As you know, hospitality marketing trends come and go. New coupon sites pop up, new social media sites claim to be all the rage, and new review sites grab your attention. It's important to know which trends are just passing fads and which are here to stay. It's also essential to know which trends will actually be profitable for your hospitality business! Click to view an infographic of hospitality trends from Hospitality Net.
Growth of Mobile Booking and Interaction
Guests want ultimate convenience when booking their hotel rooms, making dinner reservations and finding relevant information. If you offer better, faster, more convenient service than your competitors, you get guests' business first. People now carry their mobile phones almost everywhere. Enable guests to make reservations right from their mobile phones quickly and easily.
Mobile is also great for text message marketing. Text messages are an immediate form of communication as the majority of text messages get opened within five minutes of the person receiving them. Text message campaigns are easily automated to save you time and effort while still reaching out and bringing in more business. Text messages are ideal for hospitality coupons and discounts, contests (Win a romantic dinner for two! Win a weekend stay at our resort!) and special promotions.
One more tip: if you have a website (and you should), ensure that it displays and functions properly on mobile! Don't lose guests because your site is not optimized for mobile users.
Increase in Social Media Marketing
More and more, in 2014 and going forward, guests are turning to social media to find out more information about hospitality businesses. Whether you have a restaurant, hotel, resort or bar you absolutely need to have a strong presence on social media. Social media pages are easily found by guests using search engines.
This does not mean that you have to be on tons of different social media sites. Trying to maintain too many social media feeds has an adverse effect on your hospitality marketing. It takes up too much time, gets messy and makes it look like your business is overwhelmed and disorganized. Focus instead on maintaining a consistent, engaging presence on a few major sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
It's simple and very efficient to automate your social media posting. Create a series of scheduled posts ahead of time so your feed will be automatically updated every day. Your social media pages should provide detailed information about your hospitality business and should also get guests excited. Create fun contests and post coupons that draw guests in for a meal, a stay or a special event. Partner with other local businesses to cross-promote and provide attractive incentives for guests. Post real guest reviews of your hospitality business to build trust and interest.
Using Analytic Data to Target Guests More Effectively
Hospitality marketers have so much information available to them now. Why not use it to your advantage? An automated hospitality marketing solution enables you to use detailed guest information to provide personalized marketing campaigns.
Sending personally targeted messages to each guest boosts open rates, response rates and ultimately revenue. Personalized messages are much more effective than one-size-fits-all marketing messages. They build loyalty and ensure that you maintain a meaningful connection with each guest. Personalization keeps guests coming back, spending money and recommending your hospitality business to friends.
Your hospitality solution tracks each guest's activities, history, interaction, preferences, special dates and much more. It then automatically sends out personalized messages to each guest that are relevant to their needs and interests.
Personalized messages and campaigns are difficult and overwhelmingly time consuming if you're trying to do them automatically. Automate the process to maximize your time, efficiency and revenue.
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