With tons of marketing options available today, how could you choose the right ways that are really effective? 

How can you be sure that each marketing channel you pay for is really worth it? Be it OTA, travel magazine, billboard, travel portal, social media, sponsorship, travel directory, etc.

Now the world is changing so fast. New technology comes one after one every day. People are changing so fast too. What used to be effective in attracting guests might not work today. People change their lifestyles as they would always do since ancient time. 

The point that I want to make is that hotel marketers should focus their effort on only a few marketing strategies that really work in attracting guests in 2016. Dump the ones that are outdated and make low ROI. Start focusing on a few that perform best. Be more selective. Less is more.

Why I called it a marketing black hole? Because a black hole only takes but never returns. It’s the same as when you spend money on some marketing channels and you never get anything back in return. 

How do you spot which marketing channel is a black hole?

1. You can’t measure its ROI
2. You can’t track its performance

Actually there are only a few marketing channels that generate majority of your revenue. The others can be cut so that you can focus more on these few channels. It makes more sense to put effort in what is going good and ignore bad ones. By dumping the bad ones, you have more time to concentrate on things that bring you high return on investment.

So the advantages when you stop throwing your money into a marketing black hole are…

1. You gain higher ROI instantly
2. You can save money to spend on something that matters more
3. You have more time to enhance existing best performing marketing channels

What are some marketing tactics that you don’t need much money to do but effective?

Loyalty Programs â€" You can utilize your guest data from your Property Management System(PMS) to create loyalty programs of your hotel. There is a loyalty program feature in Smart Finder PMS that lets you create loyalty campaigns, personalize deals, or maintain close relationship with your guests. The goal is to encourage repeat stays.

Online Marketing â€" The key channels are your social media accounts and your hotel’s website. Sometimes you don’t have to pay to make people speak about you. If you do it remarkably enough, people are willing to share about you for free. Reservations will come for sure!

By Thanapol Raktham, Smart Finder.

About Smart Finder: We are a leading hospitality software maker in Thailand with more than 600 hotel customers. We are dedicated to improving hospitality business with game-changing IT solutions.

www.smartfinder.asia