If you’re in the hotel business, you know the importance of reaching your target market and audience. The importance of delighting guests through the highest quality environment and experience will not only serve well to gain loyal clientele and guests, but will also build the reputation of your hotel’s brand, both online and offline.
Hoteliers realize the importance of increasing conversions, and can start achieving increased bookings through a strategic plan. What should this plan include? Basically, it should be a four-pronged method:
- Acquire new customers
- Engage them through the brand experience
- Convert them through a smart sales engine
- Retain them through ongoing marketing and branding efforts (online and offline)
This is a general outline, and can be made specific through a targeted marketing campaign that address each of these aspects. Here are a few ideas to kick start an enhanced marketing campaign for your hotel or hospitality business:
- List your hotel or hospitality service on tourist review and travel-related websites. These are quite influential: surveys show that nearly half of visitors changed reservations at hotels after reading a review website.
- Don’t underestimate the power of social media marketing. Build a Twitter and Facebook page to share particulars of your company with potential customers.
Special event taking place at your hotel? Share a picture of the event to promote your event capabilities. Happy guests? Why not share a testimonial on Facebook to get good word of mouth out there?
- Maximize your ROI through email marketing campaigns. Whether you’re working with an existing customer base or want to target those potential guests that may not have booked with you yet, creating email campaigns that instill brand awareness are a cost-effective way to help drive conversions.
- Content marketing is a long-term strategy that helps you build a relationship with past, current, and future guests. Whether you share a great article on romantic tourist spots in your city or provide a pictorial guide of your hotel property, giving your visitors information they will enjoy reading will keep them engaged with your brand.
Executing a well planned marketing strategy for your hotel will pay dividends in the long run. Need help with a strategy? Contact us at EDK for more information on our boutique marketing programs.