Resort Digital Marketing: Do’s And Don’ts For Successful Brand Growth

For resort digital marketing teams, promotion of your brand online is a key factor in driving customer engagement and, ultimately, revenue. Yet with the ever-changing landscape of technology and consumer behaviors, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest developments in digital marketing strategies for resorts that actually work. 

In this blog post, we will discuss the most effective do’s and don’ts of resort digital marketing – and how they can be used for successful brand growth now and in the future. Dive into our tried-and-true recommendations backed by data, research, and industry experience that will help take your venture to the next level! So if you’re seeking to make tangible progress with your resort’s digital marketing strategy – read on!

What Is Resort Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is extremely important for resorts. In today’s day and age, potential guests are doing the majority of their research online before booking a vacation. If your resort doesn’t have a strong online presence, you’re likely missing out on a lot of business. A good digital marketing strategy will help potential guests find your resort online and learn more about what it has to offer. Once they’re familiar with your brand, they’ll be more likely to book a stay.

Digital marketing for resorts is therefore the practice of promoting your resort through a variety of avenues to strengthen its online presence and be visible to prospects looking for the ideal stay during their journey. There are numerous digital marketing channels that you can use to reach potential guests, such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media, and email marketing. Each of these channels has its own advantages and can be used to reach guests at different stages of the booking process. Digital marketing is an essential part of running a successful resort.

However, if you want an effective digital marketing strategy it is important to know that you don’t have to exhaust every possible medium. At the same time, it is crucial to know which aspects to prioritize and what not to. Below we have outlined the digital marketing do’s and don’ts that all digital marketers must utilize to successfully promote resort brands to become pioneers in the resort and hotel industry. Stay tuned to know more.

Do’s Of Digital Marketing For Resorts

Here are the best actionable tips to enhance the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategies. Do employ these techniques to watch your resort and hotel digital marketing campaign succeed.

Do: Invest In A Professional Website

Having a mediocre resort website and expecting potential customers to be interested in what the resort has to offer is a recipe for disappointment. Having an aesthetically pleasing resort or hotel website can instantly improve customer perception of the resort as a whole and a tacky website will give viewers the hotel attributes equally tacky. 

A professional website is the perfect first impression to appeal to your target audience, and you should invest a good portion of your marketing budget into getting a user-friendly, well-designed website. This is an important step in ensuring that your digital strategy doesn’t have loopholes. You don’t want to take customers on a whole journey for the final step at your site and lose out on them there. Instead, which part of the journey the customer enters your website, whether it is when visitors search for “discounts on XYZ facility” or they’re researching hotels in a particular area and find your site, your site needs to attract them enough to keep the audience interested as they browse it to find the required information. 

Do: Master Email Marketing

With inbounding marketing for resorts taking the lead, one would only assume that traditional outbound methods like cold calling and email marketing are well out the door. You can’t be more wrong. While you can’t employ the typical “sign up to our newsletter” as your call-to-action for a hotel business especially, you can offer more valuable offerings in return for subscriptions, which extend to higher discount rates on direct bookings for subscribed customers, etc. 

Potential resort guests and even customers of other industries prefer personalized emails that are interactive while also bringing value to them. Being a low-cost, higher engagement option with quality leads (as customers sign up to these emails willfully), the chance of a well-crafted email promoting your resort resulting in a successful increase in organic traffic, improved booking flow, and establishing a loyal customer base is more possible than not. 

Do: Focus On Customer Satisfaction In Decision-Making

The most important thing you can do to give your customers confidence when booking your resort is to create content that is tailored to their needs and expectations. By doing this, you will show that you understand what they are looking for and that you are able to provide them with the best possible experience. This will go a long way in increasing their confidence in your resort and in their decision to book with you.

Most often users research resorts after deciding their destination of choice. A good way to promote your resort here would be to include the closest local attractions that would be in their travel itineraries and wish list, and/or the unique features guests can find at your resort alone, whether it is state-of-the-art gym facilities or critically acclaimed masseuse, world-class chefs, and whatnot. You need to provide quality content that gives customers the satisfaction that their resort choice provides everything they need. With this type of content intended to enhance confidence in customers, you can effectively generate leads from the right audience which can ultimately lead to customer loyalty and repeat business. 

Do: Use Video Marketing

As content marketing has taken over the digital world, the importance of video content has been brought to the forefront. Videos are powerful tools that are attractive, informative, and engaging while also being effective tools to drive conversions, especially for resorts. 

As video content is capable of taking customers throughout a journey within a span of seconds, especially able to showcase the experience at the resort, giving customers enough information to let their imagination run wild, this is a perfect promotional tool for the hospitality industry to leverage. Experience improved conversion optimization rates by using video marketing. It works for resorts of all types from affordable stays to luxurious ones. You can check out the best ideas for luxury resort marketing strategies if you want more ideas.

Do: Prioritize Your Local Audience

With the allure of attracting global travelers, it’s easy to overlook your potential for success with local markets. Exploring this underserved segment can result in an untapped marketing opportunity and additional profits! 

According to Think with Google research, there has been a 600% increase in mobile searches over two years alone involving “things to do/activities” plus “near me.” Take advantage and start spreading the word about your romantic fine dining experiences or adventurous activities like scuba diving etc and you may find that locals are eager advocates who share information across social media networks going farther than you ever expected possible!

Do: Invest In Google Hotel Ads

With Google Hotel Ads, you can maximize the effectiveness of your marketing strategy! These, unlike traditional Google Ads, do not require keyword phrases or ad text. Furthermore, you won’t waste money because user queries are matched against availability and suitability for your property, so any clicks generated are more likely to result in a booking. 

