Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 122 – Hotel Marketing 101: Proactive Website Content Updates That Make Sense

Finding content out of date, or not ready to be posted, is one of the most common issues we come across in terms of hoteliers being ready for what is to come. This is not unexpected, many hotel operators are busy dealing with guests, property issues, and a myriad of other urgent issues.
Unfortunately, this means the important things that are not urgent, get pushed to the side. If you don’t already know about the Eisenhower’s Decision Matrix by name, you surely have seen it in books like “Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.” More or less, the point of the matrix is we spend way too much time in Quadrant #1 or Quadrant #3, and not nearly enough time in Quadrant #2.
Today’s podcast is all about setting up your website’s content to be ready to go in advance and completely live in Quadrant #2, important but not urgent. We are going to cover five content areas that can be planned in advance, created, and then executed when the time comes… no urgency needed.
We could do an entire podcast on the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, and probably will, but for now, let’s talk content.
DOWNLOAD THE  2019 LEISURE TRAVEL STUDY: www.fueltravel.com/2019-leisure-tr…l-trends-study/

SHOW NOTES:

#1 Offers & Promotions

Offers and promotions are what inevitably drive hotel traffic and bookings.  A property has to stand on its own value, but it is the limited time offers that drive the urgency to actually book.  Unfortunately far too many properties treat offers as a last second grasp to fill holes in occupancy.
The proper way to manage offers, and promotions for those offers, is to create a rolling annual calendar that your entire team works toward.  This will help you:

• Create a playbook for email, social, paid search, display and print/mail promotions
• Proactively address known occupancy issues
• Build the opportunity to better yield your rate by driving earlier bookings
• Better promote value in your property and avoid trying to constantly reword your standard 30% off offer
• Prepare for the need for a last minute promotion to push a soft area by having your messaging, creative, and plan in place

#2 Articles & News

Every year we hear of properties who forgot Valentine’s Day is in February or kids go back to School in late August.  These are all fantastic areas to write about to build the breadth of content on your site, as well as drive email newsletter promotions.  Unfortunately by not planning in advance you get stuck in the dreaded Quadrant #1 and are put in a tight deadline to just create content versus taking the time in advance to create great content.
Before you are behind the curve building content sit down with your search team, content team, managers… and a calendar.  Lay out what is going to be written and when. This becomes even more powerful when you incorporate your promotional roll outs with great 10x content.  Learn more about great content by listening to episode 20, How to Easily Create Amazing Content.

#3 Property & Room 

Your potential guests want to see what they’re getting when they book at your property.  This means great photography of the hotel/resort, amenities, and rooms. This also means very descriptive and detailed content.  It is common to have a property schedule a photo shoot and then just go through the site and drop in new photos. This rarely works as well as carefully planning the photos and text you need and specifically tailoring your content creation plans to meet those goals.
2019 is already coming to a close, and now is a perfect time to review your site (on mobile first) and make a list of how you can improve your property and room appearances online in 2020.  If you need some ideas on how to get started, check out these five steps to creating great hotel photography.
One more aspect of your property and room information is the incredibly valuable Frequently Asked Questions section.  Don’t have one yet… make one. Have one… make it better. Guests, and search engines, love the easily searchable content and it’s an easy way to address a guest’s concerns and drive them through the booking cycle.

#4 Area Information

If you are not currently showing area information on your hotel’s site, you are very likely missing out on both a great way to help your guests as well as valuable traffic.  If you already have an area information section on your site, good for you.
Once you have a great area information section built, don’t forget about it.  Spend some time every few months adding new attractions and noting which ones have closed.
You can learn more about how to make a great area information on episode 97 of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast.

#5 Secondary Content

Not every page on your site is weighted evenly.  Your privacy policy, disclaimers, about us, and other pages don’t get a lot of traffic.  But the traffic they do get can often be incredibly important. These pages definitely fall within Quadrant #2, important but not urgent.  Focus on making the most of these pages to prevent trouble down the road.

• Privacy Policy
• GDPR/Data Usage
• ADA Information
• Cancellation Policy
• About Us/Resort Policies
• Emergency Response Pages

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In The Newsaroos:     

• Fuel app expands mobile access options
  https://www.hotelmanagement.net/tech/fuel-app-expands-mobile-access-options

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Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom or info@travelboommarketing.com.