There’s a very human side to digital marketing.
As a marketing agency working in the hospitality industry, our team appreciates the importance of a memorable guest experience, both in-house and online, more than most. Relationships with hotel and resort brands generally begin in search and on websites, via chat and social media channels, but there’s a deeper, more productive relationship to be built with travelers beyond the clicks and scrolls.
One of the biggest marketing shifts of the past few years has been the emergence of technology that allows brands to apply personalization at scale in their digital marketing. While understanding user data and capturing audience information is important, in light of recent data protection and regulation changes, ensuring that the data collection processes are both respectful of privacy and strategically targeted is critical.
When done right, personalization positions brands to engage their audiences in the most productive and human manner possible.
UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONALIZED MARKETING
Personalized marketing in hospitality is all about making guests feel seen, heard and cared for. It’s the very essence of the hospitality, especially since the hotel is every traveler’s home away from home.
Travelers long to feel like they have been thought of in every step of their journey. That applies to their digital journey, as well. At its core, personalized marketing is all about user empathy in making the users feel heard for a seamless digital experience focused on conversion. Done right, this fosters deeper relationships between hotel and guest, and drives loyalty both and conversions.
THE LYNCHPIN: FIRST-PARTY DATA
The collection of first-party data plays a critical role in personalize marketing.
What is First-Party Data?
First-party data is any bit of data collected directly from interactions with audiences on your own channels. Examples of first-party data include;
- Demographics
- Purchase History
- Website Activity
- Paid Ad Engagement
- Email Engagement
- Chat Interactions
- User Interests
- On-Page Web Behaviors
This data is typically collected through overlays of directing users to the right content, embedded content, website and booking engine interaction, and the like. By collecting first-party data from the traveler themselves, the data is generally accurate, reliable, and relevant to that user.
Why Should Hotels Rely on First-Party Data in Personalization?
Using first-party data in any marketing campaign, but especially personalized marketing campaigns literally takes the guesswork out of persona creation and personalization. With first-party data, teams don’t need to guess who their users are, the users tell the teams who they are and, more importantly, what they want.
Studies have shown that brands using first-party data for personalized marketing see a 2.9X revenue increase and a 1.5X cost savings. Beyond the bottom line, 75% of marketers were still relying on third-party cookies in 2023 (which is like a friend telling a friend then telling you) even though third-party cookies are being phased out. Getting ahead of the curve by collecting your own, accurate data is going to help you compete far longer than those playing catchup.
PERSONALIZATION IN PRACTICE
Guest Data Collection and Analysis
The foundation of personalized marketing lies in data collection and analysis. Hotel marketers have a ton of resources available to utilize in this initial stage of foundation building. This includes data such as booking history, guest preferences, website interactions, feedback, even demographic targeting can help inform personalized marketing.
Creating Customized Guest Personas
After the initial collecting of data, segmenting general audiences into specific audiences creates the blueprint for a personalization journey. Persona definition should be created based on the type of traveler (couples’ getaways, family vacations, bachelorette trips, solo trips, business trips, etc.). The personas should also be layered with identifying key expectations for the given group’s travel, along with the interest of their vacation, such as “thrill seekers” or “beach chillers.” Diligence is key in this step because it is important to make sure every type of website user feels seen and catered to.
Deliver Personalized Experiences
In this step, the research evolves into execution. Tailored content can take on many forms, from personalized home page experiences based on interest or persona, to persona-based itineraries and content, to tailored room recommendations and offers. This is a way where essential data tracking is key in making sure you identify your audiences with website tracking of who your visitors are based on how they engage with your brand and serving personalizations at the right moment.
Tie in Your Paid Advertising Campaigns for Cohesive Messaging
Whether you are targeting new audiences or remarketing to existing audiences who’ve engaged with your website or ads in the past, this step is at the heart of your personalization efforts. When determining your personas, it allows paid media to be synced with your website experience to make for an engaging personalized landing experience that matches your ads, builds user engagement, and helps improve your ad relevance scores through paid search ads or social ads. This is where you can make sure your personas come to life and are spoken to consistently across as all of the channels users interact with.
Report and Analyze Your Work
Reviewing how your campaigns perform is key in an ever-evolving landscape. Pulling data such as conversion rates, click-through rates, average booking value, revenue generation from personalized campaigns, and look-to-books are key indicators on how well your personalization performed.
A HOLISTIC DIGITAL BRAND EXPERIENCE
At Screen Pilot, personalized marketing is at the heart of what we do. We combine advanced data analysis, user experience, branded storytelling and personalized user journey and call it Digital Brand Experience (DBX).
DBX is built on the premise that personalized marketing is the key to unlocking meaningful growth and differentiation. New data shows that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and more than three-quarters of consumers (76%) get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.
DBX picks up on a user's individual tastes, behaviors and preferences during their digital journey and enables hotels and resorts to deliver relevant, personalized content through an omni-channel strategy of website content and retargeting messaging.
You can learn more about personalized digital brand experiences here.
___
Like hospitality marketing insights?
Sign up to receive the UNPACKING with Screen Pilot newsletter for original inspiration delivered to your inbox.
If you’re looking to improve your hotel's digital presence, look no further than Screen Pilot. Hotel teams that use Screen Pilot's DBX strategy consistently enjoy overperformance in KPIs, including an increase in conversion rates between 3X and 6X their previous average.
