Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Pr Awareness For A Premium Travel Services Company

Posted by Anonymous on 8/14/2011 at 9:32 PM ET 250 Points
Hello,

I am seeking some help in raising awareness of our company, within our target market. We are a travel agency that works with mainly corporate travelers. Our travelers primarily fly in first/business class, and sometimes on business jet charters. This is the main target market. Our target market probably uses other travel services providers, or self-manage their own travel. How we try to differentiate ourselves, is by offering a very high-touch approach to service end to end. Many of the other competitors, are not offering the level, or amount of service amenities that we do.

What we are trying to do is to raise awareness, of who we are, and what we do, so that the market knows about us. We have decided on a focused online strategy, as we believe the target market is online. We've tried google adwords without much success. There are some very large competitors who dominate the space in organic and paid search, making it virtually impossible to be found in the top SERPS. These large competitors also deploy several sites, so they are really everywhere.

What would be the best online strategy to pursue? Since the big competitors have saturated the market, they are able to speak to the target market. Is there an effective way to market around them? We were told to do twitter, but we're not really sure if that is where we should be. We were thinking an online PR campaign may be best. We appreciate any and all replies. Thank you.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 8/14/2011 at 10:53 PM Accepted
    When you tried Google Adwords, what was the problem? Was it that you didn't spend enough to get enough clicks, or that you didn't convert enough of your clicks once you got them? If the latter, perhaps your landing path experience wasn't up to the task.

    I'd start by going back to that experience to see why it didn't succeed. It could be that a PR effort wouldn't succeed for the same reason, so until you fix the core problem, you'll never know what works, what doesn't or why.

    More info on post-click marketing: https://bit.ly/md5omE
    Or check out the MarketingProfs Seminar on the subject: High Performance Landing Pages that Boost Your Bottom Line https://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/226
  • Posted on 8/14/2011 at 11:54 PM Author
    Thank you mgoodman. When we tried Google Adwords, we spent enough that we were on the first page. The clicks were very very few. If we were getting at least a small but acceptable amount of clicks, and they were not converting, or just bouncing, then we would come to the conclusion there were landing page issues. We were told that our target market was not really on adwords. Hence the reasoning to try over avenues.
  • Posted on 8/15/2011 at 11:28 AM Accepted
    1) Social media: I would expect that upscale groups in LinkedIn and Google+ would be a better target than Twitter. Facebook advertising, if you can properly target it, is another option.

    2) Video: What role is it playing in your marketing? For one, YouTube is the second largest search engine (after Google). For another, having videos (especially one on the Landing Page) helps with SEO.

    3) Blogs: Which ones out there are likely to be read by your targeted customers? Participate in those blogs, linking back to your videos and website.

    4) pdf download (or, more ambitious, a short interactive E-book): Consider dual track marketing for the download - one track to the executives/travellers and the other to their secretaries/assistants. The E-book gives amusing travel "do's" and "don'ts" - not obvious hints, but sophisticated ones - with a touch of humor.

    An example would be the classic Harvey MacKay suggestion from "Swim with the Sharks" about how to get a reservation in a fancy hotel which is fully booked (Lesson 22 "There is no such thing as a sold-out house.")

    5) Can you arrange any joint on-line campaigns with a partner: hotel chain, resort, high end airline, golf clubs, etc.?

    Regards,
    JH
  • Posted on 8/20/2011 at 3:44 PM Author
    J Hamilton thank you for your suggestions. It is quite ironic, as we discussed video marketing recently! We currently have no videos on the site. The problem is that some you tube videos are low quality, or they are just not right. We were looking for a video marketing company, who perhaps sold downloadable high-definition, quality videos, but no such luck.

    If you don't mind, can you please expand on your number 4 topic? We like the idea, but don't fully understand it.

    For the number 5 topic, yes we've discussed that as well. It's an excellent idea and we are currently seeking partners.

    Thanks again for responding.
  • Posted by kannanveeraiah on 8/26/2011 at 12:18 PM Accepted
    Aanya,

    While your target market is very high end travelers who prefer First Class / Business Class and Chartered Flights and while you want to differentiate yourselves, by offering a very high-touch approach to service end to end, why shouldn't you explore personalized marketing too. The target audience are probably too busy and or they have already well established other competitors of yours serving them well. At least, they perceive that, what service they receive now from your other competitors is the best. If they perceive so they wouldn't on themselves ever make attempt to explore alternatives. In such scenario the breakthrough could be made with high quality relationship building with the customer by personalized approach. As you said yourselves it should be high-touch approach which is more possible with personal meeting and discussion.

    You have to make them experience your services at least once to make them change their perception about the service they had been receiving so far. Further, it could sustain only by continuing the distinctive service for them and further managing the customer relationship.

    Online marketing efforts are for audience at large. Those audience frequently are online, searching for alternatives that are cost effective and service effective.
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