In today’s digital world, hotel guests are influenced by digital marketing strategies rather than print, radio, or television ads.
Here’s what strategies are most effective for B&B digital marketing and how these strategies can help you build lasting relationships with guests.
Why digital marketing helps B&Bs build a strong guest relationship
It’s critical that you focus on the guest relationship where your guests are spending their time, and increasingly that’s online. More than 55% of hotel bookings are generated online, rather than in person or via phone. Guests of all generations have become used to reserving rooms online, with half of travellers doing so from a mobile device.
A significant 70% of customers perform online research before buying something, and that includes making travel purchases. If you lack a digital presence, travellers will discount your B&B in favour of competitors that are active online.
By doubling down on your digital marketing, you can stand out in your niche and create a connection in the research phase that leads to reservations.
How to build an effective digital marketing strategy
Guests spend an average of six minutes on B&B websites, so make those minutes count with crisp photos and room descriptions. Showcase package deals – for instance, winter ski weekend specials – so it’s easy for guests to find what they need and book with confidence.
Use a hotel blog to educate guests on your property, amenities, and geographic area. When you blog regularly, it boosts your website’s SEO and helps new travellers find your property.
Take inspiration for your blog posts from the tastes, goals, frustrations, and demographics of your typical guest. If you know that people stay with you for ski vacations or hiking trips, for instance, then you can guess that photos of active travellers or inspirational mountain shots will resonate with potential guests. You might create a round up of the best hiking trails or top ski slopes near you to inspire like-minded travellers to reserve a room.
Put this content to work on social media, too, so you can attract new travelers and raise your bed and breakfast’s portfolio. Post your photos to Instagram or Facebook, put videos you’ve created on YouTube, and tweet about exciting area news.
As you’re wading into social media, don’t forget to manage your presence on guest-centric sites, such as TripAdvisor. See what guests love and what can be done better, and positively address concerns to demonstrate your responsiveness to potential guests who are browsing your reviews.
You may be doing some of these strategies already, but unless you’re implementing them consistently, you won’t see the payoff you crave. To bring your digital media strategy together, use calendaring to set aside the time to do your B&B digital marketing, then hold yourself accountable to testing the strategies and analysing the results.
As you tweak these strategies by seeing what works best for your guests, you’ll see increased website traffic, more bookings, and stronger guest engagement.
The post How digital media can help your B&B build guest relationships beyond your property’s walls appeared first on Front Desk & Reservation System for Small Hotels – Little Hotelier.
