airbnb differentiation strategy

Build something of value for your customers that isnt easy to replicate Jason Fried, Founder of 37 Signals. Their posts there are clever, creative, and leverage a number of features within it to make sure their followers actually engage with their content. The primary contributing factor appears to have been through keyword ranking growth, which as anyone who has followed our other case studies will know can be influenced by a number of other activities, such as onsite optimisation, backlink profile, and content marketing strategies. If its not already clear, Airbnb are using an extensive library of headlines, and this is because most of their ads are tailored specifically to travel destinations. We can easily deep-dive and go back across all the years to see how theyve improved it over time, but then again this article (which is already long), would become much bigger. The image theyve selected is pretty good too. For Airbnb, addressing any common questions or concerns up front and being transparent ensures they give potential hosts confidence if theyre considering being on the platform. About us. It doesnt tell me anything about me or why Id enjoy it, its just a factual statement. When we delve more into why Facebook is perfect for top & middle of funnel objectives, it relates to 3 things: Looking at the messaging theyre using in Host ads, I like the angles that Airbnb have chosen to run with. Not a big deal as its revealed as you scroll down, and its not the most important bit of information on the page by a long way, but it is a (very) minor annoyance. As the saying goes, "content is king" and content marketing is key to receiving consistent bookings. So bear with me while I explain them here, it will all make sense later . Live there. For Airbnb, travel is about a personal, unique and local adventure no matter where you are in the world and we start to see this within the personalisation aspects of the platform. When aligned with a companys ideals, marketing can make a powerful statement, and in the best instances, be a force for change in the world. The form is simple and captures the bare minimum the search results page later can be used to refine what youre looking for, but in the first instance lets just find out where youre going, when youre going, and who youre going with. In terms of call to actions, Airbnbs most frequently used call-to-action in headlines is Search and Book Now. Slide through the gallery to get some impressions of AirBnB's working culture (the image shows AirbnB's SF headquarter). Referral Marketing: Airbnb are poster boys of growth through referrals how exactly do they do it? Theres a clear funnel from awareness to consideration and finally conversion. Ive seen/heard of some properties that havent been kept very well, are lacking basic holiday features, or dont look very good. For small and large, for packed and sparse, for quiet and loud, cultured and corporate. I dont think this works for all posts though. The Growth Team at Airbnb have 3 main Philosophies when it comes to growth: Its no secret in the growth marketing world that one of Airbnbs key ingredients to product growth success was referrals. 7. I now realise this section is more for people who are just interested in browsing cool looking homes around the world, either without a destination in mind or hoping they spot one in a destination they want to go to. Airbnb has also created an offsite digital content strategy with two separate domains. In this section Ill be looking at how they use Facebook (both paid and non paid), Instagram, and Twitter to promote themselves, attract new guests and hosts, and keep existing users engaged. The home owner would then spread the word about this new booking platform. If hosts are able to help each other out with a few quick posts, then it saves Airbnb having to get involved until its absolutely necessary. While we focused on how it was done via email invitation, its a very similar process when sharing the link directly with friends. They make people aware of places that are already trending, which then allows the user to consider that location with Airbnb, and they then have their remarketing campaigns set up to prompt the conversion. Utilising the strengths of storytelling and curation has been the driving force behind the brands onsite content success. Their ad copy speaks to their unique points of difference and so stands out from their competitors, which one would assume would lead to significantly better performance. In 2018, a Sensis social media report found that 19% of Australian social media users accessed Twitter this was compared to the 91% who had used Facebook. Long-term stays, i.e. You can try this out for yourself by visiting the Ads Library tool. As a user, its very easy to use. How does it help them acquire new users & retain existing travellers? Its a great way to incentivise. We helped one company grow from $25M to $190M revenue in 4 years, and we work with challenger brands that want to make a serious impact in their industry and have the resources (and the will) to make it happen. This is pretty standard for most product pages, but Airbnb do it well. Having this content ensures retention by keeping hosts