One of the biggest mistakes hotel marketers make when planning ad campaigns and promotional offers are building these campaigns around very broad, one size fits all messaging. In their effort to appeal to everyone, these ads run the risk of appealing to no one.
NB: This is an article from Tambourine
The Good News: New ad platforms and ad technology (from google, facebook and Instagram, to travel intent and the OTAs) make it easier than ever to identify highly specific audiences so that you can tailor your ad messaging to suit them.
The Bad News: Staying current with the always evolving list of targeting options on those very same platforms is tougher than one might think. Hoteliers can not only target travelers at various stages of the purchase funnel, but based on past actions, sites they frequent and ads they’ve previously clicked on.
You can even target travelers based on where they are at various stages in their life. It’s called Milestone Targeting and it’s changing the way hotel marketers think about ad personalization.
Based on our hotel digital advertising experience, here are a few options you can implement immediately to personalize your ad messaging to capture new, motivated audiences:
1. Build your campaigns around romance milestones.
A vast and lucrative audience for your digital ads are those who are celebrating or nearing major romantic milestones, such as engagements, weddings and anniversaries. By selectively targeting these users, you can present them with customized offers and promotions.
Recently Engaged
A good place to start is with the recently engaged audiences. Facebook and Instagram allow you to target those coveted newly engaged users after they flip the switch on their profile’s relationship status.
This allows you to push custom messaging.
Resorts can pair these newly engaged audiences with promotions like honeymoons offers or destination weddings.
Newly Married & Upcoming Anniversary
Want to push romantic weekend getaways to couples in your drive markets? You might try options for targeting the newly married on Facebook and Instagram. This option is available for newly married couples for up to one year.
Similarly, you can target couples who have an upcoming anniversary. This is where hoteliers can get creative.
Perhaps you want to exclude women from the targeting and customize a message specifically for men, driving traffic to a custom landing page that talks about surprising their wives for their upcoming anniversary. Or vice-versa.
Of course, that’s just an example. But the point is: knowing what’s possible in targeting allows hoteliers to get surgical with their targeting and pair that targeting with extremely personalized content.
2. Target Parents For Family Vacations.
Family travelers are a distinct and highly targetable demographic, with specific needs and preferences that you can build into your Facebook and Instagram ads.
For example, hotels offering suites with kitchenettes can target families/parents by promoting these amenities as ideal options for families trying to vacation on a budget.
The same holds true for hotels and resorts that offer kid-centric amenities, like themed pools and guest-rooms, as well as services for parents (i.e. onsite childcare for parents seeking a little alone time).
To reach these travelers, Facebook and Instagram offer detailed options under “Parents.” Target all parents, or drill-down according to the age of the children in the family. There are options for new parents (with kids aged 0-12 months), as well as parents with adult children (18-26 years), early school-age children (6-8 years), preschoolers (3-5 years), preteens (8-12 years), teenagers (13-18 years) and toddlers (1-2 years).
