We often get asked, “Which marketing tactics are the best for my business?” The answer to that question varies. It depends on who your audience is, what your business and marketing goals are, and what other marketing tactics you’re implementing. But, for our clients in the tourism and hospitality industry, we’ve seen three particular marketing tactics perform well time and time again.
Marketing Tactic #1: Facebook Ads
We ran a Facebook ad for one of our clients and spent a total of $44.88 promoting private parties. Guess how many people clicked on the ad and submitted a form about renting the space? 80 users. That’s 56-cents per conversion for a hot lead for a private party, a great stream of revenue for many businesses.
Now you may be thinking, “okay, but leads don’t mean the sales were closed,” and you’re right. But, in this case, the client was booked out through the next two months due to the boost Facebook ads provided. Plus, it generated awareness that may fuel future bookings.
Facebook and Instagram ads provide value when they’re crafted and executed strategically. They’re a great way to increase engagement with your organic Facebook or Instagram content as well as drive traffic and/or leads to your website. We challenge you to look into Facebook marketing for your business if you haven’t already. It could help create that extra push you’ve been looking for.
Related blog posts on Facebook marketing:
- Top 25 Facebook Marketing Tips
- Creating a Small Business Facebook Strategy: a Step by Step Guide
- Are These Top 5 Facebook Marketing Fears Holding You Back?
Marketing Tactic #2: Email Marketing
Email marketing is a tried-and-true marketing tactic that is not dying out anytime soon. Email marketing is all about connecting further with your audience and getting to know them on a deeper level. What drives a customer to buy your product or service? That’s something you can begin to explore by tracking what email topics drive the most engagement: form submissions, website traffic, etc.
Wondering what the return on investment might look like for email marketing? According to Campaign Monitor:
- Email open rates should average between 15 – 25%.
- Click-through rates should average at about 2.5%.
If your email campaign enjoys these average returns, and if your email list has 5,000 subscribers, then from one campaign you would generate about 125 clicks through to your website. If you are sending subscribers to a product page or to make a reservation and if half of those users purchase the product or make a reservation, that’s a great return on your investment. And the investment is mostly time.
Instead of taking it from us, hear what our client Laura Sorensen from AtelierLKS had to say about our email marketing work with her.
“For a long time, I’ve felt like my prospective clients didn’t necessarily understand all I could do for them, but my monthly emails have closed that gap considerably—I feel like I’m able to inform and educate more easily and quickly. I have gotten some new work from past clients and from people I am connected with but that I haven’t worked with before.”
Interested in trying out this marketing tactic now? We sure hope so!
Related blog posts on email marketing:
Marketing Tactic #3: Public Relations
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! *Insert your brand here* is on the front page of *insert local newspaper here*!
This could be you, but only if you’re investing in public relations.
Public relations is a tactic that can take a lot of persistence, but it might get you the most bang for your buck (or your time, in this case). Public relations is when you alert the press about new and exciting things happening with your business. Your news might be a new hire, a significant renovation, a move, a change of ownership, an event, or any other piece of relevant news.
The process begins when you draft a press release or write a short blurb about what’s happening and send it off to the local papers, magazines, and online publications. See our press release guide on how to handle following up after sending out the first email. The hope is that one, or a few, of the media outlets will bite and cover your news. This gains you exposure to all their print and digital readers, boosts your visibility in searches (aka Googling), and adds credibility to your business.
Our PR client Brass Lantern Inn was named one of the top 25 B&B’s/Inns in the U.S. by Tripadvisor in 2019. We led a PR campaign for them around this topic and got a few small nibbles, then a big shark—a local TV station news—did a 2-minute segment from the Inn. Score!
“Your press release captured so much of our personality as Innkeepers and the character of our business. These features were specifically helpful in getting NBC5 to pick up our story. We also appreciate your follow up in the hope for as much mileage of our story as possible. We are just so pleased with the response from your work on our behalf. And have had so many local friends congratulating us so we know the story is getting out there.” – George Lewis, owner, Brass Lantern Inn
Next time your business has exciting news, don’t wait to tell the press. It could drive website traffic and awareness for your business.
Related blog posts on public relations:
- Knowing When & How to Alert the Press: A Press Release Guide
- How to Capitalize on Media Coverage: 11 Steps
