show and tell: attracting more guests through the power of visual storytelling
TRANSCRIPT
Show & Tell:
Attracting More Guests Through the Power of Visual Storytelling
vfmleonardo.com facebook.com/vfmleonardo @vfmleonardo
May 23, 2013
Vice-President, Best Practices, Online Merchandising
VFM Leonardo Inc.
@darlenerondeau
Travel Editor 200rooms.com
E-commerce Consultant Granite Hospitality
How to use visual storytelling techniques
Why hotels need to shift their digital marketing focus
Yes, visual storytelling impacts the booking
Where to reach your target audience
Incorporate today’s new techniques into your website, mobile solutions and social media
Travel Editor 200rooms.com
Stories are ANECDOTES & CONTEXT that provoke an emotional response. In other words: Things happening and reasons to care.
Within a hotel environment, your anecdotes are your experiences: Dining, pool/beach, spa/golf, special events, lounge/meeting space, staff/community interaction, etc.
Offsite, they’re: Attractions, entertainment, tours, nightlife, festivals.
Context is emotional: Excitement, romance, fun, feeling healthy, adventure, exploration, sense of accomplishment.
Combine the two and you have a story.
46% of adult internet users post original photos or videos online that they themselves have created. We call them creators.
41% of adult internet users take photos or videos that they have found online and repost them on sites designed for sharing images with many people. We call them curators.
Overall, 56% of internet users do at least one of these creating or curating activities, and 32% of internet users do both creating and curating activities.
At the 2012 Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, speakers included: Rikard Steiber, Google’s global marketing director for mobile and social advertising; Francisco Varela, YouTube’s global director of platform partnerships; Rich Miner, general partner at Google Ventures. They told the conference:
Google now considers itself a “mobile first” company.In 2013, Steiber believes that mobile will be the primary way people access Google .Mobile searches have increased 200% to-date in 2012.On YouTube: 40% of views come from mobile devices, a 300% increase in 2012. Varela says mobile traffic to YouTube may soon surpass 50%.
The Standard, Hyatt Andaz, Ace Hotels, The Broadmoor, Four Seasons, Freehand, Independent Collection, Unlisted Collection, Expedia, Design Hotels, The St. Regis Punta Mita, ALT Hotels
“How do you make your content stand out? Grow a pair. Have an opinion, a point of view. Write or produce something that hits a nerve. Make your audience feel something. This is how you get noticed, remembered and talked about. Trod down the middle of the road and you’ll be roadkill.”
—Barry Feldman: 12 Brutally Honest Answers to Your Content Marketing Questions
“The modern traveler, the modern consumer, they’re very much influenced by not just brands, but by experiences. And how you evoke an emotional response from them is something which all of us are interested in. “You want to connect with them on a much deeper level than saying, ‘Stay in a hotel room because you have 400-count thread sheets, or whatever.’”
—Loh Lik Peng, director, Unlisted Collection
Learn it, live it, love it & USE IT.
Joined: April 6, 2013 Joined: May 2, 2013
This is an Instagram photo taken behind a pro photographer during a photo shoot. I used the Instagram photo versus the pro shot in a national corporate travel magazine.
Photo from San Juan Marriott Resort’s Facebook page.
Storytelling evokes emotion; make your property memorable; people are visual creatures
Build your Story◦ What are the experiences that your guests have at your hotels both onsite and
around the area? ◦ Couple that information with the emotions that they experience e.g. “Enjoy a
satisfying, healthy breakfast as a complimentary feature while you’re with us!”
Combine visuals from professional and your guests◦ Add matching descriptions which helps the guest imagine themselves at your
property
E-commerce Consultant Granite Hospitality
VS.
Photos and special offers drive more
engagement than simple text
Engagement on Facebook higher than other types of
communication
Hotels with 1400-1500 fans get much more
engagement
Website
Third Party OTAs
Social Media
Show, don’t tell
The social channels are integrating big, beautiful visuals on their pages◦ Facebook, Pinterest, TripAdvisor
Informally interview your guests and your staff to uncover your story
Be where your guests are shopping
Recording of this webinar This webinar explains how to create and tell your
hotel’s story using visuals, how stories help you connect with guests and how brands and individual hotels are doing this successfully.
Speakers: Darlene Rondeau, VP. Best Practices, Online
Merchandising at VFM Leonardo Greg Oates, Travel Editor, 200rooms.com Melissa Bruckler, E-commerce Consultant, Granite
Hospitality
◦ Share it with your colleagues
Download the Recording
Free guide◦ Six Attracting More Online Travel
Shoppers: How to Tell Your hotel’s Story with Video