Anyone who works in the hospitality industry knows how fast things move. Each week brings new trends and industry shifts that business owners need to respond to, or at least be aware of.
The realm of hospitality marketing is no exception to this fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape. With the advances in technology in recent years, it can seem that keeping up with the latest strategies is a relentless race with no end in sight.
If you’re feeling that the pace of marketing your hospitality business is overwhelming, it can be beneficial to go back to basics and stick to the classic, time-tested strategies that aren’t a passing fad that could disappear tomorrow.
To inspire you with the potential for more reliable and trustworthy tactics for promoting your business, here are three timeless strategies for hospitality marketing.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO may not rank among the traditional marketing methods of the last century but in recent decades it has become a modern classic. There’s no doubt that the internet is a modern phenomenon with staying power, and so one way to align with this truth is to make sure your online content is optimised for the words and phrases that will connect your business with your customers.
While there’s no doubting the timeless effectiveness of SEO, it can become quite technical and complex. You may prefer to use a specialist hospitality marketing agency that can help you tap into the power of search engines to maximise your reach and success. However, if you have a degree of tech-savvy and a dose of determination, it’s possible to begin harnessing the benefits of optimised content for marketing your business.
A good place to start is by learning what words and phrases people are likely to use when they search for your kind of services. Once you have a good understanding of these valuable keywords, look for ways to include them in your online content, especially on your own website.
SEO is renowned as a long game when it comes to marketing, so the sooner you get started, the better. Over time, with regular attention and analysis, you’ll be able to tap into the power of this timeless marketing strategy to bring more of the right people to your door.
Word Of Mouth
Word of Mouth is perhaps the all-time classic marketing method – it’s certainly one of the most effective. Even today, this type of promotion is regarded as the Holy Grail for helping new customers discover your business and inspiring past patrons to return.
Although this is a classic strategy, there are contemporary opportunities for leveraging the power of word-of-mouth, and the most effective one of modern times is undoubtedly social media.
While the trends and fads on social media may come and go rapidly, and even the platforms themselves seem to have a certain shelf-life, the timeless marketing principles still apply to even the most fleeting opportunities on social media.
Again, this may be something you’d like to delegate to the experts, and the fact that you can hire Social Media management for restaurants shows just how much potential this strategy holds for hospitality businesses. But equally, there are simple ways you can get started with this yourself. In fact, social media is one of the best places for business owners to connect with their potential customers personally. Hotels, pubs and restaurants that share the faces and personalities of their venues are among the most popular success stories of social media marketing.
Advertising
Paying for advertising is one of the classic ways to raise awareness for a brand, product, or business. While the online ads of today may be a world away from the classifieds and newspaper adverts of old, the principle is the same.
In the hospitality industry, part of the challenge of getting customers through the door is helping them know that you exist, and the particular niche offerings you provide. This is where advertising can work its magic – helping people discover your business and learn more about what makes your establishment worth a visit.
There are many opportunities for relatively inexpensive advertising online, and these are often much cheaper than placing ads in traditional media, such as TV, radio, magazines etc… One advantage of ads is that you can turn them on and off as required, helping you to save money during busy spells and reconnect with customers when you need to.
While the world of modern hospitality marketing may look very different to that of a century ago, many of the timeless principles are still at play. Technology may have changed the way we find and interact with businesses, but the classic methods of positioning, word-of-mouth and paid ads are still very much alive – and working well for many modern businesses.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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