Going Backwards to Move Forwards: Investing in Offline
Authored by: Chelsea Healey (Consumer Marketing Manager)
Did you know that the average consumer is exposed to more than 5,000 advertising messages per day? That’s 5,000 subliminal (and some not so subliminal) call-to-actions trying to influence what they buy, eat, where they stay and where they play.
This ever-increasing noise makes it progressively harder for brands to cut through, grab the attention of the consumer and – most importantly – drive them to make a purchase.
So how does Luxury Escapes approach this increasingly competitive marketplace?
Luxury Escapes has been a pure-play online luxury travel hub for nearly four years. The business has grown to represent over 2 million members and recently surpassed the 1 million traveller mark. This enormous growth has been helped along by our hotel partners but more than ever before it's our unique approach to consumer marketing that has driven so much interest.
It’s a formula that works. After all, many online travel companies would argue that digital is what counts: it’s scalable, easily trackable and an ROI can be pinned to every campaign. But how can we continue to evolve and grow, nurturing deeper connections with our customers who to date have interacted with us purely online?
As part of an ongoing omni-marketing strategy, we’ve implemented several exciting offline projects over the past year that delve deeper than digital, including ‘LE On Tour’ and ‘Luxury Escapes – The Lounge’.
LE On Tour
With so many marketers focused on creating the ideal digital journey for customers, businesses tend to forget that customers are looking for offline touch points, too. While scalable tactics such as social media are often the focus, community gatherings are underestimated as a valuable tool.
With this in mind, we created a consumer roadshow called ‘LE on Tour’. Hosted by Luxury Escapes staff, the roadshows offer company updates, travel tips, the hottest new deals and more direct to our customers, all with expert travel concierges on hand.
Locations were selected based on member postcode density, with seven events held to date in Victoria and New South Wales and more Queensland roadshows in the pipeline.
The roadshows enable us to present a more personal side to the business, gain valuable customer insights and build engagement with our community. We’re able to break down the trust wall created by the online environment by sharing the behind-the-scenes journey that goes into creating every deal, from our contractors visiting the resort personally to the creation of the final package and supporting content. Going forward, community gatherings are something we consider to be an integral part of our future success.
Luxury Escapes - The Lounge
Widely considered a backwards step that’s still in the right direction, brick and mortar retailing has now taken on an important new focus in the ecommerce space. It’s no wonder brands like Amazon are jumping on board and why Apple still insists on its monster retail environments. After all, when you are able to both replicate and set new customer expectations through high-touch in-store interactions in a visceral and tactile experience, you’ve entered the golden age of customer service.
Proving the vitality of the brand, and our willingness to innovate, we opened our first retail concept store in Melbourne’s CBD – which ironically, is exactly what others had previously done. But who said going backwards is a bad thing?
One can see the irony of it all: an e-commerce travel business smashing traditional travel agents decides to open a brick-and-mortar store. But we believe there is something unique and powerful about the real-world shopping experience – especially when done in an interactive way.
Luxury Escapes – The Lounge is like no other travel store and takes inspiration from some of the world's most exclusive airport lounges. From the moment guests walk in the door, a lounge concierge will take their coat and offer them a complimentary coffee and sweet treat before showing them the facilities, which include a virtual reality headset, charging stations, complimentary WiFi, BMW transfer services and an on-site masseuse.
The fact that over 1000 customers have bought from the store in a short five-week period is just the cherry on top...the customers who have visited The Lounge have been touched on a different level. This level of engagement cannot be matched by digital marketing. They now know Luxury Escapes as if it were a friendly new neighbour that recently invited them over for Sunday roast. This is very powerful.
While we’ll continue to approach our digital marketing in an aggressive way, we’ll also be marrying offline and online campaigns to boost the visibility of both our partners and our own brand, and help us to differentiate from competitors who may be busy flooding the digital space. If the goal of businesses in today’s crowded marketplace is to differentiate and be noticed, it makes sense to use as many channels as possible, both digital and traditional. Because ultimately, we believe companies who are able to genuinely connect with their customers and community of supporters will have a strategic advantage over those who don't.
Click here to learn more about how Luxury Escapes are marketing-first partners.
