Are your marketing dollars are going down the drain?

The top concern of most hotel marketers right now is making sure their promotional efforts are working.  Marketing expenditure must be tied to additional revenue, providing a solid return on investment.

How would you know if your marketing budget is going down the drain?

Indicator #1: You’re not tracking the results

What is measured gets improved.  You already know that.  But are you tracking the right numbers?  Many traditional measures of marketing success have become ineffective with changes in media and consumer buying behavior.

Your job: Use meaningful metrics for your digital marketing

Indicator #2: You haven’t profiled your ideal guest

Knowing your customer is the first step in effective hospitality marketing.  Only after you understand their hotel selection process (what’s important to them) can you create a truly effective campaign.

Your job: Building an intelligent guest database, and rewarding your best customers

Indicator #3: You’re not targeting your marketing

Once you know your target market, you can select media that contains a high proportion of ideal guests.  The internet makes it easy to focus your marketing.  When optimizing your website, include keywords that your ideal guests are likely to search for.  When advertising on pay-per-click networks, use geo-targeting and include negative keywords to only show ads to people likely to stay at your hotel.

Your job: Selecting the right media formats and outlets that best reach your ideal guests

With the technology today, there’s no reason to waste time and money in your marketing campaign.  Use the suggestions above to ensure your marketing dollars aren’t going down the drain.