In the end it’s the customer that matters most, writes Phil Butler in the last of a five-part series

That’s a strange subheading, huh? But the fact is you cannot be all things to everyone in the world, not even with a massive digital footprint. The best advice any hotel owner ever got from a digital marketing guru mirrors this fact. Hoteliers, like any other business executives, try and come up with ways to reach every market. For the independent hotel owner in particular, attempting to market to the broad audience can spell disaster. That said, it’s also crucial that any business is able to be flexible, while at the same time economical. One key factor I’ve not mentioned is budget.

Never let your budget restrictions dictate a campaign. I’m reminded of further campaign efficiency by another EFT speaker, Visit California marketing guru, Lynn Carpenter. A post recently on think with Google reveals Carpenter’s view on one huge value proposition - content. From my perspective as someone who creates marketable content, there’s no better advice than this:

“Content is the area of focus because it keeps us device and platform agnostic. You’ve got the content and if you have the foresight to develop it in ways that can be repurposed that content doesn’t expire. We’ve just got to think about producing it in a way that can be consumed in these various mediums.”

In short, you’ve got to optimise at every turn. We’ve preached this to PR and marketing clients for years, the idea of ‘never waste a story’ – but you’d be surprised how many CEOs still just let a key event for their business go by noiselessly. Whether it’s gripping content, or that mint on the pillow, your guests’ experiences are real time, amplified, and reverberate no matter how much you spend converting them. You wanted to know the ROI on ad or social media spend? Well, you’ve been in control of that all along. Zero spend returns nothing, but this is not to say waste is ever a positive.

In conclusion, this little primer on creating a hotel booking campaign does not even touch on creative channel integration, social media support, public and media relations, or a dozen other components that make up killer marketing success. However, what I’ve attempted to do is open up the world of high-powered digital marketing and ads so that the irresistible fact of it all does not pass anyone by. Through engaging loyal and first time guests using the digital expertise at your disposal, by being open to new ideas and methods, you’ll soon find hotel marketing has not really changed so much. In the end, it’s the hotel guest that matters most. Go where they go, speak what they speak, show them to their room. 

Missed the first four?

Number 4: Measure effectiveness
Number 3: The simple ‘where’ of it all
Number 2: Image
Number 1: Target, target and retarget 

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