A Hotel Software Digital Marketing Strategy for American Market

By Supratim Chakraborty

Agenda

¤  Hotel Software & US Market

¤  Digital Marketing Trends

¤  SEO Strategy

¤  SEM Strategy

¤  Social Media Strategy

¤  Digital Marketing Metrics

Hotel Software & US Market

¤  Channel Partner present in 15 American countries selling and marketing Hotel software

¤  Four year boom expected for the US hotel industry

¤  New segments such as design hotels emerging in the US hotel industry

¤  Making right conversation with the right people from the start

¤  Defining the demographics ,job functions and industry of target audience

¤  Identifying your buyer: hotel and property owners

¤  Identify your influencer: Bloggers, Channel/Business Partners, Industry thought leaders

¤  Defining the target market and target verticals:

¤  Target Market: American Markets

¤  Target verticals: Hospitality Industry

¤  Hotels, lodges, guesthouses, apartments, resorts etc

Digital Marketing Trends

¤  Digital Marketing Budget increasing by 10 % from 2014

¤  22% of marketers adjusting traditional sales support budget to make room for digital

¤  Digital Marketing as a % of revenue increased by 20 % from 2012 to 2013

¤  Harnessing the power of mobile marketing, gamification and email marketing

SEO Strategy

¤  Content creation strategy, link building and keyword strategy to increase the page rankings on all major search networks

¤  Listing of Hotel Software in the top ten hospitality websites of the American market

¤  Websites of hotels

¤  Property listing portals

¤  Ad banners and ad popups for leading websites in the US Market such as economic times,yahoo news, Huffingtonpost,cnn, google news, newyork times,USA Today, LA Times,The Guardina, abc news etc

¤  Integrated Marketing Campaign: Advetorials,Display ads, email, direct mail, campaign website

¤  Implementing effective paid search, organic search and landing page for Hotel Software

Effective SEO Implementation

Strategy   Situa+on   Ac+on  Item  

SEO  up  to  par  by  crea/ng  high-­‐quality,  helpful,  engaging  and  relevant  website  content  

In  September  of  2013,  Google  introduced  a  new,  drama/cally  different  search  algorithm  dubbed  “Hummingbird,”  intended  to  gather  beDer,  more  intui/ve  results  for  users  via  conversa/onal  search.    

Crea/ng  high-­‐quality  content  that  engages  users.  With  each  update  to  its  algorithm,  Google  further  emphasizes  the  importance  of  deep,  relevant,  unique  and  engaging  content,  so  crea/ng  a  content-­‐centric  SEO  strategy  is  a  top  priority  .  

   

 In  Google’s  own  statement,  the  Hummingbird  is  the  company’s  largest  search  algorithm  change  since  2001  –  a  staggering  period  of  /me  in  the  ever-­‐evolving  world  of  SEO.    

Minimum  of  35-­‐50  pages  of  content  for  a  full-­‐service  soQware  website.  U/lizing  website’s  CMS  plaSorm,  create  landing  pages  ,events  and  happenings  at  Hotel Software .Consider  using  a  professional  copywri/ng  &  SEO  team  that  will  know  what  type  of  content  to  write  about  while  also  targe/ng  long-­‐tail  keywords  (i.e.  Chicago  hotel  with  free  WiFi).  Google  Hummingbird  algorithm  update  simply  underscores  the  copywri/ng  strategy  we  have  u/lized  for  many  years  .Genera/ng  high-­‐quality  content  that  engages  and  informs  users.  By  crea/ng  quality  content  that  accurately  represents  your  soQware  and  its  des/na/on,  and  Google  will  reward  you.  

