The changing role of travel agents and the rise of online booking in recent years has left consumers with a complex and time consuming travel booking process. This is why experiential marketing is gathering momentum in the travel sector, and for very good reason. Here are five tips to explain why…
1. The Travel Experience
Most people have their most profound experiences through the sights, sounds, smells, touches and taste that travel provides. Experiential marketing has the power to create inspirational experiences that touch all these senses. Compared to other forms of media, experiential marketing has the advantage of being able to challenge the perceptions and change the behaviour of people by evoking the most deep-seated nostalgia or enlightenment within consumers. Companies are beginning to recognise the power of experiential too. Kuoni’s ‘Scents of Adventure’ is a recent example whereby they introduced an interactive campaign to awaken the senses of unsuspecting Bluewater shopping centre visitors.
2. Simplifying a Complex Decision
The choice and decision involved in booking travel of any kind has become an incredibly complex process which can often involve a great investment of time. For example, Expedia Media Solutions’ research found that the average packaged-travel purchase takes place after 38 visits to various websites. This complex decision-making process can be simplified with experiential activity providing relevant, concise and personalised information to the consumer. By using one-to-one dialogue through trained brand ambassadors, travellers can appreciate the human touch coming back into the booking process. Online research will continue to play a role in the decision-making process, so it is important that consumers are still provided with this option where they can read reviews and trusted blogs but then be provided with someone on hand to answer questions that need answering and removing their fears.
3. Right People, Right Place
Experiential marketing has the versatility to go where target consumers will be, at a time when they are open to experiencing a product. An understanding of the target audience is crucial when planning experiential activity. Insight into the consumer’s mindset, pre-conceptions and barriers to purchase, mean brands can identify the best live environments where an experience will have the biggest impact. A good example of this is the Royal Caribbean Cruises’ experiences, recognising the need to target the family unit together. Their consumer insight suggested that the purchase decision was a democratic family one. Therefore, their decision to visit family orientated theme parks and shopping centres at weekends was well informed.
4. Offline to Online
The evolving role of online has created a significant and lasting effect on the travel sector. This only enhances the power of experiential marketing in that consumer relationships created can now be continued through online dialogue. This ongoing dialogue can take two forms. Firstly, the capture of consumer data gives brands the opportunity to re-contact consumers with practical, and exciting, information following the experience. Secondly, audiences that experience their passions in an experiential setting are being encouraged to share their content on one of the many social media platforms that now exist, amplifying the brand message. The British Airways Great Gatwick Ticket Giveaway offered consumers the chance to win flights by taking a flight simulation challenge at London stations, an experience they could then share with their friends and family online.
5. Creating Genuine Value
Experiential marketing is a proven method of driving brand value, an achievement made by changing perceptions and converting consumers to purchase. Brands can realise this value by taking a few simple steps. Firstly, a brand needs to set evaluation objectives prior to the campaign, for example, by collecting consumer details, there is an opportunity to re-contact them and track their behavioural change. Secondly, by integrating experiential activity with the wider marketing plan, brands can make sure every medium is playing its role in taking consumers along the path to purchase. And finally, by rigorously evaluating all areas of experiential activity, both live interactions as well as the online impact. A great case in point is The Austrian Winter Flurry, an experiential stunt in Spitalfields Market in London in October 2013. So entertaining was the content that it quickly became an online hit. It received over 100k views on You Tube within four days of being uploaded.
As we slowly move out of economic uncertainty, and consumer habits and spend on travel slowly change, we believe experiential marketing can provide the point of difference for travel brands and services to stand out, literally, and succeed.
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