Staying on top of the latest online and search updates and advances is key for hoteliers looking to spread the word of their business far and wide. You can have the most beautiful rooms, the finest hospitality and a to-die-for on-site eatery, but if your marketing efforts are poor then you will face an uphill battle to attract new custom. A vital part of attracting clients to your hotel and filling your rooms on a regular basis is the use of Google AdWords, particularly since some small but important alterations were recently made to the service’s location marketing.
The latest update from Google has made location marketing more important than ever before. This means that it is now crucial businesses to use this tool to its maximum potential, and there are several ways in which this can be achieved. Location, location, location But before we get into how companies can use AdWords to help grow their revenues, it is important to understand exactly what has changed in this latest update. At the crux of this development is that AdWords is now compatible with local location searches. What this means is that, when Google Map searches for an address or business, it can now include advertised businesses, a fact which represents a huge opportunity for firms. This integration could have a huge impact on your hotel marketing campaigns.
The change means that the location of the person undertaking the online search can influence whether your business appears in the results, as well as the type of information or the location of the company that the individual is searching for. By utilising location targeting, hotel businesses are able to focus their marketing targets on specific regions, cities or countries. This means that they may be able to deploy a more focused campaign. After all, what is the use of having your ad pop up in front of a completely uninterested consumer? This way, if an individual searches for, or resides in, a location within your local area, they will become aware of your hotel business.
Therefore, a company that has a well-implemented AdWords location marketing campaign will be able to reap the rewards. This may entail your hotel appearing at the top of a Google search for accommodation in your city. It is easy to attract business when a consumer is actively looking for your hotel, or at least searching out nearby accommodation. However, a well-implemented AdWords campaign can help you attract an altogether more difficult to find source of business – travellers who are not knowingly on the lookout for your establishment. This means that you can get key information across to potential guests. In such a situation, the consumer would not just see the name of your business and a web address, they could also be exposed to your hotel’s full address and phone number. They would even be able to see your review rating, thereby adding a further layer of authenticity to your company’s location marketing campaign.
This would in turn remove many of the common potential concerns that would-be guests often have before booking accommodation, as they can see your review scores and comments – giving them the reassurance that your hotel was found at the top of their online search. AdWords location extensions have also been suggested as a viable tool for marketers. Google claims that utilising this tool can result in a ten per cent increase in click through rates, so this is certainly something that should be given some serious thought as part of your overall strategy. The correct use of location extensions is particularly important since the recent AdWords change, which saw four ads shown at the top of a search, up from three, and no ads displayed down the right hand side of the page, down from eight. It is also worth keeping in mind that AdWords mobile searches are able to display multiple locations, so if you are part of a chain hotel business then potential guests can be alerted to your other sites right from their initial search.
Google also claims that six out of ten consumers will contact a business using the information displayed within its AdWords extension, so adding this information to your marketing efforts is a must. A further factor to consider whenever launching a marketing campaign is to ensure that your chosen keywords accurately reflect your business and the clientele that you wish to attract. This extends to your location, as it is vital that you set the correct regions within your AdWords efforts, otherwise you may find that your business is being put in front of people with little to no interest of your hotel, or even the city or country in which you are based. However, if you follow the advice given in this article and smarten up your location marketing then you may just find that business is booming in no time.
