Hotels are quickly realizing digital marketing is a not fad, but reality. It does not need an additional budget to be set aside for it, digital marketing needs to encompass the bulk of the marketing budget.
Research predicts millennials will surpass baby boomers in spending power by 2018. Right now they are slowly but steadily increasing their purchase capacity compared to the older generation. While millennials spent around $2.44 trillion in 2015, the number is expected to grow to $3.39 trillion in the next two years.
That means hotels have to act fast and work on their marketing strategies to capture the attention of their growing audience. Traditional modes of advertising are not going to work. Hammering potential customers with repetitive TV and newspaper ads, and reinforcing those with billboards, are strategies of yesteryear.
Instead, brands need to refocus and work on their digital stories.
Some brands have been quick to realize this and the need to harness the cutting edge technology for their marketing efforts. A survey conducted by NewsCred showed that 47 percent of millennials in the U.S. open all communications they receive, showing how receptive they are to good content and how willing they are to engage in real-time brand experiences.
According to the survey, 62 percent mentioned that online and social media content makes them feel connected to the brand. The right tool to reach them is digital marketing, one with rich and valuable content to meet millennial expectations with the speed they expect. They don't like sales-y advertising like the older generations accepted. They instead look for authentic brand messages they feel they can trust.
64 percent of the respondents felt messages tailored to their cultural interests make them feel more positive about a brand. The idea is to make the content so interesting they will not only look, but also be engaged enough to share it on social media. To do this one needs to stop selling, and start creating stories.
As the 2016 trend list for global travel and hospitality industry showed, the best way to do that is to leverage technology. One cool new tool is virtual reality, which can allow guests to visit and tour the whole hotel, seeing for themselves what it is offering before booking a room.
In the travel sector, Virgin Atlantic is in the process of building virtual reality options for customers where they can experience flying with the airline even before boarding. Users get to meet "Ida," a virtual tour guide who walks them through a digital adventure onboard a Virgin Atlantic flight.
Another piece of new technology in the travel sector is the use of wearables like the Disney MagicBand, which is used in lieu of paper tickets for the entire Disney World stay. While there aren't too many early adopters for wearables, experts predict this is going to be one of the most powerful marketing platforms for the hospitality sector.
Other new trends include video marketing, particularly the strategic use of web video marketing on business websites. Research proves that smart devices accounted for 49 percent of total video ad impressions last year. Studies also show mobile shoppers who watch videos are 1.81 times more likely to buy than regular web shoppers.
This also necessitates the strategic use of social marketing strategies to influence and engage rather than doing self-promotion. The internet has changed the way we look at things and decide to make purchases. Push marketing has given in to influencer marketing with the need for the 3Cs strategy — content, community, commerce — to be applied in full force.
More than a third of hotel website revenue is generated through organic web search, so hoteliers have to stay on top of the changing digital marketing trends and SEO practices.
