This article is part of a Curacity series to help hotels plan for budgeting season. We asked Michael Goldrich, an end-to-end digital marketer and generative AI advisor with deep hospitality experience (Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Hotel Group, Denihan Hospitality Group, and more), to weigh in on what hoteliers need to know now.
Hotel marketers often grapple with balancing traditional public relations and digital marketing strategies. This balancing act influences how they allocate their limited resources and molds their overall marketing approach. As a strategic advisor, I frequently guide hotels on navigating this complex landscape to make the most of their marketing budgets.
Traditional PR
Traditional PR offers prestige and credibility. A feature article in a renowned publication like AFAR can significantly enhance a property's profile, attracting high-value guests and increasing brand recognition. However, these opportunities are rare, often requiring extensive networking and relationship-building with journalists and editors. Most hotels secure only one such feature yearly, and generating additional newsworthy stories requires substantial investment in events and unique programming.
Digital Marketing
In contrast, digital marketing provides targeted reach, real-time engagement, and measurable results. This approach allows for more frequent and diverse communication with potential guests, enabling hotels to showcase different aspects of their offerings. Digital channels allow hotels to maintain regular contact with potential guests throughout the year, precisely reaching specific demographics and adapting quickly to market trends or seasonal changes.
Blending the Approaches
How can hotels find the right balance? The solution lies in creating a synergistic approach that leverages the strengths of both traditional and digital marketing channels. This strategy requires careful planning and continuous adjustment based on performance data and market conditions. By doing so, hotels can maximize the impact of every marketing dollar spent, ensuring a comprehensive and effective marketing presence.
An innovative approach gaining popularity involves performance-based marketing models. These solutions combine traditional media's credibility with digital marketing's frequency and measurability, offering a best-of-both-worlds scenario. Curacity, for example, provides regular exposure in premium publications' newsletters, helping hotels maintain a consistent presence without constant new story angles or costly programming. This approach can be particularly beneficial for smaller hotels or those with limited marketing resources.
For budget allocation, consider this balanced approach:
- Reserve 20-30% for traditional PR efforts to secure high-impact placements. This allocation ensures you can invest in quality content creation and relationship-building with critical media outlets.
- Dedicate 50-60% to digital marketing, including performance-based programs. This more significant portion reflects digital channels' broad reach and versatility, allowing for ongoing engagement and targeted campaigns.
- Keep 10-20% flexible for emerging opportunities or seasonal adjustments. This flexibility is crucial in the dynamic hospitality industry, allowing you to capitalize on unexpected opportunities or respond to market changes.
Creating synergies between traditional and digital efforts is crucial. When you secure a significant PR placement, promote it across your digital channels to extend its reach and impact. Create social media content referencing feature articles, turning a single media mention into multiple touchpoints with your audience. Implement ongoing digital campaigns to maintain visibility between major PR placements and use retargeting to re-engage interested users, nurturing leads through the booking process.
Measuring success requires a holistic view:
- Track brand awareness metrics across traditional and digital media. This includes monitoring mentions, sentiment, and share of voice to understand your hotel's overall market presence.
- Measure engagement with digital content and its correlation with PR placements. This can reveal which types of content resonate most with your audience and how traditional media exposure influences online behavior.
- Monitor website traffic spikes following PR features and during digital campaigns. Analyze these patterns to optimize the timing and content of your marketing efforts.
- Use attribution models to understand how different touchpoints contribute to bookings. This insight helps you allocate resources more effectively to the channels that drive the most valuable conversions.
- Compare the cost-effectiveness of various channels in driving reservations. Consider not just the quantity of bookings but also their quality in terms of room rates, length of stay, and potential for repeat business.
Success in hotel marketing requires continuous optimization. Regularly analyze your marketing mix performance, looking for trends and opportunities to improve. Adjust budget allocation based on data, being willing to shift resources to the most effective channels. Always look for innovative solutions to stay competitive, whether adopting new technologies or finding creative ways to tell your hotel's unique story.
Hotels can create a comprehensive strategy that drives awareness, engagement, and bookings by combining traditional PR's credibility with digital marketing's consistency and measurability. This balanced approach allows hotels to build a strong brand reputation while also driving direct, measurable results. In today's hospitality market, this balanced approach is essential for success, helping hotels stand out in a crowded field and attract the right guests at the right time.
Ready to take the next step? Check out the next article in the series, Ask a Strategic Advisor: What Emerging Trends and Technology Should I Know About. Or, explore our latest white paper with HSMAI, From Last-Click to First Look: A Commercial Strategy Makeover Story for Upper Funnel Marketing.
Want to learn more about how Curacity can help you this budgeting season? Fill out our ROI Calculator or get in touch to start a conversation.
