Travel Trends – Display + Search = Clicks, Email, Smart Web Users, App Graveyard

Display + Search = Clicks – Before we dive into the numbers, realize that the results are from a company that sells display ads. The numbers are probably not skewed in their favor, but they do have an interest in display advertising.

With disclaimers out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. According to a new study from Specific Media, utilizing comScore data, display ads increase the volume of searches for a specific product or company.

Display and search are directly correlated, judging by a Specific Media study of comScore data. Brand- and segment-related searches (for cars, automakers and vehicle classes) jumped by more than 100% in several categories after consumers were exposed to display ads for those brands.

Search clickers exposed to display advertising were 22% more likely to produce a sale than those who were not exposed, according to a September 2008 study of Microsoft’s Engagement Mapping system by Atlas Solutions.

In a ClickZ article, Microsoft’s Young-Bean Song said the study results suggested that search alone was not a cure-all for customer acquisition.

Clearly, the interesting stat for everyone reading the Travel 2.0 blog is the huge lift that display ads deliver to searches in the travel and tourism industry.  Should this come as a surprise?  Display ads have quickly become the online equivalent of a print campaign, providing a good opportunity for branding, but low results and CTRs.  Until now data showing the effect of display on search was not clear, although most assumed a correlation was probable.

As for all of those articles and discussions about the death of the display ad, it appears that the display ad is still just as healthy as it’s printed brother.  When used and measured correctly (engagement!), the display is still an important piece of an overall interactive marketing campaign.

And, apparently, it drives searches in the travel space.
http://www.emarketer.com/

Email – Shocker! Old people like phones and email.  Young punks like text and social sites.

Personally, the stats about the boomer generation and communication preferences are not surprising.  What is surprising is the realization that the younger demographics…Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials, whatever…are rapidly changing their communication habits.  We have heard these stats before and even discussed them on the blog, however seeing charts such as this one should cause one to pause.  Look at the drop off in email usage from 25-34 to 15-17, nearly half in a span of 10 years.
http://www.emarketer.com/

Congrats Online Users, You Are Smart(er)! – For years, digital marketers had to keep track of broadband penetration rates, browsers used, and other signs that campaign messages would reach their intended targets. Now it’s largely taken for granted that most Internet users will be able to watch an online video, forward a link, or otherwise perform the tasks required in the average digital campaign.

http://www.emarketer.com/

Apps: The Newest Brand Graveyard – Ah, the promise of Facebook and all it’s possible applications.  Let’s do the math, Facebook has 130 million users + a cool app = success!  If only it were that easy.

…Nike global director of digital media Stefan Olander explained how the brand saw its mission as building community through applications. He highlighted a new initiative: the Ballers Network, a robust Facebook application built by digital shop R/GA for basketball players to find games and manage leagues. On its Web site, Nike promises it will “revolutionize the way players around the world connect online and compete on the court.”

Six months later, Nike is confronting a dilemma familiar to many brands that charged headlong onto Facebook: very few people use Ballers Network. Despite its global ambitions and support in three languages, the application has a mere 3,400 users per month. According to Nike, it’s still testing the application.

3,400 is a pretty small number and if my calculations are correct, only about 0.002615% of Facebook users interact with the app.  What happened?  How does an organization such as Nike, clearly one of the leaders in the social media marketing (and marketing in general) field fail to take advantage of 130 million people on a social network?

The theory is that branded applications are, well, too branded and too complex for daily use.

“It’s pretty clear building [brand] applications isn’t working.”

Application experts pointed to several other reasons so many top brands have fallen short. In some cases, they said, brand apps are too complicated. Some provide little worthwhile interactivity and are overly branded.

“Marketers want to build something that’s product and marketing first,” he said. “The developer wants to provide utility, functionality and better someone’s life.”

Marketers have an agenda, a goal, a target, while developers are simply trying to make something easier for the end-user.  So far, those two factors do not mix well…regardless of how many people are using a social network.
http://www.adweek.com/

S texting d nxt big thng? Or Marketing Via SMS

I lov d travL 2.0 blog. lol!

This week Nielsen published a new report / whitepaper titled The Short Code Marketing Opportunity, focusing on the rise of marketing and advertising via SMS or short code or text messaging. Certainly a timely topic and one that I was speaking about with my counterpart Josh (from the Scottsdale CVB) as recently as yesterday.

So, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the report and then discuss the ‘Marketing Texts I Want and Don’t Want.’

For those of you who would rather skip ahead, you can find the full report on the Nielsen site (.pdf).

Intro:
In August 2008, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign made either history or political spectacle when it attempted to announce Joe Biden as the vice presidential candidate over SMS text message. Before the campaign could send the text message announcement to supporters, mass media scooped the news and broke the story, but the magnitude of the campaign’s mobile efforts is noteworthy.