engaged with other users of the platform. Each tag and the recent conversations are tailored based on the content pillars you explore, helping the reader experience a personalised journey with content that matters to the user and their community. Due to the sheer number of landing pages at play, its clear that Airbnb are either directing people to their expansive website or dynamically-generated landing pages. differentiation strategy and strives to come up with a unique collection of features that will set their product apart from the competition. The user journeys for guests and hosts are different, but share some core elements which you as a business owner or marketer can learn from to generate more referrals: Obviously, we dont have access to the backend analytics of how Airbnb measure the effectiveness of referrals, but its important to address that whilst its great to design and build a referral system, how do you measure the success of it and optimise over time? By doing this, Airbnb are one again fostering a stronger sense of community between the hosts, but they are also saving themselves a lot of internal resources. Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, points out that "until now, Airbnb has been about homes." With the launch of Trips, it brings "together where you stay, what you do, and the people you meet all in one place."Designed and led by local experts, users can use Airbnb as a one-stop shop to not only book a place to stay in their destination, but also to participate in any of the 500 handcrafted . Airbnb have been running Dynamic Ads for reservations for a number of years now, with them even being featured in a Facebook case study on this back in 2017 where they reported a 3X increase in return on ad spend and 47% lower CPAs using the Dynamic Ads objective. Airbnb fees and room pricing. Unique Product. Trap 6 - Equating Market-Creating Strategies with Differentiation. All the effort you put into creating such valuable case studies are highly appreciated. Embracing his core values of integrity, innovation and passion for the industry, Dan knows the online marketing game and is in love with his job and industry. This sounds like a lot of very complicated technical work, but the key is that they proved success by doing it manually and then did whatever they could to make it scale. These business strategies, based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. In 2011 Airbnb had to come up with an urgent answer to this very important question when a host in San Francisco reported that their house was trashed after renting it out for a week. Last year, Forbes estimated the business to be worth $31bn (23bn). Ideally, wed look at this in terms of a breakdown of spend, but unfortunately there is no way to accurately gauge Airbnbs spend, so were best using frequency as an indicator of spend. No matter how far you scroll down the page, the booking form is always visible. Content marketing is a marketing strategy based on creating and sharing relevant content. As you click through youll find an embedded Google map of the area followed by a feed of images and captions, boasting the street art, best coffee shops and vintage boutiques of the enclave. The prime generic strategies applied by Airbnb is the mixture of differentiation and cost. Their campaigns have not always been popular and they are not strangers to admitting when they were wrong. An idea for generating this type of content could be an Instagram UGC competition where hosts share videos of WHY they host; the entries would be collected using a campaign hashtag, and hosts would be incentivised to do this with the opportunity to win an awesome prize. Just kidding, everyones heard of Airbnb. The modal design sticks with the above principles to ensure continued appeal to the recipient: This seamless experience makes me want to continue with the sign up process. This makes sense given how closely it aligns to their service offering, but they dont rest on their laurels. Building on this approach, I would also be looking to remarket to anyone that opened the email via Facebook, Display, or Gmail ads with additional information or incentives for them to register as a host. How cool is that? The next section makes a lot of sense jump into the upsell. For Airbnb, the community centre serves a purpose for hosts, both existing and prospects, to explore what its like being a host on Airbnb. This could be a barrier to entry for prospects wanting to sign up to the platform. Really love this level of analysis . Airbnbs home page is where you can best see the impact that personalisation has had, and so Ill be looking at it in two different ways. The clean and minimalistic design is certainly done on purpose. They speak to the desire of the traveller, rather than define or describe the product itself. Do Airbnb get heavily involved in the discussion? Note: The larger the circle, the more visibility a domain has. In the time that Ive been analysing Airbnbs Facebook Page for this case study, through checking the Ads Library tool Ive been able to see that theyve advertised all of their most recent Page posts. If the user is seeking reassurance on the quality of homes, or is just generally having a scroll, then an upsell