With over 15 years of digital marketing experience within the industry, we felt it was only right to share some of the insights that have been successful for our clients during this time. In addition, we have new tips and hacks that we believe will be a powerful weapon for hotels in 2020 and allow them to reduce the long term reliance on OTAs. Here’s our list of the top ten digital marketing strategies in 2020 (but first, a short video!)
1 – Forget about organic reach on social media – those days are over

In January 2019, Mark Zuckerberg publicly stated that in an attempt to reduce commercial content from invading news feeds, Facebook users will now see much less of this content with a focus on posts by friends and families instead. With this in mind, hotels need to re-think their posting strategies on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

With less people likely to see the content posted, daily posts on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are not required. Instead, hotel marketers should consider creating higher quality content coupled with content that can be sponsored for greater commercial impact and demonstrable return on investment from your target audiences.
2 – Correct budget allocation is your key to success

The allocation of marketing budget for hotels is an ever-changing animal. Over the last decade, (most) hotels have made large shifts in budget from offline channels such as print and radio to more measurable online marketing channels. However, the vast number of digital marketing options available now to marketers, presents a new challenge.

The major marketing options available today are listed below:

Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn)
Email Marketing (own and 3rd party databases)
Search Engine Marketing (Eg Google Adwords or Display networks)
Publisher Networks (Eg Direct advertising campaigns on specific websites)
Programmatic Networks (Using user-intent and contextual marketing targeting travellers)
Review websites: (Eg Sponsored content and advertising banners on platforms such as TripAdvisor)

The challenge today for most marketers is budget dilution across the digital channels, which unless your hotel has huge limitless budgets, is a real problem. Budget dilution can occur when a marketer attempts to use small amounts of budget across a wide number of channels rather than higher, more impactful budgets across carefully selected channels. With more and more digital marketing channels becoming available, marketers will need to be extremely disciplined with how they allocate budget moving forward. Unless larger budgets can be allocated to hotels, marketers also need to carefully consider building owned assets such as customer email databases or blogs that can generate a large and loyal following for them.
Typical Budget Allocations for Hotels in 2020

To avoid budget dilution, hotels with a low-moderate advertising budget should consider budget allocation similar to the below (image 1):

Image 1 – Recommended digital marketing allocation for hotels in 2020
3 – Email marketing can be an incredibly powerful too – if used correctly

There’s a common mis-conception from many marketers that email marketing is an ineffective marketing tool but the reality is very different. For many years, email has been an often over-used marketing channel that has been abused by many (bad) marketers who have using spamming techniques to mass market. A consequence of this is that email open rates are declining and continue to decline. But that doesn’t mean that emails still can’t be used in an efficient and effective way by hotel marketers. After all, we all rely on email as a way of communicating in both our business and personal lives. The time spent within our inboxes is increasing and certainly not decreasing. It’s therefore important that marketing emails are professionally written, designed and broadcasted with highly relevant content to each individual recipient.

Today, email recipients only want to receive emails that are relevant to them and their needs and expect businesses to be able to understand the difference between content that genuinely has meaning to that individual and content that does not. Hotels, therefore need to make a better effort to (a) understand the needs of their customers and (b) be able to categorise this and build and segment this data so that it is usable for marketing purposes.

We recently worked with a well-known 5-star hotel brand in Dubai to help them make better sense of their data and by doing so get a much better understanding of their guests and their needs. This involved the implementation of a CRM and tracking system that linked all digital touch-points for guests including the website, email marketing, social media and requests that helped to define their every need. The immediate impact of this was streamlined online marketing effort, increased volumes of customer data collected and the ability to draw a straight line between marketing activity and direct revenue generated from this activity.
4 – Beat the OTAs at their own game and create loyalty while doing so

Every hotel we speak to share a desire to decrease their reliance on online travel agencies (OTAs) and increase direct bookings. After all, direct bookings mean more revenue for the hotels. The challenge for most hotels is that they don’t tend to have the resources, budgets or online marketing expertise that the OTAs have at their disposal, which is why the likes of Booking.com and Expedia continue to grow revenues at the expense of hotels forced to pay a commission to ensure that their rooms are occupied.
So, what’s the solution?

It’s actually not too difficult. Here’s a look at an example marketing workflow (image 2) that the OTA’s use to entice users to make a booking:

Image 2 – Typical user journey originating from Google / other search engines

While the above scenario is very simplistic in its approach, a large percentage of bookings taken by OTAs will follow a very similar route. The above also helps us to identify potential opportunities for hotels to disrupt the OTA booking flow. It’s obviously difficult for hotels to play a role in the booking process unless they have the ability to understand that a guest is looking to make a booking. We’ve highlighted the 2 areas where hotels can influence the booking process (in orange in image 3 below):

Image 3 – Opportunites of hotels during the booking process

If a hotel manages to get a potential guest to their website during any one of those 2 stages, the hotel can start to deploy its own user journey or booking workflow similar to the example below (image 4):

Image 4 – Opportunities for Hotels to disrupt the online user booking journey

Image 4 above, shows how a guest’s search and booking intent ties into marketing opportunities that include email, social media and search. But there’s still one major advantage that the OTAs have over hotels, especially if that guest has never stayed at the shortlisted hotel before. The way that OTA’s track the behaviour of those in their database takes advantage of the latest technology and provides real insights into how the average traveller books hotels. For example, if a user already exists on the OTAs database (along with hundreds or millions of other travellers), it is very likely that every action including website visits, searches (locations and dates), email (opens and clicks) are tracked in a consolidated and sophisticated CRM tool. In addition, other touch-points such as mobile site or mobile application visits, telephone calls and even SMS interactions will all be tracked in the same tool. This data is then analysed and manipulated so that timely messages to each guest can be communicated to drive revenue.

