A complete digital marketing guide for hotel industry

1. DIGITAL MARKETING GUIDE
For Hotels

2. The New Marketing Challenge
The Drivers
• Self educating consumer powered by search
• Conversations powered by Social Media
• Perpetual connectivity powered by Smartphones
Lead us to an environment where
“Social is how consumers hear about us, search is how they find
us and content is how they remember us”

3. The Key Success Factors in this environment are:
• Win in Mobile & Search
• Meaningful conversations in Social Media
• Create a personalized experience
• Content that is contextual and useful
Let’s look at some of the opportunities that Hotels can
benefit from.

4. Mobile
How to show up in mobile search results?

5. Mobile, Explosion

6. Mobile, Local Overlap
Mobile refers to a device and/or the
method that a consumer is using to
find information
Local refers to the type of
information or search query they are
looking for
Google officially says that 40% of
mobile queries are local in nature
Microsoft has said this number is
roughly 53%

7. Mobile Search Opportunities & Best Practices
Many of the fundamentals for local/mobile search optimization have not
changed
It’s still important to:
• Have an address in the city that’s being searched
• Have an address close to the city center
• Associate your business with complete and proper categories.
• Have a mobile website
• Ensure your data is accurate and complete across the Local
Ecosystem
• Focus on Google + Local

8. Google + Local Ranking Factors
The number, authority and velocity of +1’s
on a hotel website.
Google provides ‘+’ badges and widgets that
you can place on your site.
Getting more follows and “+’s” for your website can
help you rank better in local search.

9. Google + Local Ranking Factors
The number, authority and
velocity of Adds/Shares on
Google+
Setup your Google+ profile,
post often, interact with others

10. Google + Local Ranking Factors
Google is heavily pushing
their reviews product
They are not promoting third
Parties like TripAdvisor,
Expedia, MakeMyTrip and
Cleartrip any more
Find ways to encourage
customers to leave reviews
on Google+

11. Thoughts for Local & Mobile Search
Ensure your data is accurate and complete across the
Local Ecosystem
Setup and ensure your Google+ Local page is optimized
Get more involved with the Google+ environment, add a
link from your website to your Google+ profile
Optimizing for Google+ is not a “silver bullet” for Local
SEO, but it matters

12. Meta Search
Emerging alternative to OTAs

13. Meta Search Marketing
Meta search marketing in hospitality is online
advertising that requires real-time room availability
and pricing feed. This new “hybrid” digital marketing
format, the result of the convergence of hotel online
distribution and online advertising, it requires:
Real-time hotel inventory availability + pricing
Marketing campaign, budget and bid management by
property

14. Meta Search Marketing
The most popular meta search sites and features in the hospitality
and travel space include:
Google Hotel Finder (HPA pricing drop-downs): Google Hotel
Finder beta, Google Maps, Google search engine results pages
(SERPs), etc.
TripAdvisor Meta Search
Kayak.com
Trivago.com (Europe)
WeGo.com (Asia Pacific)

15. Meta Search Marketing: The Google Example

16. Meta Search Marketing: The Google Example
Hotel Location: The best mapping service on the web
Hotel Information: There is more information about any hotel, its
location, destination, local attractions, etc. than anyone could
possibly read in a lifetime
Customer reviews: Google provides Zagat’s Reviews plus a summary
of reviews from all reviewing sites, including TripAdvisor
Real Time Availability and Rate Comparison: With Google Hotel
Finder, Google has “closed the loop” and now provides 360-degree
hotel stay research with easy planning and booking

17. Thoughts for Meta Search
Meta search marketing is a great way to level the playing
field with OTAs throughout the fast growing meta search
eco-system.
Not only does meta search marketing help hoteliers
compete against the OTAs and shift share from the OTAs to
the direct online channel, it generates cost-effective
incremental bookings at great ROAS levels.

18. Facebook
Travel is one of the most shared activity on FB

19. How to leverage FB strategically
Opportunities for engagement: Fan Photos, Videos and Contests
Opportunities for Exposure: Staff Speak, Photo/Videos from events
Showcase your personality and win social proof
Always be in the context of current times and location
Make the best of Facebook Platform through apps ….

20. Hotel Information App
Give travelers an online
view of what your hotel
has to offer.
You can include property
images and videos and a
list of the best and finest
amenities available at
your property.

21. Special Offer App
Increase your hotel’s fan
base and online bookings
by sharing current specials
and offers on your
Facebook App

22. Book Now App
Increase your hotel’s
online revenue by offering
them a way to book a
room on the channel they
frequent most.

23. Contest Apps
Generate buzz and
increase social reach and
engagement by hosting a
contest or sweepstakes.

24. Polls and Surveys
Improve your hotel’s
social engagement score
by integrating a poll or
survey on your Facebook
App. Gamify the survey to
make users want to share
it, by giving the user a
reason to complete it –
like providing unique
insight into attractions to
visit in your area based on
their specific interests.