There’s a very human side to digital marketing.
As a marketing agency working in the hospitality industry, our team appreciates the importance of a memorable guest experience, both in-house and online, more than most. Relationships with hotel and resort brands generally begin in search and on websites, via chat and social media channels, but there’s a deeper, more productive relationship to be built with travelers beyond the clicks and scrolls.
One of the biggest marketing shifts of the past few years has been the emergence of technology that allows brands to apply personalization at scale in their digital marketing. While understanding user data and capturing audience information is important, in light of recent data protection and regulation changes, ensuring that the data collection processes are both respectful of privacy and strategically targeted is critical.
When done right, personalization positions brands to engage their audiences in the most productive and human manner possible.
UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONALIZED MARKETING
Personalized marketing in hospitality is all about making guests feel seen, heard and cared for. It’s the very essence of the hospitality, especially since the hotel is every traveler’s home away from home.
Travelers long to feel like they have been thought of in every step of their journey. That applies to their digital journey, as well. At its core, personalized marketing is all about user empathy in making the users feel heard for a seamless digital experience focused on conversion. Done right, this fosters deeper relationships between hotel and guest, and drives loyalty both and conversions.
THE LYNCHPIN: FIRST-PARTY DATA
The collection of first-party data plays a critical role in personalize marketing.
What is First-Party Data?
First-party data is any bit of data collected directly from interactions with audiences on your own channels. Examples of first-party data include;
- Demographics
- Purchase History
- Website Activity
- Paid Ad Engagement
- Email Engagement
- Chat Interactions
- User Interests
- On-Page Web Behaviors
This data is typically collected through overlays of directing users to the right content, embedded content, website and booking engine interaction, and the like. By collecting first-party data from the traveler themselves, the data is generally accurate, reliable, and relevant to that user.
Why Should Hotels Rely on First-Party Data in Personalization?
Using first-party data in any marketing campaign, but especially personalized marketing campaigns literally takes the guesswork out of persona creation and personalization. With first-party data, teams don’t need to guess who their users are, the users tell the teams who they are and, more importantly, what they want.
Studies have shown that brands using first-party data for personalized marketing see a 2.9X revenue increase and a 1.5X cost savings. Beyond the bottom line, 75% of marketers were still relying on third-party cookies in 2023 (which is like a friend telling a friend then telling you) even though third-party cookies are being phased out. Getting ahead of the curve by collecting your own, accurate data is going to help you compete far longer than those playing catchup.
PERSONALIZATION IN PRACTICE
Guest Data Collection and Analysis
The foundation of personalized marketing lies in data collection and analysis. Hotel marketers have a ton of resources available to utilize in this initial stage of foundation building. This includes data such as booking history, guest preferences, website interactions, feedback, even demographic targeting can help inform personalized marketing.
Creating Customized Guest Personas
After the initial collecting of data, segmenting general audiences into specific audiences creates the blueprint for a personalization journey. Persona definition should be created based on the type of traveler (couples’ getaways, family vacations, bachelorette trips, solo trips, business trips, etc.). The personas should also be layered with identifying key expectations for the given group’s travel, along with the interest of their vacation, such as “thrill seekers” or “beach chillers.” Diligence is key in this step because it is important to make sure every type of website user feels seen and catered to.
Deliver Personalized Experiences
In this step, the research evolves into execution. Tailored content can take on many forms, from personalized home page experiences based on interest or persona, to persona-based itineraries and content, to tailored room recommendations and offers. This is a way where essential data tracking is key in making sure you identify your audiences with website tracking of who your visitors are based on how they engage with your brand and serving personalizations at the right moment.
Tie in Your Paid Advertising Campaigns for Cohesive Messaging
Whether you are targeting new audiences or remarketing to existing audiences who’ve engaged with your website or ads in the past, this step is at the heart of your personalization efforts. When determining your personas, it allows paid media to be synced with your website experience to make for an engaging personalized landing experience that matches your ads, builds user engagement, and helps improve your ad relevance scores through paid search ads or social ads. This is where you can make sure your personas come to life and are spoken to consistently across as all of the channels users interact with.
Report and Analyze Your Work
Reviewing how your campaigns perform is key in an ever-evolving landscape. Pulling data such as conversion rates, click-through rates, average booking value, revenue generation from personalized campaigns, and look-to-books are key indicators on how well your personalization performed.
A HOLISTIC DIGITAL BRAND EXPERIENCE
At Screen Pilot, personalized marketing is at the heart of what we do. We combine advanced data analysis, user experience, branded storytelling and personalized user journey and call it Digital Brand Experience (DBX).
DBX is built on the premise that personalized marketing is the key to unlocking meaningful growth and differentiation. New data shows that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and more than three-quarters of consumers (76%) get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.
DBX picks up on a user's individual tastes, behaviors and preferences during their digital journey and enables hotels and resorts to deliver relevant, personalized content through an omni-channel strategy of website content and retargeting messaging.
You can learn more about personalized digital brand experiences here.
___
Like hospitality marketing insights?
Sign up to receive the UNPACKING with Screen Pilot newsletter for original inspiration delivered to your inbox.
If you’re looking to improve your hotel's digital presence, look no further than Screen Pilot. Hotel teams that use Screen Pilot's DBX strategy consistently enjoy overperformance in KPIs, including an increase in conversion rates between 3X and 6X their previous average.
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