If you’ve been through an airport in the last week of December you will recognize this scenario; children running around, Christmas presents poking out of bags and the airport falling into complete disarray because a few snowflakes hit the ground. The festive season is hectic so brands looking to engage consumers during this peak season have their work cut out for them. With 40% of customers booking a trip online in the last 12 months, the web is the perfect place for travel and tourism brands to connect with the holiday consumer.
When making travel plans online, the modern consumer wants more than a deal, they also want the purchase process to be simple and convenient. According to eMarketer, mobile, which includes both tablets and smartphones, will make up approximately 20% of travel sales online in 2014 with consumers spending an astounding $26.14 billion. Although consumers still have a tendency to use desktops or tablets for larger travel purchases, smartphones are generally more popular for researching destinations and impulse buys.
So how can brands use programmatic media buying in the most effective way this season?
Well, every vacation begins with a dream; a deserted sandy beach, a swim-up bar, a fresh powder ski slope or maybe a long overdue reunion with a loved one. For nearly 70% of consumers, those daydreams are brought to life by online visuals. At this stage, brands should ensure they are there when consumers turn to the internet for ideas and research. The goal is to find and then inspire potential travellers when they search for something like an “all-inclusive beach vacation” or a “ski cabin rental.” It is crucial to build a compelling creative strategy that encourages user engagement across devices and channels. A cross-platform rich media approach, native advertising placements and dynamic creative optimization are effective tools for driving awareness and engagement.
Programmatic provides countless opportunities for travel brands to effectively reach their existing customers, but it can also help brands discover new consumers. Two of the most effective programmatic tactics for travel brands are destination based targeting and seasonal re-targeting.
Destination based targeting is a tactic that gathers the interests of consumers your brand has previously connected with in an effort to re-engage them based on a specific area of interest. For example, a consumer who searches for “New York City” could be targeted at a low frequency with ads for the Statue of Liberty and other major icons from that destination over a one week period. Once the consumer has booked the transportation element of the trip they would start being served ads for accommodation, activities, or special package deals. Ads would be served across desktop, mobile, video and social to ensure they are a seamless part of the modern consumer’s journey.
Seasonal re-targeting is a way to reach customers who have actively engaged with your brand over the last year. It allows brands to re-establish the relationship and offer incentives during prime holiday booking periods, which is a powerful way to drive conversions.
Working with a programmatic partner that uses a multi-platform approach allows you to plug into multiple Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) providing marketers with the best possible reach and flexibility to engage their consumers at effective, custom touch points across the web. Programmatic also leverages the benefits of automation, delegating mass data collection and organization to the technology, which can also tailor your message to the consumer’s device and geographical location. The human element shines through analysis and insights drawn from the results of your campaign, which are developed faster when split intelligently between man and machine. The always-on consumer is bombarded with messages online and offline everyday so ensuring your ads feature relevant, personalized messages with clear calls to action make or break the buy.
It’s important for marketers to continue adapting to this mobile migration and understand how mobile, tablet and desktop fit into your consumer’s purchase path. This vital information is something your programmatic partner can help uncover and use to ensure campaigns are optimized toward devices at the right time of day and week. For example, generally high conversions are seen on desktop mid-day on Mondays, while mobile devices tend to see high performance over the weekends.
If you’ve ever been stranded at an airport in need of last minute accommodation or local transportation in an unfamiliar environment, you can probably recall a moment where a solution delivered to your device would have been a life saver. These are the kinds of real-time moments that create opportunities for brands to discover potential customers and offer them a solution.
Once the return flight lands, the bags are unpacked and the tan starts to fade the vacation may be over, but the opportunities for travel brands looking to provide solution-driven, intelligent offers to travellers are just beginning.
