5 Must Do's To Refresh Your Marketing

1. Plan your Social Media Content

Your social media platforms are a vital way engage with potential guests and broaden your reach to new audiences. The start of a new season can mean a change in the tone and messaging of your social media posts. If your accommodation is in a location that benefits from higher visitor volumes through spring and summer for example, then you'll want to become more active with regular social media posts to share your content.

• Activate seasonal social media ad campaigns to expand your reach and engagement with potential guests
• Develop a monthly social media content calendar of organic posts with a variety of "content buckets" e.g Food & Menus, Team News, "Behind the Scenes", Local activities & events
• Refresh the style and design of your posts, make sure they are on point with your brand and visual identity!
• Make sure you weave your brand story into your messaging and visual media e.g if you are a small hosted B&B then more friendly and personal content will give potential guests an insight into the experience you provide, versus a campground that might focus on the location, weather and environment.
• Try using Chat GPT to develop your content ideas & messaging, and even to plan a content calendar! It's amazing how this can make your social media content planning so much quicker and easier!
• Check out our Social Media marketing for tourism webinar recording for more strategies to how to boost this form of digital marketing

2. Freshen Up Your Brand & Designs

The visual first impression of your accommodation plays a significant role to inspire potential guests and new bookings. It's all too easy to set and forget about your branding. Your logo, fonts, colours and imagery may have been the same for many years and has served you well! We recommend that you regularly review your brand look and feel to ensure it is still relevant to the values and the story your business wants to represent. 

Your business may have evolved so your branding should too! Consider whether your branding needs to be rejuvenated or modernised to strengthen your visual identity and stand out from the crowd.

Get in touch if you need some advice from tourism branding experts, have a look at our brand and design packages, register to join our Brand Design & Storytelling webinar, and download our Brand & Design eBooks for Tourism! 

3. Review Your Email Marketing

Attracting repeat bookings from existing customers is often easier than converting new customers, that's where email marketing comes in. If you don't get much engagement with email newsletters it may be time to analyse how you send emails, the content of your emails, and the contacts in your database. If you don't employ database marketing at all then it's time to get started! Things you can do:

• Use email marketing software like Mailchimp that provides you engagement data about every email you send
• In your booking process include an email newsletter "opt-in" check box, that way you can add new contacts from new bookings to your email list
• Include a newsletter subscribe form on your website - we recommend this goes in your footer area so it appears on every page. If you are using a tool like Mailchimp then it will automate the process to place new contacts into your list.
• Remove contacts that don't open or engage with your emails - email marketing software will provide data on "unengaged contacts"
• Design a newsletter branded template that you can use each time and just change out the content
• We can help you get started with a professional and rewarding approach to newsletter marketing

4. Write a Seasonal Blog Article

Blog articles are a great way to draw in visitors to your website from either search engine results or shared from your social media pages. Much like your social media strategy, you need to come up with a variety of blog content topics, here's some ideas for a seasonal article:

• Event & Activity News - A new season often also means there will be plenty of upcoming events, festivals and activities in your area that you can recommend for visitors. You may also want to make a package that includes staying you and event tickets.
• Host News - profile yourseleves as Hosts (and team members), profile any new people coming onboard. This is a great way to show a more personal side of your business and share some great stories about you and your team members.
• Product News - Have you made some changes to your accommodation? Menus, new bedding or renovations for example? Share photos, videos and news about whats new and changed.
• Share a Customer Story or Review - If you've managed to get great a review with photos/videos from a customer on review sites, your social media pages or even directly through email, ask their permission to share their story on your blog too. We know in the accommodation business that there are plenty of really amazing moments where you've made someone's holiday so it's marketing gold to share these in as many ways as you can!

5.Update Your Website Content

As your main form of marketing to inspire and take bookings, your website needs to be nurtured and maintained. Make a habit of evaluating the content on your website regularly to make improvements:

• Replace old & out dated images and videos. Are your hero and featured images the best they can be? Fresh professional images can breathe new life into a website!
• Update text content to provide new details and remove incorrect information.
• Can you improve the navigation and presence of Book Now buttons so it's easier for users to find important information and book?
• Does your Team or About Us page have all current team members and their photos?
• Add new guest reviews so you have a selection from recent visitors
• How long has it been since anyone reviewed and optimised your SEO?

If your website older than 3 years you should be planning a new website that will provide a more thorough update including the design, content, SEO and visual media. Consider one of our tourism themed websites!

Posted by ResBook Team on September 06, 2023