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Key marketing themes in online travel

July 22, 2008 | Online Travel

Is the certainty of organic SEO declining? At what point does SEM become saturated in the travel vertical? How will brand marketing continue to affect SEM in this maturing industry?

Is the certainty of organic SEO declining? With so many well-established brands, and early adopters of SEO, is there any room for new entrants? However, most travel marketers agree that you must get SEO 100 percent right.

At what point does SEM become saturated in the travel vertical? Smart advertising is going to be your savior, and implementing strategic dayparting and re-targeting techniques will stretch your ad dollars even further. Greg Johnston, director of eCommerce at Hyatt Hotels, gave a particularly telling example of rising costs and competition: In 2005, Hyatt’s average CPC was $0.25; in 2006, it rose to $0.35; in 2007, it jumped to $0.89; today, it’s averaging $1.25.

How will brand marketing continue to affect SEM in this maturing industry? Branded searches are up 15 percent on the major search engines. How can smaller companies create an impact and compete in well established market segments? Narni Ilagan Yoder, a senior manager at Google, noted how setting the tone and expectations within the PPC medium will become more important, presumably in both conversions and in creating brand awareness and loyalty.

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