In short, use Google Ads to build brand awareness, then switch to targeted hotel ads once users are further down the funnel – it’s an efficient way to add value at each stage of the customer journey!

Don’ts Of Digital Marketing For Resorts

Along with techniques you must include in your strategy, it is also crucial not to make certain mistakes. Here are some don’ts you should religiously practice to ensure high-quality results.  

Don’t: Forget Search Engine Optimization

SEO is important for resort digital marketing because it can help improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can ultimately lead to more guests booking rooms at your resort. By optimizing your website for relevant keywords and phrases, you can make it easier for potential guests to find your resort when they’re searching for accommodations in your area. 

Additionally, a well-optimized website can help build trust and credibility with potential guests, which can further encourage them to book a stay at your resort. As much as having a professional website is important, people need to find your site on search engines first before they enter it and find it engaging. SEO is a huge part of content marketing so you can’t create that is not optimized for SEO and expect unprecedented results.

By not optimizing your site for the three main SEO techniques, On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and technical SEO, your business will lose out on showing on organic search results and enhancing your search marketing results like increased brand visibility, which could ultimately lead to more bookings and a better online reputation through improved domain authority and search engine rankings. So don’t forget your search engine optimization! 

Don’t: Disregard Cross-Device User Experience

Forgetting to create optimized and consistent content whether on your site or social media platforms for users using various devices can leave huge room to lose out on customers. Different devices have different screen sizes and capabilities, so it’s important to make sure that the overall look and feel of the site are consistent no matter what device a potential guest is using. 

This will help create a more seamless and enjoyable experience for your target audience, allowing them to have a positive impression of your business online which would correlate to what they assume the resort will look like too. 

Don’t: Forget To Track And Measure Your Campaigns

There are a few key reasons why tracking and measuring your resort digital marketing campaigns is so important. First, it allows you to see which campaigns are actually driving results and which ones might need some adjustment. Second, it helps you to optimize your campaigns for better performance and to make sure you are getting the most out of your marketing budget. And finally, it gives you valuable insights into your customers’ behavior and how they interact with your brand online.

With this many benefits, you don’t want to mindlessly rush on a spree of creating social media marketing campaigns and whatnot without tracking its reach, engagement rates, lead generation potential, conversion rates, and other essential metrics needed to see how your marketing efforts can be altered to bring in better returns.

Don’t: Miss Out On Word Of Mouth Opportunities

Online reviews help potential guests make informed decisions about where to stay. This type of user-generated content can provide an unbiased look at what a resort has to offer and it can help potential guests compare resorts side-by-side. Additionally, online reviews can help build trust and credibility for a resort. Guests are more likely to book a stay at a resort that has positive online reviews. 

Another reason why you should not underestimate word-of-mouth marketing for resorts is that it can be a very cost-effective way to market a business. Resort owners and managers can encourage guests to leave reviews on popular travel websites and social media platforms. Additionally, word-of-mouth marketing can help a resort build a loyal following of repeat guests. For any resort, this is 

Don’t: Lose Out On Promoting Engaging Content

Don’t let your high-quality relevant content just sit there waiting for people to find it. Many people assume that the more content they share, the higher their brand awareness rates grow. 

However, that is not always the case. It is much better to create less content and boost the content using targeted marketing techniques, for example, Instagram ads by specifying the target demographics of the resort, which will take the ads directly to the right audience thereby enhancing your social media presence which can lead to more direct bookings! Boosting your posts is an important aspect of a high-performing social media marketing strategy for resorts. This extends to more than just your social media platforms though, so whether it’s a beautiful video of the resort’s facilities on your website or a Facebook post, promote it further and improve reach, engagement, and ultimately, profitability.  

Don’t: Exhaust Your Marketing and Advertising Budget Across All Channels

Don’t just spread your marketing and advertising budget as loosely as confetti at a parade – you’re going to want to use some strategy. Taking the time to look at metrics from previous campaign performance, or conducting research on marketing avenues, could be the difference between getting good ROI or unintentionally making it rain money. 

Investing wisely in marketing and advertising means that you can make the most of your budget while still blowing those goals out of the water.

Formulate The Ultimate Digital Marketing Strategy For Resort Success

Resort digital marketing can be a great way to bolster your brand’s growth and increase profits, but only if it’s done correctly. We hope this extensive list of the dos and don’ts of resort digital marketing has helped you form a better understanding of what it takes to be successful in this competitive industry. Now that you understand the basics, it’s time to put together your own comprehensive strategy. Let us help – our team has years of experience crafting effective digital marketing plans for resorts of all sizes. Contact us today to get started!

FAQs

 How Can I Market My Resort Online?

With online marketing for resorts, the world is really your oyster. You can create online campaigns that target a range of customers, from classic family vacationers to business travelers alike. Utilize online strategies such as email campaigns, online advertising, and social media outreach to drum up excitement about your resort and generate bookings. Share fun photos and how-to videos on Instagram, send enticing emails about upcoming holiday packages, or advertise deals on Facebook – whatever you do, let your unique voice shine through! Investing in digital marketing will ensure more people know about your resort and find a place they feel like they can’t resist.

What Are The Benefits Of Hotel Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing has been transforming the hospitality industry with benefits that range from increased ROI to enhanced customer convenience and satisfaction. Hotel businesses can reach a larger audience at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional marketing strategies – talk about a win-win! Plus, digital strategies like web design and SEO can make sure your business stands out from the competition and maximize visibility across multiple platforms.