Webjet , the popular Australian online flight booking agent, improved the ROI of its online business and increased its sales by 117% when it outsourced its search engine marketing to Amplify, an online consultancy specialising in Internet marketing strategies for the travel industry.

Webjet, a publicly listed company, is Australia's leading online retailer for discount flights. Its services include flights, hotels and car-hire packages, last-minute, discount rates and travel insurance. Through its world-leading website technology, Webjet customers can write their own ticket for all airlines.

Investing for the future

During FY2003-2004, Webjet identified a number of long-term goals to ensure its future growth. They included: the launch of the company's new Travel Service Aggregator (TSA) platform developed in partnership with Microsoft Australia and Webjet's associate major shareholder, the Cendant Travel group ('Galileo'). Webjet also formed a strategic alliance with Harvey World Travel, a major player in the travel business industry - strengthening its ability to bring low prices to its customers and improve its balance sheet.

These changes laid the groundwork for the significant growth to come.

Maximizing ROI

Dean Maidment, Webjet's Business Development Manager, explains: "To leverage this great new technology and maximize the return on our investment, we knew we had to be visible to online shoppers. You can build the best website in the world, if no one sees it; you're just not going to make money."

Webjet's advertising strategy includes a strong physical media presence through television, billboards and other media, which have a longer-term brand value. To increase the firm's brand awareness and repeat business on the Internet, Maidment turned to Amplify, an online marketing firm with over 20 years experience in the travel industry and 10 years online.

Maidment adds: "For Webjet to maximise it's success on the Net, I knew we would need the right message and positioning on the big search engines. That's not easy to do and it's a lot of work. We wanted a partner that knew the travel business very well and was able to manage massive amounts of data daily; that's why we chose Amplify."

Webjet and Amplify - partners in excellence Amplify uses paid search services, such as those provided by Overture and Google, to determine the most valuable customers for Webjet to target. According to Julian Persaud, Overture's Director of Marketing and Business Development: "Search marketing companies like Amplify, who specialise in vertical markets, bring intimate industry knowledge and strong marketing skills to provide an excellent package for clients. It's a winning situation for travel companies such as Webjet."

Webjet began its partnership with Amplify in May 2004 and the results speak for themselves.

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