Budget season is upon us. Do you feel stuck in your paid media campaigns for your hotels?

NB: This is an article from Cogwheel Marketing, one of our Expert Partners

Founder, Stephanie Smith, in her presentation talks about different strategies and budgets for paid media for your hotel. There is no single magic bullet that will bring in your perfect guest at the perfect time at the perfect rate.

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Before Developing your Paid Media Plan

Before you start planning your 2023 dollars to spend on digital advertising, you need to know what is and is not working.

Please, try not to take last year’s spend and increase by X%. Making any decisions in the past 2 years is not going to be fruitful.

I promise you, if you can give them a solid WHY, you will get better buy-in.

Do you truly understand the various stories being told (or not told) of your hotel via all its online channels?

Is your spend based on gaps that need to be filled in terms of the entire customer journey? Are there certain areas that are prohibiting performance or poor rankings?

Do you have a health channel mix? How is your channel mix versus the competitive set?

Do you account for seasonality?

Understanding Each Paid Media Channel

Once you have answered the questions above and have a good grasp on your opportunities, it is time to understand the KPIs you want to impact and the goals you want to achieve.

With each channel, think about:

When to use: It depends on the gap you have to fill….

What is the goal: Options could be for awareness, engagement, website traffic, specific audience targeting, channel shift,

Who are you targeting: Options could be transient guests, meeting planners, repeat guests, previous website users, users with specific interests, users in specific locations, guests of your competitors. The list goes on.

Add More Tools to your Hotel Paid Media Toolbox

Here are some tools to consider adding to your arsenal. Some you know, some you may not.

  • OTA Ads – Everyone’s go-to is Expedia TravelAds, but you can also run Booking.com/Priceline ads. They generally spend less but sometimes have a higher ROAS
  • Metasearch – Channel shift from OTAs to Direct. (Don’t spend here if you don’t need it!)
  • Sponsored Listings – Gain more exposure via higher placement on sites like TripAdvisor, Kayak and Google Property Promoted Ads
  • Social Media Ads – Excellent niche targeting that is cost effective to target specific transient segments
  • Email Marketing – Different options here depending on your brand and if you want to target new transient guests, past guests or meeting planners
  • Google Adwords (Search Engine Marketing) – When your organic presence is struggling or target terms you will never rank for
  • Display Ads – Many different providers and use cases here depending on your brand and target market. Best for creating awareness or exposure, as it is generally top of funnel channel
  • Device ID Targeting – A type of display ads that uses your cell phone to determine physical location in the last 18 months. Sample use cases are your previous guests (or your competition’s), airport travelers, event/convention attendees, etc
  • Remarketing – A type of display that reminds users of your hotel and encourages them to book, AKA “stalker” ads

Read more articles and watch webinar presentation at Cogwheel Marketing