What We Can Learn From Airbnb's Marketing Shift [Big Brand Breakdown]

I'm Kinsey Machos, your host and founder of the category Queen. Welcome to the podcast for coaches, consultants, and course creators who don't just want to dominate their niche, but they desire to play in their own league. My mission is to help you unlock the power of your unique brilliance and use it as a vehicle to gain recognition, reach more people, and make more money. Not too long ago, I took a bold leap, leaving behind a six figure corporate salary with nothing more than a used MacBook and a burning desire for more freedom. Today, our brand has become globally recognized, helping thousands of female founders to become industry leading experts. Join us each week as we go on a journey together to discuss mindset, marketing and money, and more importantly, the real life discussions about balancing success with motherhood and marriage.

Because we're a community of women who build and scale impact driven businesses, but do it without sacrificing the things that matter most to us. Welcome to the category queen show. Welcome back to the show, my fellow category queens. It's so good to be here with you. Today I am introducing a brand new segment on the show and this is going to be a little bit of an experiment, but also just something that I've been sitting on for a very long time. I've been wanting to bring this forward, but for whatever reason, just hadn't made the effort to do so. But I just can't help but ignore this. This is how my brain works. And I know that this is exactly something that is different than you're used to, probably hearing or seeing from other leaders in the marketing space.

And also I want to teach you how to think about your marketing. And the best way to do this is to look at the best marketers in the world. And so through this big brand breakdown segment, we're going to take one particular brand and or campaign and we're going to dissect it. I'm going to help you understand why it's working, what's working about it, really, what to consider for yourself and how to apply it in your own business. I think it's really easy to get caught in the trap of not seeing either lessons learned or insights from bigger brands because it feels like too big of a gap. Right?

It's like I can't learn anything from, you know, billion dollar companies because I'm only here and so I need to stay in my lane or I should only be, you know, applying would apply or only be implementing what applies to me. But what I want to do is really bridge that gap because I think that you are going to stay at the cutting edge. You're going to be able to stand out online if only. If only you actually know what's working. And how do we know what's working? Well, we look at our most successful companies and brands and what they're doing. And so this is going to help you really think differently about your marketing and start to open you up to even noticing things that you didn't notice before. I know that naturally this is where my brain goes.

Anytime I see a commercial or a billboard or when somebody gives a presentation or a book title or a headline, like, my mind already goes to the dissection of that, really growing curious to what's working about this, what's not working about this, and really starting to study it. But I realize that most people aren't designed that way. But I think as a business owner, learning how to think this way can really serve you. And so there's so many things within this segment as I roll out different brand breakdowns that you will be able to really sink into. Right. It's not just telling you what to do, but it's teaching you how to think and then also taking these big brand campaigns and breaking them down into a way that you can actually apply what's working for them in your own business.

So I'm going to walk you through that process and it's going to be so amazing. Now, if this is totally going to flop, then that's cool, I'll take it away. But I think that it's actually going to be really cool. And I think that it could become really a fan favorite. So let's start with our first big brand breakdown for today. And today I want to unpack Airbnbs marketing strategy. So this came to me when I first caught my eye on a commercial that came on the television probably six to nine months ago. Now, mind you, we don't watch a ton of tv, but when we do, we're typically streaming and so we don't see a ton of commercials. However, when we do, there's no doubt that there's some really amazing ones.

And people are getting more and more creative with their marketing, which I totally love. And so much so that when you have kids around and you see them either laughing at the commercial or totally zoned into the commercial or even repeating things from the commercial long after the commercial is over, you know that there's something great in that advertising. And so I'm always paying attention even through the lens of, like, what my kids are keen into. But there was this idea that, or there was this commercial that came on for Airbnb and I was totally, I don't know why, but it really caught my attention. And I wasn't sure if this was Airbnb's typically, like their typical marketing approach or if I just hadn't, you know, been used to seeing this type of commercial.

And so I started to actually do some research around this to see what their strategy has been and what it is now. And I found some really amazing information that I want to share with you today. I'm also going to give you some examples of their particular commercials and how you can literally take this and apply these very specific tactics in your own marketing and your own content to get a greater ROI. So let's start to unpack this. First of all, let's start off by just some basic information about Airbnb. So first of all, their tagline is belong anywhere. Now, I actually didn't know this, but I think it's something that is really obviously foundational and it is really the center point of their entire marketing strategy.