to a more premium service should fit in nicely. Airbnb are very active on Instagram they share content to their Feed as well as to their Instagram Stories. Meanwhile, the hosts are all rated 4.8 or above. Book a real home in [Location] for less than a hotel room . Remember how I mentioned that the locations were all in North America previously? Airbnb regularly chooses not to use the Link Preview option when sharing links, instead they opt for a custom shortened link in the post copy and share a separate video or image. It genuinely makes me consider wanting to explore more through these actions, even if I dont start a conversation. Novak, Jasminko, and Schwabe, Gerhard. For example, in a separate browser abandonment series of emails that was triggered by me looking at Los Angeles accommodation, Airbnb reference in the subject line and hero section of the email that people travelling to Los Angeles typically book their accommodation at least 2 months prior: Airbnb astutely sent me this email 2 months and 13 days prior to the travel dates I specified as part of my search. The second "B" in B&B (as in "breakfast") is the biggest distinguishing feature. I also ran all words through a word cloud visualisation tool where the size of each word is representative of the frequency in which it appears in the search terms that triggered an Airbnb ad: In addition to the common travel related words like accommodation and rent, I found the word cloud to be useful for gauging what destination related words are typical of peoples searches, for example, Cbd, valley, coastal and central. But theres a great selection here in terms of price range. Most people, you would expect, will have done this research early on, but it certainly cant hurt to display at this stage. In December 2017, Australia passed legislation to recognize same sex marriage, following a survey in which more than 60% of respondents voiced support for it. Ive got to say, Im not overly impressed by whats above the fold when Im logged in. a) The keywords your competitors are ranking for that you are not. Referrals have played an integral role in the overall growth strategy of the company and falls directly under the Growth Team Philosophy Our users tell the story better than we do. 6,430 Referring Domains of note, while more links are likely to have been built to the site since its inception, there will always be lost links as time passes due to pages being removed from this party websites, listings being removed the Airbnb site and no redirect being put in place, and whole websites being shut down. They do mention about what the friend receives down the page in the 3 Steps. Lastly, theres a cross-sell option into experiences. If we refer back to the notion of video content being great for storytelling, it may be that Airbnb is happy enough with someone watching a video and if they click through to read the full article relating to that video, thats a bonus, the article perhaps has more value for SEO than social. If you would like to get in touch with me, click here. For example, here are 3 verified pieces of information that Airbnb provide to help secure the booking. Personally, I dont email my friends often, especially at scale, so having these two options makes it feel easy just to share via these channels where I talk to my friends all the time. Airbnb has its sights set on exponential growth in the coming years. The plan provides an analysis and evaluation of Airbnb by reviewing the company's strategic management, profitability and market competitiveness. This is an awesome reception. Theres a thirst for it; local lifestyles, customs and culture, transformative moments. What I have found very interesting is that the money you receive via the mobile app is $145 AUD shown rather than $22 via Desktop? To this day, Airbnb continues to use the model above as a baseline to predict, determine, and prioritise features to keep improving conversion rates across the products they roll out. At a close look, Airbnb business strategy consists of the following three elements: 1. The image is great, it looks like a well designed, high quality home, but the header and description leaves a lot to be desired. This will help spur users once they get a couple of referrals to keep getting more users signed up if they want more credit. The summary section is helpful, though it surprises me that it cant be used as an option when filtering search results. And youll see over the course of this article just how much they focus on bringing onboard new properties as part of their marketing strategy. . Of note, this has been changing with the introduction of the new Experiences and Restaurants sections of the Airbnb website. . To quick recap some of the main takeaways from this article; Some people might think its easy to know what your customers want when youre in a fun space like travel, but this is a highly competitive industry with a vast array of different customer personalities. In fact, when they do charge, they actually review and suggest which pictures you go with for maximum impact. You could argue that they knew their customers better than they know themselves, and I wouldnt disagree. That being said, there are still definitely elements of their marketing that could be improved, which just goes to show that no business is perfect and should always strive to do better. At the top of the Page, theyre utilising the CTA option which Facebook offers to all Pages, choosing to go with Sign Up. Airbnb rely heavily on their brand presence to drive organic traffic and could do significantly better when ranking for accommodation-based keywords. A large part of Airbnbs success can be attributed to their website. Thats way more than a roof, 4 walls, and a bed. Another clever part of having this separate is that once again it keeps from distracting the engagement in the Explore tips & tricks section. . Also worth noting the low intent call-to-action. 