Stand Out in the Crowd: Unique Marketing Ideas for Hotels in a Competitive Market

Whether you offer accommodation over the summer or you create cozy winter experiences with modern log cabins, your hotel and accommodation business needs to stand out from the crowd.

It is beyond a cliche to say that almost every business is online today. And in the hotel industry, this means competition for guests and bookings is fierce. Do you know how to make your business be striking and prominent in your clients’ eyes? If not, this post is for you.

Below, we outline some of the most important methodologies to leverage the power of your online presence for maximum results. Let’s take a closer look.

Understanding Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Before you know who you’re selling to, you need to know what exactly you are selling. In the hotel industry, this varies from provider to provider.

It can be that your hotel is small and quaint but offers personalized service and homely hospitality. It can be that you offer perks such as a solarium, jacuzzi, sauna, and more. Alternatively, your location could be in the ideal spot for travelers. There are many factors you can look at to determine where your hotel business outshines the rest. One of them is the logo of your hotel, so make sure to create a logo that stands out.

Ultimately, you should be aware of the key factors that make your hotel unique and what you offer that others don’t. One of the best ways to understand this is to look at what your competitors are offering and, importantly, how they’re doing so. Identify all your competitors’ unique selling points (USPs) and see how you fare.

If you offer something better, you need to make sure that this information is conveyed to your prospective guests so that when it’s time to make a decision between you and a competitor, they choose you every single time.

Leveraging Digital Marketing Channels

Having done your homework and research, it’s time to use the power of technology and the internet to solidify your hotel’s marketing strategy. In the section below, we outline three essentials that are an absolute must if you want to outperform the competition.

Building a strong online presence with a user-friendly website

First things first, the days of the yellow pages are long gone. No more telephone books and directories with thousands of pages that guests can look through. Today, everything is online. As the very foundation of any hotel marketing strategy, you need to build a website. But not just any website will do. You must pay attention to:

• Visuals and copy
• Its user-friendliness
• Its integration with online booking and payment systems
• Clear and strong calls-to-action (CTAs)
• Its ease and simplicity of navigation
• The website’s loading speed
• Adaptation for mobile searches, etc.

  Additionally, make sure to implement a cool logo design that is going to be displayed on your website.

Getting these basics in place is only the first step, however. Next up, we look at search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to help you rank.

Implementing search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to improve visibility

It’s great that you have a website that appears online. But now is when the hard work begins: Ranking. There are literally millions of hotels around the world, each of which is competing with each other for prospective guests’ attention. How are they doing this? By employing strategies such as:

• Keyword research: Discover what keywords your prospective guests are using when doing online searches. This is akin to studying the back-end so that you can improve the front end. Don’t neglect studying your competitors’ keyword strategies, too. There are many SEO tools that can help you with this.
• Creating quality and actionable content: There’s an old adage that says “content is king”. Well, it is and it will be for a very long time. When users search online, they want their queries answered right away. That’s where you can create content that incorporates their very own keywords to cater to search intent. Creating quality content that is also actionable and showcases your USPs in a unique way is crucial.
• Acquiring backlinks: Another SEO strategy that helps you improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) is having a clear backlink strategy. Not having one is like leaving your website to wither in the digital wilderness. Backlinks that you acquire from other authoritative websites create what is called “link juice” that signals to Google that your website is credible and trustworthy. That’s exactly what you want to achieve and it will show in your rankings.
• Creating local listings: The power of local listings shouldn’t be underestimated. Local SEO is creating business profiles online for local searches. For example, when someone searches for “bed and breakfast in [city]” or “three-star hotel near me”, you want your hotel to appear. You’ve got competition though, because Google only shows the top three results. That’s why you should focus on constantly maintaining and managing your local business profile.
• Analyzing performance: Where would we be if we didn’t measure the results of our efforts? The answer to this question is obvious. In SEO, doing continuous monitoring of SERP performance and rankings is a must. It’s a rinse and repeat effort that brings home the real results.

Using SEO for hotel websites should be a staple in your marketing toolkit. It’s not to say it’s not hard work but the long-term effect for your hotel will be profound.

Utilizing email marketing campaigns for direct communication with guests

The third pillar of your digital presence should be creating and building your brand through email marketing. This is a chance to really shine out there while creating a personalized approach through your hotel brand’s tone of voice. Here’s what you should keep in mind when you make emails your own:

• Develop a unique brand voice and identity and stick to it
• Have a short but catchy subject line and preview text
• Keep the email body short and to the point
• Use CTAs to drive your point home and encourage action
• Use visuals such as images and videos to draw attention
• Have a strategic footer section
• Automate the process wherever possible

Embracing Experiential Marketing

Next, it’s time to talk about the power of experiential marketing. This type of marketing speaks for itself: It’s about creating experiences that people love.

So, an example in the hotel industry would be pairing your accommodation with an experience such as horseback riding on the beach, hot air balloon rides, a picnic in the mountains overlooking a lake, or anything that will make a memorable experience.

Personalizing Guest Experiences

To create a truly memorable guest experience, you need to start before they arrive. Send them a personalized email to let them know you are looking forward to their stay. When they arrive, greet them by name.

Try to offer them a paperless check-in process where possible. Be open to accommodating their needs and wants. And send emails once they’ve left as a way of gathering feedback through a multilingual survey and to check on their experience at your hotel.

Fostering Partnerships and Collaborations

Another big one in the hotel industry is fostering partnerships and collaborations. You may be thinking of influencers only but there are many options to choose from. You can collaborate with local restaurants and negotiate meal discounts for your guests. Alternatively, you can partner with local tour operators to offer a package trip that includes your hotel.

Incorporating Visual and Video Content

As part of your hotel marketing strategy, you should also think about using video marketing to increase sales. Whether on your website, your emails, your blog articles, social media channels, and everywhere in between.

Video and visual content and written content are perhaps the two most powerful ways to engage with your audience. And you can create short-form videos for social media to promote new discounts or special seasonal deals.

Investing in Sustainable and Responsible Tourism

Finally, and this is a major one for the hotel industry: Sustainable and responsible tourism. There’s rising demand for this from all corners of the world and you should be ready for it. You need to showcase your commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly tourism.

You are much more likely to better cater to prospective guests who are environmentally conscious than competitors who aren’t. For this purpose, you may wish to opt for a paperless environment, use eco-friendly and energy efficient materials, and follow other environmentally-friendly strategies to demonstrate your commitment to reducing your carbon footprint.

Conclusion

By using these strategies holistically, you have a much higher chance of catching your audience’s attention, engaging with them, and driving home more check-ins at your hotel. We highly recommend that you make an effort to implement all of them as opposed to cherry picking one or two. In particular, you must have a flawless digital presence that is supported by other channels to promote your brand far and wide.

Author

Emil Vasilev is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Inbound Blogging, specializing in Content Marketing and Outreach Strategies. Besides his passion for digital marketing, he likes football, fitness, and running. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.