This is a significant advantage for OTAs as most (not all) hotels do not have access to this type of information. Therefore, even if a user is searching for a hotel within a city for the very first time, if they land on the OTAs website (and are a part of the OTA’s customer database), this user can be tracked and communicated to in a highly personalised way via app messaging, email and social media – even if they did not complete the booking or add any personal contact data during the process. Hotels generally don’t have databases of this size and magnitude, let alone the tracking capabilities to automate this type of mass, yet-personalised, communication.
What do hotels need to do to keep up with OTAs?

There are 2 things and none of these should break the bank! The first is to license a marketing automation platform that allows the hotel to start tracking and behaving like an OTA when targeting guest bookings. Example platforms used by our clients are HubSpot or IBM’s Watson Marketing platform. The second is to invest in data collection opportunities. OTAs have the advantage of owning large databases purely from previous guest booking activity but hotels need to work harder. Unless your hotel is a part of a large international group of properties, it’s unlikely that you have a database that will help you attract new guests. That’s where tip number 5 becomes important.
5 – Content is king but hotels still ignore this

We’re sure you’ll agree, it’s getting boring how often we hear the term “content is king” but surprisingly, this is still ignored by most hotels that we speak to. And we think we now know why hotels still don’t seem to get it. The reason is that ‘content’ as a term is far too broad to make meaningful sense of. Today, we refer to content as website text, images, videos, Facebook posts, Instagram images, stories and more but content needs to be classified and understood better so that hotels and other business can place importance on the type of content that will be most effective for them.

Let’s bring this back to the hotel room booking scenario. When you or a potential guest visits a hotel website what options are we normally placed with? It’s normally the following:

Book now or check availability
Watch a video or view an image gallery of the hotel
Browse other pages of the website (eg rooms or leisure)
Subscribe to a newsletter

The majority of hotel websites do not offer a visitor any more than the above. So aside from making a booking, what value does a hotel website offer to guests (assuming that the guest has no interest in subscribing to a newsletter (that will probably never arrive anyway)? The answer is none. For website visitors, this is a genuine ‘take it or leave it’ offering. And this is a significant miss.

A hotel in 2020 should be looking to build a relationship with every visitor to their website. Every visitor. Here’s why. As images 2, 3 and 4 show, most users will not make a booking the very first time they visit a website. This includes both hotel websites and OTA websites. Today’s guest is empowered and has access to vast amounts of information and the majority of guests will search for more information (e.g review sites) before making a commitment. The current hotel website scenario basically ignores guest that isn’t prepared to make a booking on their very first visit.
Content is the bridge that most hotels don’t build

Hotels need to change the ‘take it or leave it’ offering that is currently in place and this can be achieved by offering greater value to website visitors with the use of new and engaging content. For example, if a potential guest visits your website for the very first time, has searched for availability but not yet made a booking, the hotel could offer that guest something of value instead. For example, a free City Guide or Tourist Guide would help the guest plan their trip better. Many tourists would be happy to either receive or download a guide especially during the early stage of planning. Many would be happy to exchange just an email address for this.

Once a hotel has an email address, many opportunities open up. For example, personalised communication can now be sent to the guest with information relating to direct booking, offers or even general information that will help to strengthen the relationship between the guest and a hotel. In addition, the email address can be used to market directly to the guest using platforms such as Social Media and Gmail via list marketing opportunities. Hotels can be highly creative once they start communicating with individual guests in a highly personalised manner and by using this data with a marketing automation tool such as HubSpot or IBM Watson’s Automation platform, your tracking and analysis efforts will help to unlock revenue opportunities that would otherwise go elsewhere.
6 – Nature v Nurture? In the world of digital marketing, nurture always wins!

The nature v nurture debate is a long standing one and “is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behaviour, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture”. Depending on your own personal beliefs, nature is widely seen as the winner. In the digital marketing world though, we can use technology to manipulate actions and decisions using nurturing workflows.
How does it work?

It’s fair to say that at one point or another, we’ve all been ‘nurtured’ online. This could include, automated follow-up emails to enquiries that may have been submitted, retargeting messages (or banners) or any other branded response to an initial action by a user such as a website visit. While many e-commerce companies use nurturing to great effect (eg Amazon), in the travel and hospitality business, the only companies taking advantage of this seem to be the OTAs – but even they don’t seem to have mastered the art of customer nurturing.
So, what can hotels do better?

Before we start, it’s important to define exactly what nurturing would mean to a hotel and potential guest. In our minds, nurturing is the process that allows a hotel to maintain communication with a potential customer (hotel guest) during the exact stages from initial enquiry/search to final room booking. We’ve already identified above that there are numerous stages of the booking process typically undertaken by a guest before making a room booking. But what does a hotel typically do to influence a decision during this process? The reality is that most hotels don’t tend to do too much.

One hotel that does engage in an aggressive nurturing program is the Wynn in Las Vegas who have two properties attached to the same website (Wynn and Encore)

The Wynn nurturing program has been intelligently designed and leverages the following tools:

Website including a simple loyalty system
Social Media Retargeting
Extensive Email Marketing Program

The website is simple in that it allows users to search for availability and prices, while highlighting the benefits of a user joining the Wynn Insider program, which is a members only section of the website, where users can obtain additional promotions and offers. For many guests, room price is always a strong influencing factor when selecting a hotel room and the Wynn Insider program highlights this with clear and intelligent copy (“Instantly save 15% off”). Enrollment to the Insider program is very simple and can be completed with ease. In case the user still isn’t convinced that they should sign up, there’s an instant reminder of the price differential and savings on offer. I expect that conversion from this page will be extremely high.
Wynn Digital Marketing Strategy

Once you become a member, the nurturing program begins. It’s clear that the hotel’s website has sophisticated user-tracking tools embedded into it. The tools can therefore track availability searches (including room type, dates and number of rooms required) and link these directly to the individual making the search. Just having the ability to track this data produces a large number of marketing possibilities for the hotel, which can be embedded into an integrated nurturing program that includes the following:

Social Media/Google Retargeting Adverts that show:
Images of the specific room types
Prices specific to the dates searched for
Happenings / Events at the hotel during the dates searched
Email Marketing Campaigns featuring:
Price updates for the specific dates mentioned
Other incentives on offer – linked to a booking code included within the email
Member-only deals

As the hotel knows the target travel dates, they can launch and implement campaigns that relate specifically to those dates. They can also increase the value-adds or promotions the closer the guest gets to the travel date in a bid to close the guest.