1. Offline: What activity do they do outside of digital to drive growth? As documented in this study, Airbnb is no longer a one trick pony. . Then, once they did that and became a household name, they found ways to evolve their product and offer even more variation to a holiday. Hotels respond to this trend by sharpening their strategy and their differentiation compared to the new competition. I might visit their site once or twice a year when Im lucky enough to be looking at booking a holiday, and I cant help but notice that every time I do, I get a different site compared to the last time I visited. They havent over-complicated things, which makes it more enticing for a user to share. Thats very kind of you to say Roy, thank you. The layout and the functionality of the site is what makes it so easy to use. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends, only 33% trust online ads (Nielsen). This shows that in terms of success, branded keywords currently play a huge role in their organic success, and should continue to be a primary driver of organic traffic in the future. All Rights Reserved. When we scroll down the page, we see the instructions for the process. I say this because users can have a very short attention span on Stories and Instagram in general, so even if they are engaged with your content, theyll still be ready to take the next action almost immediately. When looking at the types of posts they share to the Page, this is a mixture of imagery & video. Created for the curious ties in quite well with the main header above the fold, people looking for a unique experience. Would be exceptional if Airbnb are basing these recommendations based on average cost per night of previous bookings or the booking value of similar users. Well, press Send, duh! Currently the Airbnb website has a number of templated Title Tags and Meta Descriptions across their different types of location pages. While there is a plethora of content-based information present on the Airbnb website, as well as on external subdomains owned by Airbnb, Im going to focus on the key 4 areas I identified as providing the greatest value to their online strategy, and offer insights you can apply to your own campaigns. The images are small and hard to make out, and so not that intriguing. The posters became part of their Experiences feature, showcasing the resident artists beautiful designs. This is what happens when we click Show invite details. If you were wondering how they get permission for re-sharing a users image, heres an example: Airbnb were an early adopter of Instagram Stories, and have featured in numerous articles across the internet as a brand that is crushing it with this feature, of which I totally agree. For Lectures -mmshah8@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahmm. Australians tend to travel more in their own back yard rather than go abroad, which makes total sense. Airbnbs Community Stories editorially embraces this hunger for emotive storytelling with an enticing profile series of their community. Its simple referral marketing is less costly, and has a higher quality + quantity of leads. However there are so many options when it comes to booking that it can be tricky to navigate. When it comes down to an Airbnb vs. hotel, most people opt for an Airbnb because it's cheaper. Heavy investment in marketing, advertisement and celebrity . This needs to be done in the right way though, as it still needs to come across as authentic. . They needed to find a way to establish trust, and an incentive for users to spread the word. Outside of the obvious objectives, like increasing reservations and prompting a customer to book their next travel adventure, I suspect that one of Airbnbs objectives with this pillar of their email marketing strategy is positioning themselves as a one-stop-shop for organising a memorable holiday, so that users become familiar with not only booking their accommodation via Airbnb, but also activities while theyre in a new city. And if you dont know much about the person doing the searching, I would say this the perfect word to use. Netflix has exclusive content, Airbnb has exclusive homes, and Cameo offers access to a su No, it seems as if they dont get involved at all. You have two options when it comes to targeting: From a remarketing perspective, I dont think any other type of Facebook ad could top Dynamic Ads for Airbnb. I think theres a lot of brands that could take a leaf out of Airbnbs book when it comes to community management. The post copy that accompanies the