Here's some interesting information you can use to achieve a better ROI on your Internet marketing efforts. 

It comes compliments of MarketingSherpa and ad:tech.  Their 2008 year-end survey of more than 1,200 marketers was designed to identify the most effective Internet based marketing tools.

Beyond being the most effective, the study wanted to determine which tools produced the greatest ROI.

The chart below shows the various tactics marketers use and were covered in the study.  The usage axis shows the percentage of marketers using the tactic with the horizontal axis showing the percentage of marketers reporting great return on investment.  The size of the circle represents the relative budget compared to other tactics.

"Paid Search" (big blue circle) is a winner with about 50% of marketers surveyed saying it produces great ROI.  In second place is "House Email" (small orange circle) with about 45% indicating it produces great ROI.  In third place at around 40% is search engine optimization (SEO - even smaller purple circle).

Note however the difference in the size of the circles.  "Paid Search" is significantly bigger than either "House Email" or "SEO."  As the report points out:

"The relative size of the circles means the tactic [House Email and SEO] requires far less budget than "Paid Search."

Conclusion:  If you're dealing with a hospitality marketing budget smaller than you need (and who isn't?), make sure you are maximizing your house list email marketing efforts and SEO before branching out into paid search.

FYI - if you want to get the most out of your email marketing program be sure to avoid The 7 Deadly Sins of Email Marketing For Luxury Hotels.

What do you think?  Safe travels.

www.madiganpratt.com/blog