As has become my tradition at the end of each year and beginning of a new one, here's my summary of 111 marketing ideas to consider as we enter 2011.
Planning & strategy
The #1 purpose of marketing is retaining your customers. Focus on that before pursuing new markets.
Read The Concierge Approach to Content Marketing
Why you? Why now?
Personalization is a growing trend - use it wherever you can
Make a stop-doing list
Make sure you're signed up for fresh new ideas from me each week (if you haven't already)
Talent is everything. Spend all you can (and then some) recruiting, retaining, rewarding the best people.
Do you have a list of allstars you want to hire? Always be casting. (Good Seth Godin post)
Recruit from clubs
Offer new hires $2,000 to quit before they begin
Are you prepared to let 75% of your new initiatives fail?
"The most important trait for innovation today isn't creativity, but curiosity." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Consistency is everything
We're all stock traders now
Post a list of customer suggestions in action
Read Peak by Chip Conley
Social Media
Appoint a social media ambassador to "own" your efforts in this area
When building your social media team, include person from every department: management, marketing, PR, product development, customer service, etc. ""Employees can take brand message, localize it, and put their personality behind it." Claire Elias/STA Travel
Read my free report Beyond Account Setup: 29 Ways to Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
Don't try to buy social media fans. Avoid the "campaign" mindset, and understand that forming the relationships for a great online community will take years.
The one-line recipe for success in social media: An inside story from a real person that loves what they do
Turn guests into content producers
Turn your loyal fans into celebrities
Put a Flip camera on every property
Make sure to have a human identity behind your corporate social media profile
Don't outsource Twitter
Retweet your own important content (people could miss it otherwise)
Try using Twitter to collect testimonials. Save positive tweet mentions as favorites you can refer back to.
Use TwitterSheep to find what your followers care about
Create a Twitter background with contact/sales information
You don't always have to make sales offers in social media to make a lot of money go 0ff-topic every once in a while
Try some of these Facebook plugins from Involver
Think twice about advertising your Facebook page URL it only builds their brand, makes you even more reliant on them. Instead, send traffic to a landing page hosted on your site.
Get creative in the way you share photos on Facebook
Used LinkedIn to generate sales leads
If you're opening a new hotel, consider using a Flickr group to build pre-opening buzz
Social media is the richest focus group that ever existed
Learn from Fairmont and have social media followers create your next promotional package
Social ROI is from insights, not necessarily sales
Google and Bing have confirmed that Twitter/Facebook postings do help with search engine placements
Understand the basics of social CRM
Start observing the best hotels on Facebook, like Joie de Vivre
Start following the best hotels on Twitter, like @FairmontHotels @Kimpton @ApexHotels
Learn from Fierro Hotel on how to use Tumblr: InsideBuenosAires.com and WeLoveFierro.com
Website
Don't celebrate the launch
Be compatible with Google's Instant Previews
Build content through partnerships
Buy a .TV domain name and create a video channel there
Look at these 15 well-designed websites and see why they work so well
Try optimizing landing pages around who' you know, not what' you know. (Including connections from networks like Facebook gives a personal connection to the company.)
Drive traffic by reaching out to past guests
Make sure you do 3 things in 3 seconds: 1) load the page quickly 2) Visually WOW them 3) Get them involved
Use this checklist of 43 questions if you're going through a re-design
Take advantage of "white hot" online touch points when asking for action
Use video creatively throughout the revenue cycle
Think about using travel webcams like Starwood is doing with RoomWithAView.com
Search optimization is more important than ever, but the rules have changed. Learn and adapt.
Know how Google instant affects your marketing
Use live chat on your website to close more sales
Maintain consistency (in everything) across all booking channels
Encourage direct bookings by verifying website security, offering multiple language and currency support
Read Speak Human by Eric Karjaluoto
Mobile
Create a mobile-friendly website to avoid platform issues
Know that 81% (to 19%) prefer mobile websites to mobile apps for researching products and prices (eMarketer 2010 survey)
Make sure you don't run a mobile ad, and then send traffic to a page on your site that's not mobile-friendly
Use QR codes to bridge the online/offline gap (Example from Tailor Made Hotel)
4 important things to do with mobile for customers: learn, recognize, reward and personalize
You're not going to succeed in mobile on your first try. Experiment now learn by doing.
A big opportunity for mobile is rewarding loyalty.
Look at TopGuest
Creating great mobile experiences requires you to get out in the world and interact with your environment. Don't design in a cubicle.
Reputation Management
Tracking online reputation should not just be aggregating reviews. Use a tool that gives you insight into trends and patterns.
I recommend you start using ReviewPro (Why I am)
Begin tying online reputation to your staff bonuses
Know that 86% of consumers are using reviews as a deciding factor in their purchasing decision
An unhappy customer used to tell 3 people, now they tell 3 million. This highlights the importance of quickly catching and resolving issues.
On the brighter side, the majority two-thirds, actually of online reviews are positive [research from Keller Fay Group]
Increase customer confidence by monitoring, collecting, and re-publishing positive reviews
Monitoring for online mentions sometimes provides you with some great promotional material
Write better post-stay "thank you" emails to encourage online reviews
Get creative in how you ask for reviews. Like a banner on your WiFi network login page.
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently." Warren Buffett
Advertising
Run a brand ambassador campaign in social media (Mashable examples)
Let a customer write your next ad
Experiment with strong risk-reversal messages in your copy
Embrace behavioral ad targeting in PPC and elsewhere
Banner ads are quickly evolving
Partner with websites that attract people already decided to visit your destination
Barter unsold rooms for advertising
Email
Social media use has not replaced email for sales (Just look at Groupon)
Make sure to use good landing pages
Add some security indicators (like a sample email screenshot) to increase email subscription rates
Segment your email list by personas (not just purchase history)
Build a preferences center to help subscribers receive more relevant emails
Permission isn't forever
Service
Customer service is the new marketing
Understand the "Brand Butler" trend
Ask your guests if they would recommend you to a friend
Create a buying experience centered around the customer
Re-think your guest check-in process
Real-time responses are crucial on the social web. Have systems and processes to deliver timely information and support to your guests.
Try a service like CoTweet to share support responsibilities among staf
Read Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore
Amenities & Technology
A poor hotel Wi-Fi experience influences 36 percent of business travelers on whether they re-book that specific hotel in the future [more research on hotel WiFi]
iPads are the #1 most-wanted tech amenity guests want from a hotel [USA Today poll]
Consider virtual meeting technology as a way to profit from lower business travel volume
Press & Media
Send out social media news releases
Try PitchEngine a social media PR builder
Start offering more unique hotel amenities that get people talking
Listen to the PR 2.0 chat
Measurement & Analytics
Understand travel booking isn't usually a linear process
Learn how Barbara Pezzi improves her marketing with analytics segmentation
Run these 10 reports in Google Analytics
Social media should shorten your sales cycle. Watch your number of sales leads, cost per lead, sales closing ratio, channel conversion rate, and time to closing to measure improvement.
About the author This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry.
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