SEM Strategy

¤  Implementing paid search online marketing campaign

¤  Creating various short term and long terms PPC strategies targeting the websites visited most by hoteliers and SME in the hospitality industry

¤  Targeting websites related to hospitality industry, property and real estate, travel and leisure sectors such as hotelinc.net,hotels.com

¤  B2B hospitality websites visited the most in US market

¤  Asian Media and Marketing Group : Asian hospitality North America’s biggest selling bilingual magazine with worldwide digital presence

¤  Participating in various webinars and b2b conferences such as Boutique hotel summit

¤  Optimizing Content Assets such as images, inforgraphics, videos, pdfs etc

SEM Strategy Implementation

Strategy   Situa+on   Ac+on  Item  Increase  SEM  campaign  management,  budget  and  campaign  monitoring  efforts  

Refocused  paid  search:  Addi/onal  coordina/on  of  SEM  campaigns  with  every  other  digital  marke/ng  effort  (online  media,  retarge/ng,  meta  search,  email,  social  media,  etc.)    

Understanding  these  complexi/es  allows  hoteliers  to  jus/fy  increased  /me  and  resources  needed  to  manage  SEM  campaigns.  

   

Improved  AdWords  Extensions:  Google  has  recently  introduced  improvements  that  allow  marketers  to  consistently  show  more  relevant  ad  extensions  and  formats.  For  example,  sitelinks  now  require  extra  descrip/on  lines  and  can  be  scheduled  around  events  and  promo/ons,  and  call  extensions  now  have  enhanced  tracking,  which  means  more  /me  spent  analyzing  campaigns.      

 Dedicate  a  significant  por/on  of  your  budget  in  2014  to  SEM.  Work  with  a  partner,  make  sure  they  are  a  Google  Adwords  

Feeder  Market  Targe+ng:  Based  on  your  property’s  feeder  markets,  which  could  vary  according  to  seasonality,  SEM  campaigns  target  specific  geo-­‐loca/ons.    Google  Algorithm  Changes:  Google  Panda  and  Hummingbird  updates,  which  directly  affected  how  Google  indexes  and  values  the  underlying  website  landing  pages  and  SEO  Constant  tweaking  of  campaigns  to  adhere  to  Google’s  new  rules  and  SEM  best  prac/ces.The  higher  the  Quality  Index,  the  lower  the  cost  and  the  more  effec/ve  SEM  campaigns  are.  New  Search-­‐Related  Adver+sing  Opportuni+es  such  as  Search  Companion,  Affinity  Categories,  etc.  require  addi/onal  campaign  management  aDen/on  and  efforts.  For  example,  the  expansion  of  Google  Display  Network’s  targe/ng  methods  with  affinity  categories  allow  hoteliers  to  target  more  qualified  travel  markets  based  on  their  property’s  offerings  and  loca/on.  

Social Media Strategy

¤  Updated and engaging content on Facebook and sharing the same on various American hotel groups

¤  Implementing re-marketing tool such as Adroll

¤  Focusing on various social media channels apart from Facebook such as Pintrest,Google+,Linkedin

¤  Case studies of hotels using Hotel Software could be shared on social medial platforms highlighting the benefits and features of the software

¤  Targeting and tie-ups with the social medial platforms used by companies like expedia.com, various travel agents sites

¤  Videos and client testimonials to be shared on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter

¤  Paid advertisement on Linkedin: Targeting various linked groups of American hoteliers and hospital industry and sharing details on Hotel Software

Targeting Groups and forums on social media

¤  Objective: Showcasing Hotel Software products and posts on a regular basis on social media platforms related to hospitality, real estate, to attract more traffic to the website and marketing the product in a cost effective way ¤  Facebook:

¤  Florida Hospitality Industry Interface (HIA)

¤  American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA)

¤  American Resort Development Association

¤  Hospitality colleges and university (Eg.Niagra Hospitality)

¤  USA Real estate group, real estate professional groups

¤  Housekeeping Associates, Michigan

¤  American Belle Apartments, Rexburg

¤  Market America

¤  LinkedIn:

