Affluent African Americans Wield $29.8B in Spending Power#more-5970

Affluent African Americans Wield $29.8B in Spending Power#more-5970: "Affluent African Americans Wield $29.8B in Spending Power

The purchasing power of Affluent African Americans in the US - those with minimum individual annual incomes of $75K - is estimated at $29.8 billion, according to a study by Uptown Magazine and Diversity Affluence.
The study, which examined behaviors, attitudes, opinions and spending patterns of this wealthy demographic, also found that fashion and luxury brands, targeted advertising and personalized service are increasingly important to affluent African Americans.

Key findings:
Affluent African Americans most often read the The New York Times and Wall Street Journal newspapers, as well as magazines BusinessWeek and Newsweek, Jet and The Economist."

Travel Search Marketing: Time for a Test Drive?

The travel search space is diverse, made up of companies with many types of offerings and business models. It hardly seems fair to lump such vastly different types of sites together in the same category. To understand exactly what we mean by "travel search," it's important that we look at the parts that make up the whole.

Travel search breaks down into six primary categories:

* Comparison Shopping (Kayak, Sidestep, FareCast, FareCompare)
* Travel Aggregators (Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Priceline)
* Direct Purchase (branded airline and hotel sites)
* Social/Review Sites (TripAdvisor, Gusto.com)
* Map/Local Search (MapQuest, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps)
* Independent Travel Providers (agents, resorts/destinations, outfitters)

The Consumer Perspective

Many of us use travel search pretty regularly in our daily lives, whether it's planning for business travel, leisure or adventure vacations. As consumers, we tend to seek out Web sites that best fit our specific needs and provide an answer to our query. So it makes sense that we may often look at several sources during the "travel conversion funnel."

Business travelers certainly have a different motivation than the typical leisure traveler, and a corporate travel planner may or may not be involved in the search process. The most difficult parts of the conversion process are already answered at the beginning: Where? When? How quickly? How much?

A leisure traveler goes through a much different cycle to get to their intended destination. First, they must be inspired to take a trip, and begin the research phase. The second component of this step is that they must have a general idea of where on the planet they'd like to go. Then a traveler will move into planning mode, gathering the initial details for the itinerary -- what general area to stay in, what to do, and so forth.

Next is the comparison shopping stage, checking for availability and best pricing. Finally, the purchase decision is made. Of course, there are variations in the shopping stage, as some travelers are motivated by aspects other than lowest price. Experiential and emotional factors come into play.
The Search Marketer's Perspective

Your job as a search marketing professional is to fully understand and appreciate the needs of your client's target market when considering playing in the travel search space. If you are working for a major conglomerate of hotels, you will likely need to use a mix of data feeds to the broad aggregator channels, as well as consider organic SEO and paid placement for the individual locations of the hotels.

For smaller clients, the focus may be more on organic SEO and targeted keyword buys. Quality content will play a major role, offering an opportunity to find your niche and target very specific customers online. Be sure to accurately represent the service and play up the unique aspects of the business – is it luxury or rustic accommodations, family- or couples-oriented? Recognize that the overall Web site design and content strategy plays a critical role, since travel is an emotional decision. Quality images and copy elements that sell the experience can also act as potential link bait.

In today's travel sector, search marketers mush also go beyond geo-targeting efforts and local search strategies to social media. More and more consumers today will look to review sites and social media outlets for advice from their online peers. Search marketers need to be sure travel clients are well represented in the ever-growing list of social travel sites and come up with a plan to encourage satisfied users to share their positive experiences in such social media venues.

The first step is to make sure your client is present in the relevant sites, including newcomers World66, 43Places, RealTravel, Vcarious and Travelistic, among a host of others. Ensure that the descriptions of their services and amenities are up to date, and that they are presented in such a way to attract travelers. Most travel search sites provide a mechanism for proprietors to add or edit information, so it's important to take advantage of these options to present your client in the best light.

From an ethical perspective, I do not advocate writing falsified reviews, touting the excellence of your clients' travel related service, nor do I recommend writing disparaging reviews of your closest competition. Besides inviting karma to come back and bite you for this, it's also an incredible waste of time, since the "wisdom of the crowds" will eventually prevail. The time you waste here would be much better spent focusing on how your client can improve their business and online strategy.

The next step is managing your client's reputation. It's human nature for people who are upset by service to be much more likely to share their bad experience, than for someone who has had a good experience to make the effort to do the same. That makes it doubly important for you to give satisfied customers a reason to do so, whether that's in the form of a discount on future services, or other incentive.