And so you'll notice as we start to unpack some of their specific commercials and their marketing angles, how all roads lead to that particular tagline in of values that it represents. There was three gentlemen that co founded Airbnb in 2008, Brian, Joe and Nathan. And Brian Chesky is actually the current CEO of Airbnb right now. Now, another fun fact. For the fiscal year of 2023, Airbnb reported annual revenue of approximately $9.9 billion. Okay, billion with a b. They actually noted that this was significant growth from previous years. And I wouldn't doubt that was due to some of the new marketing efforts that they put in place. So the other component to understanding why marketing works and what these category kings or category queens are really leveraging in their messaging, in their content, in their angles, is to understand who the message is.

For now, most people, even bigger companies, you know, I get approached by big companies all the time to build out their marketing strategy and I go to their websites or their marketing materials, and 90% of them are really good at talking about themselves, but are not so great at making that message resonate with their audience. And so we always want to first address, like, who the target audience is so that all marketing and messaging is geared towards that. And so for Airbnb, obviously, you know, their target audience are people that are traveling but are also looking for particular accommodations that feel more like home. Okay? So when we look at Airbnb and where they sit in the industry, obviously, they're in sort of this travel hospitality market, and some of their bigger competitors are going to be like hotel chains and or resorts.

You might consider Vrbo a competitor, but when we start to look at their particular marketing efforts, you're going to find that they actually are not trying to compete against Vrbo or like Airbnb type companies. They're competing against more of these larger scale type of options that are completely in contrast to what Airbnb can offer. Okay, so we'll circle back to that, but I just want to point that out as sort of just a basic understanding of Airbnb, where they sit in the market, who they're competing against and who their target audience is. Now, I don't know what their profit margins are, but a $9.9 billion company, I would say they're pretty successful. The last thing I want to do is study marketing efforts that are not leading towards results.

But based on some of the extra data that I looked into, there's no doubt that especially the marketing that they have rolled out over the last year or two is 100% providing a really large ROI. Now, the other really cool thing that I want to point out here is they were founded in 2008, so that means in as little as, I don't know, 15 years ish, if I'm doing my math correctly, they built a billion dollar company. Now, this is like, I want to put a pin in that, because if you're somebody who wants instant results or you've been in this for five years in, or even ten years in, and you're just, you're not really sure if this is all worth it, I think that we always have to play the game for the long haul.

And it goes back to that saying, like, you overestimate what you can do in a year, but underestimate what you can do in ten. And I think that Airbnb is a perfect representation of that. Now, are you shooting for a billion dollar business? Maybe, maybe not. But I think that whatever your big goals are, know that time will tell, and just making sure that you're staying focused on, really, that those long haul targets. Okay, so let's get into this. Now. One of the things that I want to note is kind of the before and after, because this is a part of this whole breakdown, because they have really shifted their marketing strategy. And this is what I started to get curious around because I had never seen a commercial or a marketing asset like this from Airbnb.

And so when I started to look into this what I learned was Airbnb was traditionally, or used to, was used to using performance based marketing. Okay, so this was prior to COVID. And when it comes to performance based marketing, what this is actually doing is it's more action oriented. So instead of focusing on like brand awareness or reach, it's really like specific actions that lead directly to that ROI. So this can be for them. It would be like making a purchase, filling out a form, signing up a newsletter, or clicking a link. It's almost like the outcome based marketing. It's like, is our quote unquote, marketing good if people are booking their stays through Airbnb? So action oriented falls underneath that.

Performance based marketing is like they're looking at just the data or even the results of these particular elements that are directly correlated with people booking their stays at Airbnb. You might also look at things like, you know, cost per click, cost per acquisition. They're looking maybe even at SEO metrics. So it's very outcome focused. And this was not working for them. Now, obviously with COVID that was a huge impact on the travel industry. But even before COVID happened, they were not seeing a huge ROI on their marketing efforts. So I think that really the diminishing returns on their marketing paired with COVID really forced Airbnb to look at their marketing strategy. And so I found through marketing week that the company actually paused a lot of its marketing spend in early 2020 to cut the cost during the downturn.

