Marketing is changing; it’s becoming hyper personal and hyper contextual and brands need to reach their customers across many different channels. In this fast-changing environment, what are the risks and where are there opportunities? Pamela Whitby hears some insights from a traditional player and household name that is moving with the times.

The lyrics of a song from the English rock band, The Levellers, which tell us the only way is your own way, resonate with Hans Smellinckx who is Innovation & Marketing Projects Manager at Thomas Cook. There is plenty of truth in that, yet finding direction in the fast-changing digital world of marketing today is tough. As the EyeforTravel Social Media & Mobile in Travel Distribution Report, 2013 reveals, social media and mobile are inextricably linked and devices are more connected to each other and always on. For Smellinckx, who will be speaking in Amsterdam (October 24-25) at the Online Marketing, Mobile & Social Media in Travel, Europe 2013, this means that we have again a browser war and operating system war “and a demanding consumer who doesn’t understand why you as a brand can’t deliver a top notch service on that one device he is using”.

So travel brands or agents will need to change their retail point-of-sale experience and rethink their business models and service. This will mean embracing multichannel marketing, being transparent and giving the consumer more power. The good news is that in times of crisis, you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself and prepare for the future. And if you get to the end of a bumpy road, you will be positioned for growth. However, the trick is to not become too dependent on any one player. “See to it that you don’t depend heavily on the likes of Google, create your own path,” says Smellinckx, who is quick to add: “..oh and by the way, people search more on Facebook today than on Google, so it’s time to talk to those consumers!”

Going forward, he expects radical and disruptive innovation but what remains to be seen is whether technology brands will light the way or travel companies. Against this backdrop, Smellinckx has the following recommendations.

1. Go back to basics: The biggest fear facing marketers is that trends like ‘big data’, will become too complex. So they don’t do doing anything, fearing that it will explode in their faces. “It’s true that we have never captured so much data, but most of the time brands are nowhere when thinking about basic personalised customer experiences. So it’s necessary to start with the basics is necessary,” he says.

2. Understand technology: Marketers cannot only rely on IT teams. Instead they need to figure things out on their own and then steer the IT team in the right direction. “We need to work together to find the perfect solution that suits the business and not only a CTO’s agenda,” says Smellinckx. In the future, your time to market will heavily depend on how quickly your infrastructure can cope with a changing market. 

3.  Take digital seriously but choose wisely. The more channels there are, the more complex life becomes. A decade ago you could argue that most of the time, the offline marketer would become the marketing manager. But today there are more digital channels than traditional ones and budgets are also shifting. Travel brands need more digitally astute people on board. 

4. Test and fail fast: While you don’t need to be active in all channels, look for quick wins and test out new channels constantly. That means that you will need to adopt a culture of fail fast. In Smellinckx’s view, companies that do not test new things will fail in the long run.

5. Put the customer first: In a fragmented landscape the only way to ensure that your brand stands out, is by putting the customer first. Objectively assess if you occupy a unique spot, or if you could be replaced. If the latter, then you probably won’t survive the next ten years. Ask yourself: do you have a unique product, a unique service or are you more convenient than your competitor. You’ll probably need a combination of all three! Consumers no longer have time to wait for hours, so you can use this to your benefit as a traditional agent. But you will need to be extremely relevant and service oriented with a good eye on your cost structure.

6. Price it right: Above all, don’t forget price. The higher the price, the more unique your product and service needs to be. The always-on consumer also expects more than the traditional nine to five shopping hours, so rethinking your traditional service concept could mean that you can be more convenient, without ramping up huge costs.

7. Don’t ignore traditional players: In the travel world we often see a battle between web and traditional players. “That’s a pity and most of the time is based on the wrong strategy,” he says. “Most travel websites are extremely boring, not inspiring and too focused on selling.” Sometimes Smellinckx questions if travel firms really understand that they are dealing with a person’s happiest moment in the year – this has to be more enjoyable than filling out a tax return which booking sometimes feels like! A combination of channels, from retail to online to mobile is the future so yes, there is a shift towards online, but there is still a huge role for traditional agencies, he says.

8. Make it fun!

Nobody is doing a great job yet of making booking fun and many websites have become cumbersome monsters. “Think bigger than just your booking engine as the future consumer is mobile. So if you think your boring, old fashioned, 800 px wide booking engine will work in the future, well… think again.”

9. Apply logic. If 10% of your visitors are from mobile, then you need to allocate at least as much as that of your marketing budget to mobile. The problem is that you will need to make structural changes, which means higher costs than just advertising. Again, it comes down to those Leveller lyrics – the only way is your own way – but for Smellinckx: “Not spending any is not clever, but how big your budget should be, is up to each brand.” Test it out, make changes and see the effects. In other words, don’t simply think: “It’s cool to have an app”. Rather, dive into the numbers and see if it helps to lift the engagement with your brand or deliver revenue.

10. Ignore the hype: Smellinckx believes social media is over hyped. “It’s not about social media, but about a social business and you are as strong as your weakest link,” he says. So by this time you should be training your customer service people and the entire company should be socially aware. If you’re not, then you are most likely lagging behind. However, you don’t only have to roll out the red carpet for every person who complains on Twitter. You need to do it for every customer. Make this part of your company’s DNA.  “Of course… it won’t win you any prizes ;-) only happy customers!” he says.