One of the ways smart organisations like Airbnb work around this is by aggregating user data and relaying this back to users. . You could argue that they knew their customers better than they know themselves, and I wouldnt disagree. Targeting the consideration phase of the customer journey, the stories leave readers daydreaming about how their life could be changed from their next Airbnb. As well as being useful, its an incentive to take the next step and give them more information so they can make the rest of your time on the site more relevant. Slide through the gallery to get some impressions of AirBnB's working culture (the image shows AirbnB's SF headquarter). SEO: How do Airbnb ensure they appear in relevant search results to drive organic traffic to the site? Airbnb created a whole new kind of vacation just by providing spaces other than hotels to stay. The user who shares the invite gets $38 but the friend RECEIVES $76. Airbnb Inc. Report contains a full analysis of Airbnb segmentation, targeting and positioning and Airbnb marketing strategy in general. As you would expect for a site like Airbnb, the majority of their backlinks have been achieved through travel-related content, such as articles on a certain destination, links from travel-related companies, and links in media and forums. The main goal of implementing a differentiation strategy is to increase competitive advantage. If you would like to get in touch with me, click here. I visited Japan last year, a place where Airbnbs are quite hard to come by. Live there. So why was it perceived as being so different to the booking engines that were already around at the time, and are still huge today. This trend towards experience is being seen across many sectors and the value of which has been seen from the food industry and retail sector through to technology and finance. Its important to also keep in mind when reviewing Airbnb compared to their competitors (from an Australian search perspective) that our analysis is purely of the Australian Airbnb site. Outside of the obvious objectives, like increasing reservations and prompting a customer to book their next travel adventure, I suspect that one of Airbnbs objectives with this pillar of their email marketing strategy is positioning themselves as a one-stop-shop for organising a memorable holiday, so that users become familiar with not only booking their accommodation via Airbnb, but also activities while theyre in a new city. Its part of their larger strategy to become an everyday check in, providing users with content and experiences that are woven into their day-to-day lives. Another benefit is that there is no perceived substitute considering that the organisation focuses on the quality and nature of the service (Arens & Hamilton, 2018). Working with renowned local artists, they commissioned travel posters for 12 locations around the globe Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit, Havana, London, Paris, Florence, Nairobi, Cape Town, Tokyo, and Seoul. When asked for his thoughts about Airbnb actively trying to get more hotels to advertise their rooms on its platform, Best Western CEO David Kong said, "I think that if I were them that's what . To make a booking, you generally need to take the following steps: Open the Airbnb website. Each city has its own forum where the hosts can discuss the local issues or services specific to them. For Lectures -mmshah8@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahmm. (We will check out the mobile app later). I think one great way of doing this is by sharing content that is unique and not the same content that youve previously shared on your Facebook Page or Instagram feed. In the mobile app, we can see Invite Friends which stands out. For this reason, I think Airbnb have been smart to not make Twitter an integral part of the Australian Airbnb strategy. The examples weve highlighted here show how Airbnb convey their values in order to resonate with an audience who also have strong values that inform their purchasing decisions. However, at some point Airbnb will reach a cap in the amount of branded search traffic they are able to achieve. Hey what happened to your [Thailand] plans?! Airbnb has its sights set on exponential growth in the coming years. Last year, Forbes estimated the business to be worth $31bn (23bn). Whats effective about these sections is how they leverage social proof, both in terms of ratings (supports logical decision making) and testimonials (supports emotional decision making) to reinforce their home recommendations. This document provides the Strategic Plan for Airbnb for 2017-2021. These 300-400 word stories are poignant snapshots of how an Airbnb users life has been impacted by using Airbnb while travelling and immerses potential travellers in the spirit of adventure, curiosity and connection. Airbnb Plus is a selection of only the highest quality homes with hosts known for great reviews and attention to detail. Airbnb is an American company working on online marketing and offer hospitality services like holiday cottages, apartments, homestays, hotel rooms, or hostel beds for people to lease or rent during activities relating to tourism. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces, Value Chain analysis, Ansoff Matrix and McKinsey 7S Model on . It keeps users engaged and, in many ways, motivated to invite more friends or follow those up who havent signed up. Marketing Strategy of Airbnb analyses the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). Clever. In these two views, you see Pending based on the invites sent out and Available with the Credit and coupons available to use. Connect Locally Where users discuss local issues, clubs and meetups in their local cities. This poster promoting a classic image of Miami was created by graphic designer Alex Asfour, as part of Airbnbs travel poster campaign. This feature cannot be controlled by a website owner, and is solely dependent on Googles algorithm to display. With email, in general, you always have to walk that line about what data would be beneficial to use and what comes along as too big brother. Here are 3 key reasons: According to ahrefs, the Airbnb AU website is currently showing approx. From an export of Airbnbs top 50,000 ads, I stripped out the headlines from each and used the headlines to create a pivot table, allowing the headlines to be sorted by the frequency for which they appear across their ads. By being different and showcasing their values, Airbnb stand out in an industry where there is often little to differentiate one supplier from another. If Ive already booked accommodation, this section may still be of interest, or if I havent booked accommodation, this is another angle by which I could be re-excited by my interest in visiting Santa Monica. So theres no way for people to find it from the website. If a user has shown some interest in a particular product, why not show them similar ones that meet relevant criteria? If they were a service business, they would target [city name] + [service A] and then [city name] + [service B] and so on.. In the case of differentiation, a key advantage is that effective differentiation creates an ability to obtain premium prices from customers ("Executing a Differentiation Strategy" [Image missing in original] ). In their own words. Coca-Cola, for example, currently enjoys a profit margin of approximately 33 . In terms of call to actions, Airbnbs most frequently used call-to-action in headlines is Search and Book Now. Airbnb started out in 2008 when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia realised they could make a quick buck by renting out an air mattress in their living room to people visiting San Francisco for a big conference. By creating resourceful content, tools, calculators, guides, unique data such as statistical information, videos etc, Airbnb gives other websites a reason to link to their website without having to allocate a huge portion of their marketing budget to hustling for links. Using video over image posts does have one major advantage for Ads strategy though, and that comes in the form of Engagement Custom Audiences from video views. So that in itself is the whole sign up process pretty impressive how streamlined it is, right? So what does the mobile experience look like for Hosts? My suggestions would be on producing more video content that is localised to Australia this could be on hosts, guests, experiences they have a lot of opportunities at their disposal. 