And then as the market started to recover, they focused their efforts on building brand trust and loyalty rather than merely pushing for immediate bookings. They also started to consider this idea that given the new landscape they wanted to promote for longer stays and also remote, work friendly accommodations. Okay, so they're taking consideration of like, how the economy has shifted, even how people travel and what they're looking for when they're travel, but also starting to think about how do we get more out of the people that are traveling from us. So as they shift from this performance based marketing to more of a brand centric approach, this is when things really started to shift for them. But let's talk about that. What is a more brand centric approach?

This really is about starting to build that brand recognition and loyalty, but also starting to educate their potential customers about the new services and offerings that Airbnb can offer. When it comes to that brand centric approach, we're starting to think about how do we create that loyalty with our audience, how do we actually connect with them, how do we build that trust and how do we start to amplify how people perceive us? Right? And also how they're starting to really engage with us. And so part of this is, again, that deeper emotional connection. And when we start to do this is when things start to really happen. Because if you think about the industry at large, whether your Airbnb or a six figure coaching business, you have to really understand that consumers at large are very distracted.

Their attention span is shorter, and they are being sold to a million times a day. Whether it's a click of a button, whether it's an ad on Facebook, whether it's just a simple social media post, their attention pulled in so many different directions. And also because of how lucrative the online space is and how everybody's selling online, right? They're always getting told to buy this or buy that. And so with Airbnb, what they're really starting to understand is how do we start to adjust? Instead of thinking about just pushing two bookings, what would it look like to really, like, position ourselves in sort of this competitive market? How do we differentiate ourselves in this competitive market while starting to really enhance how people perceive us? And this was largely in part to really knowing at the heartbeat level who their people are.

So what does this actually look like? And how can we start to study their actual campaign so that we can implement some of these learnings in our own marketing? Well, first of all, I want to share some commercials that they're leveraging to further build this brand loyalty with their audience. And starting with the commercial that first caught my eye and sort of, you know, set me on this rabbit hole of really researching Airbnb. And it was this commercial around a family. It was actually a husband and wife. They were traveling with a baby, and they're in this beautiful backdrop of Paris. And they basically say that when it's your kid's bedtime, that also means it's your bedtime if you're traveling in a hotel or if you're staying in a hotel when you're traveling.

And it's so funny because that might not, again, it might not sound so profound to you, but here I want to, like, unpack it a little bit and sort of my reaction to that, because if you have kids, you know what that's like. And if you ever have had to crunch into a hotel room, whether it's with one kid or three kids, which I don't recommend, you'll know that you really are sort of your obligation. Your schedule is going to be 100% around your kid's schedule. It's like when lights are out for them if they go to bed at eight. Right? That means that lights are out for you as well. And it's so funny because I had never actually articulated that, but Airbnb in that commercial said it so much better than I had ever thought about it.

And 100% anchored in that really annoying feeling and that inconvenience of traveling with kids and particular not annoyance of traveling with kids, but staying in hotels with your kids. And I, again, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so brilliant. And one of the things that I want to note here is that I always say to my clients, know your potential clients better than they know themselves. And again, this was a case where I knew, I really knew what that inconvenience felt like. I felt it before. I've done it before. But for them to kind of showcase it in a way in this really simple but profound way, it was, like, mind blowing to me. And I don't think I'll ever, ever stay in a hotel again with my kids, or younger kids, if you will. Right.

And so that was sort of, again, that was the commercial that set the tone for me because I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so brilliant. But then when I started to unpack this, they actually have several other commercials just like this, but catered to a slightly different person. So, for instance, they have a commercial that is basically like, get an Airbnb that's quote unquote friendly for everyone. And it's a gentleman with a dog. And it's saying, like, just because they say they're pet friendly doesn't actually mean they're friendly for your pets. And so, and it's a video of this guy, like, walking his dog down the hotel hallway, going into an elevator and, you know, with a leash, going down the elevator and, you know, having to go up and down every time his dog needs to go to the bathroom.

And so if you've ever traveled with pets, this is likely something that resonates with you. You know, a hotel accommodation or, you know, even if they say they're pet friendly, it's not actually that convenient. And so this time, it's not catered to travelers with kids. It's catered to travelers with pets. And then lastly, there was this other commercial that is kind of this theme around strangers aren't strange. And this really hits on this idea or this misconception that it's kind of weird to stay in other people's houses. And I think that they do a good job here, really hitting on what people might be feeling or what would be preventing them from staying in an Airbnb.

