Marketing Travel and the effect of the Long Tail
With the release of Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solution and their less than subtle focus on online travel, the question is… how will the long tail of travel affect how travel products are sold online and will traditional pay per click work?
It appears that this new advertising network is based on information in millions of MSN and Windows Live profiles and so the effectiveness of the advertising is limited only to Live Search. Given that Microsoft is still only 10% of the search engine market (compared to 49% for Google), the effect of Microsoft’s search effects will be marginal at best. The case study presented by Microsoft is interesting in that it provides data about what gender and age group is more likely to do certain searches, my concern is that you only get 10 words to put in your PPC ad, so exactly how do you differentiate between a 25 yr.old female searcher and a 35 yr.old male searcher when you are writing your extremely limited ppc ad?
Regardless of the overall results of this system, the attempt to get to know the consumer better in order to produce more relevant advertising is still a reactive approach. A true conversation would involve providing more compelling content for possible consumers to experience, creating communities around destinations or products, engaging the consumer in more meaningful ways, and offering products that are unique and interesting (not just airfare and hotel).
Reference: Search Engine Watch – US Search Engine Rankings April 2007