It's important to note that you cannot stop people from sharing bad experiences with your client, so the first step is for them to deliver solid service. You cannot successfully manage a client's reputation online if the bad reputation is deserved. Part of that is appropriately representing the service on the official Web site – if guests book a stay at a place you described online as a "five-star resort," they will be sorely disappointed when they arrive to find a run-down motel.

Finally, no matter what category of travel search you fit into, it's imperative to implement a solid reporting system for conversion rates and ROI metrics, because it's far too dangerous to play in this space while blindfolded. Paid campaigns can quickly spiral out of control if not adequately managed. When using social media tactics, it's much more difficult to put a direct ROI on referrals that may have occurred over a long research cycle, but you must recognize the word-of-mouth component is a critical aspect of any travel-related business.

Reviewing historical data is the first step in discovering successes, failures, and often the best source of new ideas and opportunities. The old adage rings true in this space: you can't know where you are going without considering where you have been.

The search space is going vertical, and travel search is one of the first verticals leading that charge. If you take the time to get to know this space, it can reap rewards for you, both now and down the road. Not only will it strengthen the services you can offer existing clients, and open up a new client base; but it will also help you develop techniques that you can use in the future to enter other verticals as they emerge.

Key Themes in Today's Online Travel World

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Customer service and retention crosses over from offline to online attitudes. Use your call center to help improve the quality of your Web site, and fill in the content gaps, said Steve Pinetti, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Kimpton Hotels.
5. Get smarter about social media marketing, get buy-in, budget, and make it profitable for your company. Cassanda Jeyaram, social marketing manager for InterContinental Hotels, gave the most practical advice for crafting social media programs, by employing Forrester Research's P.O.S.T. (people, objectives, strategy, technology) rather than just throwing anything up to see what sticks. You'll find that creating measurable social campaigns provide more long term value and cost savings when you consider these elements: exposure/PR, retention, and revenue.
Elisabeth Osmeloski is the Director of Online Media at Zonder.com, a vacation rentals search service that connects travelers and property owners in popular vacation destinations.

David Szetela writes about Killer PPC Ads: The Fundamentals

Search Engine Watch, Aug 25, 2008

In previous Profitable PPC installments, I've described the process of creating great PPC keyword lists, and partitioning those lists into small, tight ad groups. This week we'll turn to the next step in constructing a killer PPC campaign: writing PPC search ad copy. Follow these guidelines, and you'll soon be lifting your click-through-rates from the sub-par .1.0- to 1.5-percent range into the truly atmospheric 10- to 25-percent range. Where they can and should be. Really.

Over the years, my agency has had the opportunity to take over and improve hundreds of pay-per-click campaigns. Most of them failed in one way or another to follow the guidelines I'll outline here; none of them adhered to all the guidelines. To avoid embarrassing them, I won't use any of their ads as examples in this article. But typically the ads looked something like this:

Outdoor Furniture
Tables, chairs, lounges.
Wood and plastic.
www.outdoorfurniture.com

If you think there's room for improvement in this ad, you'll be happy to know you're right – read on. And if you think this ad is just fine – read on, very carefully.

But first: let's agree on one thing: the objective of your ad. Is it to sell your product? Get a sales lead? Nope. Your ad's objective is this, and only this:

Get the click.

A resume won't land you the job, but it will get you to the next step in the process: the interview. A direct mail envelope's copy won't sell anything, but it will persuade the recipient to take the next step: open the envelope.

Likewise, don't expect your PPC ad to sell anything, or persuade the reader to do anything but take the next step: click to find out more.

It's the job of the PPC landing page to continue the process and lead the "clicker" to the desired conversion action. So the PPC ad and the landing page should work tightly together to guide the visitor smoothly and quickly through the conversion process.

I'll devote future columns to the relationship between ads and landing pages, and how to make sure your landing page is doing its job. For now, I'll focus on these guidelines for writing ad copy that gets the clicks.

Guideline 1: Benefits Sell Better than Features

Your ad should emphasize the benefits of your offering, not just the features. Features describe the product/service you're selling, while benefits describe the positive emotions your customers will experience.

Some examples:

Automobile features:

1. Made by the best European car designers.
2. Includes hand-made Italian leather seats and expensive coverings.
3. Lifetime guarantee on all parts.

Automobile benefits:

1. You'll feel that, after many years of hard work, you've finally "arrived."
2. You'll be recognized as someone with style, flair and real class.
3. You'll be envied by your peers.

Here's a feature-oriented ad:

Refinance Your Mortgage
Easy application and low
rates. Lock in yours.
www.yetanothermortgagebank.com

and here's a version that motivates using benefits:

Refinance Your Mortgage
Apply now - lower rates and a
fatter wallet every month!
www.yetanothermortgagebank.com

Guideline 2: Speak Directly to Your Audience

Advertising copy works best when the reader truly believes you understand them, care about them, understand their needs, and are dedicated to serving those needs. It's tough to convey all that in the space of a tiny PPC ad. But you can get close by using magic words like "you" and "yours."

