Digital transformation has reached saturation point. The very fact that digital has reshaped entire industries through to people’s worldview and expectations means we have entered a new era where the digital capabilities and advantages that were once seen as differentiators are now available to every organization.
Marketers and advertisers now have the tools to understand their customers with a new depth of granularity, and they have more channels than ever to reach them, too.
As a consequence, the travel sector now faces a world of renewed expectations, and core digital technologies are going to be more critical than ever. However, the time for experimentation is behind us. Marketers in the travel sector now have to usher in the new strategies that will allow them to set their travel brands apart from their competitors.
The playing field has leveled out and a whole new ball game is about to begin!
The last decade has been a steep learning curve. Now that marketers have mastered many game-changing tools they need to learn how best to shape the world around consumers down to picking the right moments to offer their products and services.
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Everything has always been about the consumer, and now that they too have reached digital maturity they are becoming increasingly more selective and demanding of their favorite travel brands.
It wasn’t that long ago that all marketing eyes were on hyper-personalization, yet we have already shifted to an era where each individual customer has their own reality and every moment represents an opportunity for marketers to play a role in shaping it.
This may sound like quantum physics to some, yet the truth is that technology is creating a world of intensely customized and on-demand experiences. Which is why travel marketers should view each opportunity as if it’s an individual market - a momentary market.
So how can marketers harness this?
Responsible marketing
One of the first things to remember is that consumers may be digitally mature, but they still retain their human traits such as a desire for new experiences through to a thirst for authentic, innovative and thought-provoking content.
Now that marketers have refined the art of reaching their target audiences, they have even more responsibility to bear when it comes to what they serve them. Knowing who to target, when and with what should be marketers’ primary remit.
Unique opportunities for unique customers
The technology-driven interactions we now take for granted have created an expanding technology identity for every consumer. This should be viewed as a living foundation of knowledge to gain an accurate understanding of the next generation of consumers. This pivots marketing towards developing rich, individualized, experience-based relationships as travel marketers meet consumers' needs at the speed of now.
The value of micro-moments
Consumer touch points should now evolve seamlessly to align with a new breed of data-driven consumer who is constantly in flux. Their path to purchase is no longer characterized by a few big, well-orchestrated moments.
What we are seeing instead are numerous small interactions that coalesce to determine success. These micro-moments are fast becoming more important than the cumulative effect of an elaborate marketing plan.
Hyper-connection
The consequence of our all being hyper-connected is that when the whim grabs us we can research whatever we want whenever and wherever we want to. This dynamic triggers five experiential factors, which are:
- Harmonized. Increasingly the blended channel is the only channel as customers use any and all touch points to learn, discover, research and ultimately make their travel purchase. It's no longer about online or bricks and mortar, but a well-integrated "one brand, many channels" strategy.
- Personalized. Travel products and experiences that are uniquely crafted to each individual customer have become the antidote to increasingly less effective mass strategies.
- Localized. Context is becoming king. Geo-location technology can be employed to get much closer to CRM's Holy Grail: the right offer to the right customer at the right time. But it goes beyond that. Consumer behavior is fundamentally changing because of what mobile uniquely allows them to do. The way consumers use smart devices creates the aforementioned micro-moments, which offers travel marketers the perfect opportunities to continually refine their messages.
- Socialized. Ours is a connection economy, and consumers are now turning to their networks for inspiration, information and validation - just think about the power of the influencer.
- Amplified. With an abundance of choice and marketing messages, the only way to break through the crowd is to push to higher levels of relevance and impact. Good enough rarely is any more. Value propositions must rise above a sea of sameness, and we must deliver a story that demands to be told.
Turning illusion into reality
Technology has fostered the illusion that most consumer needs can be met, no matter how personal or customized. Now organizations need to step up and meet these expectations. Travel marketers have to turn that illusion into reality. That means understanding people at a holistic level and recognizing that their outlooks and needs may well change at a moment’s notice.
In the post-digital world, every moment will represent a potential new market of one. It’s where demand is communicated instantly, and gratification is expected immediately. What’s more, both are constantly changing, creating an infinite and never-ending stream of opportunities to be met.
In conclusion
Realistically speaking, the world is not yet at the point of everything being instantaneous. But post-digital travel brands are already playing a different game.
Value propositions must rise above a sea of sameness, and we must deliver a story that demands to be told.
Joel Davis
Whilst those organizations that may not have quite reached digital maturity are still looking for a competitive edge, be it innovation or increased personalization, post-digital travel brands on the other hand, are looking for much more. They are poised to overtake the competition by changing the way the market itself works. From one market to many custom markets - on-demand, in the moment.
Travel marketers may feel like they are repositioning themselves as the curators of reality, however this shift brings with it a new requirement, which is to responsibly pick which opportunities to target. Delivering for specific and constantly changing moments creates challenging additional questions for organizations that are used to one market of many.
Moving beyond digital requires its own set of transformational strategies and these focus on the momentary market. It is time for travel marketers to belt up and go for a new experiential journey!