In the hospitality industry, it is no understatement to say that local marketing is vital. It is very rare for someone to look for a perfect hotel or restaurant without already having a destination in mind, so making sure that you stand out in that region can be the difference between success and failure.
Further to this, the use of location settings and GPS data in mobile phones means that most mobile search results are filtered, showing only a handful of top-ranking local businesses.
Given its significance, many hospitality managers are rightly asking themselves, “are we using the right techniques to maximise our local marketing potential?”
Hospitality Local Marketing
Digital technologies have revolutionised local marketing and there are several approaches that you should be using, either together or separately, that will help improve the visibility of your business.
- Directory listings – An important starting point is to ensure that you have registered your business on all the appropriate local directories, and set up your Google My Business account. You should also ensure that you have embedded Google Maps on your site.
- Paid Ads – Paid ads on platforms like Google and Facebook are a very effective way of targeting people looking for a hotel or hospitality in your local area. There are a number of ways to employ paid ads that take advantage of location targeting.
- Relevant regional content – A strong content strategy that talks about local events in the community reinforces – to search engines – where you are based and will boost the amount of traffic coming into the site via relevant search queries. Detailed keyword planning and a well optimised CMS maximises the impact of this content.
- Localised SEO tactics – In parallel to a broader content strategy, you should also implement shorter-term tactical SEO to help boost visibility in Google and Bing. This might include things like putting relevant place names in the alt text or meta-descriptions for your images.
AsOne – Local marketing, the right way
At AsOne we work with our clients on holistic digital business development strategies to help them grow their business, including generating increased F&B and MICE bookings. In hospitality, the temptation is to cast a wide net to draw in visitors from further afield, but you may find that actually in order to thrive your business relies on local, repeat custom. We’ll help you design and implement a bespoke strategy that takes these nuances into account.
For more information on how a dedicated local marketing strategy can help to elevate your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our expert team and we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Specifically for businesses based in the North East of England, you may be able to get a discount of 40% off your first project if you qualify for the NEBSF scheme, which we are proud to support.
