This 42 slider deck shares 14 ideas for airlines to study, evaluate & adopt as part of their digital marketing plans for 2014. The deck includes case studies to support each idea. The fundamental premise being how can airlines leverage on digital to engage & add value to their customers before, during and after their flight?

1. 14 Best Practices for
Airlines to maximize their
Digital Dollars in 2014

2. Digital Dollars
=
Digital Delight +
Digital Differentiation

3. Key Principle:
How can airlines add value to its
customers before, during & after
the flight, through digital?

4. 1.
Be Accessible,
Visible & Searchable

5. Travel sites are expected
to receive 50% traffic from
mobile devices by 2014 & the
industry has one of the highest
smartphone conversion rate.
Is RBA accessible via
mobile & mobile
ready?

6. Its criminal not to be present when someone is
searching for you. Ensure that your airline’s web
properties are optimized for natural search!

7. Leverage on Google’s Rich Snippets. They deliver
convenience to customers & great value to travel
brands!

8. Optimize your website
for Google Flights!

9. On average, travel purchases see 5-6
media exposures before converting, hence
reach & frequency matter in digital

10. Research indicates that while paid search
alone drives 71% higher AOV, integrating
it with natural search has higher ROI
potential

11. Complement your search ads with Google
Display Banner Ads – they drive higher
conversion for the travel sector!

12. In 2014, get ready to roll out interactive
video ads through YouTube & Facebook!

13. Manual media buying will give way to
Programmatic buying for higher
efficiencies
SouthWest Airlines &
Airtram Airways are
amongst the global Top
10 spenders on
programmatic media
buys!

14. Be accessible via social channels & allow
customers to buy through Facebook &
Twitter

15. 2.
Reach out to your
customers often &
with a purpose

16. Make the most of Google & Facebook
Re-marketing ads to reinforce your brand
& drive conversions

17. 3.
Get real ‘Likes’ –
convert your
customers into fans

18. Can we have an initiative to convert at
least 20% of our regular flyers into fans?
• Through in-flight Wi-Fi
• At your lounges
• While waiting for
delayed flights
• Offering exclusive
promos to Fb fans

19. 4.
Trigger emotions by narrating
you airline’s brand story
through real, transparent,
humorous anecdotes

20. Create content that is real & shareworthy
for it to potentially go viral – Your own
Reality TV Show!

21. 5.
Capitalize on real-time,
contemporary events.

22. Create real-time content by associating
your marketing plans with contemporary
issues, events & memes

23. 6.
Create social currency
through exclusive,
personalized offers

24. Create offers that can only be availed via
Facebook check-ins, tweets or #tags!

25. 7.
Provide social status
through social CRM
based loyalty programs

26. Use social media gamification techniques
to create a social CRM based loyalty
programme.

27. 8.
Social Customer
Service & Care

28. Build a social media command centre to
listen, analyze & respond to customers
real time

29. 9.
Collect, analyse,
optimize & monetize
digital data

30. Embrace yourself for Big Data Analytics
tools like GA Premium & Hadoop to
understand & monetize demand and
purchase preferences
• Optimize air ticket prices
• Optimize online sales
• Cross & up-selling
opportunities
• Weather forecasting
to optimize fuel loads

31. 10.
Innovate by integrating
digital into current
products & services

32. Can we save costs & generate awesome
PR through digital boarding passes?

33. Can we engage our customers through a
interactive, digital copy of our inflight
magazine?

34. 11.
Encourage direct online
bookings through new
age digital payment

35. Can we pioneer a path to allow for direct
online or mobile bookings through
bitcoins or digital wallets?

36. 12.
Involve your customers
by crowdsourcing
ideas & feedback

37. Utilize the “wisdom of the crowds” to
gather & implement inspiring ideas and
involve them in the process!

38. 13.
Do good through
participative digital
CSR initiatives

39. Provide a digital platform that allows your
fans to participate & contribute to a
meaningful cause as part of your CSR

40. 14.
Digitally delight & surprise
your customers

41. Plan out integrated offline-online
campaigns to surprise your customers in
real time & create goodwill

42. Have a safe, fun, exciting &
purposeful digital journey:)