It’s no secret that multi-channel campaigns are a great way to boost revenue during low seasons, target top customer segments, and fulfill ad hoc business needs.
But is your hotel brand’s multi-channel campaign plan following industry best practices to achieve the highest return on investment? A successful multi-channel campaign reaches potential guests at every touchpoint of the travel planning process with one cohesive message across channels, capitalising on key customer micro-moments across devices.
What does the average travel consumer journey entail? It takes about 17 days, and includes eight research sessions, 18 site visits, and six clicks before a booking is made (Google Research). eMarketer research shows that people go through 15.5 touch points just within the week before they actually make the booking. In addition, the process does not take place on only one device. Nine out of ten people move from one device to another at different times, with 65% starting on their smartphones (Google Research).
The foundation for building effective multi-channel campaigns is finding the best marketing initiatives based on your target customer segment, and reaching that target segment at every touchpoint of their online travel planning process.
With so many marketing initiatives to consider and customer touchpoints along the path to purchase, it can be hard to map out a truly strategic and effective campaign plan. To ensure that every campaign dollar is a smart investment, here are three ways to maximise revenues from multi-channel campaigns, from the planning phase to post-launch.
1. Does your 2016 budget have flexibility to incorporate a multi-channel campaign? Does your budget meet the threshold for an effective campaign?
A holistic and successful digital marketing plan incorporates robust multi-channel campaigns based on seasonality and business needs throughout the year, and this portion of the budget should remain dynamic and flexible as the year progresses.
When determining your overall digital marketing budget, it’s important to reserve 15-25% dedicated to multi-channel campaigns. Be sure to properly allocate your budget, mapping out seasonality, business needs, top target customer segments, and any other big-picture business goals that a multi-channel campaign can achieve.
Once your seasonality, business needs, and priority goals and segments are clearly established, allocate a flexible budget to each individual campaign to ensure you have enough budget to make a strong impact and build traction for the duration of the campaign while effectively competing with your comp set for share of voice and market share. The minimum threshold for a successful multi-channel campaign is at least ,000 dollars with a two-month flight.
Typically this amount is supplemented by additional core initiatives (SEM, Email marketing, landing pages, etc.) running concurrently with the multi-channel campaign.
2. Does your multi-channel campaign address a seasonal or business need?
When building your multi-channel campaign, every initiative should tie back to one overarching goal or business need. Every hotel brand should consider a range of business needs, including how to target specific high-value segments (i.e. meeting planners, family travellers, etc.) and how to fill last-minute vacancies after a group cancellation.
Digging beyond the surface of your hotel brand’s business needs when building a multi-channel campaign will help you choose the most effective marketing initiatives and provide the foundation for your campaign goals and key performance indicators.
Some common seasonality issues and business needs are:
- Low-occupancy need periods
- Last-minute occupancy needs or group cancellations
- Increasing length of stay
- Expanding reach among top key customer segments
- Rebranding or repositioning the hotel to potential guests
- Increasing ancillary revenue from spa and dining
- Building brand loyalty with current and potential guests
Does your campaign flight address your average booking window based on your seasonal or business need?
When determining the flight of your campaign, it’s important to ensure that the campaign duration is long enough to address your average booking window. For instance, if your hotel brand’s booking window is 21 days, you want to ensure your campaign flight is at least two months. For best results, we recommend a campaign flight of three to four months.
Are you working with a hospitality-focused firm that understands your market, needs, and key consumer insights?
It’s no secret that selling rooms and a “travel experience” is no easy venture. That’s why it’s so important to find a partner with a focus on the hospitality industry. This will open the door to key insights and trends across the firm’s client portfolio that apply directly to your hotel and market. A hospitality-focused firm will also be ahead of industry trends, understand what truly drives and optimizes bookings and revenue, and will have the skillset and industry knowledge to understand your market, business needs, and the travel planning journey of your key customer segments.
About the Author and HeBS Digital
Margaret Mastrogiacomo is Director, Creative Strategy at HeBS Digital, the hospitality industry’s leading digital technology + website design, full-service digital marketing and website revenue optimization consulting firm, based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).
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