It’s the start of a brand new year – a time to reflect and set new resolutions and goals for the year ahead.
We spend a lot of our time talking to hotel, hostel and coliving professionals about their marketing – specifically, the challenges they face and how they can overcome them. We also enjoy keeping up to date with brands via their marketing channels.
Along the way, we come across a lot of missed marketing opportunities that are all too common. That’s why, as we’re all setting areas of focus for the year ahead, we’ve put together a list of 7 ways hospitality brands can improve their marketing in 2021…
1. APPLY A FREQUENCY CAP ON ADS
Utilising the power of retargeting ads on social media is one of the most effective ways to convert website visitors who have shown an interest in your brand into confirmed bookings and enquiries.
However, one of the main issues we see from hospitality brands who are running retargeting ads is that the frequency cap – which is the number of times an ad is shown to a user in a certain time period – is not being applied. This becomes a problem – especially when targeting a more defined audience – as users will be bombarded with the same ad over and over (and over…) again, even multiple times a day.
This leads to ad fatigue as your audience grow annoyed at seeing the same content repeatedly in a short time frame. This could risk turning people off your brand and is likely to bring your conversion and click through rates down while driving the cost of your ads up.
Luckily, it’s an easy fix – when setting up ads in Facebook Ads Manager, we recommend setting the frequency cap to no more than once every three days.
2. TALK LESS ABOUT YOURSELF
Whether it’s content for your social media, blog, email newsletter or any other platform, the key is to talk about your audience more than you talk about yourself. Of course, keep your brand front of mind at all times but don’t make it the number one priority in all your communications. This is crucial to engage and convert your target markets.
This might seem counterintuitive at first – we know a lot of brands struggle with this approach because they see their marketing channels primarily as a place to broadcast information about themselves. But the fact is people follow and engage with brands because they value content that really speaks to them. This can only be achieved when you put your target markets at the centre of your content and messaging.
If you think your brand is guilty of talking about yourself too much via your marketing, there are quick steps you can take in order to halt that tactic in its tracks and become more audience-centric. We suggest adopting the 60/30/10 rule when it comes to your content – 60% of the posts you create should be valuable, fun content that gets your audience engaging, commenting, and sharing; 30% should be shared content, like user-generated content or articles that your audience may be interested in; and just 10% should be promoting yourself and your special offers.
Speaking less about yourself and more about your guests is the best way to build a brand community, gain competitive advantage and grow your customer base.
3. RESIST THE ‘SEND-TO-ALL’ BUTTON ON MAILERS
Regardless of the amount of people subscribed to your mailing list, sending out a mass email blast is not a good idea.
Pressing the ‘send-to-all’ button on mailers means you are sharing irrelevant information to certain segments of your email list. In a world where personalisation is expected by your target markets, sending a generalised mailer risks prospective guests getting fed up and unsubscribing.
To ensure this doesn’t happen – and to increase conversions from your brand’s email marketing – we recommend segmenting your main email list into smaller lists. You can do this based on a number of factors, including subscriber location or the stage the subscriber is in their customer journey with you. When your email list is segmented, you are able to send hyper-relevant email communications to each segment of your audience which will improve your open and click-through rate.
This doesn’t necessarily mean a lot more work, either – for our clients, we tend to have one ‘master’ newsletter which we then edit to include relevant content and wording for specific segments, as well as regularly updated mailers for each stage of the customer journey.
Personalising your communications in this way shows you are speaking to your audience as individuals and are clearly tailoring your emails to their specific needs and preferences. Don’t just take our word for it – test out this approach and we guarantee you will see a higher return on investment from your email marketing.
4. LIMIT THE SALES CHAT
When it comes to selling, it’s important to adopt a less is more approach – your audience doesn’t want to be spoken to like they’re just another number and people don’t engage with brands to be constantly sold to.
