Where hotel marketing starts: developing a strategy
The hotel industry is a highly competitive niche sensitive to global and domestic issues. Considering all these peculiarities, companies should pay close attention to attracting customers. The solution, in this case, is hotel marketing. A well-thought-out strategy will introduce the hotel to many potential customers. It can also demonstrate to consumers the benefits the property has to offer.
The basis of hotel business promotion is increasing the company’s presence on the Internet. SEO and social media marketing are effective tools for this purpose. However, before taking any active steps, it is important to know your target audience better. The best way to do this is to analyse your customers’ preferences and needs. The data obtained is necessary for creating offers and marketing messages.
When developing a strategy for the hospitality industry, it is essential to focus on a personalised approach. This will allow the company to build a strong relationship with customers through email or social media.
A hotel marketing strategy should start with researching the target audience. This is particularly important for luxury hotels because guests expect more than just a place to stay. They want exclusive service that matches their standard of living.
After gathering consumer information, experts create a portrait of the ideal customer. It includes the characteristics of the target group and gives an idea of how to interact with them. Common types of hotel guests form the portrait:
– tourists;
– business travellers;
– family holidaymakers;
– spa holiday guests;
– digital nomads.
It is necessary to identify which group the hotel guests belong to. Based on this information, marketers analyse how to interact with the target audience and develop a promotional strategy. This way, efforts are targeted at a specific sector to maximise results.
Drawing up a hotel marketing plan
After analysing the target audience, specialists create a marketing plan for the hotel business. The work should start with increasing the hotel’s visibility to potential customers. An effective tool, in this case, will be SEO. Optimisation will help improve the site’s position in search engine results by keywords.
In addition to improving the content, it is also necessary to take care of the technical aspects of the site. It should load pages quickly and have an intuitive interface. You should also consider the security of the collection and storage of user data.
Professionals need to think broadly when implementing a hotel marketing strategy. Do not just advertise on social networks or your website. There are several hotel search and booking platforms, such as TripAdvisor and Booking.com. A presence on these will help make the property more recognisable and accessible to new users.