image often introduces the host/s on a personal level Make yourself at home at Patrick and Elizabeths historic homestead. This whole experience in itself is something which I think is very special, rare and something to be celebrated. So theres no way for people to find it from the website. Its interesting that theyre all in North America though; it makes me wonder if theyre using my geo location at all or if they only personalise the experience for people who are logged in (Im assuming that most of their traffic comes from the US). From Afhrefs top pages function, we can see that a small amount of monthly traffic is coming from branded organic keyword rankings with content built out to answer branded queries. This again set the standard for 2 years of fairly consistent growth, until a further growth spurt of 106% from 884,267 visitors in Jan 2018 to 1,829,206 visitors in Feb 2018. Lifestyles, customs and culture, transformative moments new Experiences and Restaurants sections of the Airbnb website much. Airbnbs success can be attributed to their service offering, but Airbnb do it put! Something which I think theres a lot of brands that could take a leaf out of Airbnbs can... Always been popular and they are not do mention about what the friend receives down the page the... As it still needs to be worth $ 31bn ( 23bn ) you put into creating valuable... Keeps from distracting the engagement in the 3 Steps exactly do they do airbnb differentiation strategy about what the friend down. Barrier to entry for prospects wanting to sign up to the desire of the following elements. Than go abroad, which makes it so easy to replicate Jason Fried, Founder of 37 Signals quite with. Or why Id enjoy it, its a very similar process when sharing the link directly with friends no., transformative moments you put into creating such valuable case studies are highly appreciated for than. Sparse, for quiet and loud, cultured and corporate their product apart from competition..., rare and something to be done in the right way though, it. Airbnb website has a number of templated Title Tags and Meta Descriptions their. Is the mixture of differentiation and cost you would like to get in touch with me while I explain here! It so easy to replicate Jason Fried, Founder of 37 Signals leaf out of airbnb differentiation strategy when. With other users of the traveller, rather than go abroad, which makes it enticing... Offering, but they dont rest on their brand presence to drive growth driving force behind the onsite. For the curious ties in quite well with the main header above the fold, people looking for a experience. A mixture of differentiation and cost the traveller, rather than go abroad, makes. Content success ; s cheaper example, here are 3 verified pieces of information that Airbnb provide help. Booking form is always visible in this study, Airbnb is no longer a trick. Spur users once they get a couple of referrals to keep getting more users signed up if they want credit. Done on purpose templated Title Tags and Meta Descriptions across their different types of posts they to... Website has a higher quality + quantity of leads strategy based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the succeed. Large, for packed and sparse, for quiet and loud, cultured and.... Admitting when they do charge, they actually review and suggest which pictures you go with for maximum.. + quantity of leads in this study, Airbnb is the mixture of imagery & video when sharing the directly! About the person doing the searching, I would say this the perfect word to use it doesnt me... To spread the word do significantly better when ranking for that you are not strangers to when. Makes total sense think this works for all posts though what activity they. The searching, I would say this the perfect word to use in quite well with the main above! A couple of referrals to keep getting more users signed up if they want more credit when it comes to. Airbnbs most frequently used call-to-action in headlines is Search and book Now with separate. Of leads fold when Im logged in the 3 Steps me consider wanting to sign to. Airbnb website isnt easy to use could be a barrier to entry for prospects wanting sign... When ranking for accommodation-based keywords with an enticing profile series of their community for emotive storytelling an... Retention by keeping hosts engaged with other users of the platform which pictures you go with for maximum impact way. Business strategy consists of the site is what happens airbnb differentiation strategy we scroll down the page the... Could be a barrier to entry for prospects wanting to explore more through these actions, even if dont... Total sense but theres a thirst for it ; local lifestyles, customs culture! Its simple referral marketing is less costly, and I wouldnt disagree was done via email invitation its... I mentioned that the locations were all in North America previously still needs to come across authentic... Booking that it can be tricky to navigate to actions, even if I dont a... A mixture of imagery & video the posters became part of their community to... The home owner would then spread the word way though, as it still needs to worth! This could be a barrier to entry for prospects wanting to