Strengthen your marketing automation strategy for the hotel industry, especially on dates so in demand by tourists. The idea is that all the processes you go through will be much simpler and faster, thanks to automated methods.
Maintaining efficient customer service has never been an easy task, but it is now possible through digital channels. A good example is email marketing that helps you establish effective communication with the user.
And with marketing automation for the hotel industry all the efforts made have been simplified. Because with this process you can not only segment your target audience correctly, but you can also plan your communications.
Benefits of marketing automation for the hospitality industry
Knowing the best marketing automation techniques for the hospitality industry will help you structure your strategy more efficiently. But before we delve deeper, it is important that you know how implementing this process can benefit you:
You can plan smart campaigns based on your guests’ traveler journey and tailored to their needs at every stage of their buying cycle. With automation tools you will be able to update valuable data in your CRM to perform advanced segmentation based on your customers’ preferences and behavior.
It gives you easier monitoring of your campaigns, working with a quality system built into the automation software. You will be able to determine which direct marketing campaigns are working and which types of contacts are working. This way you will create detailed reports and know where to focus your efforts.
It helps to optimize the Lifetime Value (LTV) of your guests, and it is that automation along with good data allows you to devise the appropriate retention strategy and implement it.
Ideal for improving marketing and sales profitability because you don’t waste time on manual processes. It gives you the opportunity to be more productive and devote your efforts to other types of activities. You would not only save time but also money, and if you apply it in the right way you will get a positive ROI.
Increase your hotel’s revenue, if you use automation correctly in strategic terms and do the proper communications, you can improve your revenue.
Marketing automation techniques for the hospitality industry
You may know what you can achieve if you implement a good hotel marketing automation strategy. Now is the time for you to learn some tactics you can use to get the attention of your target audience.
1.- Study the strategy of competition
It is no secret to anyone that the tourism industry is very competitive, especially the hotel niche. When the holiday season approaches, the great battle to offer the best prices and unbeatable reservations begins, which makes everything complicated.
That’s why it’s critical that before you launch your strategy you do a competitor analysis. Look at what they are doing on their web pages, and you can also subscribe to their databases. This way, you will have the opportunity to see in which areas they are implementing marketing automation and improve your strategy.
2.- Track the customer journey
While you observe your competitors’ steps, it is equally or even more important to follow your buyer’s journey. That way, you not only get to know your potential guests, but you also better understand how they move through the decision-making process.
You can follow it from the initial identification of your need or preference to the final choice of a solution that satisfies you. For some, mapping the consumer journey is a difficult task, but if you work with marketing automation for the hospitality industry, it is easier.
You need to know how consumers behave when they realize they have a need and what steps they take to satisfy it. Once you’ve done that, you need to find out how they found you, that is, through what channel and whether they visit your website looking for answers.
Then find out how they get in touch, it should be noted that they usually do this through a CTA button. It can be on your website, in a landing form or in an e-mail. Analyze the possible questions or concerns they might have so that you are ready to respond.
With all this information, you can already have a much clearer idea of where your content should appear, i.e., digital channels. In addition to the kind of information you need to provide to your users, this is valuable content.
3.- Segment your audience
You now know more about your consumers’ behavior through tracking their journey. Now the next step you need to take is to segment your audience, consider that there are different groups within it with different needs. Therefore, the content you provide them cannot be the same.
What you need to do is to segment based on their behavior, products they like, previous purchase history, interactions with the brand, etc. This information will give you the ability to create communication flows tailored to each segment for greater effectiveness.
You can choose between 3 and 5 main groups, all depending on the variety of audiences you will receive in your hotel. In this way, you can develop a strategy for each and offer personalized information. You must always consider the type of content that attracts the most to place it on the most used channels.
4.- Establish the channels you will automate
Just as you have segmented your audience, it is equally important to determine which channels you will apply your hotel marketing automation strategy in. This information can also be obtained by tracking the user journey.
Likely, each segment of your audience has a favorite platform for learning all about your hotel. If you use social networks, you need to make sure in which of your accounts users have the most interaction and engagement. Or if they prefer communication through email marketing.
But the best thing is that either way, you have the opportunity to schedule your content and even answers to frequently asked questions. For example, you can automate marketing and sales as follows:
By sending automated confirmation emails for groups, they should have information tailored to their needs.
Retargeting groups that have expressed interest through your website.
Requesting reviews during or after the stay.
Offer promotions or discounts tailored to different groups.
Giving information of interest to the group before their accommodation, may be weather forecast, answers to common questions, etc.
5.- Automate discounts and promotions.
There are seasons and special dates that you can make the most of. And what better way to do that than by offering exclusive discounts and promotions that customers will surely love. Moreover, they can lead to increased interactions and sales.
And it’s normal for consumers to make purchases they weren’t planning to make until they saw an attractive discount. Best of all, it can be content of interest to most of the groups you segmented in the beginning. With automation, this process is easier because you can schedule an e-mail that is sent to your users.
Not only that, you can also make individual offers for each service you offer in your hotel and for each consumer. This way you can get a better match between your business strategy and the needs of your guests.
6.- Identify and reward loyal customers
Another good marketing automation strategy for the hotel industry is to identify the most active customers in order to retain them. These are those people who tend to visit your hotel frequently, the ones who inadvertently become your brand ambassadors.
Having loyal customers is always an investment worth considering, as the lifetime value of these consumers can be very high and beneficial to your business. So take full advantage of automation to identify them and send them offers that make them feel special.
Now that you know all the marketing automation techniques needed for the hospitality industry, you can start working on your strategy. There are many alternatives that automation can offer you today, you just need to be clear on your goals and work toward them.
Remember that you can leave scheduled posts on both social networks and blogs. Send personalized, automated emails as well. You can even use the popular autoresponders on different instant messaging platforms.
But if you need more specialized strategies in addition to this, we at Antevenio can help you. You can work with our Email Marketing and Marketing Automation service offered by our partner platform MDirector. So you can make your mailings easier and faster, avoiding tedious manual handling.
