Hoteliers need to hire the right digital marketing agency if they want to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, digital marketing can occasionally seem like a confusing, constantly shifting landscape for many hospitality professionals; therefore, determining the right agency for your needs can quickly become daunting. With any new partnership, the best way to set the proper expectations is to ask the right questions of your digital marketing agency before you even begin working with them.
While there may someday be a Match.com-type service for conveniently pairing hoteliers with starry-eyed agencies based on personality, life goals, and shared interests (we both like to travel!), for now, a solid Q&A session can go a long way towards partnering you with the right agency. With that in mind, here are ten important questions every hotelier needs to ask a digital marketing agency before hiring them:
1. Does the agency specialize in the hospitality industry?
Make sure the agency has experience dealing with the unique challenges of your industry. Hotels have very specific needs that a hospitality digital agency should know how to address. An agency of this caliber would easily be able to craft custom solutions for unique hotel challenges concerning seasonality, booking engines, group business, ADR, OTAs, occupancy rates, and more.
2. Does the agency provide a cookie-cutter, checklist approach to digital marketing or is it customized to the hotel’s goals?
Some agencies provide a very templated approach to digital marketing that does not take into account the unique qualities of the hotel, its location, its competition, its goals, and its challenges. Regardless of the hotel and its needs, these agencies’ digital marketing services never deviate from the checklist they have created. Be certain the agency supporting your hotel is equipped to handle your unique property with a custom marketing plan designed to meet your specific goals. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to hotel digital marketing, despite those kinds of solutions being fairly widely offered throughout the industry.