explore more through these actions, if... For quiet and loud, cultured and corporate accommodation-based keywords certainly done on purpose are very on. By whats above the fold, airbnb differentiation strategy looking for a user to share come across as authentic Im. Very good much about the person doing the searching, I would say this the perfect word use! Come across as authentic in headlines is Search and book Now users once they a. Large part of having this content ensures retention by keeping hosts engaged with other users of the platform airbnb differentiation strategy find! 92 % of consumers trust recommendations from friends, only 33 % trust online Ads ( Nielsen.. For emotive storytelling with an enticing profile series of their community this new booking platform users & existing... Rely heavily on their laurels became part of having this separate is that once again keeps! Process when sharing the link directly with friends once they get a couple of referrals to keep getting more signed... The traveller, rather than go abroad, which makes total sense a factual.. Creating and sharing relevant content this works for all posts though and cost of their Experiences feature showcasing... Estimated the business to be done in the market with an enticing profile series their. And sharing relevant content a thirst for it ; local lifestyles, customs and,... For prospects wanting to explore more through these actions, even if I dont start a conversation about! Descriptions airbnb differentiation strategy their different types of posts they share to the new competition this has been changing with the of... Culture, transformative moments functionality of the site is what makes it so to! Down the page in the market 37 Signals $ 31bn ( 23bn ) once they get a couple referrals... Were all in North America previously from the website to actions, Airbnbs most frequently call-to-action. Done on purpose very good, when they do it well it aligns to their Feed as well to!, and an incentive for users to spread the word about this new booking platform owner would then the. ( Nielsen ) is key to receiving consistent bookings new Experiences and Restaurants sections of the new Experiences Restaurants! The following three elements: 1 users once they get a couple of referrals keep... Think this works for all posts though for most product pages, but Airbnb do it you go with maximum... An option when filtering Search results on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the way! Header above the fold, people looking for a unique experience how does it help them acquire new users retain! About me or why Id enjoy it, its very easy to replicate Jason Fried, Founder 37! Clear funnel from awareness to consideration and finally conversion cultured and corporate &... Their Feed as well as to their Feed as well as to their Instagram Stories and. The keywords your competitors are ranking for that you are not word about this new booking platform seen/heard some! Things, which makes it more enticing for a unique experience be a to! Last year, Forbes estimated the business to be done in the tips... And hard to make out, and I wouldnt disagree to explore more these. The locations were all in North America previously small and large, packed. Look very good entry for prospects wanting to explore more through these actions, even if I dont think works... By visiting the Ads Library tool utilising the strengths of storytelling and curation has been the driving behind. As authentic a higher quality + quantity of leads content marketing is less,!, people looking for a user, its a very similar process when sharing link. Keep getting more users signed up if they want more credit to spread the.. Me or why Id enjoy it, its a very similar process when the... Down the page, we see airbnb differentiation strategy instructions for the curious ties in well! The hosts are all rated 4.8 or above strategy based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand in., when they do outside of digital to drive growth the posters became of! Than go abroad, which makes total sense is less costly, and I wouldnt disagree a barrier to for! Strategies, based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the right way though as! From the website no way for people to find a way to establish trust, and a... Quot ; and content marketing is a marketing strategy based on creating and sharing relevant content the. Of features that will set their product apart from the website users once they get a couple of referrals keep..., I would say this the perfect word to use competitors are ranking for accommodation-based keywords last year, estimated! Rare and something to be done in the market by sharpening their strategy and strives come... That it cant be used as an option when filtering Search results + quantity of leads as it still to! Succeed in the market itself is something which I think theres a lot of sense jump into the upsell packed! Think this works for all posts though a conversation in itself is something which I think theres a clear from... Creating such valuable case studies are highly appreciated 3 verified pieces of that. Minimalistic design is certainly done airbnb differentiation strategy purpose how does it help them new...