This approach is fully automated and is built on simple rules or workflows using a marketing automation tool. Other opportunities such as SMS and Mobile Push messaging can also be integrated into these types of campaigns. Trigger based activity can also be embedded into the nurturing plan. This can include automated emails or other communication that can be triggered if the guest returns to your website (either before or after booking) to create new sales and up-selling opportunities.
How difficult is it to set something like this up?

As mentioned previously, the actual process of creating a strong nurturing program isn’t difficult. But it does require investment in technology and an internal determination and culture that supports such an initiative. The beauty of this though is that return on investment is clearly trackable and creates assets in the form of customer data and insights on booking behaviours and insights. The first part of this is technology and tech investments can be made from just US$ 10,000 per year, which will equip your hotel with the tools you need.

If you’re not sure of the value of this for your business, ask yourself how much your hotel is paying out in OTA commissions and the savings if there was just a 1% shift in guest bookings directly with your hotel. The second part of this doesn’t have a fixed dollar cost amount but will require key members of your hotel to educate themselves about the benefits of setting up a nurturing program to increase customer loyalty and revenue.
7 – Contextual marketing needs to be tested

The rise in popularity of Programmatic Advertising channels over the last 3 years has provided hotels with new customer targeting opportunities. Many large hotels and hotel groups have used this to great effect but there are many hotels who are yet to explore the benefits of this. In 2020, there should be some effort placed by hotels to test contextual programmatic advertising to reach potential guests.
What is contextual programmatic advertising?

Contextual advertising is very much what it sounds like in that it looks at the context of what users are viewing on web pages (such as topics, keywords and other content) and matches advertising that is related to that content. Using programmatic purchasing, much of this can be executed in real-time and on-demand by tapping into large advertising networks that have huge advertising banner inventories across the globe. In addition to the on-page contextual opportunities, programmatic advertising can tap into other data sources, and user browsing history to match adverts more precisely. Other data sources can include information about the weather, address or location data, wealth or income and a vast array of user interests.

For example, if a Dubai hotel is looking to entice guests from the UK, showing adverts when the weather is cold and wet in the UK to frequent travellers who have the type of income or wealth levels to afford such a holiday and who live within 1 hour of an international airport could be a sensible target audience to attract for a long weekend away.
8 – Data, data, data

There’s a common theme with many of the points above – data. We all live in the information age and a consequence of this is that we have accessibility to more information and data than ever before. Both consumers and as business people. It’s therefore, hugely important that hoteliers recognise this and start to market their hotels in a modern, data-driven manner.

Unfortunately, many hotels are still marketing their businesses in the same way as they did 10 or 15 years ago but times (and opportunities) have moved on. It’s therefore likely that many of the hotels within your competitive set are still using more traditional marketing strategies, which could present better opportunities at a lower cost to you your hotel and in doing so a distinct advantage over your competition!
9 – Talk to guests like you really know them

As technology evolves, the line between the offline and online worlds is getting both blurrier and smaller and it’s becoming more important that hotels recognise this. Guests today spend an enormous amount of time in the online In the offline world, hotels truly understand that art of hospitality in terms of how to greet guests and make them feel special. In an ideal world, this should be replicated in the online world and therefore, must be the goal for any hotel with true digital ambitions.

Guests today, have higher expectations from the brands they interact with, than ever before and it’s vital that hotel consider this when planning communication strategies in the digital world. The days of sending un-personalised “Dear Guest” type emails are over. Not only do guests want to be recognised and addressed to correctly, but they also want the content they receive to be relevant to them, their needs and desires from your brand. But note, this isn’t limited to just email communication. It’s important that a degree of personalisation is considered for all hotel to customer touch-points.

To get started, hotels therefore need to understand all interaction points and map these with customer data. Unfortunately, many hotels collect very little data about each customer, so this may prove restrictive. That said, if a hotel’s CRM system allows data inputs from restaurants, spa and reservations teams where specific guest requests, spend information and other interesting facts to be stored, will present many marketing and communication opportunities for them.
10 – Beware of the Influencer…or not

Depending on who you talk to, we’re either seeing the fast rise or decline of influencer marketing and that clearly presents a challenge for hotels when trying to determine whether influencer marketing will increase the profile and awareness of their hotel and the link from this to increased sales and revenue. Every algorithm-update by social media companies such as Facebook brings out new theories in terms of how influencer content will be impacted and it’s therefore difficult to predict future influencer marketing trends especially when many influencers have built their entire following on a platform that they don’t control the destiny to.

But here’s what we do know. Influencer marketing can positively impact a brand if the objectives of the business are fully aligned with the execution, storytelling and distribution or reach provided by the influencer. Many brands and influencers talk about the need for content to be genuine, but it can be argued that this is contradictory especially if the content is created on the back of an incentive, whether financial or otherwise. There are other considerations too. The recent media story regarding Dublin’s White Moose Hotel and the influencer Elle Darby, created an influencer backlash from not just members of the public but also businesses who’s frustrations with influencers became quickly apparent.

