In today’s business climate, paid media is an important component of any comprehensive marketing strategy. With much of our lives taking place online—and in social media spaces—it is more important than ever for businesses to have a strong online presence.
When considering where to invest in an online advertising presence, it helps to think of a customer’s journey to making a purchase and how to reach them with your hotel’s messaging at each stage. There are three basic steps in the process of gaining a conversion, or, more specifically, a booking.
First, the potential customer needs to be aware your business is an option in the marketplace. This is known as the awareness stage or top of the sales funnel. Brand awareness is often built through Facebook ads and Google display campaigns.
As customers move through the sales funnel to the consideration stage of their purchase, they may visit your website for more information or compare rates with online travel agencies. At this stage, they are considered “in-market,” meaning they have the intent to book, so staying top of mind is key.
In the consideration stage, metasearch advertising is an important component of the strategy, often generating a healthy return on ad spend. Through metasearch, potential customers can compare prices across all distribution channels. Unless you are paying for metasearch advertising, your official website with the option to book direct will not be shown in this aggregation of rates. Making your official website visible in metasearch, with rate parity, ensures you aren’t losing bookings to OTAs. Metasearch can be influential at all stages of the marketing funnel.
For users who don’t book or who may not be ready to book yet, a remarketing campaign can continue to keep brand awareness high with in-market consumers. Remarketing campaigns can run on multiple platforms, including Facebook and Google display and search ads. Though recent privacy changes from Apple and Facebook have made users harder to track across platforms, remarketing is still a relevant and effective way to reach potential customers and persuade them into the decision stage. These types of campaigns traditionally have a high rate of return on investment.
Finally, a potential customer gets to the decision stage, or the bottom of the sales funnel, when they complete their booking. The conversion at this stage is the culmination of all other up-funnel marketing efforts. In this stage, the client is searching for your hotel or business name directly in the format in which they want to book. This is where Google search ads, with a fully funded brand campaign, become paramount.
A fully funded brand campaign is an insurance policy giving a hotel the best chance at generating a direct booking. A fully funded brand campaign on Google search gives you the advantage of having a top Google ad spot. According to Google research, advertisers in the top ad spot receive more clicks than other competitors. A fully funded brand campaign will also lead to a reduction in OTA contribution.
While strategies may vary by property and should be custom-tailored towards specific marketing goals (including gaining bookings and meeting revenue goals), a multi-channel approach targets users at all stages of the sales process and gives your property a competitive advantage over other hotels in the market.
