June 13, 2022
If you’re in advertising, you need to find ways to ensure your campaigns stand out in a competitive marketplace. For travel marketers, that means delivering compelling ads that appeal to travel shoppers who may be researching destinations, comparing hotels, reading online reviews, or simply hoping to be inspired.
Whether you’ve been a partner of Expedia Group Media Solutions for a while or you’re just getting started, our team can help you deliver successful integrated marketing campaigns that connect with travel shoppers across the global network of Expedia Group brands. This includes experienced account managers who have pulled together a list of best practices to keep in mind when creating your next marketing campaign.
1. Communicate your critical marketing message
Overall, your integrated marketing strategy should unify all aspects of marketing communication for consistency across all the channels you advertise on. If you need help tailoring your message for our travelers, we can help. We will ensure your creative strategy aligns and communicates your critical marketing message. We can also create custom ad copy with localized translations for all the markets you want to target.
Your critical marketing message should:
- Solve a traveler problem and enrich the customer experience.
- Be informative and convey unique facets of information about things to do, see, and experience in the destination.
- Refer to the traveler in second person. Use terms like “you” in your messaging so the traveler can picture themself in your materials.
- Use gender-neutral and inclusive that promotes diversity. To help you with this, check out our guide on Diversity & Inclusion in Travel Advertising and read a Q&A from one of our account managers who was instrumental in developing these guidelines.
- Follow the “less is more” principle. A simple message is better and easier to remember.
2. Choose your creative imagery wisely
An effective visualization is arguably one of the most powerful tools advertisers have to grab a consumer’s attention. Not only is an image universal—no translations needed—a good image can evoke emotions and ensure your ad is more memorable. Study after study has shown that people remember better when visuals are involved. As a travel marketer, that means using images to showcase your destination or hotel in such a way that engages and converts.
To help with that:
- Use photography with vibrant colors and good contrast.
- Give travelers a sense of what it’s like to be “there” experiencing the destination, activity, or landmark.
- Use images that are high-resolution and free of pixelation and blurriness.
- Use images that leverage natural light whenever possible.
Here are some examples of ads that meet these criteria:
If you have creative assets such as images, logos, copy points, brand guidelines, fonts, video, or inspiration, share those with us and our team of experts will create the ads in-house. If you don’t have assets, we have an image bank of thousands of images and will find the perfect one for your campaign.
Hotel advertising that can reach any traveler, anywhere
Travelers looking to book a hotel use multiple channels to find their ideal place to stay, from social media to travel websites, and more. This is why it’s imperative that you know when — and where — to reach the right traveler. Whether you’re trying to reach early-bird or last-minute bookers, our targeting capabilities can help you connect with the right traveler at the right time.
3. Partner with the experts to create compelling ads
When you invest in advertising with Media Solutions, you have access to a team of experienced account managers who will partner with you to implement an integrated marketing strategy that incorporates these best practices. We leverage years of experience working with brands from across the travel industry—hotels, airlines, car rental companies, destination marketing organizations—as well as non-endemic brands that also benefit from a partnership with Expedia Group. We will also monitor delivery and provide data-driven recommendations to optimize the performance of your campaigns.
Whatever your situation, we have a solution to help you build ads that accomplish your creative goals, support your key performance indicators, and execute an impactful integrated marketing strategy. We can’t wait to help connect your brand with travel shoppers around the world. Contact us today. Also, be sure to check out our latest Travel Trend Report to learn actionable insights about what travelers today care about, where they’re headed, and more.
