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That’s the title of my latest SEW article on Travel search marketing – which starts to explore some of the ideas mentioned in my last post about the Travel session at the upcoming SES NYC. The session will probably focus on smart marketing strategies in a tough economy, and there will likely be a lot of people looking to up their traffic numbers via organic SEO and social media this year- given that both are relatively low-cost.
What I really want to know is - do you think 2009 is going to be the year of change in travel SEM? Are there going to be any ground breaking changes, creative campaigns that generate real ROI, or new players in the game?
Or will it be about searching the couch cushions for change in order to create your marketing budget?
There’s so much fear around how the travel industry will deal with the current economy, but it seems few are willing to make predictions about how things will go this year for online travel companies. I tend to think there’s an opportunity here to get more creative with online campaigns. And TONS of opportunity for negotiation on advertising / placement packages.
For tour / resort operators, I think it’s less about slashing prices and offering discounts and deals, while of course that will work – offering perceived value packages may be just as effective this year, and get people hooked at least on new travel experiences – so they’ll bounce back when the economy does.
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Great article here and at SEW Elisabeth!
I think (and HOPE) 2009 will be the year of change. Until now – traffic and rankings have been predominantly the “measure of success” for travel SEM companies. Our clients judge success on “how many visitors” vs. “how many conversions.” I think 2009 is going to help us change that.
The struggle, as I see it, lies in convincing hotel/resort/property management firms that the real work starts AFTER the traffic arrives. Many MANY travel websites offer poor user experience – and non existent calls to action or conversion paths. There hasn’t been much focus on “fixing” the issues people have with finding lodging & booking it online. NOW is the time to start having the ROI/conversion conversation with our clients. Even if the number of shoppers (thereby “traffic”) drops off, increasing their (average .5% to 2%) conversion rate by conservative increments can alleviate the pain of a decrease in shoppers all together.
So Yes, I’m happy to see this change coming about. Post click marketing and conversion optimization are two of my favorite topics and I hope I’ll get to talk about them A LOT more in the near future.
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