Social Media and Marketing

IN-DEPTH: Travel advertisers have to become more creative in how they look at their entire marketing portfolio.

Published: 28 Jun 2010

IN-DEPTH: Travel advertisers have to become more creative in how they look at their entire marketing portfolio.

With any line of business that starts to mature, companies have to constantly find new ways of making the most of their marketing budgets.

The marketplace is definitely changing and with more competition, travel advertisers have to become more creative in how they look at their entire marketing portfolio.

The saying - The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them with the right message at the right time – never seemed more appropriate. In travel, the industry is witnessing a rise in OTAs, publishers and ad networks using this data in unique ways to consolidate customer information and behaviours. The industry believes that the collection of data and how it is used for targeting will continue to be a strong tool in online marketing. The industry is now starting to see a layering and combining of data from publishers and direct suppliers to OTAs and data aggregators.

At the same time, the digital era continues to result in new experiences. This means that there is a new and compelling opportunity to create one-to-one personalised messaging. To what extent, these opportunities can influence the purchasing intent of consumers is something which is being debated now.

From a travel marketer’s perspective, Ricky Ang, VP - Sales & Marketing, Hotel Equatorial Group, says one should remember that whilst consumers are present across both offline and online worlds; consumers are still consumers.

EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta spoke to Ang about the marketing organisation of the future, ROI and other critical issues. Excerpts:

What do you think is critical when it comes to obtaining a defragmented, united view of your consumers and to create a sustained engagement?

Ricky Ang: Firstly, one should remember that whilst consumers are present across both offline and online worlds; consumers are still consumers. A good product is still a good product. And an effective marketing campaign's core message - regardless of medium - must remain consistent in its objective.

One needs to stay focused on the core fundamentals of marketing - provide a great product; at the right price; distribute it efficiently and effectively; then promote the mix with a consistent message to populations in both the unplugged as well as the cyber universe.

It is being highlighted that the approach of marketers has shifted towards tracking all marketing touch-points and monetising across all online channels at once and not each in a silo. What’s your take on this and how do you think the industry has succeeded with this approach?

Ricky Ang: Tracking ROIs has always been a challenging task for all marketers. Undeniably, each advertising promotional exercise expense should be reviewed against its dedicated returns (where possible). However each exercise will invariably have spill overs of ancillary reach, objectives and achievements that may necessitate the tracking of all online campaigns collectively as a grouping of a singular whole for a big picture perspective / consideration.

My preference is always to consider both measures. See what each brings home on an individual (silo) basis and overlay the achievement in a grouping across all channels to gauge the ancillary benefits - if any.

Recently, Hilton Worldwide shared that it continues to grow its online presence without drifting away from traditional media. As convergence between online and offline marketing continue, budget fluidity is expected to also increase. What’s your take on offline and online marketing at this stage?

Ricky Ang: With marketing funds being an exhaustible commodity there is obvious fluidity of allocated budget between the cyber versus the unplugged world. The ratio of the split would naturally be dependent on various considerations like target audience and measurable returns. One also needs to be mindful of one's core product and ask critical questions like whether the product can be consumed on-line (as opposed to being traded online).

With hospitality products in particular, the off-line or unplugged world must never be neglected - no matter how much new investments one chooses to partake in the cyber world.

According to Razorfish, understanding the fragmented consumer will require a fundamental shift in how marketers do business in 2010. The agency says 2010 will force you to be smarter about how you leverage and react to new social behaviours, how you listen to your consumers, and how you build these brand engagement expectations. What’s your take on this?

Ricky Ang: There is actually no fundamental change in consumer needs. A good product remains a good product. Good food is still good food. And ditto for services.

What has changed radically is the consumer's ability to publish their views - positive or otherwise - in the cyber network.

This should force one to firstly up the ante on one's product/service levels and secondly (but no less importantly) to be equally active in the cyber network to propagate product/brand attributes and at the same time negate adverse views through active response interaction in the cyber social networks.

If the last decade was about ensuring consumers have a consistent experience in the online and offline channels, then 2010 ushers in new challenges due to the Splinternet. (First defined by Forrester, the Splinternet reflects people’s new media and shopping behaviour — behaviour that has shifted from the desktop and laptop to a transient world that is mobile and much more fluid). How do you think marketers are ready for the chaos of the Splinternet?

Ricky Ang: The splinternet phenomena is indeed a resource challenging one as instead of dealing singularly in one cyber universe, one has to now replicate and indeed dedicate unique resources in the cyber multiverse. It is a distinct possibility that hotels - especially the independents and small chains - will outsource a portion or even the entire interactive management of its presence across the cyber multiverse.

Do you expect substantial budgets to go to mobile, particularly in local search? Would it be right to say that 2010 will likely turn out to be the year of testing before mobile really takes off in 2011?

Ricky Ang: I certainly do see that most will need to provide mobile compatible presence in the cyber world but I do not see the mobile population overriding the regular cyber population - at least not in the very near future. Nevertheless an investment into mobile presence is required - albeit in a less substantial manner.

Earlier this year, mobile network operator Orange launched a new mobile advertising service in the UK that enables brands to engage and interact directly with targeted segments of Orange’s customer base. How do you assess such developments?

Ricky Ang: It would be natural for mobile network operators to want to promote mobile advertising services - and indeed even hype it up a notch or two.

I don't however see such purported interactive campaigns to be too relevant to hotel companies based on both the nature of hospitality products as well as the resources required to manage such campaigns.

The marketing organisation of the future will certainly feature cross-channel campaign management to include media, search, Web, affiliates, partners, email, customer service and social. How do you think one can prepare for the future?

Ricky Ang: The most important thing is to keep one's feet firmly planted on the ground and not be overwhelmed or carried away by the myriad of marketing possibilities available - especially in the cyber universe/multiverse.

One needs to stay focused on business (and marketing) fundamentals. There is no displacing the need for best practise mantras when dealing with customers and delivering product promises.

This must always take priority and be consistently cultivated across all spectrums of the offline unplugged real world reality as well as on the virtual online cyber multiverse.

Get these fundamentals right and consumer communities will work to spread the word for you - especially in the cyber networks!