Case studies from the trenches: One of the most pervasive challenges hoteliers face is how to effectively speak to and engage with their various customer segments online.
Couples, families, business travelers, and event planners all require customized messaging on the site and in advertising campaigns to address their individual needs.
One of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to engage with customer segments and increase the likelihood of a booking is via Google Display Network remarketing. The Google Display Network offers a variety of targeting tools that allow marketers to display their message to the right customers wherever they are online.
One of these targeting tools is remarketing (or retargeting). With remarketing, people who have visited your site are shown your ads as they browse other sites within the Google Display Network, specifically sites that are relevant to the product you are advertising.
Image Courtesy of GoogleThese ads increase brand awareness and ultimately get users back to your site to make a purchase or inquire for more information.
Advertisers can take remarketing one step further by implementing a remarketing tag on specific sections of the website (weddings, meetings, leisure, etc.) in order to build an audience list of visitors who have previously expressed interest in those topics by visiting those pages on your site. With that list, advertisers can then deliver message tailored to their specific interests in order to re-engage the customer and encourage them to come back to the site.
When prioritizing digital marketing funds, the wedding segment is oftentimes one of the first to get cut from a hotel's digital marketing budget. However, weddings are a $51 billion industry (Business Week, 2013) and typically bring in significant revenue to the hotel or resort, making them a smart investment for marketing dollars.
Utilizing GDN remarketing is a cost-effective way to encourage future brides and wedding planners to return to the site as they comparison shop.
Case Study: A New York luxury hotel used remarketing to bring more traffic to the weddings section of the site.
A New York luxury hotel was looking to engage visitors and bring more traffic to the weddings section of their site. With Google remarketing tags, HeBS Digital built a marketing audience of visitors who previously had visited pages in the wedding section of the website.
We then created a campaign with specific weddings messages to re-engage these visitors and bring them back to the site. In Q2 of 2013, the property spend $789.48 on remarketing, which brought in 445 qualified visits to the wedding section of the website, indicating that remarketing to specific customers segments is an efficient way to increase engagement.
Results:
Campaign Duration: Q2 2013
- Great Exposure:
- Retargeting impressions served to qualified prospects: 360,090
- Qualified visits generated to the wedding section of the website: 445 - Cost: $789.48
- Cost per Qualified Visitor: $1.77
- Purchase Intent Registered (leads): 22
About HeBS DigitalHeBS Digital is a full-service hotel internet marketing firm, providing direct online channel strategic advice and award-winning website design. We help hoteliers take full advantage of the direct online channel and turn their websites into the hotel's main and most-effective distribution channel. Our hotel Internet marketing company provides hoteliers and travel executives with expert advice, concrete recommendations, and sensible solutions to critical Internet-related issues that are crucial for the very existence of your hotel or travel company. 