But this ad does such a good job of showing people that even though we're all different, we're all quite similar in the end, because the ad is like these big shaggy guests, they kind of remind me of that book where the wild things are. I don't know why it brings my attention there. Maybe it is kind of supposed to be part of that book, but anyway, there's these big shaggy monster looking things, super strange, right? But it shows them doing everyday things like that we all do on vacation. And so it just kind of normalizes this idea of staying in other people's homes but feeling comfortable. So all these three examples are hitting a slightly different type of avatar within their overall target audience, but falls under an overarching theme, which I'm going to circle back to here in a minute.

So given sort of these three different examples of ads that they're running right now. Ads, commercials, there's actually more and they speak to different types of scenarios. And again, they're brilliant. I would encourage you to go take a look at them. But let's now transition into what does this mean for you? What can we learn from this shift in marketing that has significantly impacted the top line revenue for Airbnb and how it's really drastically creating this long term brand loyalty and trust? What do we take from all of this and actually implement for ourselves? And I have a couple things that I want to unpack.

First of all, I think just starting with what we really kicked off with first, which was shifting from outcome focused content to long term connection and trust, I think it's really easy to get caught into the trap of posting content or sharing content and expecting an immediate result around it. Now, it's nice when that happens, right? It's nice when you can post one piece of content and it immediately gets some sort of response or generates a sell right away. But the truth is that is not really the result you want to be seeking. And if you are, you will constantly be feeling frustrated and you will burn out 100%. And so we need to get out of this, like, outcome focused content marketing to building that long term connection and trust through our content.

So this may mean that if you don't get results right away from your content, you're just going to continue to show up, stay consistent, and start to really speak to your audience's needs and aspirations. And when you do this and you're focused on that idea of, like, not every piece of content is going to make you millions. And not every piece of content needs to generate a result for you. You won't feel as frustrated. And I think that this is also going to really lift the pressure off of writing in general because you do want to still really optimize for creativity and flow and fun because the energy behind your content matters.

And if you're just sitting down like, I have to get a content or I have to get a client today, and you're writing a piece of content from that place of what you need, I guarantee it's not going to bring you the results you want. So you have to optimize for long term client journeys and know that people are always watching you. And so even if you aren't seeing your engagement increase or people aren't liking it or people aren't commenting on it, that should not be an indicator for you to stop or pause now. Secondly, what I love about Airbnb is they are really leaning into storytelling. So if you think about those three different scenarios that I spoke to or the three different ads with these three different scenarios, it was all a story. And stories sell.

So if they were to do ads on like, these are the facts around Airbnb or, you know, highlighting particular features of Airbnbs, that's not going to hit the mark. These stories around, you know, going to bed at 09:00 when you want to stay up with your husband or traveling with your pet and having to go up and down the escalator or elevator or, you know, entering a strange home and not feeling relaxed, you know, these stories deeply connect with the hearts and minds of their audience. And they know this, they only know this because they know their people. And so to be able to effectively tell stories, you have to also know your client or your potential customer. Okay?

And it's always going to go back to this, because I even alluded it to earlier, is like, you cannot build an effective marketing campaign without knowing the hearts and minds of your clients and customers. I call this the heartbeat of your dream client. You have to know them better than they know themselves. And bonus points, if you can articulate the things that they want or the problems they have or the challenges they have better than they can, that's where we've really hit the sweet spot. The other really cool thing about these three different ads for Airbnb is what it really demonstrates for you is possibilities. Because I think that it's really hard for people to, quote unquote, niche down because they get so stuck on this idea of, like, one person with one problem and one solution.

And while I will 100% say that you need to, quote unquote, niche down, what I stand behind is that niching down isn't necessarily what you think it is. And what Airbnb does so well in these circumstances or in these ads is that it speaks to different scenarios. It's like there's layers of different avatars, right? They have the one commercial that's for travelers with kids, and they speak specifically to that particular pain point. Then they speak to a specific pain point related to people who are traveling with pets, and they speak to a specific misconception or feeling around people that are traveling and have kind of this hesitation around stepping into somebody else's home. And so these are three different scenarios and three different angles that people or that Airbnb is really approaching, but it's all underneath this overarching theme.

