120 Marketing Ideas for Hotels in 2009
by Josiah Mackenzie on January 06, 2009
19 Comments
19 Comments
Everyone loves a good list. To help you plan for the upcoming year, I’ve put together some of the best new marketing ideas for 2009. Enjoy!
Note: This list has been updated as 130 Hotel Marketing Ideas for 2010
Website
- Buy some great domain names (market is less competitive right now)
- Remove your intro “splash” page
- Have a clean & simple web design
- Use Website.Grader.com to ensure technical quality
- Build easy navigation
- Ensure instant brand identification
- Make contact forms short & simple
- Use Google Optimizer for best results
- Add live chat support
- Add a virtual host
- Use video instead of text (where possible)
- Post directions to your hotel in pictures
- Syndicate content as RSS
- Offer in-depth destination information
- Show pictures of attractions near your hotel with Panoramio
- Use Google maps to provide step-by-step directions to your hotel
- Let visitors write and send eCards (email postcards)
- Publish visitor comments
- Publish videos of satisfied guests
- Include positive social media rankings (ex: #1 in San Francisco on TripAdvisor)
- Add social bookmarking services Digg and del.icio.us to important pages
- Use Mofuse.com to make your site mobile-friendly
- Use Diigo to track & share changes to competitors’ websites
- Create a public Google Calendar to show upcoming events
Organic Search Marketing (SEO)
- Focus on dominating local search
- Create local keyword lists by pairing geocentric keywords (Seattle) with industry keywords (boutique hotel)
- Optimize for questions people ask
- Make your blog search friendly
- Appear in Google Maps‘ local business listings
- Make sure your hotel website has the right keywords in the right place
- Establish a web presence, not just a web site
- Use Quarkbase to understand your web presence
- Use Google Trends for websites
Paid Search Marketing (PPC)
- Determine your objective first (ROI, growth, market research, etc)
- Use professional keyword research tools
- Use property features as keywords
- Include industry & long tail keywords
- Do keyword competitive analysis to find opportunities
- Experiment with different match types (broad, phrase, exact)
- Use negative keywords
- Grab attention with your ad copy
- Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) to include search phrases
- Highlight special seasonal offers & update regularly
- Disqualify unlikely guests
- Create many ad variations for each ad group
- Split test ad copy variations
- Use unique reservation landing pages
- Adjust keyword bidding strategies
- Use seasonality data
- Try geo-targeting
- Experiment with ad placements (on travel websites)
- Target specific demographics
- Set up weekly statistics reporting
- Ask your PPC agency hard questions
Social Media
- Listen to what people are already saying about you
- Monitor your brand name with Google Alerts
- Use Google Trends to find what’s hot
- Start a destination blog
- Start a hotel blog
- Have your staff start blogs
- Understand the 7 types of blog posts
- Use Feedburner for RSS syndication
- Offer an email alternative to RSS
- Make blog posts richer with Zemanta
- Encourage distribution with ShareThis
- Build your blog community with MyBlogLog
- Realize that effective PR takes place in social media
- Pitch travel bloggers
- Focus your social media outreach on best groups
- Start tweeting
- Create a Facebook page
- Get listed in WikiTravel (amazing how many smaller hotels are absent)
- Get listed in TripAdvisor
- Get listed in Yelp
- Get listed in VirtualTourist
- Encourage guests to register with Yelp & Tripadvisor at check in
- Ask for TripAdvisor hotel reviews when your guests check out
- Ask for Yelp reviews at the end of all in-house satisfaction surveys
- When a guest compliments your hotel, ask them to give you a social media review
- Print a social media review request on the back of your business cards
- Start a Flickr photostream
- Start a Flickr group
- Start a YouTube channel
- Shoot a video of your hotel, and post it to Google Video
Measurement & Analytics
- Install (free) Google Analytics (if you haven’t already)
- Understand how Analytics can help with search optimization
- Use Compete.com to understand your site traffic (& competitors)
- Track referral source types
- Know which websites refer the highest quality traffic
- Develop meaningful metrics for digital marketing
- Track number of social media mentions
- Track social media satisfaction percentage
- Create new toll-free numbers to track different web promotions
- Try HowSociable?
