To build a strong presence of your hotel campaigns in the eyes of the customers, you need a creative hotel marketing strategy. Being listed on the online travel sites is not enough now. People now look for your website and consider any other things like the ratings and reviews given by other people.
Whether you are the manager or the owner of the hotel, you need to follow a digital marketing strategy in order to attract more customers and give them a potential stay.
Though online travel agents help you to get the exposure you will not be able to get more direct bookings which will act as a hindrance in your marketing ROI.
Its never too late to restructure the digital marketing strategy for your hotel.
Following are some of the strategies that you can follow to connect with your clients in a better way:
Do an inspection of your website
The first thing that you need to do is to have a look on the website of your hotel. You need to focus on the design and the performance of your website. Your website should be optimized for search engines. Go for SEO audit of your website. It will help in examining your site in order to find the SEO and desktop issues which are responsible for keeping your site away from ranking in search engines.
After this, you need to find that what type of user experience are the client getting by using your hotel’s website. When you are analyzing your site ask yourself these questions:
Is it easy to navigate?
Do your website urges the user to book their journey?
Make sure to make the journey of visiting and using your website easy for the clients. Also, make a Unique Selling Point which can make your hotel different from others.
Be aware of the competitive environment
The next step is to know your competitors and the strategies that they are following to get your customers. One thing that you can do is visit their website and analyze its design and performance. Also, see what are the additional features on their website that are adding value to their customers.
You can also make use of SEO software like SEMrush which shows your customer’s site metrics. These reports can help you to have a detailed knowledge of the strategies followed by your competitors.
Get a better understanding of how your competitors are connecting with their guests on various digital channels in order to take your digital marketing strategies to the next level.
Use social media marketing
If you want to reach the users with the right message, social media serves as the best platform for the travel industry such as hotels. If you have a strong social media marketing campaign, you can reach a large number of users at each stage of the customer lifecycle.
Whenever your guest leaves any comment about their stay make sure you respond to it. Check all their reviews. Do not respond rudely to the negative comments.
Instead, take all the comments positively and promise them to deliver better services in the future. It will help in increasing brand awareness and equity.
Hold your specialization
Find out your unique selling points. Once your guest is able to establish trust in you, the next step that they take is to decide which hotel can give them the best and fair deal. If your hotel is situated nearby breathtaking scenic views, make sure that your website has a lot of photographs.
No worries if your hotel is not situated in such a location. It might be situated in a historic part or nearby local attractions. > Start differentiating about what you can provide that your competitors cannot, from the beginning. Jacaruso Enterprises offers online sales training on their website for hotel owners, managers, and sales teams to drive revenue results including RevPAR (revenue per available room). Start differentiating about what you can provide that your competitors cannot, from the beginning.
Fix your niche
Once you are able to understand that what is your position in the market and what are your unique selling points, the next step is to find who this appeals to. With the help of a software called CRM i.e. customer relationship management, you can keep a track of the reviews and opinions given by your customers.
You can also adopt a content marketing strategy for your hotel. It will help in developing a continuous connection between you and your guests.
Content is considered as the backbone of content marketing strategy as it helps in attracting new customers and retaining the existing ones.
If you want to make a strong content marketing strategy, then focus on needs, wants, opportunities and challenges that your guests face while booking a hotel. Don’t only focus on filling your rooms instead right experience to the right guests.
Mark guest experience
Once you are done with the above-mentioned steps, the next step is to get the customers to discover you. Make them feel that you are listening to their needs and requirements. Send them the content which suits their current stage while they are in the booking process.
Marketing Qualified Lead and Sales Qualified Lead properties helps to understand that what type of content you should deliver to your customers which further helps in qualifying their interest.
Your content performs the task of selling for you but it is not a direct selling method. It gives the power to the customers to decide themselves instead of forcing them to choose you.
Reward your loyal customers
In this stage, your responsibility is to get the feedback from your guests about their experience. After their stay, send them an email and help them to relive the time they had by giving them an easy way to leave a review.
You can also give them an offer that they can use for their next stay. To encourage more bookings in the future, you can create customers loyalty programs to give your members some special offers and deals. It will help to increase the retention rates and brand equity for your hotel.
List yourself on distribution channels
There are so many online travel agencies but the question is where to list your hotel?
The answer is a list of all the sites in the beginning and as you move forward, examine the sites which brings you more business. Other than price, there are many other factors that affect the occupancy rate like an attractive package, seasonal deals etc. It is very important to understand the needs and requirements of your customers.
Trip Advisor and Google Hotel Finder are such platforms which have recently gained popularity among the customers. They find it easy to operate and to compare the rates.
Participate in different events
Create tie- up packages by participating in popular entertainment and business events in your locality. To attract a particular group of clientages, there are various campaigns where hotels create a theme usually based on a popular book or movie.
Take your guests on a virtual tour
One of the biggest blockades that people face while picking a hotel is imagining what their hotel room will look like. You can provide them with a virtual tour to solve their problem. It will help them to visualize what you will provide for them.
Enhance your Trip Advisor rating
Most of the travelers refer to Trip Advisor when they need to book a hotel. If you want to represent yourself in a primeval manner, you can do it with the help of Trip Advisor.
Welcome offers
You can give your guests a welcome cocktail and can also give them the offer of a free room if they check-in at your hotel online. It will boost your reputation and will retain your existing and loyal customers.
Connect regularly with local tourism boards and Chamber of Commerce
It is very important to connect regularly with the local tourism boards and other connotations. They help in organizing different events and for staying in touch with local businesses. These boards also assist in bringing more customers to you and promote your business. It is very important to have a healthy relationship with them.
Reinforce your local SEO:
You should always make a way to stand out in searches in order to provide the customer’s information about you. It will be easier for them to connect with you. You can add the following information when you set up your business profile:
Location of your hotel
Your contact information
Operating hours
Pictures of your hotel and the nearby locations
Description of your hotel
If you are featured on any other website then you may add links to those websites
Booking cost of your rooms
Availability of your rooms
By adding all this information, your guests can have a review of your hotel and can understand your unique selling point. If you ignore this strategy, you may lose many potential customers.
According to a study, out of all the mobile searchers, 40% look for information related to traveling and hotels.
It’s not only about strengthening your profile on Google. You can also set up your profile on websites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Oyster and so on.
Digital marketing strategies for your hotel is all about attracting customers to your site. Plan and make sure that it is set for success.
