This document contains tips from Erin Sagin on how smaller travel advertisers can compete against larger competitors. Some of the key points discussed include leveraging search trends like increasing mobile searches and declining attention spans by using formats like call extensions. It also recommends using remarketing to nurture existing leads and optimizing for mobile by improving landing pages and bidding on high-intent terms. The document emphasizes the importance of understanding consumer behavior shifts and adapting paid search strategies accordingly.

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Meet Erin
• PPC Evangelist & Community Manager at WordStream in Boston, MA
• Has specialized in Paid Search for 4+ Years
• Obsessed with Twitter (@erinsagin)
• Fun Fact: I’ve never been to a Disney theme park!

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Travel Marketing = Glamorous
@ErinSagin

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Just Tap Into Existing Demand
@ErinSagin

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Take Advantage of the Perks
@ErinSagin

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Reality: It’s Really Freaking Hard
@ErinSagin

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People Love to Shop Around
@ErinSagin

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Four Seasons in Paris?
@ErinSagin

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Private Safari in South Africa?
@ErinSagin

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Romantic Hut in Bali?
@ErinSagin

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Luxury Suite in Prague?
@ErinSagin

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…Even When They’re Not Quite Ready to Buy

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And They’re So Damn Indecisive

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They Know Where They Want To Go

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And Exactly Where They Want to Sit

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And All They Need to do is Press ONE Button

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Cold Feet Strike Again
@ErinSagin

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To Make Matters Worse, the Market is Super Saturated

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The Big Guys Have Insane Cash Flow

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And They’re Offering Absurd Deals

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Don’t Despair, Smaller
Advertisers Can Compete
@ErinSagin

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Step 1: Understand the Market Trends

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Step 2: Find Creative Ways to Leverage Them

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Top 5 Travel Trends You
Should Be Prepared to
Tackle in 2016

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Consumers Are Doing More Searches
Than Ever Prior to Booking
TRAVEL TREND #1

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37% of travelers in the U.S. think
about vacation planning once a
month; 17% think about it at
least once a week.
Source: Google Insights

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People are conducting lots of short
research sessions, rather than
fewer long research sessions.
TRUTH
Source: Google Insights

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It’s Pricey to be Omnipresent on the SERP

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Cherry Pick The Best
Search Opportunities For
Your Business
SOLUTION

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Identify High Intent Search Signals

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What Makes You Unique?
@ErinSagin

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Take Advantage of Your USP!
@ErinSagin

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Consider Seasonal Patterns
@ErinSagin

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Dimensions Tab = Travel Marketers’ Goldmine

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Identify Geographic Patterns
@ErinSagin

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What Time of Day Are People Converting?

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Be Picky With Your Ad Placements
TOP TAKEAWAY #1

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Searchers’ Attention Spans
Are Declining
TRAVEL TREND #2

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Who Has a Longer Attention Span?
A Goldfish My Coworker,
Bobby
seconds seconds

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Our Devices Are Minefields
In the time in took me to
search for a local pizza joint,
Bobby’s phone got:
• 4 Twitter notifications
• 2 LinkedIn notifications
• 6 emails
• 1 text message
• 1 Facetime call
• 4 Tinder notifications

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Add In External Factors

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How the heck has anyone EVER
completed a purchase?

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Promote Action Directly
from the SERP
SOLUTION

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Instill Urgency With Ad Customizers
• Use FOMO to
inspire action
• As sale ends (or
supply diminishes),
CVR increases
up to 3x!!

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Urgency Inspires Action
I really wanted to do
something special
for you. Booked it
months ago.
I love this hotel.
And you.
Holy shi*t, I almost
forgot about V-Day.
Thank god I jumped
on that ad…

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Pull A “J. Crew”
Rotate ad customizers to create a perpetual
sale or show dwindling product supply
Never ending FOMO!

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Leverage Ad Extensions

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Especially Critical On Mobile

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Consider jetBlue
Mobile Site Mobile App

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Enable App Extensions
Consumers spend 82% of
their mobile time in apps
that they have
downloaded, versus 18%
on e-retailers’ mobile
websites.
Mobile in-app campaigns
convert at 5-10 times the
mobile web rate.

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Use Call Extensions or Call-Only Campaigns
Avoid the crappy
website altogether and
talk to this lady!

