Airbnb Marketing Strategy | What Worked & What Mistakes To Avoid!
We all love traveling and staying in Airbnbs, but what are they doing in their marketing that makes them such a successful business? Today we're going to go over Airbnb's marketing strategies, how they measure their success, and then stay for the end because we're also going to talk about what they're doing wrong and how you can avoid this.
My name is Megan and I help business owners go from confused to confident on social media. I help you build a loyal community, get quality clients, and become a more profitable business.
Airbnb's marketing strategy revolves around three primary objectives. The first one pretty obvious is acquiring new users. Airbnb wants to reach as many potential travelers as they can and have them using their app. Number two is retaining existing users. Once a traveler has Airbnb, they want them coming back again and again. They do this by providing a great user experience, maybe some discounts, and building a strong community of users. And number three growing their business. They want to do this by reaching into new markets and increasing the number of actual listings available to the public. To do this they invest in marketing and growth initiatives. And they actually measure their success in a bunch of different ways. They're primarily looking at the number of users, the number of bookings they get, the average booking value, and the return on investment or ROI. And Airbnb actually achieves these marketing goals in three main ways as well. Number one is online advertising. They use search engine marketing and display advertising with these ads being targeted to specific users based on their location, their habits, and their interests. Number two is they utilize social media. Airbnb has a really strong presence with 16.4 million followers on Facebook and 5.6 million followers on Instagram. They use their social media to share travel inspiration, promote their listings, and connect with users. And lastly word of mouth. Airbnb encourages users to share their experiences with their friends and family. It does this by offering referral bonuses and making it easy for their users to share their listings on social media.
However, despite Airbnb's significant success it's important to note that the company is not immune to complaints and criticism. The main complaints have been about the widespread increase in prices, the discrepancy between what each property looks like on the website versus when they're really there, the host demands and hidden cameras found, and regulatory issues within communities. And even through all these challenges, Airbnb has grown financially with record bookings and profits. However, I think there's a lot you as a business owner can learn from these complaints towards Airbnb. Number one is prioritizing customer satisfaction. Airbnb success was built on a positive customer experience so the fact that they're getting so many complaints is really going to negatively affect them. You as a business owner should learn from this and make sure you address complaints quickly, trying to be as transparent as you can, and then also make sure you're showing the quality of the goods and services that you're providing. Number two is being able to adapt to the situations around you. The business landscape, no matter what industry you're in, is always changing. So you have to make sure you can adapt to market conditions and customer preferences. And lastly, make sure you engage in proactive communication. Open and transparent communication is going to be key when addressing these customer and client concerns. Make sure you are telling them about the changes you're making, about addressing feedback, and resolving issues that come up. Having this open communication is going to be essential for a positive customer experience and client loyalty. Overall Airbnb's marketing strategy has been very successful. They grew from a really small startup to a global company with over 7 million listings in over 190 countries.
So while you as a business owner need to pay attention to your innovative marketing strategies, also make sure you're paying attention to what your customer and client needs the most from you and that is that really high communication with your customers and clients. If you as a business owner are looking to create more content but you run out of ideas really easily, then make sure you download my Free 40 Content Ideas!
