5 tips for effective email marketing in the travel industry
Nowadays there are many tools and channels for online marketing in the travel and tourism industry – from the compulsory social networks and platforms for online reviews to paid advertising websites, etc. Amid all of them the email marketing can remain in the background but it shouldn’t be. Email marketing for hotels, restaurants and travel agencies is one of the most effective mechanisms for attracting new and retaining regular customers, for brand promotion and increasing direct sales. That’s why we are going to show you the following 5 tips for effective email marketing in the travel industry: 1. Increase your email subscribers organically For a successful online marketing in the travel industry it is important to target our message to the right customers. With email marketing this can be achieved by increasing our subscribers only organically, i.e. with real, interested in travelling people. The voluntary obtained email address ensures that we are communicating with the right person. In order to stimulate our guests to leave their emails we can add the necessary plugin on our website, to put a place for emails on our surveys in the hotel rooms or to ask for them during check out. That way every guest interested in our offers can be added to the list. 2. Create and follow an email marketing schedule The effective email marketing in the travel or related industry is the consistent one. Our strategy should follow a certain time frames and regularity. All that can be done with the help of an email marketing schedule. That is necessary for every hotelier because if we send emails too often we will be annoying. If we do it too rarely, our clients will forget about us. That’s why we should examine how often and when we should send email newsletters. All that depends on our online marketing plan and the content and goals of the emails. 3. Use email automation The good thing about online marketing tools is that many of them can be automated. We have this option with email marketing, too. There are compulsory emails which every subscriber should receive but we can’t send manually every time. Here comes the role of the automated emails – for new subscription, a week before check-in, after check-out, weekly newsletters, periodic special offers, etc. 4. Use personalized massage In order to create a real bond with the email subscribers and to win their trust we should personalize our messages as much as possible. We can also divide our contacts in different groups – loyal customers, potential customers, business travellers and others. That way we can target our emails more successfully. 5. Optimize for mobile phones Many people nowadays check their emails on the go with their smartphones. That’s why it is essential to optimize our content for mobile devices. Many platforms for email newsletters offer optimized email templates we can use. It is also good to avoid large images and long paragraphs, to use simple and short sentences and appropriate font. Travel Mind specializes in online marketing strategies including email marketing. If you need help creating a successful online presence, don’t hesitate to contact us.
What should you know about successful SEO for hotels
Almost every trip now begins in the Internet – in searching a new destination, buying tickets or looking for the best hotel… Usually people go on Google and expect to find the best offer in the first search results. If we don’t have a good SEO strategy it is very unlikely our hotel’s website to appear on the first page of search engines. That’s why we need to work hard to get there. What is SEO? SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a set of good marketing and technical tools and practices for improving the visibility of a webpage on the organic search engine results. The goal is to get more website traffic, more bookings and, hence, more revenue. Unlike paid search results, organic SEO has long-term results which are probably not going to be noticed immediately. However, they are extremely helpful if SEO is done permanently. Search engine optimization can be considered as a combination of several different elements – from on-page optimization, off-page optimization to technical characteristics. It is important to know that search engines index all web pages and rank them in the search results according to the certain criteria. The role of SEO is to make sure that a website meets these criteria as much as possible. Of course, people can only meet part of these criteria to help the website visibility but it’s still better than not doing anything. What are the elements of a good SEO? Among the main elements of search engine optimization is the use of the keywords we want to be found in the search engines. Another criterion is the use of unique, useful and update content in our website. Maintaining a blog on the hotel’s website is one of the best ways to do that and bring our site higher on the search results on the Internet. The use of internal links to other useful pages on our website, and external links – those that lead to our website from third parties websites, are also an important factor for the food SEO. On the other hand, social networks have indirect effect on the search engine optimization for hotels. If we know how to engage users in those platforms we can attract higher traffic to our website which is also very good for SEO. Local SEO is extremely important for the travel industry. This is basically the more personalized search engine results according to a specific location. This can be done by creating a page on Google Places which can also connect to Google+ profile. The advantages of Google+ presence are many, most importantly because the account is connected to all the other Google services. There is no doubt that the organic SEO is an important element of the hotel’s online presence. The improvement of the visibility in search engines is going to bring more website traffic, more bookings and more guests and revenue. Read more: How to turn our hotel’s guests into loyal customers Why every hotel should have a blog 5 ways to improve our hotel’s online reputation
5 Key Digital Marketing Trends for Hotels
Digital marketing is already a substantial part of every hotel’s marketing strategy. For some it is even the leading tool for reaching the right audience. And not without a reason – about 80% of people who are planning a trip do a preliminary Internet research and even book accommodation, tickets and tours online. But like everything else Internet is also changing and so do digital marketing strategies for hotels. It is therefore important that you are consistent with the trends in the dynamic travel industry. Rise of Mobile Mobile searches are the key trend in the digital marketing for 2015 which will increase even more in the future. Mobile users can become an entirely new segment of visitors to your hotel if you apply the right mobile marketing strategy. The most important step is to get a mobile website. This will also help you rank higher in search results as Google announced it will prioritize mobile websites. In order to meet mobile customers’ needs you can also provide an opportunity for direct online booking and payments via mobile devices. Rise of content marketing Content as part of hotel’s digital marketing strategy will become more and more important. The idea is to create unique content for your website in order to create emotional relationship with customers and to improve your SEO, of course. Content can be everything from information about your hotel, about nearby sights or upcoming events in the area, photo galleries or even interesting travel news. It is important to know how to optimize your content for search engines and focus on your target audience. Need for speed You will have less and less time to keep the attention of online users. In order to make them choose your hotel and stay on your website, you have to grab their attention at the beginning. After that you have to facilitate the navigation of your website so they don’t lose patience. Important elements such as loading speed, menu structure, colors and call to action buttons must be taken into account. Be unique on social media Social media marketing for hotels positions your brand and creates connection with your past, present and future guests. Your online presence in those websites is what will differentiate your hotel from your competitors. But you need to plan your social media strategy well. Social networks such as Facebook provide good opportunities for advertising, strong targeting and create more personalized relationships. Understanding the tourist behavior Understanding the tourist behavior on the Internet is an important part of your digital marketing planning process. Your hotel should appear at any stage of the journey for your guests – from the beginning of the idea to travel to the accommodation research and activities after the trip. The process of creating a digital marketing strategy for hotels require a deep understanding of online users behavior, audience targeting and your hotel’s goals. Travel Mind can help you create an effective digital marketing strategy and manage your online reputation.