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Click to Call = Game Changer

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Phone Calls Are Super Hot Leads

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Take Advantage of New Ad Formats

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Hilton Gave Hotel Ads A Shot And…
Improvement in
conversion rates
45% 12%
Stronger ROI
Source: Google Insights

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Top 10 Biggest AdWords Spenders

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Combat search ADD
with enticing ad formats
TOP TAKEAWAY #2

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Brand Loyalty Is Diminishing
TRAVEL TREND #3

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You Work Really Hard to Familiarize
People With Your Brand

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Only 14%of leisure travelers always
book with the first air brand that came
to mind when they started their
research, that number drops to 10%
when we look at the first hotel brand
that came to mind during their research.
Source: Google Insights

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Leverage the Almighty
Power of Remarketing
SOLUTION

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Remarketing Gets a Bad Rap
@ErinSagin

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People Are 76% More Likely to
Click on a Remarketing Ad

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Use Remarketing to Nurture Existing Leads

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Set Your Impression Caps High

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Google Rarely (If Ever) Serves to the Full Cap

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Set Membership Duration to 3X
Your Average Sales Cycle
@ErinSagin

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Pro-Tip!
Determine the time frame in
which 95% of your conversions
occur. This should be your new
Membership Duration
Head to Google
Analytics
View Conversions
 Time Lag
1 32

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RLSAs (Otherwise Known as
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads)
@ErinSagin

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Target Search Ads to People Who
Recently Visited Your Site
Show them customized ads when they search on Google!
Users who visit your site get added to your remarketing list

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RLSA is a Super Powerful Strategy
2x CTRs
1/2 CPCs
2x Conversion Rates

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Identity-Based Targeting Is Amazing

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NEW! Customer Match Targeting in AdWords

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Be persistent so your fans
don’t forget about you
TOP TAKEAWAY #3

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Mobile Searches Are On the Rise
TRAVEL TREND #4

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Mobile flight-related queries on
Google.com are up 33% year
over year, while mobile hotel
queries are up 49%.

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You’re 2x less likely to
show for mobile vs.
desktop searchers
Search Impression Share, By Device

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Mobile Is Super Competitive
• Mobile ads are much less likely to be shown even in position 1
• Below position 2, forget it
• No accounts had mobile position below 4

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Search Impression Share Lost to Rank, By Device

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Boost Your Ad Rank
SOLUTION

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Snag the Highly Coveted Spots

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Get To Know the Ad Rank Formula

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Hone In On Quality Scores

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Adjust Your Mobile Bids

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Thanks a lot, Erin…

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Be Selective With Bidding Upgrades
High-Intent Terms
• Organize into separate
campaigns
• Assign specific
budgets/CPA goals
• Use higher bid modifiers
Low-Intent Terms
• Reduce bids or eliminate
altogether using -100% bid
modifier

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With mobile search, position matters
TOP TAKEAWAY #4

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People Are Ready to
Buy on their Smartphones
TRAVEL TREND #5

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In the past year, conversion rates
have grown
88%
on mobile travel sites.
Source: Google Insights

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Feeling Left Out?
@ErinSagin

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46%
of travelers who do mobile research say that
their final booking decision was made while
on mobile, but they moved to another device
to complete the booking.
Source: Google Insights

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Most Mobile Landing Pages Stink

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Why the %*@$ Did We Build
These Crappy Landing Pages?!?

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Because Mobile Is Slow

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Because Mobile Screens Are Teensy

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Because People are Too Dumb
To Actually Try to Book on a Phone
@ErinSagin

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How Do You Know If Your
Mobile Landing Pages Stink?
Give people
an out. Are
they taking it?

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We ran this test on 3 clients
with outdated landing pages.
33% of visitors chose to leave
the mobile page in favor of the
desktop site on mobile.
Source: Google Insights

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Even Scarier: The People Who Used the Full
Site on Mobile Were More Likely to Convert

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Revamp Your Mobile
Landing Pages
SOLUTION

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Sorry, There’s No Secret Sauce

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Ask For Their Email Upfront
Well played.
Use this to
nurture with
email marketing
or customer
match!

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Users Should NEVER Have to
Hunt for a Phone Number
Number is
prominent
Number
exists
Can you
read that?!
Seriously?!

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If They’ve Already Purchased,
Remember Who They Are
Eliminates
yet another
barrier to
purchase!

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Make It Easy to Input Credit Card Numbers

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Finally, Make Sure Your Pages
Pass the Drunk Test
Watch Squareweave’s here: bit.ly/1fKSAc0

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So, Roll Out the Ol’ Drink Cart
@ErinSagin

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And Let’s Give This Thing A Shot
1. Your attention to
detail is…impaired
2. Your vision isn’t
quite 20/20
3. You’re more apt to
give up
4. You’re drunk, not
dumb

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Invite all your friends over for drinks
and give your mobile landing a whirl
TOP TAKEAWAY #5

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Against All Odds, the Underdog CAN Win

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Quick Plug for my AMAZING Company

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Shrink Your Workload to 20 Minutes a
Week!

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Find Out How You’re Doing

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Want to Learn More?
Go talk to this guy! Or,
visit our website at
www.wordstream.com.

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