The success of a hotel marketer in online marketing is really not rocket science, consumer shopping have changed and evolved along with technology. Now reservations and hotel bookings can be done in so many ways through your laptop, tablet and even through mobile.
As hotel marketers there are top things that you need to know to be successful:
"It is not just where the guest booked in the end."
Instead of one-way interruption, Web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise moment a buyer needs it.-David Meerman Scott
Reports say that average traveler visits about 22 travel related sites within 9.5 research session prior to booking. Consumers are more concerned now of what service or package they will be getting in comparison to what the general market offers before making the decision.
Big companies like Hilton Worldwide executive Paul Brown recently stated that they are now focused on making sure that their properties are properly represented across the web. They do this by being engaging and informative to the shopping customers every step of the way.
"Guests shop in Facebook."
People share, read and generally engage more with any type of content when it's surfaced through friends and people they know and trust. – Malorie Lucich
Facebook has increasingly been one of the most effective referral sites for hotel shopping. This is now the case, booking chances is greater than those doing it via Google search.
Social networking sites have played such a big role in driving the traffic to hotel booking just like it does to any other industry now a days. It is very important for any hotel to have not just a fan page but to have a fan page that gives as much information as it can. It is very important that the page is attractive enough to drive more likes and shares.
"Mobile website is in. Be as techie as you can be."
Bring the best of your authentic self to every opportunity – John Jantsch (Writer, Duct Tape Marketing)
Just like any other growing industry, hotel industry needs to go with the trend. Considering the busy times and the target market of the hotels these days it is a must to be technologically equipped to reach out.
According to PhoCusWright, 28% of leisure travelers conducting travel related activities only use their mobile in searching while 72% use a combination of mobile websites and apps. Having this said, it is very important that your site will have everything there is to gain an advantage in catching the attention of your customers. Visuals, shopping list, order tracking, videos, mobile exclusive offers are just a few that any leisure traveler would surely appreciate.
Hotel marketing is a big part of building your brand. Brand building as you know is very important if you want to draw more traffic not just to your site but also to make sure you get more share of the target market than your competitors.
So the next time you brainstorm with the board for your next marketing proposal meeting make sure not to forget these top 3 things for hotel marketers.