How can travel companies get measurable return from marketing in a downturn?

  TravelMole Guest Opinion by Richard Webster, marketing & communications director of DLG, a supplier of consumer lifestyle data for multi-channel direct marketing

Since the turn of the year there has been an almost endless stream of research predicting that consumers will spend less on their holidays in 2009 as a result of the credit crunch.

With such an unforgiving economic outlook, it’s more important than ever that travel brands see a measurable return from their marketing activity, so what exactly can travel brands do to improve results?

In leaner times, the resourceful marketer must get back to basics and focus zealously on targeting the right consumer with the right message at the right time.

With budgets being squeezed across the board, it’s critical that companies get the absolute maximum out of their marketing spend and there’s no more cost-effective way to achieve this than by connecting with those customers who are most likely to purchase.

Clearly there’s no point wasting valuable resources trying to communicate with consumers who simply aren’t interested. For example, will a middle-aged couple really be interested in an action-packed, 24/7 party holiday in Benidorm…? Almost certainly not. 

And although this may seem like a statement of the obvious, it is staggering how often desperation lends companies towards trawling a broader audience rather than focussing on a tighter one.

So how can you best ensure your marketing message is seen by the right audience?

Accurate targeting through the intelligent use of data is key. At its simplest, it may be as straightforward as using simple geographic, demographic or gender selections.

But one shouldn’t assume that everyone of the same demographic shares the same thoughts, the same interests, and all at the same time.

Consumer behaviour is enigmatic to say the least, therefore narrowing down what drives particular purchasing impulses is no easy task, particularly when it comes to purchasing something as important (and costly) as the annual family holiday.

To build a meaningful and accurate portrait of your customer, ideally you need to combine basic details of the prospect’s geographic, demographic and gender with detailed lifestyle information such as their income, purchase preferences, their past behaviour and their future plans. Once you have this data, you can then go about identifying other consumers that match these defined customer profiles.

With detailed consumer insight you can move far beyond targeting broad interest groups.

Let’s take our middle age couple as an example: through the use of a database of opted-in consumer data, we can determine that they have a high disposable income, no dependent children and no mortgage.

From this data we can predict that they are likely to be in the market for a luxury holiday; but how do we know if they will be interested in your specific offering? Do they prefer hotels or campsites? Are they looking a relaxing two weeks on a beach or something more active? Which countries do they prefer? The list of questions you would like to have answers to, goes on and on.

But only when you can answer these questions, can you really build a detailed profile of your prospective customers, determine which to target and refine your marketing.

Furthermore, by taking the extra time and effort to really understand your prospects you can develop a much clearer picture on who will respond favourably to your marketing message.

By tailoring your communications to appeal to individuals rather than the mass market it’s possible to dramatically improve response rates, slash excess wastage, and most importantly increase the return from your marketing.

In these uncertain, ultra-competitive times, there has never been a more important time for travel brands to get under the skin of their prospective customers.

Finely targeted campaigns based on accurate consumer insight, will make the difference between your communications being ignored and being noticed.

It’s time to unlock your marketing’s potential.