Why events help you to understand the consumer

Running events is a key marketing tool for travel accommodation site AsiaRooms. These help the company understand its consumers’ propensity for travel, Clarence Lin, head of marketing, APAC for AsiaRooms tells Marketing Events. The company is looking to invest more in events the next year, he added.Lin explains how this works for AsiaRooms. For example, he said that the best time for the brand to hold an event is before the peak travel period from May to June, so that AsiaRooms can better plan discounts and promotions for its consumers, creating more affinity between the brand and its consumers. Also, planning for an event at the right time ensures more sales as the brand can then tie in its events together with the travel season.Also, its events allow the site to reach out to consumers offline to better understand their travel needs. (It targets frequent travelers aged 18-45, from young couples to families.) Besides consumers, the brand is also actively targeting the B2B sector.For its events, the choice of what Lin calls “uncommon venues” makes a difference as well.In Singapore, the brand organised a pop-up hotel (pictured) that saw the brand setting up a mobile hotel in the middle of the central business district. It also created a “Love Train” campaign where the brand staged two live proposals in an AsiaRooms branded train. For both events, the aim was to connect Singaporeans with the romance of travel with their loved ones. AsiaRooms also ensured that it gave out special deals to customers who were present. To tie in with the concept of romance of travel, the brand sponsored the two couples’ holidays as well.The brand witnessed a 100% increase in site visit as well as a 20% increase in sales figures following the events. The events were reported on local news and TV while the PR and media value was around SGD$200,000-$300,000.In Jakarta, Indonesia, the brand also organised a competition looking for ambassadors to host AsiaRoom’s second season of its programme on YouTube late last year. Called “Indonesia’s Next Social Travel Stars”, the event helped the brand to break into the Indonesian market. The winners for the event had their trips sponsored as well.Through these events, the brand is now the one of the top three online travel accommodation sites in Southeast Asia, said Lin. Social media such as Facebook helped the brand to engage better with its consumers. AsiaRooms has over 160,000 fans, according to analytics site SocialBakers.