We understand that the past year has been extremely challenging for hospitality brands which can make ramping up the sales-focused messaging across your marketing platforms seem like the best strategy to go with. However, we can safely say that this is not the case – if anything, it risks turning people off your brand.
Your target markets have an eye for authenticity and are seeking brands to connect with on a deeper level. That’s why bombarding your audience with offers and deals is simply not effective. It removes any kind of personality from your marketing, reduces the capability of your brand to build relationships online with your target markets and – if we’re honest – gets dull very quickly.
If you think your brand is guilty of overselling, come back to the 60/30/10 rule we mention above to balance out your content. You can also ensure any special offers or sales information is displayed clearly – for example, on your website homepage and in your bio on Instagram – so that it’s easy for users to find once they’re ready to book.
5. GET INSIGHTS INTO THE INFLUENCERS YOU WORK WITH
We believe that collaborating with the right influencer for your brand is a great way to build trust with potential guests and boost awareness of your business. However, we have also worked with, and spoken to, many brands who have previously struggled to see worthwhile ROI from collaborations.
To ensure you are investing your time and money with the right influencer, you must check that their content, values and audience aligns with your brand – but most importantly, that they have got the results to back it up.
Prior to working with an influencer, ask for past results in the form of a media kit, complete with case studies from past collaborations. This allows you to clearly see the kind of results they have achieved for other brands similar to yours and make an informed decision about collaboration requests received.
6. OPTIMISE YOUR META DESCRIPTIONS
One of the biggest marketing priorities – and challenges – for many brands is improving their search engine ranking.
Getting the number one spot on the first page of Google won’t happen overnight. However, we see so many brands miss a really important aspect of optimising their website’s discoverability – meta descriptions.
The meta description tag in HTML is the 160 character snippet used to sum up a web page’s content. Meta descriptions serve the function of advertising copy and have the power to increase the click-through rate of your web page when it shows up on search engine results. In turn, this will have a positive impact on your website’s ranking.
By not optimising your meta descriptions with compelling, relevant and targeted copy, you could be missing out on attracting potential guests to your website and losing revenue.
7. UTILISE THE DATA AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
We speak about data a lot because we are really passionate about brands utilising the vast pool of metrics at their disposal in order to inform their marketing. Otherwise, how do you know what is working – and what isn’t – when it comes to growing your brand and reaching your target markets?
Going beyond the typical demographic data of age, gender and location, it’s really important to invest time in constantly learning about your target markets preferences, interests and needs in order to achieve a high return on investment.
In terms of your social media, looking at metrics such as post engagements and reach is a great insight into what is resonating with your audience. It’s also key in seeing what isn’t hitting the mark so you aren’t wasting your time and resources creating something similar.
When considering your email marketing, one of the most useful indicators to keep an eye on is the click-through rate. This is because it shows you which content users are most interested in.
For paid social ads, it’s all about experimenting to get the results you want. We recommend utilising the A/B split testing feature on Facebook Ads. A/B testing allows you to change certain variables, such as your ad creative, audience interests or placement to determine which strategy performs best in order to improve future campaigns.
Analysing your data in a detailed and consistent manner – and trialling new tactics and strategies based on the metrics you see – takes time and resources. However, businesses who invest in this area will be able to innovate faster, create content which resonates with their audience and ultimately see a much greater ROI from their marketing.
So, there you go – 7 potential marketing resolutions that we hope you’ll find useful and adopt for your brand. Looking for marketing support in 2021? Click here to get in touch and let’s chat about how we can support you.
DOWNLOAD OUR WHITE PAPER – THE FUTURE OF HOSPITALITY: WHY 2021 IS THE YEAR OF THE HYBRID
The lines between where we live, work, and play are blurring faster than ever before. As people demand more from the hospitality experience, hybrids are in a strong position to meet this new consumer where they are. In this white paper, we share our 6 predictions on why 2021 will be the year of the hybrid.
We also have interviews with leaders in this space who share their insights on the future of the industry.
