e-Marketing Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Developed for Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Developed by USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II 1

Why is e-Marketing So Important? The way people buy travel is changing dramatically and quickly In 2007, 53% of all travel was booked online. In 2008, 70% was booked online. -JD Power & Assoc., 2008 Businesses want powerful, measurable marketing results... fast E-Marketing is the most effective medium at doing this 2

Global digital marketing spend is growing faster than any other medium 3

What is e-Marketing? E-Marketing applies the same principals as traditional marketing. Good e-Marketing should: - Build destination awareness - Create desire to visit the Aqaba region - Drive sales - Create customer loyalty & Work in harmony with other marketing efforts 4

What's the difference? - It all happens online - Business can target customers much more effectively - Cost per sale is less than traditional media - Rapid time to market - Super-detailed information on your customers 5

Goal Demonstrate how e-Marketing Marketing can convert people with the intent to travel to a region like Aqaba into paying visitors 6

How Can e-Marketing Benefit Aqaba? Just a few examples: Targeting: Only pay to reach people who are likely to visit Aqaba Insight: Get to know your audience like never before Transaction: Huge sales opportunities online for hotels, tour operators, and other tourism business 7

Topics Ad Networks Online Booking 8

Ad Networks What is an Ad Network? Distributes your marketing messages through hundreds (or thousands) of websites to your target audiences based on: Type of website (travel, sport, nature, news, etc.) Demographics (age, gender, income, residence) Consumer behavior (interest in destination, intent to buy) 9

Ad Networks Who uses them? 10

Ad Networks The Biggest Ad Networks Today ……………. 11

Ad Networks Targeted Ad Networks: the Travel Ad Network reaches over 12 Million travelers each month ……………. 12

Efficiency Ad Networks What are the benefits of using ad networks? Target only people who are likely to visit Highly relevant ads to target audience = high conversion Efficiency 13

Ad Networks Ad Networks In Action 14

Ad Networks 15

Ad Networks Super Fast Response Entire campaigns can be turned on and off ...Campaigns can be changed ...Markets can be activated/deactivated ...With the click of a button 16

Ad Networks The Bottom Line Super-higher efficiency of ad spend: More Sales for Less Money Insight that drives and informs the marketing plan through real-time Intelligence: Continuous Improvement ……………. 17

Online Booking Free to Set Up There is no upfront cost to work with any of the major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). 18

Online Booking Cost Big OTAs often charge big commissions- Expedia and Travelocity charge as much as 25%. But many smaller OTAs charge only 10-15%. This is what independent hotels should negotiate for. 19

Online Booking Dynamic Packaging Worried about exposing your prices to competitors? Use 'dynamic packaging' Automatically bundles your price with air (or more) They do all the work, you just take the normal booking Your price is hidden These 'packages' are one of the best selling items 20

Online Booking Every hotel in the region should be selling online E-pay is 'live' in Jordan, so all can participate OTAs manage credit card transactions for the hotel Some niche OTAs specialize in small, independent hotels USAID is developing a new program especially for small hotels to help sell online 21

Online Booking The Bottom Line: If all hotels are bookable online, much more travelers will visit the region, benefiting everyone 22

Thank You 23