25. Thoughts for Facebook
Facebook can do three things: inspire, convert, and retain,
Your website is the official space on the web, whereas your Facebook
is your more relaxed home.
Be the most authentic source of tourist information for the cities you
operate in
Make the most of FB Platform to build engagement through apps

26. Twitter
140 characters are worth 1000 words

27. Twitter for Hotels
Connect and engage customers and prospects in conversations
Give followers the information they care about
Create buzz about special events and deals
Real time Q&A with followers
Use Twitter integration with YouTube / Vine to share video content

28. Twitter Sample Page

29. Thoughts for Twitter
Create a main account and a local account for each property
Listen on keywords or what people are talking about Keys and
competition
Broadcast, offers, events and promotion
Engage guests in one on one conversation
Ask for suggestions and feedback

30. Pinterest
An emerging social channel you should know about

31. What is Pinterest?
It’s a place to bookmark
(Pin) images and videos
you find from around the
web
Your “pins” are visible to
other Pinterest users
and you can see the pin
boards of others.
Search for topics and
ideas that are of interest
Pinterest Business
Pages

32. Pinterest – Who and How?
Source: Mashable

33. How Can It Benefit Hotels?
Visually show off your property and brand through images and video

34. How Can It Benefit Hotels?
Demonstrate local area expertise, itineraries

35. How Can It Benefit Hotels?
Target specific business segments like weddings, meetings, family/kids,
romance, etc.

36. How Can It Benefit Hotels?
Adopt early – differentiate from competitors
SEO
- No direct inbound link benefit but strong social signal
- Optimize pins for search on Pinterest
Add Pinterest integration to your site through follow buttons & pin
buttons
Pinterest for Business
- Post case studies & tips for success
- Eventually – Buy now button, targeted ads and business analytics
may be in the works for businesses on Pinterest

37. Retargeting
The next big digital marketing opportunities

38. Search Remarketing Example
After visiting a site the user sees PPC ads in Google search results

39. Why Search Remarketing?
Leverage information you have about a consumer to impact you’re
messaging and bidding strategy within your SEM campaigns to improve
performance.
Maximize your PPC ad copy
Manage CPCs better – Spend more to get the click from the consumer
that already knows your brand
More personalized landing pages

40. Display Retargeting Example
After visiting a site the user sees targeted messaging on other sites
across the web

41. Why Display Advertising?
eMarketer projects that
display will overtake
search as the largest
online ad spending
category by 2015.
Google reports that the
average travel shopper
uses 10.2 information
sources before buying.
Being present on as many
of these channels as
possible is becoming more
critical.
$26.04
$31.30
$36.80
$41.20
$45.50
$49.50
$9.91
$12.22
$14.82
$17.06
$19.66
$21.99
$12.00
$14.38
$17.03
$18.85
$20.19
$21.53
$-
$10.00
$20.00
$30.00
$40.00
$50.00
$60.00
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
US Online Display and Search Ad Spending, 2010-2015 (billions)
Total Online Ad Spending
Display
Search

42. Retargeting Case Study – Spruce Point Inn
Situation
- Spruce Point Inn had two months before they closed for the
season
- They had select inventory available to fill during the
remaining 8 weeks
Strategy
- Developed a Autumn Romance package to target couples
looking to escape for a weekend
- Decided retargeting would be a perfect opportunity to
message previous website visitors with targeted message
about the package

43. Display Case Study – The Creative
Creative set 1 – Getaway, romance, memories
Creative set 2 – Getaway, autumn, Botanical Gardens, memories

44. Display Case Study – Campaign in Action

45. Considerations for Hotels
Consider budgeting some additional advertising spend for display
opportunities
Display opportunities can help differentiate and shift-share
What segments can you create? Broadly retargeting everyone, or
targeting people based on certain actions?
Budgets can start as low as $50/week and can easily turned off/on

46. Content
Personalize content & increase conversions

47. Conversion Rate Optimization
As everyone gets familiar and comfortable with marketing tactics like email,
SEO and PPC, everyone now knows how to do a better job of getting people to
their site
The next phase of this evolution is how to better convert those people once you
get them to your site. Enter Conversion Rate Optimization.
Conversion rate is impacted by many factors:
– Site usability
– Site content
– SEO keyword strategy
– Paid search keyword strategy
– Rate
– Occupancy
– Targeted content

48. Personalization is What We Need to Do
Many hospitality companies and hotels around the world have perfected
personalization at a property level
Personalizing and customizing things like:
- Room preferences
- Rate preferences
- Meal/snack preferences
- And more
This level of service does wonders for guest service and makes guests come
back
Technologies exist that allow us to bring this same level of service to our
website

49. Targeted Content Case Study – The Wentworth

51. 51

52. Considerations for Hotels
Think about how you can
better convert the visitors
you are already getting to
your website
Look at targeted content
methods to deliver the right
message to the right
customer at the right time
Create a glossy lifestyle
magazine style blog

53. RECAP
Takeaways

54. Takeaways
1. Think about what you need to do with your mobile strategy
1. Get ahead of competition through channels like Google+ and Pinterest
2. Make the most of FB Platform to build engagement through apps
3. Use Twitter to Listen and Respond in real time
1. Consider retargeting and remarketing to differentiate and shift share
2. Bring personalization philosophies to the web through targeted content
3. Setup a authority Travel Blog

55. ABOUT US

56. Who We Are
Marketers with deep operational experience in growing business
globally, designers who can code and engineers who have developed
award winning products for the modern web/mobile. Together we
deliver exceptional digital results.

57. What We Do

58. tarun@practicenext.com
THANK YOU
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