¤  American Hospitality Academy

¤  American Hospitality Management Inc

¤  Active Resort Users Group

¤  American Real Estate Partners

Implementing Loyalty Program

¤  Launching loyalty program on Facebook page of Hotel Software called “Hoteloyal”

¤  Business partners and clients using the software can refer other hoteliers and gain special benefits such as:

¤  Extended trial period

¤  Higher level of customization

¤  Certain free for service in post sales

¤  Loyalty points for both the referee and referrals and utilize the points to redeem later

Email Marketing B2B

¤  Hotel Software can get databases of hoteliers and email contact of CXO level people for email marketing and following strategy could be followed:

Email Campaigns as Dialogue

• Extend conversation by listening, add relevant value and engage prospects with meaningful communication

Evolve Past Click Through Rates • Tracking no of visits, frequency, segmenting based on behaviour

Segmentation • Segmenting clients based on who opened the email, downloaded the offer, visited the

website

Focus on the message • Customized message to attract clients

Automate wherever needed • Marketing automation based on behavioral triggers

Create a mix of styles and methods

Analyze and test

Keep in touch with all prospects

Cross Channel Digital Marketing Strategy for Hotel Software

¤  Integrate and display advertising: Hotel Software can integrate product images, videos in emailers and send across to business partners and channels. Industry supply chain company Grainger saw a 20 to 40 % increase in conversion rate after implementing this.

¤  Utilize Mobile: Hotel Software can implement what major brand like John Derre has done. The agricultural manufacturing company is known for sending exclusive texts to its best customers before new tractors are coming out)

¤  Creating a digital sales rep: Cloning the best account manager digitally for all online sales

¤  Focus on mobile and tablet channels, fall of keyword centric search due to rise of Penguin 2.0 and HummingBird

Tie ups

¤  Tie-ups with leading software used by western properties such as Visual Matric, Choice Hotels,Micros Opera Bundling and endorsing Hotel Software with the existing software with custom tailored modification

¤  Featuring in American Hotel Register Catalog, softwareadvice.com

¤  Investing the advertising budget for websites such as hotelnewsnow.com and hospitalitynet.org

Strategy   Situa+on   Ac+on  Item  Dynamic  Price  Marke+ng  and  full  integra/on  of  customer  purchasing  preferences  and  behavior  with  content  management  and  online  distribu+on  and  marke+ng.  

Online  adver/sing  u/lizing  dynamic  price  marke/ng  technology  such  as  MetaSearch  Gateway,  enabling  real-­‐/me  availability  and  pricing  across  various  adver/sing  formats:  banners,  CPC,  email,  etc.  

Begin  by  par/cipa/ng  in  meta  search  marke+ng  that  u+lizes  real-­‐+me  hotel  inventory  availability  and  pricing,  star/ng  with  TripAdvisor  Meta  Search,  Google  Hotel  Finder,  Trivago  (if  targe/ng  European  feeder  markets),  Kayak.com,  etc.  

   

Meta  search  marke+ng,  including  TripAdvisor  Meta,  Google  Hotel  Finder,  Trivago,  Kayak.com,  etc.  

Consider  launching  business-­‐need  campaigns  u/lizing  dynamic  price  banner  adver+sing,  such  as  on  travel  ad  networks  like  Adara  Media,  Sojourn  and  Criteo.  

   

Dynamic  price  banner  adver+sing,  including  several  travel  ad  networks,.  Dynamic  price  email  marke/ng  to  improve  

email  conversions  and  improve  the  credibility  of  the  campaigns.  

   

Personalized  pricing  based  on  known  guest  booking  history,  preferences,  user  and  pathing  behavior,  demographics  and  affilia/on  to  customer  segments  or  a  loyalty  program.    

 “Game-­‐changing”  ini/a/ves  that  are  already  in  Beta,  including  Google  Dynamic  Text  Retarge+ng  Ads,  Dynamic  Price  Google  AdWords,  etc.  

Dynamic Digital Marketing Plan

Digital Marketing Metrics