Many of the hotels that we work with are inundated with influencer proposals and requests and while the volumes of requests are certainly increasing, the phenomenon itself is not new. Many hotels have always had a budget or allocation for complimentary rooms to higher-profile guests. In fact, many marketing, communications or public relations managers within hotels have clearly defined key performance indicators (KPIs) set within their job performance criteria that are linked to the additional exposure that influencers bring for their property.

For hotels, there’s clearly a role that influencers can play to raise awareness not just for the brand but also the room types, food and beverage, spa offerings as well as the location/destination. So if your hotel does engage with influencers, it’s important that the following steps are taken:

Identify the right type of influencer who’s profile and following are aligned to the hotel’s target audience
Discuss with the influencer the type of content that can be created, how the audience will engage with this
Agree a clear set of deliverables and reporting framework for the activity.
Determine performance metrics linked to revenue, where possible.

A Summary

2020 promises to be an interesting one for hotel marketers. For digitally-savvy marketers, some of the new opportunities available may be easier to implement and easier to justify to line managers and other key decision makers but even if you’re not a digital native and more of a traditional marketer, it’s important that hotels adapt quickly to the changing environment around them. As a hotel GM told me recently, the OTAs only became as powerful as they are today, because they understood the internet and digital marketing opportunities much better than the hotels did. The consequence being the creation of large competitors that they are forced to work closely with in order to survive.

By https://blog.digitalnexa.com

The post 10 Effective Hotel Digital Marketing Strategies for 2020 appeared first on Schreiber Content Marketing Solutions.

In an age of ever-expanding digital interconnectivity, hotel digital marketing professionals must adapt to changing customer demands.

But the best in the business aren’t satisfied to just adapt. And they would rather lead than follow, by surprising and delighting clients with daring and imaginative initiatives.

The top hotel companies know how to shape customer preferences better than anyone, which helps to explain their immense success. Hotel managers and marketing experts everywhere can learn a lot from their example and must learn from their example if they expect to ride the digital wave to glory.

Best practices in hotel digital marketing are changing on the fly. And here are five you should be up to speed on, along with fascinating examples of how the world’s most prestigious hotel chains are putting them into action.

The best in the hotel business aren’t satisfied to just adapt when it comes to digital marketing.
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1. Embracing digital media for hotel with gusto.

Example: Marriot International’s Travel Brilliantly digital magazine.

Travel Brilliantly began as a website targeted at millennials. It has now evolved into a sleek digital magazine that caters to the desires of travelers seeking new adventures, new perspectives, and new vistas.

Diverse in long-form content, Marriot’s quarterly digital publication features interviews with prominent thinkers from various walks of life. It discusses emerging trends in travel, introduces specific hotel innovations, and offers fresh contributions from partner companies like the art/tech company VSCO and the media organization TED. Each issue is organized around a single theme that challenges travelers to rethink their old assumptions. And to also reimagine what is possible, in a world where new experiences are always just beyond the horizon.

Travel Brilliantly Marriot is marketing the entire travel experience to younger clients and anyone else looking to explore unchartered territories. In doing so Marriot is repositioning itself as a “smart travel” resource. It’s expanding the scope of its expertise and giving potential clients good reasons to return to their Travel Brilliantly site.
Improve your hotel’s digital presence with floor plan content

Hotel Hyatt’s advertising solution

2. Letting the customer come to you (or at least letting them think they’re coming to you).
Example: Hyatt’s Google Lightbox Ad campaign.

In response to surveys that suggested problems reaching female business travelers, Hyatt launched an ambitious video advertising campaign. This took place across multiple digital platforms with the help of Google Lightbox Ads. When viewers hold their cursors over a Lightbox Ad for two seconds, it blooms to cover the full screen. It creates a memorable visual experience with a brand-specific message that entertains even as it informs.

So far Hyatt’s approach has proven wildly successful. And they’ve surpassed the industry average with a 2.8 percent engagement rate on their Lightbox video packages. Using this aggressive yet unobtrusive hotel digital marketing strategy, Hyatt has expanded its demographic reach as desired. They offer carefully customized content in an opt-in/opt-out format that puts the customer in the driver’s seat.

That feeling of autonomy and personal choice only strengthens the impact of well-crafted advertising. They have eliminated the normal resistance a customer might feel when confronted with obvious marketing tactics.

Hilton loyalty program marketing move

3. Marketing digital convenience in a package format.
Example: Hilton’s HHonors loyalty program plus complementary app.

If greater convenience is what hotel customers seek, why not give it to them in a fully streamlined package? That’s what the fine folks at Hilton Hotels & Resorts have done, with their HHonors customer loyalty program plus accompanying app.

To help spread the good word about its amazing benefits, Hilton supported the HHonors rollout in 2016 with a ‘Stop Clicking Around’ informational campaign. And this introduced travelers to the ease and convenience of direct booking. ‘What’s good for us is good for you’ was the message of this campaign, and as of early 2017 Hilton was snaring an average of one new enrollee every three seconds.

But the HHonors initiative was only part of Hilton’s plan to market a smoother customer experience. In conjunction with their HHonors enrollment, clients can download an associated app that lets them choose specific rooms, check-in, and check-out remotely and even open their hotel rooms with the app’s digital key.

Nothing offered in the Hilton HHonors program is overly exotic by modern industry standards. But they’ve gotten a jump on the competition by packaging digital benefits together, and that syncretic approach to customer service is one of the best ways to make an impression on the discriminating digital-age traveler.

If hotel customers seek greater convenience, why not give it to them in a fully streamlined package?
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4. Never forgetting that travelers prioritize the destination over the accommodation.
Example: Choice Hotel’s Travel Top 6 Guide for European tourists.

European travelers can explore the continent’s most popular and desirable destinations from the comfort of their own homes by visiting Choice Hotels’ Travel Top 6 online tourism hub.

