How to Take Charge of Your Travel Marketing (Travel Tuesday)

I gave a talk to an industry group last week on how to exploit the trends shaping travel marketing and thought you might appreciate hearing about some of the ideas we discussed.

The key takeaways boil down to these:

1. Your customers have access to the Internet, everywhere. This shouldn’t shock anyone who reads this blog regularly, but the fact that travelers can now find the information they want, any time they want, on any device they want drives so much of your customer’s changing behavior. And their use of the Internet, everywhere, leaves behind a series digital footprints which, when used appropriately, can help you serve those travelers in a more effective fashion. These footprints drive the second trend…
2. Deep customer insights. According to IBM, over 90% of the data ever collected was gathered in just the last few years. And a number of players (like our old friends in the AGFAM group — along with OTA’s and others directly in the travel space), continue to do a pretty solid job of using those digital footprints to gain clear insights into your customers’ behavior. Increasingly, your ability to compete depends on partnering with those companies and also learning from your own data to offer travelers the customized experiences they desire.
3. It’s all e-ecommerce. Again, this isn’t a shocker for any regular readers of this blog. But it no longer matters where your guests book; they’re using the Web all through their decision-making process. Your job is to make it easy for them to do just that. Or you can risk turning those customers over to competitors that do.

Anyway, I’ve included the entire set of slides here (and would be happy to speak at your next event, too, if you’re curious). Check ’em out:

If you’re interested in learning even more about the future of e-commerce and marketing via the social, local, mobile web? Register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

Finally, you might also enjoy some of our past coverage of the social, local, mobile web and what it means for your business, including:

• 4 New Year’s Resolutions for Hotel Marketers
• Search? Metasearch? What’s the Difference?
• A Fair and Balanced Look at Balancing Direct and OTA Business
• Digital Marketing Directions: 3 Trends Shaping 2014 Hotel Internet Marketing and E-commerce
• 3 Key Trends for 2013
• 4 Reasons Why Google Metasearch in Maps Matters
• When More is More: Upselling as a Sales & Marketing Tactic
• How to Get in Your Customers’ Pants… Pocket
• Where Google, Facebook, and Expedia Want to Take Your Guests
• The Single Most Effective Way to Improve Your Brand’s Digital Marketing
• 3 Reasons Mobile Travel is on the Rise