Travel Marketing Summit: ‘Start when you’re strong’ – Google, TikTok and In Marketing We Trust talk future of search for travel
When speaking at Mumbrella’s Travel Marketing Summit last week, representatives of TikTok and Google unpacked where their platforms sit within the future of search for travel, while also providing tips for successfully navigating it, with insights from In Marketing We Trust’s chief innovation officer.
During a panel moderated by Paul Hewett, In Marketing We Trust’s chief executive officer, Google’s industry manager – travel, David Rossi, said that with search behaviours changing, products have to evolve to keep up with them.
Rossi paid particular attention to Google’s broad match – a feature that allows ads to “reach a wider audience without requiring … [users] to build an extensive keyword list”.
“I’m sure many of you work with Google search in the room. So you’ve got to be hearing a lot about broad match and performance match and all these products which align to the consumer intent,” Rossi said.
“Being able to capture that and serve the most relevant message at that time and driving all business objectives.
“Broad match is a great way to capture those queries that amount to five keywords or longer without paying for them to be available.”
The former national performance director at customer experience management organisation, Merkle Australia, went on to cite other products, such as Things to Do, an experience solution, and Hotel Ads.
(L-R): Frederic Chanut, Rory Clayton, David Rossi, Paul Hewett
“There are new products. And some of these are a little bit more mature now, like Hotel Ads is a really popular one for the accommodation in the room. We’ve launched an experience product called Things to Do. And I think there’s also what we call performance apps for travel.
“These are all products that are feed powered,” Rossi said, before continuing, “So I know feeds can be a scary term to some, but I think it’s just something to make sure you’re really familiar with.
“You have feeds and you’re powering your apps products with them because that’s going to drive scale, drive ROI, and effectiveness.”
He added: “Just the last point on travel products is just make sure there’s everything mobile tools available.
Fellow panellist and TikTok’s industry lead – financial services, travel and government, Rory Clayton, weighed in on a related question.
When asked about how TikTok is positioning itself to meet future travellers’ needs, Clayton – who served as a client partner for financial services and travel at Meta for close to two years before joining the video creation platform – revealed that the platform is in the process of launching a search advertising product into the general market.
“We’re rolling out a search advertising product. It’s currently made and tested in the US … and hopefully we’re going to have a general rollout at the end of the first half of next year,” Clayton said.
“In terms of how it will work, essentially you’ll be able to surface content that’s relevant to a user off the back of their search results on the search results page.
“But it’s a bit more advanced than that,” he warned. “We’re going to be releasing keyword bidding, negative keywords, and a whole host of other features that are going to give advertisers the ability to be as dynamic and innovative as they need to be – to grow their own businesses.”
Clayton also shared his excitement for the product, stating that it’s going to be “absolutely massive” for the travel sector. However, he did stress that the tool is still in its infancy.
With Google and TikTok’s insights revealed to the audience, both Clayton and Rossi joined Frederic Chanut – In Marketing We Trust’s chief innovation officer – to share tips on how brands can successfully navigate the future of search.
For Chanut, the answer lies in strength.
“Start when you’re strong,” Chanut said.
“Start when you have strong products, strong destinations, strong information, and see where you can expand your coverage of the user journey about that product … whether it’s a destination, whether it’s a … cruise destination, cruise lines, hotel … work in getting that one right.”
Regarding the future of search and TikTok, Clayton recommended “get[ting] the fundamentals down pat”, such as closely working with one’s “account teams at TikTok”. That way, when more advanced tools are made available, brands are ready to embrace them.
And for Rossi, “it’s just really about, being present as consumers search throughout their purchase journey to travel”.
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Matthew is the editorial assistant at Mumbrella. He joined the company at the end of September 2023.
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topics
David Rossi
Frederic Chanut
Google
In Marketing We Trust
Paul Hewett
Rory Clayton
search
TikTok
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