Here's a "before and after" example:

Custom Built Cabinets
Strong materials. Professional
installers. Low prices.
www.wehangem.com

And a more "you-oriented" version:

Custom Built Cabinets
Your kitchen, your style, our
cabinets installed by pros.
www.wehangem.com

Guideline 3: Call Them to Action

Testing has shown that people will more often take an action if it's explicitly spelled out for them. And try to be more creative than "visit our site" or "click to see." Here's an ad with no call to action:

Get Government Grants
Many are eligible for money
from the feds. Up to $15,000.
www.washingtondough.com

and this time, with an explicit call to action:

Get Government Grants
See if you can get up to $15,000.
Take our 5-minute test!
www.washingtondough.com

Guideline 4: If You've Got It, Flaunt It

Especially if you're in a crowded field of competitors, it really pays to underscore your competitive advantages. Like this:

Hotel Software
Maximize your profits. Top-
rated by experts 2007-2008.
www.hotelsoft.com

Note that any claims of top ratings, best-quality products, etc. must be backed up by evidence that's included on your landing page.

Guideline 5: Create a Sense of Urgency

People love to procrastinate, and will go through incredible mental contortions to rationalize why they shouldn't take action immediately. Your ad copy and landing page should work hard to overcome inertia, and whenever possible create a sense that the reader will suffer, or fail to benefit, if they don't act right away.

I ran across this description in Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero's excellent free copywriting newsletter:

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." Why? Because procrastination is the biggest killer of sales -- particularly online where the chances of a prospect staying on or returning to a website (in order to think about buying), in today's click-happy world, are scarce."

Here's an example:

Buy Gold Now
Gold prices rising faster.
Buy before it hits ceiling!
www.goldfingers.com

Guideline 6: Free is Good

Our testing has shown that offering something for free boosts clicks and conversions. Some clients worry that too many clicks will come from tire-kickers who don't intend to buy, but we've found that the increased ROI usually more than covers any additional cost. Use free offers when your product or service is high-priced or technically complex, and/or the sales cycle is long.

Almost any advertiser can create something of value that can be given away. Examples:

* Downloadable free-trial software
* Downloadable or physical white papers
* E-Newsletter subscriptions
* Downloadable audio or video info or entertainment

Guideline 7: Stand Out

Especially in a crowded competitive market, like financial services or travel, ads that are markedly different than competitors' get more clicks.

One of my favorite resources, Marketing Experiments Journal, recently published a great study comparing paid search ad performance. They found that in some cases, "over-the-top" ads performed better than mediocre, straight-forward versions – simply because they were more noticeable. Like this one for a travel agency:

Have a Bad Trip
Unless you see our low fares
and great customer service.
www.goawaywithus.com

Guideline 8: The Headline's the Most Important Thing

The aforementioned Marketing Experiments article underscores the fact that the ad headline is the most important determinant of an ad's success. Even ads with poorly-written body copy perform better when the headline is well-written.

And what distinguishes well-written headlines from poorly-written ones? All the guidelines above apply. Try to make it action-oriented, personalized, etc. Above all, headlines work best when the search term is included in the headline.

Next Monday I'll continue discussion of creating killer ads with some little-known tips you won't want to miss. As always, let me know your comments and questions via the feedback form below.

Search Engine Marketing in the Travel Industry

Search Engine Marketing For Travel-Related Sites
By Shari Thurow, Search Engine Watch, Oct 26, 2004Columns Contact Shari Subscribe to Newsletters RSS Feeds