Customer Service
- Listen to your guests using the web
- Respond to feedback (positive and negative) in social media websites
- Develop a more intelligent guest relationship system
- Build an (opt-in) email list of your guests
- Offer exclusive rates to your list
- Reward your best guests: Send special birthday & anniversary packages
- Reward your best guests: Create seasonal specials packages
- Hire multilingual staff
- Hire multicultural staff
- Offer air conditioning
- Print and give out (free) postcards
- Reimburse checked baggage fees
- Provide a SMART shopping car (like Le Bristol in Paris)
- Borrow ideas from customer service leaders like Nordstrom and Lexus
Technology
- Embrace new technology that improves your guest experience
- Provide free internet access through WiFi and guest computers
- Offer technology that complements your hotel’s heritage
- Add new entertainment hubs (with iPod docking, etc)
- Try interactive activity planner centers
- Experiment with permission-based mobile marketing
- Get your hotel video posted on TVtrip
Miscellaneous
- Look for big advertising discounts (corporation budget cuts mean remnant sales)
- Try unconventional room pricing
- Never reduce prices as a quick-fix remedy
- Partner with local businesses for destination marketing
- Sell the experience, not the room
Looking for more hotel marketing ideas? See this: 1001 Hotel Marketing Ideas
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Article by Josiah Mackenzie // January 06, 2009
Josiah spends pretty much all day, every day looking for ways you can use new media and the social web to improve your business. To bring him on your team, you should look at our Insider's Circle program here.
This is a really nice list. Worth sharing. I’ll be sure to reverence this page at internet marketing training programs for Tourism Biz I work with.
Thanks, Todd – I appreciate it
You mentioned having multiple toll free numbers to track your results. Most people think that costs more, but with toll free numbers you’re basically only paying for the volume of calls you receive. So having multiple different toll free numbers is like having several smaller pipes instead of one big one going into your pool. You’re only charged based on how much water goes through, not how many pipes you have so using multiple pipes doesn’t even cost anything more than using just one pipe for everything. All you have to do is divide the amount of advertising you put in by the number of calls you receive and it’ll be easy to see which things are working and which ones aren’t!
I just thought I’d add two extra cents to that point.
Bill Quimby
TollFreeNumbers.com
Really great post.
There is also a booking portal helping hoteliers to generate direct bookings. No commissions, no charges, no obligations.
We believe ‘direct booking’ is the only way for potential customers to get complete and unbiased information and the only opportunity for hoteliers to attract new guests and increase their direct sales revenue.
Could it be the idea #121?
Piergiorgio Pili
Hotelplayer.com
This is an AWESOME post! My name is Mike and I work for a Casino and Hotel here in Fresno California!
You have some GREAT info on here and I will definitely use some of the tips above! WOW~
Beings you shared some great info with me.. I figured I would let you all know what we are doing at the Casino here as well.. It should help all of you at least a little.. Toll Free Numbers is a great Idea.. But wait until you see this.. WOW
Here is a FREE website that will show you what Im talking about.. You can go wrong.. Its only about 10 minutes and will show you some very powerful TIPS and Techniques for ALL HOTEL or Casino managers..
Again Thanks for the great post.. Take care
Mike~
ps. If you would like to see what I was talking about..
just go to http://www.bizmobilemarketing.biz
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing such a long list… especially im agree with starting couple of blogs… each helps to reach other types of customers or partners…
Hotel Marketing strategies is a truly great blog and this is a top resource post. You are now in my RSS reader and I follow you on twitter. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thank you John for your kind comments. I’ll do my best to keep the resources coming through here…
These strategies is a great help for hotels and a great feedback to customers. Hope that all hotel will try this strategies. It will help them to gain more guest and can make their customer satisfied.
really nice list
thanks
adrien
http://www.hotelsophiegermain.com
Good tip
and very good for many hotel owner and me also
Interesting facts have been given on this post which I can use when I do marketing concepts for a particular hotel chain in Dubai.
During the low season it seems everywhere you try to get more business your competition is already there using a variety of techniques to draw in customers. When you develop a low season marketing plan, you have to consider two things – your unique business and your customer demographic.
Thanks for this post – I agree that buying good domain names is a great idea. It’s particularly worth buying up local domain names – the good SEO phrases are often not yet purchased!
Thanks for the post – pairing of geo + industry centric keywords is excellent. Also agree to find out what people are ALREADY saying about you. Chances are there are already alot of conversations and comments in the marketplace. Find them!
I was a little surprised ‘Partnerships / Collaborations’ didn’t feature as a category, along with ideas around collaborations and forging deeper, more meaningful relationships. Would you consider it?
Definitely a very good idea – thanks for the suggestion!
I like it so much. I found very meaningful and worth using it.
The strategies are really good…… it really helped me in my project… thank you so much for the post….