What Every Smart Hotelier Must Know About Web Marketing
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Check out these slides from our webinar (http://bit.ly/1qC4ygB) featuring guest speakers Joshua Johnson, Digital Media Producer and Contributing Editor of Matador Network, and Lori Fitzgerald, Director of Marketing & Brand Management at High Peaks Resort to learn how your hotel website can set you apart, help drive direct bookings and make sure your hotel story is compelling to travel shoppers.
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What Every Smart Hotelier Must Know About Web Marketing
- 1. Technical Difficulties? Contact Citrix GoToWebinar 1-800-263-6317 support@citrixonline.com Copyright © 2014 Leonardo Worldwide Corporation What Every Smart Hotelier Must Know About Web Marketing Thursday November 20th Speakers: Darlene Rondeau, VP, Best Practices, Leonardo Joshua Johnson, Digital Media Producer and Contributing Editor, Matador Network Lori Fitzgerald, Director of Marketing & Brand Management, High Peaks Resort
- 2. Darlene Rondeau Vice-President, Best Practices, Online Merchandising Leonardo @darlenerondeau
- 3. Follow: @VFMLeonardo Tweets & Questions: #LeoWebinar
- 4. Joshua Johnson Digital Media Producer and Contributing Editor Matador Network
- 5. Lori Fitzgerald Director of Marketing & Brand Management High Peaks Resort
- 6. Web Marketing: A New Reality Visual-first era Stories sell Final decision before booking
- 7. Joshua Johnson Digital Media Producer and Contributing Editor Matador Network
- 8. #LeoWebinar
- 9. Knowing you SHOULD have a great web presence is not good enough. We must know WHY it is important. Because before people book, they browse. Because we judge books by their covers. Because the consumers of the near future will demand it. Because you still have time, the critical mass is now. Because it is an incredible opportunity to reach the public with your brand. Because your ‘virtual’ hotel mirrors your ‘actual’ hotel. Because it feels good to kick butt. #LeoWebinar
- 10. Style : a unique brand presence has a sense of style Design: color, font, images, navigation, page layout Sense of Place: evoke an immersive sense of place MEDIA: video embedded, full width high quality images, etc #LeoWebinar
- 11. Video on Homepage beautiful, professional video front and center
- 12. Great Design interactive menu that looks like a magazine cover
- 13. Full Width Images sense of place
- 14. Simple, Elegant auto play video
- 15. BIG scroll down tons of info, images, links, resources and eye candy
- 16. take action Brainstorm a more visually rich, stylish and modern web presence with your team. Bookmark websites you like, making note of design, functionality and user experience elements. Utilize high quality FULL WIDTH images. *hire a photographer, host a photo blogger Get a really good video made. Spend $$$. Make the most of your homepage. It can be simple and elegant. It can be a huge, complex scroll down. Design for branding and user experience.
- 17. Key Takeaways Be true to your DNA a.k.a. your hotel’s personality Video sells Take the 1st step towards the future; make it part of your 2015 plan #LeoWebinar
- 18. Lori Fitzgerald Director of Marketing & Brand Management High Peaks Resort
- 19. Lake Placid is a Destination
- 20. Draw Your Guests In
- 21. Put the Guest in the Picture – and Your Story • Guests need to be able to picture themselves here • We sell the experience of being here, not just beds and rooms • Visuals draw people in to learn more • VBrochure and Photo Gallery both among top pages visited #LeoWebinar
- 22. Is Your Website User-Friendly?
- 23. Mobile: Critically Important • Many guests book on their way here • In July & August, mobile was more than half of all traffic • Driven by a Google based advertising buy • Drove nearly 250,000 visitors to the site • In October, 20% of all web traffic was mobile #LeoWebinar
- 24. One Visual Story, Multiple Platforms
- 25. Key Takeaways Use visuals as a magnet Sell what you want guests to experience Mobile is a key business driver Link your digital platforms with a common visual story #LeoWebinar
- 26. The Ultimate Visual Storytelling Solution for Hotels VBrochure BestSTART + + + + + VScape Media Publishing VNetwork Analytics Customer Success Online Players Mobile Web Gallery Facebook
- 27. ► About Leonardo ► Invitations to upcoming webinars ● December’s topic is How to Deal with Your Hotel’s Digital Marketing Challenges ► Recording of this webinar ● Share it with your colleagues It’s a Wrap
- 28. www.leonardo.com 1.877.593.6634 @vfmleonardo facebook.com/vfmleonardo Connect with us! Joshua Johnson @joshywashington Joshua Johnson www.matadornetwork.com Lori Fitzgerald www.highpeaksresort.com lfitzgerald@highpeaksresort.com @HighPeaksResort josh@matadornetwork.com
- 29. Copyright © 2014 Leonardo Worldwide Corporation
Editor's Notes
- The reason we wanted to discuss today’s topic with you is because we’re entering a new visual reality. We’ve seen the rise of visually-driven social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and even Facebook and Twitter as well, but we’ve also watched many industries, travel included, switch to visual-first websites. We’re talking about the visual redesigns of websites like Yahoo Travel, Intercontinental Hotel Group, and perhaps your own hotel website! The reason for this shift is because visuals sell and more important stories sell. 93% of people consider visuals the most influential factor to their purchasing decision, and when selling hotel rooms, and a travel experience, visuals are key to making that sale. In addition to a new visual reality, we’re also going to talk about the importance of having easy to navigate hotel websites – perhaps obvious but something that can mean the difference between having a consumer abandon your site or follow through your booking process. You need to make sure the information travelers want – like where to eat, shop, and stay – and why they should consider you, are front and center. Travelers visit many sites before booking but according to a recent study, many leisure travelers actually make their final decision to book based on the hotel website. What does your website say about your hotel?
- Use enticing visuals – of local attractions, events and experiences guests can expect to have Often debated whether you should feature people in your images or not – we’ve chosen to do so and think it provides an authentic experience of what travelers can experience here Of course, showcase your rooms! People want to see where they’ll stay and sleep – it’s actually the number one most viewed image. Highlight what’s unique – we know lots of people come to our hotel because of our location and the unique activities you can do in our area – we make sure travelers know what we offer by including them prominently on our site, such as this graphic about our Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp that appears right when travelers visit our website
- Is it easy for travelers to find the information they’re looking for? We want to make sure travelers can easily find what they need to make a booking decision, so you’ll notice our tabs at the top make it simple for travelers to find what they want – and we prioritize by placing the most important things guests look for – such as rooms & suites, and special promotions (everyone loves a good deal) right at the top. Don’t overlook the basic information – like your map, directions and contact information. The goal of a successful hotel website is to give travelers what they’re looking for or they’ll abandon your site for another. Finally, we love connecting with travelers on social media – and our guests seem to like it too. We make it easy for travelers to access our social media pages by including the icons right at the top, and then prospective guests can go onto our pages, see what we’re posting and what other travelers are saying about us on social.
- - Screen shot of our smartphone website
- - Connect your visual story to all the platforms travelers use to shop for travel