What Should You Include In Your First Ever Digital Marketing Strategy?

Building your first ever digital marketing strategy is an exciting time for any hotelier, and as digital marketing continues to become an ever more important part of the marketing mix within the hotel industry, it’s important to consider how to make sure all the vital elements for success are in place at the outset.

The word strategy can be off-putting and bring to mind hours of painful decision making, research and legions of data. With multiple channels falling under the digital umbrella and owned, earned and paid media budget allocations to factor in, tackling your very first strategy is best approached with forethought and a clear focus. To help you get started, we have compiled this handy blog post which outlines exactly what you need to include, ensuring you complete the exercise with a useful, functional strategy to guide your actions moving forwards.

There’s no point in utilising any marketing tactics if you’re doing it without knowing exactly why; all that happens in this event is that your hotel expends time, energy and money on undefined goals which produce little real benefit. Maybe your objective is demonstrating your expertise or driving more custom from domestic or overseas hotel guests? However broad or narrow your focus, ensuring you have such a plan in place helps form your overall tactical approach.  Be clear on what your reasons for creating a strategy are, what your goals are and how you’re going to get there throughout your document.

Since this is your first digital marketing strategy, remember to set some milestones partway through rolling out your tactics to help ensure your activities remain on-track. This will also help you to adapt your strategic approach if you realise something isn’t working, and evaluate how elements which are effective can be pushed to even greater success.

The digital marketing methods which may work for one industry won’t necessarily suit the hotel trade, so don’t be concerned to isolate those tactics which are of value. A hotel digital marketing agency will be able to advise on the best methods for your particular situation, but popular digital marketing tactics used within the hospitality industry include utilising an integrated combination of the following:

• • Your booking engine and hotel website – optimised to ensure the highest level of lead conversion
  • Social media strategy – for winning over social travellers
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) including mobile and voice SEO– to safeguard your rankings in online search
  • Content marketing

 

One of the best things about digital is the ability it gives marketers to ensure their efforts are always measurable and success is easier to prove than with more traditional marketing channels. The methods you choose to measure your key performance indicators will vary depending on the hotel marketing strategies deployed, but could include tracking social sharing activity, increased traffic, brand impressions and much more. It’s vital to put these measures in place so you can ensure your marketing efforts are never wasted.