Search marketing in the travel industry is brutally competitive, with intense jockeying between travel agencies, affiliates, wholesalers and travel products companies themselves vying for top positioning. What's the most effective approach to search marketing in this cutthroat environment?
A special report from the Search Engine Strategies conference, August 2-5, 2004, San Jose, CA.
At this session of the Search Engine Strategies conference, expert panelists discussed issues and strategies for the travel industry.
According to Jupiter Research, for each dollar generated online, travel companies recorded an additional $5 revenue from traditional channels as a direct result of research that consumers did online. In addition, by 2005, 20% of all hotel bookings will be made online: half directly with hotel companies and half from third-party intermediaries, according to a Cornell study. Therefore, search engine marketing, particularly geo-targeting, should be an integral part of the hospitality industry's online marketing campaigns.
"In researching travel, consumers typically know the destinations they are interested in," said John Waddy, President of Travel eMarketing, LLC. "65% of hotel buyers check three sites before making a buying decision in a study by Phocus Wright. So your SEM campaign should be geo-targeted."
Waddy recommended creating a multi-channel internet marketing strategy that includes search marketing. However, hospitality marketers need to keep in mind how competitive the travel industry is.
"To keep visitors on your site, always provide enough content on your site about the destination for visitors to make a buying decision," he said. "If a site visitor has to go to some other site to find out information on your hotel or event, you're probably going to lose that visitor as a conversion and repeat visitor." With plenty of keyword-rich content, search engine optimization can be a cost-effective means of marketing a travel Web site.
Search engine paid strategies
"If you are search engine marketer doing it internally for a client, I would say that (a)it's extremely competitive, (b)it continues to change, and (c)there are all these new niche marketing opportunities popping up on the horizon," said Jon Schepke, Vice President and Principal at Meandaur.
Schepke uses a number of SEM strategies that include PPC advertising, paid inclusion, and natural search engine optimization. "We're promoting over 5,000 terms for this client," he said. "Because the travel space is so competitive, tracking is essential."
For his clients, Schepke uses Overture's Tracking Console. "Everyone needs to figure out what campaign management tool is best for them," he continued. "With the URL string, we can track the campaign, the channel, the keyword, and the tactic. What's also pretty compelling is we can put a conversion tag on conversion pages, and you can pass a conversion string that associates the revenue type, or revenue amount, with the actual campaign and the channel."
To hit the majority of your keywords, he recommended using the Broad Match options on Google and Overture. Schepke also uses search engine advertising at FindWhat, Kanoodle, and Enhance Interactive (formerly Ah-Ha).
Since the travel industry is a specialized field, Schepke also takes advantage of specialized search services, such as SideStep (travel) and NexTag (shopping). "These are comparison search engines for the travel space," he said. "Travel specialists can use their email campaigns and geo-targeted advertising."
In addition, Waddy recommended the following marketing channels for travel sites:
Hotel or branded sites (such as Hilton.com)
Destination/travel sites (such as Chamberofcommerce.com)
Third-party intermediaries (such as Expedia.com)
The self-funding model
Not all hospitality sites have deep pockets for marketing sites across all channels. All too often, travel sites can only market through a single channel. This was the case with Wyndham Hotels.
"We wanted to create a self-funding model and so the client was no longer dependent on anemic ecommerce budgets," said Cheryle Pingel, Chairman & Co-Founder, Range Online Media. "The client had $30K of seed money. The goal was to generate $200K for every $10K spent."
Reinvesting 7, 10, or 13 percent of revenue was part of the self-funding strategy. "Assuming the same gross revenue and reinvestment percentage, your campaigns can begin to grow monthly," said Pingel. Within one month, revenue jumped from $10K to $26K. ROI can be determined by gross revenue or bottom line profit.
Pingel initially invested in Overture paid advertising, then in paid inclusion. "We always had to make sure we had the money to propel us along," she said. "In the beginning when our budgets were lower, we were daypart bidding with wild peaks going up and down. When we had more money to work with, we could think more long-term."
90 days should be the minimum time period before beginning a self-funding model.
"Success breeds success," said Pingel. "This self-funded model allows you to capitalize on your successes."
Travel site tips
Panelists offered the following tips for marketing travel and hospitality sites on the search engines:
Divide travel-related keyword phrases into categories. Waddy recommended combining city/state keywords with general keywords (Miami Florida family vacation), targeted geo-searches (city name + lodging keyword), vacation packages, and other destination keywords (shopping, golf, weather, maps).
Take advantage of event marketing strategies. "We'll work closely with a property on their local events and promote those related keywords," said Schepke. "10 out of the 20 keywords that generated the most traffic for one of our international travel clients were event-driven."
Use travel packages whenever possible. "The best conversions came from package keyword," he said. "First visit purchases accounted for 57% of conversions, and repeat visit purchases accounted for 43% of conversions."
Create customized landing pages for each campaign. By matching ads to specific landing pages, it increases the overall conversion rates. "We also created a particular property and worked that within the property management system," he added. "We passed that particular event through to the hotel, providing tracking both online and offline for the hotelier."
Offline and online conversion tracking is crucial. "Consider using landing pages with unique 800 numbers or dynamic discount codes identifying the customer lead," said Waddy."
Be aware of seasonal fluctuations. "You need to know when to hold back or when to invest based on your business model," said Pingel. Search engine advertising is often the best form of marketing for seasonal fluctuations since SEMs can turn campaigns on and off during specified months, days, and hours.
Want to discuss or comment on this story? Join the Search Marketing in the Unfriendly Skies discussion in the Search Engine Watch forums.
Shari Thurow is the Marketing Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc. and the author of the book Search Engine Visibility.
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