by Susan Tucker
Travel season is just around the corner and, believe it or not, your housekeeping department isn’t the only one with mounting to-do lists to get ready for it. Your hotel’s marketing department should be too! Now is the perfect time to “spring clean” the organization’s website and email marketing. Small tweaks now can reap big rewards later.
DIGITAL MARKETING FOR HOTELS – SPRING CLEANING TIPS
1. Review & Renew
To best understand what needs to be updated, you need to first do a thorough review of your digital assets. Take some time to go through all the main pages of your website to check for obvious updates. Ask yourself these questions:
– Is the copyright date in the footer current? – Are there any defunct links within the copy? – Has anything on your “About Us” page changed, such as team bios or key stats? – Do all social media links direct the user to the correct channel? NOTE: it’s important to differentiate between a “share” link and a “like” or “follow” link. – Does the “News” section have current information? – Is there an easy communication method on the “Contact Us” page, such as Instant Chat or a Phone Number? – Could website visitors easily sign up to receive email updates?
Pro Tip: Capture more leads with a premium offer in exchange for an email address such as a downloadable city guide, property perks, or entry to win in a giveaway. ~Click to Tweet
2. Check & Freshen Up Content
In addition to looking at tone and brevity of the copy, you’ll also want to look at the logistical aspect of each of your posts for premium optimization and reach. Visit analytics to determine the pages most visited and check them to be sure they’re updated and include a current call to action. Boost up the least visited pages by freshening up the title, adding new images and links. Also, take some time to look at pages that have not been updated recently and find out if the content still applicable.
Additionally:
– Create or update your content calendar – Make sure there is a diverse selection of media options – text, photos, and video – and fill in where necessary – Launch an online survey – Discover where you can repurpose existing content. Ex., turn a blog post into a video; dissect a White Paper into several posts; create a SlideShare around related topics
A 100-page website ranks higher than a 10-page one that covers the same market, 99% of the time. And a 500-pager beats the 100-pager and so on. The key though is keeping your content fresh and constant.
3. Consider Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is the use of software and web-based services to execute, manage, and automate marketing tasks and processes. These services take over manual, routine and repetitive tasks so that you don’t have to manually do them all, especially when staff may be stretched thin already. They are purpose-built to help with specific aspects of marketing. Some places that may benefit from a marketing automation program:
– Social media postings – Email marketing – SEO – Content Distribution
Marketing automation should be used thoughtfully, the last thing you want your potential customers to think is that you’re robotic. But, when used well, it can free up hours of time and resources that may be better spent in other areas of your hotel.
This spring cleaning tips are certainly not exhaustive, but they should get you moving in the right direction
