If you’ve ever daydreamt about sitting back and letting someone else do all your marketing for you, implementing a marketing automation system could be the answer.
Well, almost. Marketing automation software doesn’t actually make the work of your resort’s marketing department redundant, it just helps make the whole process much more efficient and streamlined. Used effectively, marketing automation will help you deliver highly personalised, targeted messages to your guests to guide them smoothly through the booking process.
So, how should you be using your marketing automation software? These 5 key Dos and Don’ts are a great place to start.
Don’t Send Generalised Mass Messages
Marketing automation removes any need to send a general, broad message to your entire contact list that will end up straight in their trash folder.
Do Create Highly Personalised Content For a Specific Audience
Instead, you should aim to provide your guests with precisely the content they’re looking for, at the exact moment they’re looking for it. Imagine you’ve just discovered a company, you’ve downloaded a piece of their content and was really impressed by it so sign up to the mailing list. The next email you receive is about a completely new topic that doesn’t relate to what you just read. Wouldn’t it be better to receive an email that nurtures your interest by continuing to delve further into the topic that originally caught your attention? With the right marketing automation system you can do exactly that. It’s all about moving away from the generalised hard sell in favour of highly personalised and relevant content that directly aligns and responds to your guests’ behaviour and guides them through the booking funnel.
Don’t Forget About Previous Guests
Driving new bookings online is hard work. So many hotels and resorts are so focused on generating new business, that they overlook all those people that have stayed with them before. These people already have an affinity with your property, and most likely want to stay again at some point.
Do Nurture Relationships with Past Guests to Drive Repeat Bookings
Keep past guests happy by nurturing your relationship through segmented, personalised content that will remind them how great you are and keep them coming back for more.
Do Analyse and Adjust
Most marketing automation systems offer a great selection of analytics reports. To assess the success of any given automated campaign, start by examining the open, click-through and unsubscribe rates. This data will help you identify what’s working for you and what’s falling flat, so you can tweak your methods, re-assess and improve.
Does your resort use marketing automation software to streamline your marketing campaigns? Let us know in the comments below.