The most recent example of a massive texting campaign, however I seriously doubt that the mass media ‘scooped’ anything.  More than likely, the campaign deliberately ‘leaked’ the info to increase text subscribers.

Quick Facts:

• As of Q3 2008, 203 million of the 263 million U.S. wireless subscriber lines paid for text messaging either as part of a package or on a transaction-basis.
• U.S. mobile subscribers now send and receive more text messages in a month than they make phone calls.
  
• A typical U.S. mobile subscriber between the ages of 35 and 44 will now send or receive more text messages, on average, than make phone calls.

Examples of Texting Campaigns:

Through My Coke Rewards, Coca-Cola customers collect unique codes found on various Coca-Cola products and enter them into an account they’ve registered at mycokerewards.com. When they reach certain point levels, they are able to redeem points for rewards. The mobile component of the program allows consumers to enter the codes over their mobile phone on the go. Coca-Cola’s mobile users typically send and receive about 32 messages a month to Coca-Cola.

Importantly, it’s not just kids or teens who are an active audience for short code marketing. In the Coca-Cola example, nearly half (47 percent) of users were 35 or older. That age diversity is not unique to Coca-Cola either. Overall, 53 percent of those engaging with free (standard rate) short codes, such as those used by brands in marketing, are sent by texters 35 and older. For an audience accustomed to traditional channels of marketing, it seems, the opportunity to engage with brands in a new way is a welcome experience.

When a chain of Ashley Furniture Homestores in the Carolinas wanted to bolster sales during a slow period this summer, they sent 6,000 text message coupons to customers who had opted in to receive information about special offers. Billed as a four-day “secret sale,” the chain of eight stores also sent nearly 29,000 e-mails to promote the sale. And the text message campaign ended up paying off. The chain says that $85,000 of the $135,000 in revenue generated from that sale was attributed to the SMS coupon, further estimating that for every $1 they spent in executing the text message campaign, they generated $122 in revenue.

Earlier this year, in one of the first mobile barcode couponing efforts, the Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort in Oregon distributed barcode coupons over mobile phones, promoted through an opt-in alert system that provided customers with updates of weather conditions at the resort. The coupon rendered on users phones as a barcode that could be scanned at the resort for discounts. The barcodes could be read as coupons by the resort’s existing scanning software, with no technical or software changes to either the user’s phone or the registers.

What’s Next:

Marketers should look at SMS and see an opportunity to engage with a core customer base in a new and unique fashion. Short code marketing has the potential of a mass medium but requires a personal execution. Short code marketing, perhaps more than any other advertising medium today, is as simple as a conversation.

In between those summary points, the piece mentions the popularity of texting due to or because of watching TV, however American Idol accounts for almost every case study within segment.  Also mentioned is utilizing texting as an entry method or communication method with outdoor, radio and print executions.  However the results of using a texting component as the call to action in these mediums is still unknown.

Okay, we know a lot of people use mobile phones and a lot of those people are texting each other, but how does someone within the travel industry take advantage of texting?  Without getting into all of the logistical and infrastructure needs to operate a proper texting campaign, let’s start at the very beginning:

Do you have a product, service or content that people are interested in, desire or feel passionate about?

If you answered yes, then proceed with your mobile dreams.

If you answered no, then you can stop and get back to your SEO campaign.

A similar theory to our post on Facebook, Why Facebook Will and Will Not Work For the Travel Industry – Part 1, certain aspects of social media work well for some organizations because consumers are passionate about that product.

Look no further than the Barack Obama example.  People were passionate about that campaign.  Understatement of the year.

In terms of the report, the results or examples highlighted certainly show some passion, but the idea of desire…in this case for coupons, deals or rewards…was the driving force behind the success of the campaigns.

With that, let’s review some examples in a section we like to call: Marketing Texts I Want and Don’t Want.

Marketing Texts I Want and Don’t Want

I Want:

Coupons and Offers:  No need for clipping coupons anymore.

Helpful Information:  Flight status, football scores, entry tickets via barcode, weather.

Rewards:  See the Coke Rewards example above.

I Don’t Want:

Branding Messages:  Of any kind.

Trivia, Games or DYK Facts:  Not useful, thanks.

Impersonal Information:  As the piece mentioned above, texting equals 1-on-1 marketing, your mass media marketing campaign message does not work.

A short list, but a pretty good summary.  Have your own list?  What texts do you currently receive from marketers? Tell us about it in the comments section.

A post on texting would not be complete with a mention of the rapid pace of technological change.  Even with the promise of texting campaigns, the mobile web and the applications being built around it are quickly replacing the need for text message updates on such things as weather.  A complete replacement for texting?  Of course not.  However some information currently delivered via text will be more relevant delivered via the mobile web

As for our outlook on texting.  A great communication tool for certain organizations and campaigns, but not right for everyone.

Travel Trends – More Twitter, Domains, Mobile, Boomers

Ike tweets, via twittervision.

