Use Latergramme to schedule and manage your Instagram posts, saving you time

11. Automated Social Media Posts: Buffer

Instead of worrying about the best time to schedule your Facebook posts and Twitter updates, just upload all of your content into the Buffer queue and let the program release those Facebook updates and tweets at the best time of the day. The posts are spaced out and posted at optimal times based on Buffer's algorithms, so you can free up administrative time on social media and just update the Buffer queue with fresh content whenever it's convenient for you.

12. Create Surveys: Free Survey Creator

Free Survey Creator makes it a breeze to collect customer feedback. Use this free tool to create a free survey to learn more about your guests and customers. You can post the survey form right on your website or embed it within a blog post to start collecting feedback from visitors. Creating the survey only takes a few minutes and the survey can be placed virtually anywhere on your site.

13. Free Stock Photos: Stock Up

If you need some high-quality images for a blog post or website page but don't want to pay a premium for them, check out the collection at Stock UP. The company adds 28 new photos each week and you can choose from 26 free photos on the site at any time.

14. License-Free Images: AllTheFreeStock.com

This is another free resource for a library of images, videos, music, and icons in one place. Use the free search tool in the left sidebar to search by keyword across multiple sites, including Finda.Photo and Unsplash Search—all in one place. Use keywords like "adventure", "travel," and "trips" to open up a library of high-quality images you can use free of charge.

15. Organize Projects: Trello

Create boards of information to share with employees and team members so that everyone is on the same page about a project or upcoming event. This program makes it easy to organize projects with visual materials and notes. You can also add members to each board so that everyone has access to it and can contribute on their own time. This can eliminate a lot of back-and-forth emailing and also makes it easy to create a to-do list for various projects.

16. Keep Track of Notes: Evernote Basic

If you currently email yourself random things you've found or ideas you think of on the go, make use of this app to store everything in one place to view and organize later. Evernote is designed with virtual "Notebooks" and "Notes" where you can capture screenshots, text, and links with ease. The free version allows you to use all of the basic features to improve productivity and stay organized. There's also a built-in chat feature to invite colleagues or employees to view a note you've created.

17. Synced Cloud Storage: Dropbox

Keep track of files, video clips, and other important documents by uploading everything to Dropbox and organizing it into folders. You can access all of these files from the cloud and authorize other users access to certain documents when you need to share them. Dropbox has a free and paid version depending on how much storage you need. The free version includes 2GB of space and simple file sharing features.

18. Organize Online Search Findings: Pocket

Capture everything from articles, video clips, photos, and anything else you find on your web search with Pocket. You can save directly from your browser or favorite apps to view or read later. This can make it easier to research something or just keep track of notes and ideas when you're exploring and brainstorming ideas for a project.

19. Small Business Templates and Tools: SCORE

Whether you want to measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategy, put together a marketing budget, or read up on tax tips for running your small business, you'll find a wealth of free resources and guides available from the SCORE Association. Download free templates to create important business documents with little effort.

20. Expense Reporting: Expensify

Take the guesswork out of tracking and recording expenses with this app that makes it easy to categorize expenses based on different expense accounts you set up, while also linking card transactions with cash expense reports for accuracy. Make use of the SmartScan tool to upload and store a receipt to link it to each reported expense.

21. Back Up Your Files: Google Drive

If you currently use a variety of Google apps and want to keep track of documents, images, and other types of content in one place, make use of the Google Drive. The free version gives you 15GB of free Google online storage to store all types of media and files. You can pull up the files from any smartphone, tablet, or computer and also share files and folders with others via email.