MakeMyTrip is one of India’s leading Travel Agents with a net worth of $3.65 billion. Ever wondered how they came such a long way? We think MakeMyTrip’s Marketing Strategy played a significant part in all this. This article analyses a few digital marketing strategies used by the company to give you an insight into what they have been doing. Let’s dive deep into one of the world’s most valuable company business models.
About MakeMyTrip
MakeMyTrip is an Indian online travel company headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. It was founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow. MakeMyTrip provides a wide range of travel services, including flights, hotels, holiday packages, buses, trains, car rentals, and activities. The company has a strong presence in India and other countries in South Asia, including the United Arab Emirates.
Now that we are discussing MakeMyTrip, let’s take a look at their marketing strategy too.
What’s new with MakeMyTrip?
Here’s what was buzzing around MakeMyTrip recently:
- Focus on corporate travel: MakeMyTrip is betting big on corporate travel in 2023 by launching a number of new products and services for corporate clients, including a dedicated business travel portal and a team of travel experts who can help with everything from booking flights and hotels to arranging visas and meetings.
- New destinations: MakeMyTrip is also expanding its reach to new destinations. In 2023, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Caribbean. MakeMyTrip is also focusing on promoting offbeat destinations in India, such as Ladakh, Munnar, and Coorg.
- New experiences: MakeMyTrip has launched a new “My Experiences” section on its website and app, which offers a variety of activities and experiences, such as cooking classes, city tours, and adventure sports.
- MakeMyTrip recently launched a series of short-form videos called “Travel Diaries.” These videos feature real people sharing their travel experiences and insights. The videos are typically around 60 seconds long and are shot in a fun and engaging style.
Let’s now understand the target audience of MakeMyTrip better with the help of a buyer persona.
Buyer Persona of MakeMyTrip
A buyer persona generally refers to the detailed information of an ideal customer of a company. When it comes to MakeMyTrip, people from India use it the most. This buyer persona will help you understand the attributes of regular a MakeMyTripuser.
Buyer’s Persona
Name:
Kim
Place:
Mumbai
Age:
21 years
Profession:
College Student
Motivation
- Flights and Booking authentic verified paper
- Safety
- Affordable Price
- Customer Review
- Stress-free travel experience
Interest & Hobbies
- Travelling
- Surfing Facebook
- Playing Guitar
- Going out with friends
Pain Points
- Unreliable Agency
- Overpriced deals for rock bottom experience
- Bad customer service
- Lack of security
Social Media Presence
- Youtube
From the table above we can conclude that ideal MakeMyTrip users are tech-savvy, value-conscious travelers who are looking for the best deals on flights, hotels, and other travel expenses.
Family tourists are a significant component of their target audience. Aside from that, they target business travellers, pals groups, and foreign jet setters. Thoughg they do not have any specific customer base. They prefer to target customers of all ages. But 63.06% of their audience is male, while the remaining 36.94% are female. The majority of visitors are between the ages of 25 and 39.
MakeMyTrip Marketing Strategies
1. Search Engine Optimisation
MakeMyTrip has put a lot of effort into SEO.
As per Ubersuggest data, it ranks in India for 8,356,757 keywords as of August 2023. Its organic traffic is 396,971,113 sessions per month. The stats are much higher compared to their SEO performance in April 2023.
It is very difficult to get to know the Search Engine Optimisation techniques used by MakeMyTrip because they have blocked all the SEO tools from scanning their sites.
MakeMyTrip has an SEO Keywords Ranking of 8.4m Keywords means that the domain has a total of 8.4 million keywords that it ranks for in Google search results. This is a very impressive number, and it indicates that the domain has a very strong SEO presence.
Backlinks
MakeMyTrip gets backlinks from 3,250,137 unique domains. All this increases the Domain Authority of MakeMyTrip’s domain and helps it rank higher.
2. Social Media Marketing
MakeMyTrip is active on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. As of October 2023, it has 201k followers on Instagram, 2.5 million followers on Facebook, 75.4k subscribers on Youtube and 129.3k followers on Twitter.
Let’s analyze how their posts:
MakeMyTrip has a multi-faceted social media strategy on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.
On Facebook, they are the most amount of content, including travel destination information, special offers, and campaigns and contests.
MakeMyTrip is very active on Facebook and does moment marketing. The following is their recent post about India’s achievements in Asian Games.
MakeMyTrip’s Facebook strategy is customer-centric, and they respond to all feedback, even negative
They used to have a virtual representative, #TravelPundit, who posts funny takes on locations and valuable travel advice.
