By Jennifer Rodrigues, TravelInk’d

Hotels and lodging companies are facing a difficult reality in today’s market. Even as the recession seems to be waning, revenues, occupancy and ADR are still down and the next 12 months are still looking hazy for the hotel industry. Budget cuts are still in effect and hotels don’t have money to spend on marketing or PR or social media outreach or, well anything for that matter. But that doesn’t change the fact that if hotels aren’t putting themselves out there and making themselves visible to their potential customers, they can’t and won’t be successful, today or tomorrow. Visibility equals sales. Period.

So how do hotels with fewer marketing dollars market themselves effectively? What tactics work? What tactics don’t? And how can you make them work for your hotel without spending a fortune?

Here is my list of four highly effective hotel marketing tactics that won’t drain your bank account:

Website (Where is Yours?)

Let’s be frank – if you don’t have a website for your property, there’s a good chance that your property won’t ever be found by consumers. No ifs or buts about it. It is a fact of today’s operating environment: dynamic websites and an online presence are crucial.

Today’s website, however, is no longer just for information and sexy pictures; today, a website has to function as a lead generator, booking path, marketing vehicle and revenue manager all in one. It is a hard-working multi-purpose tool that must be developed accordingly. Ask yourself, is your website doing all that?

And while have a great website is important, what is the point if no one can find it? Embrace search engine optimization (SEO) with a passion. This is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic coming to your website from search engines using un-paid search results (organic search), so that your site comes up in Google and other search engines. The next step beyond SEO is Paid Search Advertising, which is another effective way to drive traffic to your property’s website.

Social Media (Is Not Just Hype)

Social media is a great way to create interest about and get consumers involved in your property. There are social networking sites for almost every niche market and it’s only your creativity that limits which sites you choose to use to promote your property. Here are a few social media guidelines to keep in mind:

• Social media is not a sales forum for your property. While it’s important to deliver some of your key messages about the benefits of choosing your property, it’s also important to provide information that is interesting and engaging for consumers. Keep the sales pitch for your website.
• The goal with social media is to have others do the work for you. That doesn’t mean that you should have others post for you; it means that the overall goal is to make your content so interesting and compelling that others will forward it to friends and networks, spreading the word about your property with no effort on your part.
• Social media sites are perfect for developing relationships with your customers and the best way to do that is to develop a two-way conversation. Two-way! That means that when your customers contact you through your sites or provide you with feedback, it’s imperative that you respond immediately.

Bad news travels faster than good news. Make sure that you address concerns brought to your attention through social media sites. If you don’t, you risk having the word spread far and wide that you don’t care about your customers’ complaints.

So which site will work best for your property? Here are some of the more popular sites (but remember there are many more to choose from!):

Facebook – This is where people spend a growing amount of their [online] time. They create and maintain friendships, document their lives and connect with brands they care about. Hotels should be using Facebook to create a community and develop two-way conversations with their customers. The community should provide consumers with content and conversations that are relevant to their lives, desires and mindsets.

Twitter – An effective way to communicate short messages to your followers. Twitter is very effective for promoting sales, providing travel tips and other information which your guests could use when planning a trip to your destination. Keep your ‘tweets’ short and sweet because you only have 140 characters for the entire message. Be personal, be interesting. This isn’t a marketing brochure; it’s a conversation starter.

And last but not least, blogging. Blogging is a perfect complement to your social media strategy. It’s a way to post news, stories and opinions to attract visitors to your company’s website – and hotel community. Bring people to your blog by including links to articles and posts from your blog on your other social media sites.

Blogging – Blogs are a great way to communicate useful information to your customers. Try including reviews of local attractions, things to do, updates on tourism to the area and other relevant details people can use. But remember: the information you provide MUST be of interest to consumers, otherwise they won’t take the time to read it.

Public Relations (Is More Than A Press Release)

You’ll hear me extol the virtues of PR in this column over and over again. Of course, I work in PR but it’s more than that. PR is inexpensive and most importantly, PR’s results are much more credible and then advertisements. How so?

Most people only “know” what they read, see, hear in the media or through word of mouth. PR optimizes both those channels and provides third-party testimonials about the benefits or advantages of your property.

Truth is in the advertising? Well everyone knows that a hotel, or any advertiser for that matter, can say whatever they want to about their property. A hotel can claim 100% occupancy for 10 years straight, or that 100% of their customers will choose to return, and so on. In today’s media market, however, consumers are hesitant to believe these types of claims regardless if they are true. But when a trusted media source offers an unbiased perspective and compelling story about your hotel, consumers are far more likely to believe it and react positively to it.

An effective PR strategy has the ability to deliver far more credibility than most advertisements ever could, as well as drive brand preference and yes, sales.

The Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

It’s true that OTAs aren’t exactly “budget” tactics; in fact, their commissions can become pricey. But I’m including them here because hotels must (repeat, MUST) have a presence on the OTAs to find success in today’s (and tomorrow’s) marketplace. Today’s consumer is looking for the best deal and knows that most often, their best deal is found online with an OTA.

Consumers use OTAs as their Google for travel. In some destinations, there are hundreds of hotels to choose from and there is little chance of the consumer knowing all available options, or indeed having the time to spend individual sites for the best deal. What this means is if your hotel doesn’t have a presence on those sites, you are losing out on valuable booking opportunities and valuable revenues.

It’s a must do, an operational imperative and what makes this one come in at number four on my list.

Don’t Close Your Doors To New Business

For a hotel, a slow travel market shouldn’t mean slow or non-existent marketing efforts. Many studies have shown that if you don’t continue to promote your business during rough times, you might not be around once the market improves. Only your competitors stand to gain if you stop or slow down your marketing efforts.

Think strategically, think on a budget, but don’t stop thinking. Think outside the marketing box, and you just might be pleasantly surprised by the success you find there.

Just don’t close your doors to new business.

About the author: Jennifer Rodrigues, Visibility Specialist with ThinkInk and TravelInk’d, is a seasoned public relations professional with a passion for the hospitality industry, which is expressed in her role at ThinkInk’s travel division, TravelInk’d. At TravelInk’d, she is responsible for developing cost-effective and creative public relations and marketing strategies for clients in the travel and tourism, airline, lodging, cruise and meeting/event sectors. For more information on TravelInk’d, please visit www.travelinkd.com or contact Jennifer at jlr@travelinkd.com.