HOTELMARKETING

ON A BUDGETON A BUDGET

SAVE YOURHOTEL MONEYSAVE YOURHOTEL MONEYHere are some of the most cost-effectivedigital marketing techniques that the modernhotel marketer can use.

These are all low cost, high yield tips that letyou control your hotel marketing budget whilegiving bookings a boost.

DISCOVER KEYINVESTEMENT AREAS

There are hundreds of tools, strategies and channels

available to the online marketer. Which are best for

your hotel?

5 FOCUS AREAS5 FOCUSAREASToday we'll be looking at 5 areas that give youbig returns:

Website ExperienceBooking Abandonment RecoveryEmail Marketing ROIPay per Click AdvertisingConversion Rate Optimisation and Testing

CREATE ACOMPELLINGWEBSITE EXPERIENCE

Your website should be laser-focused on the user's

experience. That way, when your marketing budget is

spent on campaigns to drive people to your website,

the effort isn't wasted on an old or confusing

website.

Creating a great web experience isn't about flashing

neon or cool widgets.

Today, web design is all about conversion, and the

data says that keeping things simple and streamlined

is the key to success.

3 AREAS TO INVEST IN:

Better Navigation. Poor navigation can becostly - make sure yours is intuitive and simple.Faster Loading Speed. Up to 75% of yourvisitors will leave for a competitor's site toavoid dealing with delays. Don't let that be you.Images that Sell. High quality images thatshow off your hotel's features and beauty areabsolutely key to your website's success.

RECOVERRESERVATIONS FROMGUESTS WHO ABANDON

Estimations for booking abandonment rates in the

travel sector ranges from 61% to nearly 98% across

different studies.

That's huge.

In a recent case study from MarketingSherpa, a

simple triggered email recaptured 29% of bookings.

Now, that's what we call return on investment!

To get the maximum ROI from these emails targeting

abandoned bookings, make sure to:

Capture email addresses as early as possible in

the booking process

Send your first email immediately, while your

hotel is fresh in their minds

Give a slight discount in the 2nd email

Reservation recovery procedures are one of the most

straightforward, essential ways to get more bookings

for less money.

Instead of trying to convert 'cold' traffic, they focus

on people who are ready to book a hotel - help them

make the choice and choose yours!

MEASUREEMAIL MARKETINGCAMPAIGNS

Exactly how effective are your email campaigns ingetting you bookings?

If you can't answer that question, invest in aprogram that can track your ROI. Acrossindustries, average ROI on emails is over 2500%.How are your campaigns stacking up?

When you're monitoring your email campaigns,here are some KPIs to keep an eye on:

Conversion rates - how many people who openyour emails are making bookings?Clickthrough rates - which of your links aregetting attention?Bounce rates - are your subject lines failing you?Subscription & Unsubscription rates

PAY PER CLICKADVERTISING

PPC advertising plays an essential role in most onlinehotel marketing campaigns.

On average, for every $1 a business spends in GoogleAdWords, they receive $8 in profit. PPC ads also have apositive impact on organic clickthrough rates.

For hotels especially, branded PPC can improve clicksby 27% on average.

To be successful, PPC ads need to:

Be targeted towards the right audience: who isyour ideal guest?Be designed effectively: make sure to followconversion best practices.Communicate the right message at the right time:use keywords that correspond to the part of thebooking funnel that your ad is targeted to.

Invest in training to get your PPC skills up tospeed - alternatively, hire an agency to do theheavy lifting.

Either way, PPC ads give you a sophisticatedway to target your efforts, and can be quiteprofitable. They're ideal for those with limitedbudgets.

CONVERSION RATEOPTIMISATION ANDTESTING

All the marketing activities above are great waysto boost bookings without breaking the bank.

However, every hotel is unique, so everystrategy you use should be tested so you can findout which approach is best for you.

To do that , you need a documented strategy.

Test and track your campaigns constantly. To getyou started, click the button below for adownloadable version of our digital marketingcampaign checklist:

Good luck! Remember: pick 1-3 strategies to getthe most from your marketing budget, and testthem to get the best results.

Focused exclusively on the hotel sector, NetAffinity has collated the brightest, mostcommercially focused, experienced and

passionate team of online marketers,account managers, designers and developerswhose combined skil l set ensures our cl ients

online success and continued growth.