10 Most Profitable Hotel Marketing Tasks to Outsource. By Josiah Mackenzie Tuesday, 8th September 2009

Some hotel marketing functions are best kept in-house, for others, it’s more profitable to outsource them to an outside partner.

Here are ten of the most profitable hotel internet marketing tasks to outsource and why.

1. Web Design
Why: Designing an effective hotel website requires time to create pages that are attractive, informative and visitor friendly. This requires a knowledge of the hotel industry in addition to technical knowledge and an understanding of usability guidelines.

2. Website Maintenance
Why: Building and managing a website are two different tasks. Website design gets a lot of attention, but upkeep is equally important. It’s important to constantly update your sites with the latest information.  Unless you have the technical expertise and time to do this in-house, it’s common to outsource this function.

3. Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Why: Sure, anyone can throw together a PPC campaign in a few hours, but it requires a lot of research and testing over the long term to do this well. A good agency will take time to understand your business needs, and build a campaign around them.

4. SEO Optimization
Why: Effective SEO can include website re-design, optimization and a strategic linking strategy – so it can be nice to have someone else manage this whole process for you.

5. Content Creation or Copywriting
Why: Many managers understand the benefits of content marketing, but struggle with writing it. Fortunately, there are many talented writers that would be happy do this for you. These people can be hired to help you write articles, website content, blog posts, email newsletters, and more.

6. Twitter
Why: Twitter can take a lot of time to use effectively. Some of my colleagues have achieved excellent results – both in positive buzz and in generating revenue – but they invest a lot of time. If you don’t have the time to participate, you may want to hire someone else to do it for you.

7. Online Reputation Management
Why: Again, this is a task that just takes a lot of time to do thoroughly. Hiring someone to monitor the web and reply as needed can be a worthwhile investment.

8. Video Production
Why: Hiring people with expertise in producing quality videos will help your company gain higher visibility in YouTube, Google Video Search, Blip.tv, and so on. A good video marketing team will understand your branding objectives, and produce video to accomplish them.

9. Mobile Phone Promotions
Why: This is one of the hottest new distribution channels, and hiring specialists in this area can help you gain a first-mover advantage. Hire someone else to begin your mobile promotions strategy, then learn and experiment as you go.

10. Website Optimization
Why: Website optimization is different from search optimization – it’s the process of adjusting your website so operates at peak sales performance. Hiring someone for this can have a big impact on your overall internet marketing success. A good website optimization specialist will have a good understanding of your hotel, how people buy online, and website conversion improvement.

The bottom line?

Outsourcing individual components of your internet marketing campaign can reduce the burden of employing staff to perform those tasks in-house.  It can allow you to focus core business initiatives, spend more time on strategic planning, and less time on implementation.

Original article: www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/10-most-profitable-hotel-marketing-tasks-to-outsource

About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry. 

www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com