11. Period. Thanks! Im sure your head is probably spinning with the amount involved in understanding referrals, but it goes to show the power of having referrals in your product can go a long way to increasing word-of-mouth and, ultimately, retaining users & acquiring new ones with virtually no cost. Acquiring hosts through the hosting community is paramount when it comes to scaling the platform globally and, equally as important, retaining them. This applies to all other singular words listed above. The global lodging company maintains a community centre as a place to connect with other hosts, share stories, ask for advice, and get updates from the Airbnb team. So for example, if they are a travel site, they would target all the destinations they service and also add landing pages for [destination sub name] + [activity name] and sometimes even go beyond that. The summary section is helpful, though it surprises me that it cant be used as an option when filtering search results. Offline: What activity do they do outside of digital to drive growth? This is clever by Airbnb. For instance, meet Clarence a design student whose life changed forever when his experience in Airbnb caused him to break out of his shell. "Strategy and the Internet." Harvard Business Review Mar. This shows that in terms of success, branded keywords currently play a huge role in their organic success, and should continue to be a primary driver of organic traffic in the future. Instead, its focused on sharing a custom link. Term. User experience, word of mouth and self-regulation are at the center of its strategy. Having simple instructions on this page gives more context about how the referrals process works. When searching using a Site Operator on Google for the Booking.com and Wotif.com when compared to Airbnb, you get the following results: This shows that the Wotif.com site is (from what can be seen on Google) comparable to Airbnb, and thus an achievable target to beat. They also follow best practice by attempting to resolve the complaint out of the public eye and moving it to a personal message Can you please send us a PM with your email address. They took their customers worst fears and went above and beyond to put them to rest. The following table summarises the split between the destination landing pages vs destination website pages: Destination landing pages represent 75% of the pages to which Airbnb are directing users. They could also promote this competition for free to all of their hosts via email. After stumbling into digital marketing through a whim internship application in 2013, Jacqueline discovered a passion for creating engaging and effective growth campaigns. After I decide to learn more, I come to this landing page specifically personalised to me and, more impressively, my location. I get directed to a page where a modal instantly pops-up. Airbnb also make a point of their key USPs, which include: 24/7 customer service, global housing requirements compliance, and all star hosts. However there are so many options when it comes to booking that it can be tricky to navigate. This marketing case study on Airbnb focuses on explaining the 4Ps of the marketing mix, the marketing strategy it undertakes to market itself and its digital presence. But that doesnt mean I would use it at all costs. Novak, Jasminko, and Schwabe, Gerhard. Interestingly, direct links to the homes featured on Facebook arent included, instead a link to all properties in that location is provided. . They famously did things that didnt scale and then growth hacked solutions so that they did. These business strategies, based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. And while many businesses have been created that rent out properties on Airbnb, there are still a significant number of properties where the host still lives there. The way you invite friends to the platform is on purpose very similar to how other platforms work. Even the button with the CTA of explore homes is just a bit dull. 7. But there are plenty of properties on Airbnb that are more expensive than hotels and still get booked out, so what else is there? b) The keywords that your competitors are ranking for on page 1 that youre on page 2+. Interesting. This allows brands to post localised content under one universal Facebook Page name, share fans, and receive a vanity URL/username e.g. Why is this the case? The form itself is also very simple. Explore Tips & Tricks All about new ways hosts can take their game to the next level. From these posts, its clearer what kind of things people ask in the local community. This is an interesting observation as I havent as of yet successfully referred a host, so this is possibly a strategy to help me take an action. With the experience being all about having fun with the locals, the image represents it really well, though maybe the guy in the back could be having more fun . Our reproducible method is a valuable tool to monitor the market supply-side. Created for the curious ties in quite well with the main header above the fold, people looking for a unique experience. Airbnb's business model was developed on being a low-cost solution for a low-value customer. Sure, they can nurture better and convert more customers, but they needed a way to keep growing their revenue that isnt reliant on just one product. They needed to find a way to establish trust, and an incentive for users to spread the word. Why would the user want to send this in the first place? You want them to equally be motivated to take action by accepting the invitation by joining and have the same experience (thats the only way you get the money ;). Since Facebook became a pay-to-play platform, sharing content 2-3 times a day on your Page is a thing of the past, and not the best use of a brands time. Airbnb business level strategies. (A) Cost leadership - When the competitive advantage of . This content has provided a higher level of authenticity since its coming from locals and not only nurtures trust between hosts and guests, its a win-win for both as users get a verified local recommendation and hosts have a valuable platform to share their knowledge and market themselves as knowledgeable natives. The campaigns goals were not just to raise awareness, but to highlight the human side of the company by showing support for an issue they were passionate about. Its interesting that theyre all in North America though; it makes me wonder if theyre using my geo location at all or if they only personalise the experience for people who are logged in (Im assuming that most of their traffic comes from the US). Listed above integral part of Airbnbs travel poster campaign impressively, my location and growth. Whim internship application in 2013, Jacqueline discovered a passion for creating and... Reason, I think Airbnb have been smart to not make Twitter an integral part the. 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