For those in hospitality, leisure and tourism it’s an opportunity not to be wasted after a difficult year. And for retailers, it’s a chance to get ahead of the competition. But how do you make the most of the opportunity? The right digital advertising strategy could well be your competitive advantage.
For many UK holiday and accommodation providers, bookings are considerably higher for the summer than at the same time in 2020. Looking at the data from last summer post lockdown, we saw a surge in the purchases for tent pegs (up 45%), airbeds (130%), gas stoves (300%), cool boxes (180%) and camping chairs (120%).
Roof box sales have soared by 165% and bike racks are selling at a record rate, suggesting cars and bikes will be put to more use this summer. Even sales of leisure batteries – used in caravans, motorhomes and boats – are up by 36% year on year.
Making the most of digital advertising
This demand of course equals opportunity, but it isn’t guaranteed. With more and more time spent shopping online during the pandemic, consumers are becoming increasingly demanding. They demand personalisation, tailored experiences with brands and a smooth and intuitive cross-channel customer experience. If they don’t get it, they’ll happily look and purchase elsewhere.
In the current market, engaging with your users in a way that suits them is key. Here’s what you can do.
Retarget existing website visitors
If a user has already viewed products on your website, it’s a great place to start but it doesn’t always guarantee sales. If they are already engaged however, it is much easier to encourage them to return and purchase – if you get your approach right. Retargeting is a crucial tactic.
Underpinning your success will be the need to segment your audience online, ensuring your ads are tailored and relevant to the needs of your users. Whether you’re letting holiday homes, selling camping equipment or providing excursions, product remarketing is an essential tactic. By showing the exact product that was viewed or left abandoned in the basket increases your chances of bringing them back to site and converting.
Showcase your brand
Holiday and leisure activities are all about the experience. This notion of experience also comes in at the purchasing stage too. Can you excite your customers through your digital advertising? Can you give them an idea of what they might experience? Will your ads stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace?
Building bespoke on-brand ads that will be instantly recognisable to your consumers is key to stand out and also provide your users with the consistent brand experience that they crave. By using tools like Feed ads you’ll also ensure that everything is always up to date and in line with your product inventory, ensuring your digital spend is always optimised.
Keep things local
What we don’t yet know about summer 2021, is how far we will be able to travel. This means that it may be important to target your advertising to users in a specific location. Or even if we are able to travel, you may still want to target more defined groups at a geographic level. Geotargeting enables you to do exactly that, ensuring your valuable ad budget only goes towards targeting your customer demographic in a specific location. It’s both cost effective and high performing.
Make sure Ads are always correct
Use Digital Advertising tools that empower you to connect an external data source to your Ads – any time there is an update to the external feed, it’s automictically applied to the Ad Creative. This saves your budget to promote the current offering and means no user will ever feel the dissatisfaction of being promoted a different price or a package that is no longer available.
While 2021 may be a very unique summer, it presents a key online opportunity for travel, leisure and retailers to drive the right kind of custom to you through digital advertising.
Contact us today to see how you can ramp up bookings for your business.