To begin their adventures, Travel Top 6 visitors can simply click on a photograph of Rome, London, Frankfurt, Cannes, Vienna, Budapest or two dozen other well-known tourist meccas. Before their eyes, a menu of options will appear that will introduce them to the spectacular sights, sounds, tastes, smells and overall ambiance of their chosen location.

Direct booking options are readily available on each travel destination page, entirely appropriate since Choice has facilities in each city, village or region.

Choice Hotels’ centralized model for browsing is perfect for European vacationers. But it provides an ideal template for smart hotel marketers everywhere who want to market their locations in addition to their facilities. Choice is building brand loyalty by anticipating its customers’ traveling preferences and catering to them profusely, and there’s nothing to stop any other hotel from doing the same.

5. Never put limits on what the technology can do—and what you can do with it.
Example: InterContinental’s experiment in virtual reality.

Even the biggest hotel companies can’t offer accommodations everywhere in the world.

But InterContinental Hotels Group has found a way to work around that problem. Or more specifically, the technology to work around that problem: virtual reality. As a result, visitors to several InterContinental properties in China can now enjoy a fully immersive virtual reality experience. And this can be done in a special gaming and entertainment zone or from the privacy of their own rooms.

Hype and techno-wizardry aside, virtual tourism and entertainment will never be a substitute for the real thing. But as a three-dimensional supplement, it can bring unprecedented depth and breadth to the travel experience—and offer a ridiculous bounty of marketing opportunities to those smart enough (like InterContinental) to jump on the train before it hits full speed.

Virtual tourism in many ways is the final frontier, and InterContinental is boldly going where no one has gone before. This pilot project will break new ground in hotel digital marketing, and the sky is the limit on what InterContinental can accomplish as they blend and bend their best digital marketing strategies to accommodate the brave new virtual world.

Virtual tourism and entertainment can bring unprecedented depth and breadth to the travel experience.
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Try the world’s most effective hotel content marketing

In each of our five examples, these hotel giants evaluated customer preferences and expectations. They then devised strategies not to meet them, but exceed them. Innovation means staying one step ahead of the game, and the best way to do that is to rewrite the rules as the game progresses.

In hotel marketing, being proactive and inventive always equals success. That formula can make a winner out of any marketing professional regardless of the size or reputation of the hotel that employs them.

Up next, discover the top SEO marketing tips for hotels, and the reasons hotel’s need to embrace content marketing to grow.

The post 5 Digital Marketing strategies applied by Hotels (Marriot | Hilton | Hyatt | InterContinental) appeared first on Schreiber Content Marketing Solutions.

1. Be reachable online

First things first, you need to be reachable, or rather searchable online to start with any hotel digital marketing strategy. Because, if you’re not even visible online; then regardless of how much you slog, it’s not going to work.

Now, how to be reachable online, you may ask?

Simple. Get your hotel website designed. Perform SEO.

And when I say a hotel website, I don’t just mean put up some poor pictures, add 2 lines of content about your hotel, and be done with it.

NO. I mean a hotel website which showcases your amenities, your hotel location, your rooms, and everything else that your hotel is.

2. Advertise on Metasearch Engines

Next, we talk about Metasearch Engines viz. Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor and, Trivago. Believe it or not, but listing on these metasearch engines will not only boost your visibility, but also improve your brand value.

Though, being available on metasearch would need you to be open to receive direct bookings. The more direct bookings you get, the more you’ll be pushed up in the industry.

Do the SEO of your hotel website

Let’s say you want to buy a new mobile phone. What will you do?

You’ll instantly head to Google. You will search for the latest mobile phones, their costs, specifications and so on. After all the research, you will select your desired mobile phone.

Similarly, your guests also follow the same activities when they want to book their stay. Now, when your guests are finding something like, ‘hotels in Maldives or ‘best hotels in Maldives, your website HAS to appear in the search results. Then only your visitors are going to find you. And for that, you have to perform SEO.

In simple words, SEO is the technique of driving targeted traffic to your website from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It also includes ranking your website higher on these search engines.

Google Hotel Ads

You’ve already appeared in the Google search with SEO and Google Business listings. Now, how to make sure that your guests are able to choose your hotel wisely? Well, that’s when Google Hotel Ads come in the picture.
This service is available only through Google’s Authorized Integration Partners. It is one of Google’s successful endeavors to help hotels increase their revenue without the jumble of registering on OTAs and such likes.

It is one of Google’s successful endeavors to help hotels increase their revenue without the jumble of registering on OTAs and such likes.

It’s a compelling way to promote your hotel, as it will help your guest to book with you right from the search results.

Advertising is a crucial facet of your hotel promotion. Set aside a budget for this, and find the best place and way to run ad campaigns. Advertise your hotel’s amenities, promotions, and packages online across all the platforms by gauging the right. You can make use of the following important tools:

Google AdWords – Start with the search ads from Google Adwords. These ads will help you acquire direct bookings by reaching up to the right target audience, all the while maintaining your budget.

Remarketing ads – Now, did you ever search for something on Amazon, and then that search followed you everywhere? You know, with lower prices, some deals or something similar? Well, that’s called REMARKETING, which is also a beneficial way to promote your hotel. It helps your website visitors keep you in their mind, and leave an impact.

Facebook ads – Facebook provides this beautiful feature of Facebook Ads, using which you can easily promote your Facebook page and posts to the relevant audience. This increases your visibility and gives a significant path to hotel promotion.

Similar If it fits your budget you can give a try to Instagram and Youtube ads as well.
Publish Content

Needless to say, “content is king.”

Let me tell you how this can be a surefire hotel promotion strategy too.

When your guests are selecting a hotel, they are not just looking for a place to stay. They consider the entire city and its location. You can start writing with some blogs. You can write about famous restaurants, bars, and scenic destinations.

