Before building up your digital strategy you need figure out who you want to reach, who your audience members are and what type of information they need to receive to get excited about your hotel. No, we’re not talking about simple demographic overviews of the people you’re trying to target. This goes way beyond that! This is about digging deeper and building fictional character biographies which capture precise key details about your audience – not just age, sex and location.
Psychographic Tendencies Determine Type Of Content
Included in these key details are psychographic tendencies which assist you in discovering why your audience chooses your hotel. Hobbies, interests, dreams, spending habits, challenges, values as well as struggles and fears provide a clear indication of what content to create to resonate with the audience. Resonating content means sellable content!
Building Guest Personas Successfully
We understand it’s difficult to only create one persona. We know your hotel has seen many guests walk through its doors. It’s for this reason that we suggest you only start by creating two to four personas. Start small and don’t overwhelm yourself. We understand it’s unrealistic to try and account for every single guest, so don’t try and represent everyone. Also, relax knowing that personas are fluid; they change over time depending on how your hotel changes. Just keep your personas relevant.
You’ve collected data over time so use the data at your fingertips to build realistic personas. Use Google Analytics and website data, tap into your booking engine and analyse your social media backend. Take into consideration reviews and testimonials. How are guests interacting with your hotel? What packages are they seeking? What channels of online communication are they using? Once you have this cold, hard data, it’s time to put your thinking cap on and think a little deeper about psychographic tendencies and highlight any and all traits which relate to audience member travel and hotel habits.
Think about what kind of hotels or travel audience members prefer. Who do they travel with, and why do they travel or book at certain hotels? What do they like to do when staying in a hotel?
Got the answers? Right, then incorporate this deeper understanding of your audiences wants, needs and interests directly into your digital strategy and start achieving better digital marketing results!
Time To Get Incorporating
Use your personas to determine your hotel ‘voice’ when speaking to those you now know on a deeper level. Guests will connect with this digital voice, whether it’s casual or dripping in opulence. Then be sure to align your digital messaging and position your hotel correctly in the digital market. Fuel your messaging through emails, website content, blogs and social media posts with your audiences’ interests and psychographic tendencies top of mind. Case in point – tell your story in different ways depending on who you’re talking too.
Reach the right people in the right place at the right time by hanging out where your audience hangs out! By knowing where your guests or potential guests spend their time online, you can effectively communicate with them on the identified platforms they use for optimal results. Then when you’ve got them talking, be sure to provide solutions to their problems, by conquering any challenge presented and subsequently convince them to invest in your hotel. Providing the perfect solution to their needs will guarantee qualified bookings.
For those who need a helping hand in building and solidifying guest personas, and for those who want to generate conversions and improve revenue, contact us! Let us assist you in driving your digital strategy by getting to know the beating heart your business!
