Google rallies embattled travel marketers: media
Published: 09 Oct 2008
Ninety four percent of travel executives have indicated that online advertising would provide the strongest return on investment compared to the other media in the next 12 months, according to the findings of a survey presented by JupiterResearch at Google's TravelThink event in New York.
Some 20 percent of travel advertisers will spend more than $10 million on online marketing.
Search engine optimisation was the top marketing tactic along with e-mail, according to the study commissioned by Google.
"Search is like your Yellow Pages, billboard--everything all wrapped up in one," said Emily Riley, a senior analyst at Jupiter.
However, according to mediapost.com, travel executives gathered at the Google event indicated that business was already getting worse and would likely get continue to downtrend in the next six to 12 months as a result of the weakening economy reducing consumer spending.
In terms of ad spending, the Interactive Advertising Bureau report released this week shared that leisure travel-related ad dollars during the first six months were essentially flat, dropping from $687 million to $667 million, or from seven percent to six percent of total spending.
With reference to the marketing strategy of online travel companies, earlier this year, Aaron Cooper, VP Online Marketing, Orbitz Worldwide, during EyeforTravel's Online Marketing in Travel 2008 conference in Chicago, had said, "The domestic growth is slower than was a few years ago – but that hasn't prevented a number of new players from launching sites and more are still popping up. I still see significant upside for online travel companies in the US. The fact is that no matter how many sites there are out there – you still need to consumate your booking at a supplier or an online travel company like orbitz.com. So when I talk about "your value spectrum", I'm talking picking justifiable levels of investment, brand and direct marketing budget that fit your business plans. Once you have this, the next step is to set the right goals – from search engine marketing to social media to brand – and leave it to your company's experts in these areas to deliver," he said.
"Focus on the goal of marketing … to spiral up," said Cooper.
Explaining the same, he said that once websites gain traffic via online and offline marketing, various departments within the company need to work together to ensure that there is a superior customer
experience and differentiated product offering. This will increase overall site monetisation and profit. And significantly, there will be repeat visitors.
Cooper said the marketers need to stay mindful of the full investment.
"People often focus most on budgets but organisations bear a huge cost in other areas – employees' time, managerial focus and the opportunity cost," he said.
Cooper added, "It is imperative to develop the best brand/product and your marketing will be easier. For those of us who are not Google, we need to figure out how to prioritise scarce resources be it for SEO, SEM, PR, brand marketing, social media, CRM etc."
He recommended that marketers need to priortise such marketing initiatives across four dimensions. These are – the amount of return on the marketing spend, certainty (the likelihood of the amount of return), timing (estimating when the return would be accrued) and sustainability (for how long there can be a steady stream of profit).
Referring to these dimensions and translating the potential of various marketing initiatives, Cooper recommended that the focus should be on brand/ product, which falls under the highest sustainability section.
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Jim said on 10 Oct 08:
I am reminded of an old joke about a top executive reviewing his corporation's books. "Half of all advertising is a complete waste of money, and as soon as I figure out which half, I'm going to cancel it."
Online advertising is still the smaller fraction of most advertising budgets, and yet it can be the best money spent because the results can be immediately measured and adjusted. Further, it is far easier with online advertising to target specific demographics.
Television and print advertising are far more expensive, with fuzzier descriptions of target viewers and readers, and far less ability to measure response rates.