For example, 10 things to do when you are in the Maldives

7 bars you should visit in the Maldives

15 things to do while you are in the Maldives

Other than that, you can write about the traditions, culture, cuisine of your locality.

These days, most of the hotels have dedicated website page for these types of content. Publishing such content will help you rank higher in the search results as well. Thus it is an important SEO as well as hotel promotion idea.

1. Maximise local SEO

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) helps the person searching for something online find relevant, local results. For example, if you own a hotel in Bournemouth and someone searches for ‘Hotels in Bournemouth’ your hotel will be easier to find. To maximise your customer base, you need to find a way to get to the top of the rankings.

Maximising your Local SEO will make your hotel more visible to potential guests, giving you more brand awareness. Examples of local SEO opportunities for the Hotel industry includes using Google My Business, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. Also, large OTAs (online travel agents) like booking.com can help with local SEO opportunities.

It’s worth keeping in mind that SEO takes time, and remaining amongst the top results on the first page of Google at all times requires skills and constant investment. To help this, you may want to consider investing in paid search.

2. Have a mobile-friendly website

Creating a mobile-friendly website is a necessity for growth in the Hotel industry. With more and more people using their mobile phones to initially search several different hotels at once and book their hotel stays online, the importance of an accessible website via mobile is clear.

According to ABTA’s Holiday Habits report 2017, Bookings on mobile devices have leaped from 13% to 20% in the space of 12 months, whilst PC bookings had fallen from 92% to 85%.

You want your website to be available to as many users as possible to increase potential bookings, regardless of the device they are using. Not only should your website be accessible by all devices, but the quality of the website on all devices should be the same. This prevents any of the users avoiding booking a stay at your hotel because the site isn’t of great quality.

(Related content: Why Is It Important That Your Website Is Mobile-friendly?)
3. Create more content

Content marketing is an important part of your hotel’s marketing strategy. Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online material such as videos, blogs, and social media posts that do not promote your brand directly but is purposely intended to stimulate interest in your products/services (in your case your hotel).

For example, you own a hotel in Bournemouth, you could write a great piece of content about sightseeing in Bournemouth, and although sightseeing isn’t what you offer your potential guests it could persuade them to visit Bournemouth staying at your hotel. To make your content even more effective you should include CTAs (call to action) such as ‘book now’.

4. Be present on social media (organic & paid)

With 42 million active social media users in the UK in 2017 (according to Statista), being present on social media is vital for the Hotel industry. By putting a strong social media strategy in place, this can help you build engagement with existing and potential guests, create brand awareness, and it lets you target new audiences.

There are many different social media channels varying from Facebook, to Twitter, to Snapchat, and more. You don’t need to be on all channels, but having a few varied options are advantageous.

Monitoring and responding to feedback from guests is a crucial part of your social media strategy, whether it’s positive or negative feedback. By being present online, it makes it easier to discover feedback and in turn, you can respond in a professional and timely manner.

One point to keep in mind, your competitors are very likely already on social media, and to stay a step ahead and get noticed amongst the “noise” you may want to invest in paid social ads to make sure that your offer is pushed to the right audience at the right time.

5. Use video in your marketing strategy

When it comes to advertising your hotel, customers want to see what they will truly be experiencing. Images have always been a good way to display your hotel’s rooms and facilities, but a more effective way to give your customers a visual representation of your hotel in its truest form is by using video.

According to Worldhotels, 80% of internet users prefer to watch a video than to read the same content in text. Moreover, videos encourage social media shares, in fact, 76% of social media users would share a video if it was entertaining.

The post Hotel Digital Marketing Strategies to Get More Bookings in 2020 appeared first on Schreiber Content Marketing Solutions.

Being a long term strategy content marketing enhances connection between you and your customers. Feed their interest providing a useful content on a permanent basis.
 
Here is the definition by Content Marketing Institute:
   
«… a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.»

2 main reasons to start a content marketing campaign are Increased Sales and Customer Loyalty.
   
What probably can’t be measured with a traditional conversions, ROI and revenue as it occupy the top part of the selling funnel.
   

With all this noise of everyone’s daily routine we should be focused on providing a valuable content that catch attention and fit our client needs, wherever they are big guys from broadband company or a small retailer from California.

What is the most engaging content you can offer? Is it a guide-style set of articles describing a problem solution with every tiny detail? Always start from the client side. Concerns, doubts, wet wishes everything should be heard and represented in one of expected formats they prefer whether a video or an ebook, we will touch on this topics further.

People wants to hear a true story telling, that probably improves their lives, in the ideal case ending with a purchase of service or product.

Building a trust and long playing relationship with your customer is the key of any business model. If they have a particular issue – you are the one who definitely need to have a good and useful article about. So for example you can target your email marketing campaign to this specific consumers.

It should be clearly understood that content marketing is about your clients needs, doubts and interests, just having no promotional staff, but yes, leading the customer along the right way.

Statistics suggest that in 2020 about 80% of large scale B2B companies are going to increase the amount of content marketing efforts. What means you also should.

We’ve written thousands of articles developing a land project, using our own non-professional photos. What brought the first fruits in a short time.

Being the exact opposite of paid advertising, content marketing stands out as a long term strategy, that brings a good organic traffic.

Combined with a proper SEO, this is what helps you stand out of millions Google results, striving for being on a first page, forming a 90% of traffic allocated to this query.

It makes no difference if you have a laptop repair business, or engaged in car importing, content marketing fits any needs. Provide a valuable content for every stage of the funnel journey guiding the lead to a final purchase.

   
Let’s speak about some types of content marketing.

1. Blogging.
Having a blog it’s a good opportunity for sharing a helpful knowledge and also receive a direct response of your audience. First of all it’s free, if we don’t consider man hours.

