Airbnb uses marketing as an education tool

Airbnb, the online platform for vacation rentals, is using marketing as a tool to “educate people” about new features and opportunities rather than as a means for “buying customers”.

Why it matters

Competition in the travel industry is intensifying as the COVID-19 recovery gains pace, with peer-to-peer operators like Airbnb and Vrbo competing with established hotel chains. Innovation can help these digital-first players stand out, but it requires marketing support in order to boost familiarity and comfort levels among consumers.

Takeaways

• Airbnb adopts what it describes as a “full-funnel approach to marketing” that blends PR, brand building and performance marketing.
• Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, said on an earnings call with investors that the brand was “not really focused on buying customers” with its communications.
• “We’re focused primarily in investing in our brand and educating the world about what makes Airbnb unique. So we think of marketing primarily as education,” he continued.
• For the brand, innovation is seen as the core driver of growth, and “advertising is really a form of supplemental education” about the new services and solutions it provides.

Proof points

• In support of Airbnb’s model, Chesky reported that 90% of its traffic comes from direct or unpaid sources.
• He also suggested that the brand – like Google’s search engine – has effectively become a common term for an activity, rather than a simple brand name.
• “Airbnb is a noun or verb used all over the world, and it was really not advertising, but PR and word-of-mouth that built our brand,” he said.
• Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic over a million articles have been written about Airbnb.
• “Fifty-five percent of articles that used to have the word travel in it also have the word Airbnb in it,” he added.

Sourced from AlphaStreet