A new measure of brand health for travel brands

If there’s one thing people don’t want to compromise on, it’s holidays. Free time is limited, and hard-earned money is precious. Picking the perfect holiday is a process that’s filled with emotion. Whether you’re crying out for a sun-filled week away from work, celebrating a special occasion with a loved one, or fulfilling a dream adventure, travellers place great value on their holiday experience.

For travel brands, the ultimate goal is to become the first choice for holidaymakers. But to grow, you need to understand the diverse emotions and needs that drive customers to choose one provider over another.

Measuring your brand’s health isn’t just about brand awareness. Growing your brand relies on showing up in a customer’s mind at the right time, in the right contexts, for the right reasons. This is where Category Entry Points (CEPs) come into play.

Brand building is a game of two halves

When it comes to measuring brand health, traditional brand trackers focus too much on the brand itself (ironically). They ask what comes to mind when people think of your brand, rather than asking when your brand comes to mind in the first place. Understanding ‘what’ is just one half of the equation, the other half is ‘when’.

To improve your brand health, you need to have both mental availability and physical availability in your arsenal. Mental availability is about coming to mind readily in buying situations, and physical availability is about actually being easy to buy. But it’s important to note that mental availability is not the same as brand awareness.

Simply knowing a brand exists in the market isn’t enough to win mindshare. Building true mental availability relies on getting more people to associate your brand with more usage contexts and needs, also known as Category Entry Points. Brands need as many CEPs as possible to grow or dominate one or two single-mindedly.

Understanding the needs of holidaymakers

The amount of category entry points in the travel industry is extensive. What customers want from a holiday completely depends on their life stage, income, travel preferences, and personal circumstances — this makes it essential for brands to pinpoint the specific CEPs they want to target.

For example, a customer travelling to Europe on a work trip might opt for a budget hotel for their stay. Meanwhile, that same person on their summer family holiday might want to splash out on adventure and relaxation.

This shift in how people think about and book holidays has led many travel providers to reconsider their approach. Where they once focused on destination or length of stay, brands now target customers based on the type of holiday they’re booking. These buying modes can include:

• Relaxing beach holiday
• Action-packed family holidays
• European city breaks
• Luxury and indulgent escapes
• Budget-friendly trip
• Wellness and spa retreats
• Winter ski and snowboarding holiday
• Romantic couples holiday

Some brands might choose to cater to all these holiday types, while others choose to specialise in one or two areas. TUI, easyJet and Jet2holidays could be seen as all-round package holiday experts. Companies like Inghams specialise in winter, ski and snowboarding breaks exclusively, while the likes of Kuoni and Trailfinders are the go-to operators for global, bucket list experiences.

How to choose and dominate CEPs

The travel industry is a saturated market, and it’s difficult to be the travel operator of choice for every customer need. Recognising these distinct buying modes can help you understand in which situations and needs customers think of a brand. From there, you can identify which of these usage contexts align with your brand’s strengths and offering. 

You should also assess which Category Entry Points are going to be achievable to dominate. This requires understanding the size of the CEP and how competitively saturated it is. You can then determine your credibility and capability to compete for the CEP given your product offering and brand ambitions.

Win more of the mind, and the market

To grow both mind and market share, travel brands must continuously monitor changing needs and buying behaviours of holidaymakers. Understanding which Category Entry Points to specialise in allows you to stay relevant and increase your growth. By aligning your brand strategy with the needs of today’s travellers, you can strengthen your brand’s mental availability and grow your presence in the travel industry.

If you want to inform your existing brand tracking strategy with greater insight that better targets your customers, get in touch over at hello@trinitymcqueen.com.