A high quality post will always bring a feedback so needed for understanding your public expectations. Think about the topics your readers find interesting and fill the gaps in those cases.

Blogging can also act as a lead generation platform.
   
2. Ebooks.
Are found on paid and freemium basis, and can serve for lead gathering purpose.
Its digital format is one of the significant advantages. No shipping, no storage.

First of all, this strategy refers to building a trust bridge between you and your client. What is the integral part of the pre-buying journey, or consideration stage of funnel.
   
3. SMM content.
Where does your audience spend more time and what is the most cozy platform in their opinion?

Keep in mind that audiences may vary a lot. Your Pinterest subscribers are a way different people that one you nurture on Facebook or Instagram, for example.

Social media also provide you a priceless freedom of exploring your potential buyers, inspecting their accounts and feeds.

Lot of tools are available for scheduling and activity tracking like Hootsuite, Zapier, Buffer or anything else. And one more rule – don’t stop posting. Choose a suitable approach scheme and post.

It’s easier to have all your media statistics in one place, comparing the data and drawing conclusions.
   
4. Email Marketing.
Imagine you have an assorted subscriber list, and plan the email campaign accordingly to subscriber actions and behavior. For example you managed to identify a sale-positive behavior of people who opened the third and second letter. Thereby you can adjust the hole chain depending on this data.

What is the open rate and bounce rate of your campaigns?
   
5. Video.
One of the greatest way to show something you can’t describe in a simple words. From all angles.
Remember what I said about different audience? So, here it is, the people who prefer viewing more than reading is actually another cast of folks.
   
6. Infographics.
Using of infographics in your content increases chances of being shared, and don’t forget to put a little watermark. Mentioning some useful tools will include Infogram and Piktochart.

     
     
Everything starts with a high quality content.

Research the market looking for the best topics, using tools like Buzzsumo for example.
It shows you the number of shares and backlinks also, very useful.
     
     
Let’s discuss some metrics you can measure in a road to achieving your audience attention.

+ Website traffic.
Are people actually reading your posts? What is the reason for traffic increase on a specific page?
Is this an organic search, social media source or does it coming from a email marketing campaign?

+ Leads.
The real reason we need any traffic is actual leads, that directly depend on the traffic quality.
From a simple user to a person who leave his contact, what only happens if your valuable content really deserves it.

+ Sales statistics.
How does your content influence the sales? At what stage of your sales funnel it happens?

Consider also checking the keywords/queries you rank for, what can be improved? Presence on the first page of search?
   
Some more metrics you should track down.
• Do you receive backlinks and what is the quality?
• The average time on page, bounce rate?
• Best traffic sources?

Almost all this data can be obtained from a free digital marketing tools like Google Analytics, showing the demographics also, so you can understand your buyer persona. Think about the experience users get when surfing your content during Awareness, Consideration and final Decision.

The post What is content marketing and why do you need this? appeared first on Schreiber Content Marketing Solutions.

What is all about? In need of understanding where are your clients, speaking their language, and starting the conversation in a right time. That’s are the main elements of digital marketing.

Use a SMART model for determine your goals. SMART is an acronym which is essential when setting any campaign objectives:

Specific – be more specific defining your goals
Measurable – how do you know when the goal is reached?
Achievable – know your limits, don’t pick an unachievable goal.
Relevant – be relevant to your overall business goals
Time-sensitive – be sure to have your turkey before the Thanksgiving day, scheduling all the tasks in your marketing calendar.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for digital marketing

This are a measurable values used by marketers for evaluating success across all marketing channels. For making informed decisions and improving results month-over-month.

Thus KPIs can be divided into 5 groups.
1. Website & Traffic metrics
2. Lead Generation
3. SEO optimization
4. Paid advertising
5. SMM tracking

Website & Traffic metrics.

Increasing the conversion rate and traffic to your landing pages are some of the most popular metrics.

It’s very important to track different pages and categories of your site, drawing conclusions and applying the best performing pages tactics to other pages.

For example you noticed an 20% increase↑ in traffic to a blog post about content marketing. And you didn’t lose sight of an explicit scheme/free pdf book you puted in the middle of the paragraph.
You also remarked +3% in conversions (subscriptions e.g.) comparing to the previous post.
The best practices are thoughtfully collected for the next steps.

Google Analytics gives you access to all this data using customizable overviews.

In sense of traffic, a lot of positive improvements can be achieved with help of SEO, not mentioning the targeted paid promotions.

Take a look at the average time user spends on that one page (with better conversion value). What can you say about content quality? Is it easy-to-read and explicit? Can this technique be applied to other posts which didn’t show this raise of traffic?

This parameter has certain significance for search engine results page positions.

Site Visits separated by channels.

Comparing visits data from different channels you can outline the next actions, but remember, most visited not always means more profitable, the traffic quality is very crucial.

If you don’t have much experience in using Google Analytics, you can sign up to a free GA academy, where all the features are nicely explained.

Look at the ratio of new and returning visitors

It shows your visitors involvement which directly indicates was it a good or a bad turn in your content marketing strategy.

Provide helpful content, and user will always come back. Announce some freebies, or post useful reaseraches.

Lead Generation

Metamorphosis scheme.
Strangers > Visitors > Leads > Customers > Promoters

From a simple stranger attracted by organic search, PPC campaign, o SMM promotion, the person landing on your page converts to a Visitor, leave contacts fulfilling a form (Lead), buy your product (Customer), and then if God bless you – converts to your Promoter.

The big difference between Lead generation and buying somebody’s contact information – is the person’s primary interest.

For example you find out, that one of your landing pages generates 18% more leads, that can be a positive indicator and make you think about improvements for other pages.

At the same time the lead quality of another page, inducing more actual sales, points on better copy and call to action and usability.