And what is that overarching theme? Well, if we go back to their tagline, first of all, the tagline is belong anywhere. Okay? So theme here is belonging anywhere. But if we go a little bit deeper, they are really big on making sure that travelers are able to find a place that feels like home on their platform. And so there's this overarching theme, but they go deep and specific in these different scenarios while they're also talking to different types of avatars. And so if you are somebody who has a hard time niching down, I bet it's because of this, because you're thinking about niching down all the wrong ways. You can speak to one type of pain, point to a particular avatar in one piece of content, and then shift that angle to something different. But it still needs to have this overarching theme.

What is the mission, what is the purpose of what you do, but also really thinking about the values behind it and these sort of benefits within. So if you look at the benefits of Airbnb, they really, they highlight personalization, okay? Again, showcasing properties that cater to various different types of people. Flexibility. So you have more optionality when it comes to traveling and staying at Airbnbs than other alternatives, and then community and connection. And so when you think about this idea of, you know, the hosts and local communities around that and really enhancing that travel experience to be more authentic and integrated. Right. If you're staying in an Airbnb inside or in the city of, say, Cancun, that is going to be a very different experience than staying at a resort.

But they're going to push you to really stay in these more authentic community based travel resources or travel accommodations. They're not going to push you, but they're absolutely going to speak to the people that desire that. So we have personalization, flexibility, and then community and connection. And so if you think about those benefits, those key features, if you will, of Airbnb, they're all tied into those three different scenarios. And also underneath this overarching theme of belong anywhere. And so hopefully that helps you see sort of the hierarchy of mission and messaging and then the play of the marketing campaign, because Airbnb is speaking to two different avatars in those or three different avatars in those three different ads. They even have more that speaks to completely different avatars.

But it's still really all underneath these overarching themes, which I think is the best way to create content and get really specific so you can create that emotional connection. Because when you're broad and you're not specific, there is no connection that can be made because nobody can see themselves in a really big, broad message. And then lastly, what you can do literally right away, a practical, tactical insight here is to look at your quote, unquote competitors and think about what they are or are not offering in relation to what you can or cannot do for your potential clients. If you have a harder time distinguishing what the core problems you solve, or the solution or the pain points, sometimes the fastest, easiest way is to look at other people in your industry and see where you contrast.

So Airbnb did this really well in really looking at what people don't get that they want in these other travel accommodations and how Airbnb can meet those needs. And sometimes looking at other people and what they are not doing can give you some good ideas or at least bring to the surface of like, oh, this is where I'm different. And obviously really making sure you're creating content around that. Now you don't have to shame other people or other companies, not one time Airbnb says a specific hotel chain, and I don't even know that they say hotel, but they speak so directly and specifically around the circumstances or the feeling of staying in these other environments that allows them to really weave in that experience. So you don't have to shame other people or other things in order to get your message across.

But if you understand the pain points and the desires in the contrast of what people are experiencing from other brands, you can then really start to niche down or narrow in on your particular messaging, which is really, when you think about it, allows you to create that unique value proposition and so that's really something you could, again, do right away, start to really look at competitors in your space. And again, I don't love to say competitors because I don't think anybody's competing with one another, but it can give you some really great clarity and insight. So there we have it.

We have the big brand breakdown really uncovering what's working right now as it relates to these really amazing, big, successful brands, what they're doing in their marketing, and how you can immediately apply it in your own strategies to really amplify your message and reach more people so you can make a bigger impact. I hope you love this as much as I loved preparing for it and really speaking to it. If you wouldn't mind, just send me a note. Either send me an email or send me a note on Instagram and tell me that you love this. So I can really gauge, like, is this helpful? Is this not helpful? Because I want to continue to do more episodes just like this. And obviously I'm here for you. So really getting that feedback helps me really understand, am I meeting your needs or not?

So I will talk to you next time. Hey, if you're ready to stand out online and get paying clients consistently without having to fumble your way through tech run ads or create complicated funnels, I want to invite you to join us in the category queen school, where you're going to learn my simple, proven formula for getting clients online. It's really risk free. You either make your money back or we'll give you a refund. Just head over to kinseymachos.com/thecqschool and join today to get instant access. We'll see you inside.