How owners can grow their accommodation business through digital marketing
Location, location, location used to be the mantra when it came to having a thriving accommodation business. In the digital age, just building near a tourist trap and hoping people book your hotel or apartment is no longer a strategy for success. You are not competing against other hotels and motels, but homestay services such as AirBnB and Stayz. Not only that, but you’re also jockeying for price position on aggregator sites like Trivago.
So how can you grow your accommodation business? Through robust digital marketing.
Ensuring your website is search engine optimised
If you haven’t got a website for your business – get one! Even though sites like Hotels.com and Trivago get a lot of traffic, most people still search for accommodation through Google. Having your own website at the top of the rankings for local searches like “hotels in Melbourne” means would-be travellers will click – and consider – your hotel first. Research your keywords, get together a content strategy, and revamp your website to rank as high as possible for local search terms.
Running effective Google Ads campaigns
Though you may not have as deep of pockets as those aggregator sites, you can still give them a run for their money by running tight and optimised Google Ads campaigns. Having great and compelling copy, running ads when they’re seen the most, and optimising them for conversions is a time consuming but rewarding process when you see bookings come in. For the best results, get an agency to run your Google Ads campaigns efficiently – they can find savings by fine tuning your ads over time. In tandem with your SEO efforts, you’ll see this dual-headed approach return its investment time and again.
Leveraging social media
One of the most popular Instagram hashtags in the world is #travel – and there’s no shortage of local content you can leverage into your own social feeds. Partnering with restaurants, bars, tourist traps, and local tourism boards means there will be an endless supply of images and video content you can post to your socials – including testimonials from happy customers, who may in fact turn out to be influencers (people with tens of thousands of followers) themselves!
Get listed everywhere
You’ve heard of TripAdvisor and Zomato – you may have their stickers in your reception window. There are dozens, if not hundreds of directories out there where you can list your accommodation business and be found. This may be fiddly and tedious, but it can greatly boost your incoming backlinks, which enhances your SEO efforts. As for your own list, having a newsletter list is a goldmine. You should take every opportunity to have guests or prospective guests sign up to your newsletters, so you can send them special offers.
A lot of digital marketing takes time – but is free
Much of your digital marketing may take some time to set up and get going but using social media (not paid advertising) is free. However, for the best return on investment, it makes sense to partner with a digital marketing agency that can optimise your efforts – especially when it comes to SEO and Google Ads. A little bit of investment can go a long way!
Posted By Adrian
Updated : 21st September 2022 | Words : 547 | Views : 463
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