Digital marketing goals

Your marketing plan should ideally combine a short and long term goals.
Let’s speak about the possible short term goals for digital marketer.

Short term marketing goals

1. Traffic ↑. Increasing a targeted traffic, attracting users that are more likely to be interested in your product or service.
Ask yourself, will this improvement bring you to 10-20% monthly increase in traffic? In this case the best tool is Google Analytics, along with other instruments, which we will talk about later.

2. Conversions. Convert leads into buying customers, gently distributing your efforts and budget between available channels.

Understand your revenue, time costs and deal closing in each individual case for than choosing the best option. Doesn’t matter how many visits this page received if no conversion was completed.

Have an idea of adding some piece of text, image, scheme or a screenshot? – try it without fear, and compare the same page visit statistics in a few weeks. Any positive changes are always welcome.

If for instance you know, that monthly the tenth part of all leads are successfully converted, and improving your strategy you can raise this indicator, you can set a goal in your CRM system.

Short term goals are also useful in obtaining a fast results or statistics, testing your message.
PPC (Pay Per Click) platforms like AdWords, Paid SMM, banner ads, and so on.

3. Grow your Subscriber List by offering some free product (e-book, or access to an unusual research).
One of my favorite tools for email marketing is MailChimp, which offers a very useful lead segmentation, mail personalization, and plans start at 10 US$ (for 50K emails), it also has a starter version (free for 2K contacts). Must have.

Long term marketing goals

Normally can include:
1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

2. Content marketing

3. Brand Recognition

4. Consumer Retention/Reputation Management

5. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO refers to a non-paid (or organic) appearance in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), like Google, Yahoo, Bing or other. It is one of the most significant goals – being on the first page of the search system.

It depends on different factors like language, user browser, searching history, and location among others. What literally means it varies a lot from country to country (even for a smaller scale of blocks of the same city).

Without seeking for proxies, you can try any search from country and city you want using services like this one.

Google Rank uses a complex algorithm that aims to show people the most relevant websites available on the web. This algorithm consists of many factors, and changes from time to time.
Knowing (predicting) its behavior you can enjoy all the organic benefits of being on the first page.
Spending less on paid promotions (like PPC, SMM).

There is no certain set of rules, influencing SERP position, but those who listen carefully, will definitely stand out. Better understanding Google’s modus operandi, avoiding known mistakes when optimizing a website. It’s all about the organic traffic (and its quality) you finally receive.

Content marketing

Who is your audience? What are their needs? How can your service help them solve a problem?
Speaking their language, creating a useful piece of content that actually brings benefits.
And don’t forget about smart SEO techniques and using the right keywords. It’s not always about sales but more about engaging and educating your consumer to build brand recognition, trust, and equity.

Having about 3-5 seconds for convincing your customer, what would you say?
Narrow down your message, engaging your audience.

Free tools like Google Calendar can help you a lot in every step planning your campaign.
Combining with your CRM for sure, assigning tasks along copywriters for example.

Zoho CRM in my taste, intuitive and user-friendly.

A little bit of history.
Founded in early 90s in Chennai, India by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas.
Primarily named «Vembu Software», and then changing to its actual name in 2009, Zoho Corporation became the umbrella company of three different divisions that cater to three different markets.

Zoho CRM was released in 2005 and they reached 1 million users in August of 2008.

You can see the full range of tools on their website.

Choosed by:
Sony, Apple, HBO, Netflix, Intel, ViaSat, Nike, L’Oreal, PayPal
Siemens, Qualcomm, Nokia, Motorola, Lockheed Martin, Citrix, Cisco.

Brand Recognition

Buying form brands you know and love, choosing between dozens of competitors and not always leaning to the product quality, even if it’s obviuosly better product, but giving preference to this guys who donate to schools, some charity programs or sponsoring your favorite series.

As well as the price is not a key factor for buying related decision.

Working with GPS mapping, we always asked our clients to record a short video about navigation system «on the go». And let me tell you, nearly the tenth part fulfilled the request, what was immediately published on social media channels.

We have also received 7 complete guide videos from our pleased customers, including them on the main landing pages.

Statistically 9 to 10 people will read (or watch) a customer review before purchasing anything, I’m definitely in their league.

Well, probably this one is not a straight goal leading to sale, but yes, has a huge importance in sense of long term revenue.

Customer Retention

Is cheaper to nurture the leads you already have, than obtaining a new ones. Because they already expressed interest and passed all stages of funnel. According to my statistics is 73% simpler in consonance with notably lower costs.

Remarketing campaigns are designed for targeting users that already visited your landing page and probably realized some action.
PPC models like AdWords and Facebook.

Search engine Marketing (SEM)

In opposite to SEO’s organic strategy it focuses on paid traffic only. Google AdWords, Bing Yahoo and other PPC platforms.

PPC, or pay-per-click – model when advertiser is charged when ad is clicked. Social medias don’t stand aside applying this model.
Bidding for specific keywords that lead to better conversion.
Be sure to have the best communication along with a selling team. Those people who hear the voices, conquering the hearts and closing a deal. Returning a weekly digest in report.

What are we looking for? Is very crucial to write down every single word that goes near the core keyword.

You just launched a PPC campaign on AdWords, using 6 dozen of keywords united by «internet» core, targeting California state for example.
+internet prices
+best internet deals
+cheapest internet plan
+internet plans
…

Now let’s overhear the question of consumer calling us:

-Hello, I’m interested in some internet plan without contract, what is your best offer?

The same day you notice another call mentioning the contract.

Without contract is an accompanying phrase, that should (if not yet) be included to various combinations of PPC keywords, as well as the copy.

Oftentimes you can’t only rely on the suggestions obtained via Keyword Planner, or Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest (which is one of my favorite actually).

The post Digital Marketing KPI types, Goals appeared first on Schreiber Content Marketing Solutions.