MakeMyTrip’s Twitter strategy is similar to its Facebook strategy, but the content is tailored to the platform. They haven’t been very active on Twitter(now X) in 2023 but till 2022 they used to use hashtags effectively to reach a wider audience.
MakeMyTrip’s YouTube accounts usually have TVCs featuring their Brand Ambassador Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. MakeMyTrip signed up with the energetic duo in February 2016 and have filmed several humorous and witty television advertisements with them which speak to young and old audience alike.
MakeMyTrip | FLAT 25% Off* on First Hotel booking campaign video on youtube
Overall, MakeMyTrip’s social media strategy is well-rounded and effective. They use a variety of platforms to reach their target audience with engaging and informative content.
Here is a summary of MakeMyTrip’s social media strategy on each platform:
Facebook:
- Posts a variety of content, including travel destination information, special offers, and campaigns and contests.
- Used to have a virtual representative, #TravelPundit, who posts funny takes on locations and valuable travel advice.
- Is customer-centric and responds to all feedback, even negative.
Twitter:
- Used to post similar content like Facebook, but tailored to the platform.
- Used to use hashtags effectively to reach a wider audience.
YouTube:
- Posts TVCs.
3. Email Marketing
Digital Marketing through E-mails with catchy subject lines and descriptions. Out of all the e-mails sent out, some will have a link to the landing page, some to the blogs, and others to video montages made of the offline activity done at various college fests.
4. Paid Advertsing
MakeMyTrip runs Google Display ads to target users on third-party websites and apps. The following are some of the Paid banner ads and display ads that MakeMyTrip have run in the past.
Marketing and Advertising Campaign Examples
Here are some of the unique and successful advertising campaigns of MakeMyTrip:
- Book with No Payment
This campaign highlights MakeMyTrip’s new payment model, which allows travelers to book hotels in India and overseas without any upfront payment. The campaign features brand ambassadors Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh, and it highlights how this new payment model makes travel more accessible and affordable.
- Dil Toh Roaming Hai
This campaign aims to inspire consumers to travel and explore their hidden travel desires. The campaign features a TVC that showcases a diverse range of people traveling to different destinations and pursuing their travel passions. The campaign message is that MakeMyTrip is the perfect partner for travelers, as it offers a wide range of travel products and services to help them plan and book their dream vacation.
- College Campus Campaign
This campaign targets students and young adults, who are a key demographic for MakeMyTrip. The campaign features a revamped school bus that travels to different college campuses across India. The bus is equipped with engaging activities and games, and it offers students the chance to win prizes. The campaign also encourages students to write down their dream destination and one activity that they always wanted to do there. MakeMyTrip then selects a few lucky winners and helps them make their dream vacation a reality.
Failed Campaigns of MakeMyTrip
MakeMyTrip more than often grabs attention with its unique marketing. But, there have been a few times when the campaign failed to connect with the audiences and gained backlash.
Here are a few examples of failed campaigns of MakeMyTrip:
1.Accusation about illicit operations
According to our study, MakeMyTrip has been accused of being involved in illicit operations and has had to pay a big sum of money as a result. Another difficulty it has had is giving customers misleading information and not booking hotels. Which has been harassing folks quite a bit. This company recently had to pay a large sum of money in such a scenario.
One of the issues that MakeMyTrip is now dealing with is a customer complaint. A sizable sum of money has also been allocated as compensation.
2. Backlash towards MakeMyTrip’s CEO
There has been some backlash in response to MakeMyTrip’s CEO post, which offended some religious beliefs. Many people retweeted #boycottmakemytrip.
The company was quick in their response and said, “The views expressed by Mr.Joshi on Twitter are his personal thoughts & do not reflect the views of MMT. He is not a current employee of MMT”.
Top Competitors of Make My Trip
Here’s the list of top competitors of MakeMyTrip:
- Goibibo
- Yatra
- TripAdvisor
- Ixibo
- Redbus
Conclusion
As we wrap up our analysis of MakeMyTrip’s impressive digital marketing strategy, it’s clear that staying up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques is key to success in the digital marketing world.
Whether you’re a marketing professional or just starting out, be sure to check out our free digital marketing masterclass to gain a solid foundation in the essentials of digital marketing.
Who knows, you might just develop the next big marketing strategy like MakeMyTrip’s! Don’t forget to share your thoughts and comments on MakeMyTrip’s strategy in the comments below.
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