The first matter business owners, managers, and organization leaders should understand that five generations are sharing at the time.
Later, analyze and clarify what the organization is doing to fit all of them. But most crucial, what is your business doing for the next bigger market that is around the corner? I am talking about generation Alpha.
Every generation is shaped by a different socio-cultural environment and life experience. Continue reading and learn a bit about the future.
Baby Bommers
1946 – 1964. They are travelers who love face-to-face trade. They feel more confident and safe when their booking vacations are advised by one travel agent. Nevertheless, they usually are influenced by next-generation X and Y. We have to take a look back and see all the large Baby Boomers families, most of them with three or more children.
In other words, to continue being successful in this segment, strategies should match both generations X and Y.
X Generation
Culturally influenced by television and video music. This traveler is more digital than their parents but still inspired by the traditional media, such as TV, magazines, newspapers. A very interesting market by their acquisitive power. In their early years, they work hard to face the crisis at the moment. They were the first in contact with digital tools in the workplace. Thus they were very creative and autonomous. Many of them founded their own company.
Even so, this generation required presential support for taking vacation decisions. And as well as the Baby Boomers, they are influenced by youngers and peers.
This generation was born between 1965 and 1980.
Generation Y
It had been the most talked-about cohort in the last few years. Widely known as Millennials. They should be at the focus of all travel marketing strategies. Thus, here is where most of the travel industry companies are facing difficulties.
They must use high-tech to attend to the demand of this cohort. As the first generation associated with the use of social media, a different game started. But all travel companies should pay attention to social and economic status and their variations on the use of their media following different behaviors.
Here is also where big data and AI (Artificial Intelligence) play a key role. Assigned from 1981 to 1996 this generation is the last one who enjoys traditions of older generations. There is a lot to talk about these peers.
Take note of these keywords to enhance your leads, conversions, and finally, your revenue: Cloud services, booking software, dynamic rates, omnichannel digital strategies, B2B software tools, big data, AI, CRM, Agile culture, A/B tests, the most important, desitions must be driven by data analysis.
Z Digital Natives
If you continue processing about the Millennials as your company’s future, you are late. The future is here and is called Generation Z, the Digital Natives.
Many of Generation Z witnessed the financial struggles of their parents and older siblings, and therefore are more financially conscious than generation Y.
The travel industry should be an innovator to reach this generation. This implies that in the coming years we will see a radical change in the way of traveling, sales will be driven by tech practically at 100%. All tech mentioned will be not enough and new tools will show up. Are ready to move there? To talk about AR Augmented Reality and VR Virtual Reality?
Just take that in mind if you see your company operating with these tools in the coming years.
Alpha Generation
More educated, more tech influenced, with better economic behaviors. This generation scares.
Kids from 2010 to 2025 they learning style is more hands-on and experimental. They use tech from the first year and some of them have their own Youtube channel only with months of life. Parents are doing a great job educating them with last tech tools and devices. Thus, this represents a challenge to the travel industry. Probably the Alpha Generation will call Alexa as their travel agent. Are you using Alexa Marketing Tools to your actual customers?
Conclusion
There is a path to discover to keep the business rolling. Every company is different and there are millions of travelers with different needs and behaviors. The key consists in keep working, keep focused, and get involved with the industry trends. But also, the success of the travel companies is based on their analysis, interpretations, and conclusions.
Departing from the fact that we are using a good Booking Engine Software, that allows us to connect with several channels and works perfectly on our website, but also we want to take it forward. Here some fundamentals.
Keys to generate leads and conversions skipping the commission line.
To stand out from the Booking Engine of your property you must improve completely the Organic Search Optimization (SEO) of your website taking in mind the most popular Search Engine platforms such as Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo…
The proper content will help in this task, but where to find good content, or what we should talk about. These questions are today a good challenge for most digital marketers. Here 10 tips to evaluate when you are planning a Content Marketing Strategy to optimize your website and generate leads and take the best of your booking engine software.
Think first about your audience
Segment your audience and post according to content
Adapt your content to your Buyer Persona
Analyze what your client is looking for and what they are expecting to hear from you
Set a goal for the content you are creating
Analyze your most suitable mean: Videos, pictures, webinars
Include relevant data analysis using tags such as: Do you know that…
Of course, using the 80/20 rule standards to promote your property
Apply A/B Test to understand better your client UX and UI
Do all the above using relevant Keywords and KPIs.
Many companies look for doing this job on your behalf, my advice to make a decision, evaluate their knowledge in your sector, industry, and market. It is not the same to sell experiences as tangible products. Do not employ a retails store SEO manager.
Be in touch with the person in charge of your property, not with his/her boss. Ensure this person meets your property, your services, your employees, your company culture, vision, mission, your client, and always be reported with an ROI statement.
I am reading an interesting book about Business Management, and I found out a chapter which took my full attention, and I decided to share some words of it with you, especially if you are a business manager. Analyze it, and enjoy it!
There are two common ways of knowing.
1. Authority.
We believe something is true because an authority says it is. We look to an encyclopedia, TV, newspapers, and to prominent people or experts. Our appeal to authority for answers begins in childhood when we look to our parents for the truth.
2. Agreement.
We can ask several people and if they all come up with the same answer, we usually feel comfortable that we know something. We can look to different sources that all agree such as written and verbal reports.
3. Personal Experience.
We do things that work for us. If they work consistently, we think we know how they work.
4. Science
Einstein said, “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” While that sounds pretty simple, the catch is in the word refinement. The refinements involve the precise specification of the problem investigated, experimentation analysis, and replication of the results. Scientific knowing leads to more effective explanations and to the simplest explanation that allows for effective action.
The first three ways of knowing – authority, agreement, and personal experience – fall into what we call Common Sense ways of knowing. They are all subject to considerable error. Authorities have often proven to be wrong. The authorities knew that Galileo was wrong when he proposed a heliocentric theory of the universe. The authorities were sure for centuries that the universe was geocentric. Rioting mobs are often wrong. Although there is usually 100 per cent agreement among the group members at the time.
As much as we might hate to admit it, our experience often teaches us things that are wrong. Although scientific knowing is superior to common sense knowing, most of us use common sense as the basis for most of our knowledge. A look at the following chart will tell you why.
Chart design created by Deyvis Brenes
As you can see from the chart, common-sense solutions only require living. Scientific understanding requires systematic effort. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Experience is a dear school and fools will learn in no other”.
It would be great if experience always taught us the right things, but many people today agree with George Bernard Shaw wrote many years ago:
“Modern science has taught us that nothing that is obvious is true.”
This was a fragment of chapter three of the book of Aubrey C. Daniels & James E. Daniels
Performance Management Changing Behavior That Drives Organizational Effectiveness Fourth Edition.
