With the return of budget season, the uneasy feeling of making decisions regarding hotel marketing budgets begins to aggravate hoteliers. The time and energy available to efficiently go through all the marketing proposals is limited. There is some concern about making the wrong decision, investing in the wrong channels, or getting completely bamboozled by some marketing snake oil. Some hoteliers are excited to plan a big enough budget in 2019 to support the initiatives they wanted to implement in 2018. Maybe you are somewhere in the middle, feeling worry about making the right decisions and excitement about funding exciting new initiatives.
Chris Johnson, VP Sales, Marketing and Revenue Management at Fillmore Hospitality, clearly put the pressure on proper budgeting for digital marketing in context when he said, “We have to take a step back and understand what we’re trying to achieve and understand if we’re applying the necessary resources to create a desirable experience for our guests to book with us directly.”
In this article, you will learn best practices for properly budgeting digital marketing services in 2019. With a better understanding of the most important digital marketing channels and recommended budgets for each, we will do our best to ease your worry and spark some excitement over what a proper marketing budget can do for you. You do not need to participate in every marketing opportunity available, but by identifying your goals early, you can focus your budget on the digital marketing initiatives helping you reach those objectives efficiently.
It is important to note, effective digital marketing services are rarely executed by the push of a button. We have witnessed a certain misconception in this industry that digital marketing is mostly automated. There are agencies that have automated some of their marketing processes with technology. When automation is the sole means of marketing, it often produces a rote, colorless marketing campaign following the same cookie-cutter checklist, regardless of hotel needs or goals. While these agencies, in many cases, may appear to be cheaper on the surface, their services come with a hidden cost. Specifically, overly automated campaigns often lack the customization and creative strategy that yield better performance.
Smart Budgeting for Digital Marketing
As the owners of a digital marketing agency, we oscillate between the highs and lows during budget season: the excitement of possibility and the angst of improper budgeting. We are always excited for what Blue Magnet can and will do for our current and future clients, but we cannot help but experience angst when our potential partners do not properly budget for digital marketing initiatives that will help them reach their goals. In turn, both the hotel and Blue Magnet fall short because we both miss a great opportunity to lower OTA dependence and focus on direct bookings.
We are going to be completely transparent in this post about how hotels should budget for their digital marketing in 2019. We want all hotels to consider the importance of proper budgeting for digital marketing, whether they work with Blue Magnet or work with any other agency. According to Johnson, “For hotels with independent websites, I would suggest 65% of a hotel’s marketing budget should be directed towards digital efforts and deployed against all channels.”
While all agencies charge differently for their services, the following guide offers you a rough idea of what you can expect to pay for various digital marketing services at a reputable agency. This is an honest look at the realistic costs of delivering best-in-class digital marketing services to hoteliers. There is a value to having a more creative, strategic approach to digital marketing, supported by the power and scalability of technology, and agencies charge accordingly.
First, let’s discuss value. What is the value of digital marketing to you? What is the ROI? Consider the following facts when evaluating the importance of your online presence:
