A hotel’s content strategy must target the entire journey to catch travelers as they start dreaming of a trip and keep them engaged until they book.
NB: This is an article from Travelboom
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People may travel for leisure only once or twice a year, which means their hotel reservation likely won’t be an impulsive decision. While this might sound discouraging, hoteliers who understand the content marketing funnel can have content in place to convert occasional and frequent travelers into registered guests.
If you create top-funnel content only to increase brand awareness, you’ll miss opportunities to capture leads who are ready to book. If your property has a good social following and solid website traffic but lacks conversions and occupancy rates, it may mean your mid and bottom funnel content strategy needs a second look. We’ll show you the importance of targeting audiences with lower-funnel content and share some ideas that get results.
Mid-Funnel Content Marketing for Hotels
Middle-of-the-funnel shoppers are more than aware of your hotel—they’re interested. Top-funnel content, like an article on the ‘Top 5 Destinations for Foodies,” got their attention, and now they are looking for more information. Hoteliers’ strategies should include mid-funnel content to engage and inform searchers throughout this consideration phase.
Educate Potential Hotel Guests
These potential guests are now diving deeper into your property’s website and social channels to evaluate its offerings and compare it to competitors. Each traveler is trying to answer a question: Does this hotel solve my lodging needs? None of the generalized content you used to build brand awareness—best-of articles, listicles, and such—works here. A mid-funnel hotel content strategy must be targeted and specific to answer searchers’ questions and nurture leads.
Prioritizing content by search intent is one Search Engine Optimization trend to deploy during this stage that will help attract those looking for precise offerings, like event centers, family vacation destinations, or luxury travel. Then provide in-depth mid-funnel content highlighting the relevant features, room types and styles, and amenities. Use a mix of landing pages, email campaigns, and social media posts to showcase the property as the ideal solution for each qualifying query.
Engage the Hotel’s Audience
A hotel’s mid-funnel content strategy should also help hoteliers identify qualified leads and engage with them. Pop-ups asking for newsletter subscriptions or free travel guides are two content marketing ideas for hotels that help separate qualified leads from less-interested searchers. Hoteliers can use the subscriber database and guest history to target mid-funnel travelers with email content related to their past search and booking behavior. Engage potential hotel guests on social channels and offer contact forms on the website to foster relationships and provide a forum for people to learn more about the brand or ask specific questions.