More Twitter – Another good article from the New York Times and Sarah Milstein about the usefulness of Twitter at work, not to mention some good general tips on using the micro-blogging service.  Be sure to read tip #4 ‘Engage customers,’ that’s right, engage them!  While we are on the subject of twitter for work, check out Yammer, the winner of TechCrunch50 and surely a hot topic for the next few days/weeks.  Full write up on the new companies / trends from TechCrunch50 next week.

Also, while we are on the topic, head over to Twitter Search and preform a search on #ike.  The results will be an entire of stream of anything having to do with the upcoming hurricane.  A fascinating look at the storm from a non-mainstream media perspective.  In addition, Home Depot is using Twitter to send store hour updates and prep tips…sure they are only reaching about 700 people right now and most are probably not in the Houston area, but they are interacting with a good set of influencers, capitalizing on any WOM marketing or PR opportunities (might get some PR out of it, might not) and are positioning their brand as smart, caring and modern.
http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/

A $20,000 Domain Name is a Bargain – A great post from Mark Jackson of Search Engine Watch on the cost and value of keyword rich domain names.  The article makes users think about the real cost of an expensive domain name vs. the actual cost of having to run a PPC / SEM campaign to make up for a second-class domain name.  Plus, great tips on choosing a new domain name, including the history of the domain name, a factor that due to the ever increasing age of the internet, will become more and more important.
http://searchenginewatch.com/

News Flash – Kids / Teens Like to Text! – More evidence that kids do things differently.  As we talked about in our post, Travel Trends – HSMAI Marketing Review Summer 2008, specifically trend #14, communication preferences are changing at an ever increasing pace, see the chart for proof.

http://www.emarketer.com/

Study: Social Nets Snare Boomers – Article from Adweek discusses the adoption of social networking sites by the ‘boomer’ demographic.  The short version, boomers are catching up to the internet revolution and unlike younger demos who prefer to create and connect (messages, videos, IM) via social networking sites, boomers appear to be placing a higher priority on information gathering.

The study, which surveyed 11,600 consumers online, also found that over 57 percent of Web users overall have stopped at social networking sites in the past three months. Baby boomers stopped on average of eight times in that period.

Owyang said that older social network users are there for different reasons than younger users and are less likely to leave messages or otherwise interact with others. A Forrester study conducted earlier this year found that 41 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds leave comments or create content on social networking sites; only 14 percent of those 55 and over use the sites for the same purpose.
http://www.adweek.com/

Navigation Tops Downloadable Mobile Apps

According to the latest Telephia research, location-based services (LBS) such as navigation, represented 51 percent of the $118 million in revenue that downloadable mobile applications (such as LBS, weather applications, chat/community, and personal organization tools) generated during Q2 2007. Many consumers, says the report, may not realize the utility of a navigation application on their mobile phone until they use it.

While location-based services deliver highly personalized offerings such as friend-finding and other location-aware features, navigation represents the lion’s share of revenue. The Telephia second quarter report on mobile applications, reported that:

Approximately 13 million mobile consumers downloaded a mobile application on their phone. Of the $118 million in revenue that these downloadable mobile applications generated during Q2 2007, LBS represented 51 percent. >>Full Story

Thoughts// So let’s add up those numbers…of the approximately 220+ million cell phone users in the United States (CIA World Factbook 2007) about 7 million of them downloaded a location-based service application to there phone in Q2. That is a good number of people searching for the nearest Starbucks via there Moto Razor.

However, if we take a step back and look at the larger trend of consumers learning that they can receive location based information on a cell phone, we can begin to understand the future impact of these numbers. The general public is becoming accustom to using cell phones to gather information while on the road (read, traveling). Granted, right now the majority of the information requested is simple directions and locations, but how far away is the day when a tourist can download a trail map from the ranger station, check-out from a hotel or perhaps show a boarding pass all with a cell phone?

Not that far away…anymore.

Reaching More Customers With a Simple Text Message

Online retailers were, for all the obvious reasons, the pioneers of Web advertising. When it comes to advertising on the mobile Web, though, they are treading carefully.

On the one hand, executives and analysts said, online retailers are right to be cautious. After all, few consumers are buying items through their mobile devices. But at least some online retailers say they have found enticing success from early marketing efforts, as long as those initiatives are aimed at simply keeping themselves on the radar of customers as opposed to trying to prompt an immediate purchase or a visit to the company’s Web site. >>Full Story

Thoughts// Good article on the careful use of mobile marketing by retailers; with mobile devices becoming ubiquitous and travel companies and big brands already using text (e.g. Luxor/MGM hotels, MTV, Coke), to reach consumers, mobile marketing is a growing trend. It goes without saying that it needs to be permission based and must be used with extreme caution – no one wants to pay for unwanted text messages or feel “spammed” on their cell/mobile device.