Backwards Math – Engaging People When it Matters

Marketing for the travel and entertainment industry is tricky. Marketers in some industries, like health and pharma, often try to reach a very niche target audience, but marketers for travel and entertainment brands often face the opposite problem. If you were to ask anybody if they enjoy traveling or some type of entertainment the answer would undoubtedly be, “Yes! Of course!” So, how do T&E marketers find the right people in this large group, and engage those people at the right time?

One thing we know is that each person’s daily routine, preferences, family dynamic, social calendar, etc., is unique to them, but when we start to break it down, we can understand similar patterns and the various roles we play within each circumstance of our lives. That understanding helps marketers get their message to the right people at the right time.

Think of your friend group or your immediate family. Is there one person you all look to when planning a trip? I bet there is, and I bet this person books the accommodations, researches dinner spots, provides the trip itinerary, etc. Let’s call this person “the planner,” and he or she is truly the VIP when it comes to making a trip come to reality. So, how do T&E marketers reach the planner?

Speaking from experience, I am the planner in my family. My days are full of micro-decisions that generally lead to a larger goal. I work best in this planning role when I have this end goal in mind. For instance, I need to be at work at 8 a.m., and with two small children that is easier said than done, so every night when I set my alarm for the next day, I start the planning process and perform backward math.

What is backward math? Think of the end goal, which in this case is getting to work by 8 a.m. What are the many tasks that need to be done for me to achieve that goal? I try to understand those and then work in reverse to plan – I must be at work at 8 a.m., so I need to drop the kids off at daycare by 7:45 a.m., which means we need to leave our house at 7:30 a.m., so then I need to have them ready by 7:25 a.m., which means I need to get them up, ready, and eating breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Knowing this leads me to the final decision of setting my alarm for 5:00 a.m. to get myself prepped and ready for the day. 

Let’s apply that example to the planner’s mindset when booking travel. The same process occurs in her mind, but the tasks and timelines are different. For example, let’s say the planner wants to book a summer trip to Lake Tahoe for the family – great, sounds exciting – but what is the planner looking to do and in what order is she looking to do it?

First, she might be planning around her kids’ school schedule, which will cause her to narrow her window of travel dates. Therefore, she is most likely looking to book lodging arrangements several months out. After that, she will be looking into plans for transportation. What’s next? Probably booking entertainment options. After all of that is complete, she’ll address the micro details. Plan boating and swimming while visiting Lake Tahoe – yes, please! – great, then she’ll have to ensure everyone has swimwear. Time to do more backward math to ensure she gets swimwear on time so that it can arrive to be packed before the family heads out. The list goes on and on, but one thing is certain, the planner knows how to get things done, and that’s who T&E marketers need to engage.

Travel and entertainment marketers need help identifying the planner. Acxiom’s third-party data is people-based and allows marketers to identify basic demographic information about prospects. These insights reveal who the true planners are within a household or circumstance, and what those decision-makers choose to do with their money and time. We offer deterministic and probabilistic audience segments to T&E marketers so they can focus on people who respond to advertising messages, people who are in the market to travel to selected destinations, and then further refine this group based on such things as the audience’s affinity for various entertainment options while traveling. Perhaps they have a preference for amusement parks over museums.  Maybe they usually book their travel via an app or through a website. Leveraging these specific audiences correctly allows T&E marketers to find those travel planners who are doing the backward math and provide them with an offer or message that resonates.

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