Maiken Paaske

Does Airbnb's profitability have something to do with their shift from a performance marketing driven approach to brand building instead? Maybe.💡

Airbnb, which was founded back in 2008, achieved profitability ($1.89b) last year for the first time in the company’s history. 🚀

This comes 2 years after the company made a significant change in their marketing strategy, where they shifted their marketing spend from performance marketing channels into brand building instead.

And just to put this into a bigger perspective: Do you know how many public VC-backed companies founded in the US in the last 15 years are meaningfully profitable?

One. Airbnb. 👀

CEO Brian Chesky was recently quoted for an article where he said Airbnb now looks at the role of marketing as one of “education”, not “to buy customers”.

And CFO at Airbnb, Dave Stephenson, added that the “strategic change” in marketing spend has proven to be “incredibly effective”.

In a world where we're constantly bombarded with ads, building a brand and a compelling storytelling is the key to standing out in a unique, authentic and trustworthy way.

And as you can tell, this does drive great ROI when executed well.

#airbnbfangirl #branding #technology #community

When I’m in Denmark I’m often told: “you're being too much and aiming too high”. In the US the same attitude will get me: “you’re being too humble, you should aim way higher” 😆

It’s funny how the same ambitions, work-style and personality is perceived so differently from one culture to another.. I’m the same person, obviously, lol, but the cultural differences are definitely there. And I bet others have experienced the same!

Spending time outside my own country (Denmark), working in international environments and being exposed to different cultures and ways of thinking has totally changed my perspective on many things..

Leaving your family and network behind. Having to speak another language all the time. Starting out from scratch again. Learning about cultural differences, business differences.. I kid you not, it’s actually hard work. 😅

But it’s worth it. The new friendships you’ll form, the learnings you’ll make, the different ways of working - not to forget the most important aspect: The mindset shift.. It totally changes your outlook and the way you do things.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Denmark, but the ‘jantelov’ and mindset that comes with this will never be my cup of tea. 😂

Anyways, what I’m trying to say is just: The world is big. There’s so many opportunities and different paths out there - for everyone. Don’t let someone tell you that you’re being too much just because you dare to follow your own path.