Make a Booming Comeback with these Digital Marketing Ideas for your Hotel in India and UAE

The year 2020 will go down in history as one of the toughest for mankind. With the Coronavirus Pandemic bringing more than 200 countries to a halt, industries and businesses around the world have taken arguably the worst hit since the Global Economic Crisis of 2008. India has been among the most affected countries and continues to be under a government-imposed lockdown.

That said, the restrictions in the country are being lifted gradually, and in the coming days, life could resume normalcy. Businesses, too, are resuming work, albeit with certain restrictions. However, the hospitality & tourism sectors are still finding it difficult to re-open. Reason? Apprehensions among the guests regarding the post COVID19 era.

The hotel industry in India went through its worst phase ever during the lockdown, and re-opening isn’t going to be an easy accomplishment. The industry players will have to adopt innovative measures to attract guests, while also ensuring that the virus stays away from them and the hotel staff. Digital marketing for hotels will be a key factor in ensuring a smooth and successful re-opening.

Digital marketing in post COVID19 times will have to be significantly different from what it used to be earlier. Hotels will have to improvise and identify important areas to focus on and subsequently design marketing campaigns. The following are a few ideas for your campaign to make your struggle easier.

1 Tie-Up with An Expert Digital Marketing Agency

Most hotels in the country will face a serious shortage of staff, at least for the first few months of re-opening. Moreover, six long months (March to October) of next to no sales means that hotels have limited funds. Therefore, it only makes sense to invest in strengthening the core team and assign the task of digital marketing to third party agencies. AdEngage, for instance, would be a great choice as they offer a complete suite of digital marketing solutions.

2 Promote Your Hotel’s Post COVID19 Protocols & Measures

This is a no-brainer, isn’t it? The biggest fear that would help potential guests back is the spread of the Coronavirus, which makes it extremely crucial for hotels to comfort their minds. It is a given that you have taken sufficient measures and have put protocols in place as directed by the administration. This must be amply highlighted in digital marketing for hotels, especially in cities like Dubai, Sharjah, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

3 Focus on Audio/Visual Content for your Hotel’s promotion on Social Media

As people stay glued to their mobile screens, checking out the thousands of entertainment options literally at their fingertips, attention spans are shrinking significantly. Not everyone will make it to the last sentence of the long blog you’d curate. Therefore, interesting visual content, including crisp infographics, and compact videos becomes the go-to option. Agencies like AdEngage have in-house digital content creators and/or tie-ups with independent creators. Share your ideas, and get the best work curated.

4 Reward Event Planners

Generally, event planners run from hotel to hotel to strike good deals for themselves and their clients, COVID19 has shifted the power. And that’s not a bad thing at all. Look for a good social media marketing company in India and run campaigns inviting event planners for conducting events at your hotel. Design attractive reward programs for them. And when you have an event, help the planners to promote it on digital media. This will also help you build long-term relationships with event management companies.

5 Initiate Online Interaction on Social Media

Every digital marketing company in India that’s working for the post COVID19 era will tell you that interaction with potential clients has never held more importance. And that amplifies further for the hotel industry. Any established social media marketing company in India can help you interact with your potential guests. However, you must be careful about the information you provide regarding the safety measures and protocols you have in place. Inform them about the prerequisites of visiting the hotel, like wearing face masks, maintaining appropriate physical distancing, etc.

6 Work Towards Marketing Automation for your Hotel

It’s the Digital Era and people expect 24/7 service. COVID19 has further magnified this. People, especially the youth, are online almost round the clock. They can (and do) post questions to your social media teams even at sunset or sunrise, or even the middle of the night. If you can reply instantly, you’ve won half the battle. Practically, you cannot! And therefore, you need automation. Employ chatbots to your digital marketing strategy, similar to what other industries like banking and insurance have done. The more the bots interact and answer queries sufficiently, the better will be the conversion rate.

7 Notify Potential Guests About Upcoming Events in your Hotel

One of the best ways of turning potential guests into guests is by promoting an upcoming event at the hotel and market its benefits. Email newsletters, press releases social media posts are a great way to do it. A well-established social media marketing company in India and elsewhere maintains a large database of potential customers for the hospitality industry. Events like exhibitions and product launches will let the guests have a feel of the COVID19 protocols in practice, and the safety measures the hotel is taking.

8 Reward Your Loyal Customers

Guest loyalty is the biggest asset for any hotel, and it counts now more than ever. It’s been a long time since they’ve last visited. Contact them. Engage with them on social networks. Run loyalty incentive programs for them. Promote discounts for repeat guests, special goodies, custom packages, so on and so forth. Partner with a digital marketing company in India that have tie-ups with travel bloggers. Request testimonials on their second or third visit and incentivize their loyalty to your hotel.

Author: Noman Shaikh

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