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At Skift Global Forum 2019, we hosted a session with SheerID on how brands can gain loyal customers with a new form of customer acquisition that uses gated, personalized offers. Download this new eBook to learn how your brand can implement this approach.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Check out this new eBook, “The Power of Marketing to Consumer Tribes,” which explores how brands are effectively using identity marketing to target specific consumer groups and generate brand loyalty.

Get Your Copy Today

Most marketers are aware that traditional tactics are no longer cutting it. According to Skift Research, travel leaders said personalization and targeting were among the top priorities for martech solutions in 2019. Clearly, the travel industry needs to move beyond broad-based segmentation to offer consumers the right offer at the right time.

It’s a task that’s easier said than done. Traditional segmentation breaks down a big audience into smaller groups — but it’s likely that those individuals will have nothing in common beyond an interest in your brand. Marketers should instead target specific consumer tribes, such as students, teachers, seniors and the military. These groups are tight-knit communities who share attributes, values, and experiences. Providing them with personalized offers makes members of the group feel special because it recognizes a deep aspect of their identity. This creates a strong emotional connection between a brand and its audience, which increases customer loyalty.

This new approach to customer acquisition is known as identity marketing, and it presents a unique opportunity for brands because the most common consumer tribes — educators, military members and students — are vast. According to the eBook, the U.S. has 7 million educators and 37 million members of the military community. The number of college students worldwide is 235 million.

At Skift Global Forum 2019, we hosted a Breakout Session with Sai Koppala, SheerID’s chief marketing officer and head of product and Dylan St. Clair, Expedia’s director of online marketing, to learn how Expedia is acquiring loyal customers with gated, personalized offers for consumer tribes. “We compiled user research and determined that CheapTickets really resonates with students and the military. We’re trying to provide richer personalized offers that don’t interrupt our traditional promotional path but also encourage loyalty. Then users will know to come back to us,” said St. Clair in a recent interview with Koppala.

Marketing to consumer tribes has been successful for Expedia’s bottom line. “We try to give our customers in the military the best offers all year. Even though we’re giving them richer discounts than elsewhere, because they’re traveling with their entire family, we’re getting a higher revenue from them.”

This eBook explores:

  • Why true personalization should start with identity
  • The power of marketing to consumer tribes and the groups to target
  • Case studies from top retail brands that successfully use consumer tribes in their marketing strategies

Get Your Copy Today

This content was created collaboratively by SheerID and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.

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Tags: loyalty, marketing, marketing strategy, personalization, sgf2019, skift global forum

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