Yep, we are talking about cake. All the green paper ‘cake’ you, a smart hotel General Manager, will make if you understand your marketing funnel. So read on.
Traditionally marketers frame the customer purchase journey through the metaphor of a funnel. The notion is that customers start thinking about buying a product at the wide top end and are propelled (by brilliant marketing tactics) to the narrow bottom end where they buy – or, in the case of your hotel, book.
The internet has transformed customer purchase-making journeys, especially for travelers. The route they take to your door is getting more complicated every day.
Marketers are conceptualizing new customer journey models shaped like circles, infinity loops and whatever well paid consultants dreamed up last week. All you need to know is that understanding your customer journey, even if it’s shaped like a squircle or an eggplant, is important for conceptualizing smart hotel marketing campaigns.
Why should a hotel General Managers care about this crazy non-funnel?
GMs like you care about two things the most. Creating fantastic guest experiences and bringing revenue down to your bottom line. Understanding your hotel guest purchase journey is critical to achieving both of these goals.
If you understand what triggers, motivates and finally compels your guests to book your hotel room, you can make some smart choices about how to nurture them along their path to purchase, while giving them a delightful experience along the way.
It is important to be everywhere on the path to purchase. That means drawing consumer attention from the inspiration stage, through the time they spend researching, to when they make their final booking decision.
However, you shouldn’t use the same marketing message for a guest is who is thinking about where to travel as the one who is ready to book. You need to understand how to create experiences they crave at every step of their journey, craft the right message for the right moment and spend your limited marketing dollars in the most impactful channels.
Note that every guest moves uniquely through the funnel. Some may flounder at the top for months. Others will book on Google Hotel finder without even looking at your hotel website, while some will read every review and shop prices on multiple sites.
Nevertheless, some steps are common to all of them … so let’s dig in.
What does my hotel marketing funnel look like?
Stage One: ASPIRATION
Let’s call your guest Savannah. She will start her journey when something triggers her desire. Maybe it will be a friend’s humblebragging vacation picture on social media or a Visit New Orleans advertisement on the side of a bus. If you can be this trigger, you’re likely to create an emotional connection that will make Savannah more inclined to choose your hotel when she is ready to book.
