Seasoned Sales Trainer Doug Kennedy, President at Kennedy Training Network, Inc. and Cory Falter, Principal at Lure Agency recently explored some of the biggest challenges, opportunities and predictions in hospitality sales.

Here's what they had to say.

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In today's fiercely competitive hospitality industry, standing out from the crowd is more important than ever. Effective marketing is the key to attracting and retaining customers. Whether you run an independent resort or tech company that serves hotels, a hospitality marketing agency can play a pivotal role in helping your business thrive.

Let's explore the benefits of working with a hospitality marketing agency and how it can drastically elevate your brand.

Let's face it, recruitment marketing is quite different than any other type of marketing that you have done before. You are trying to get the perfect candidate's attention who is actively looking for a job, which will require some special strategies.

Today we're going to look at seven recruitment marketing strategies that you can use in your next campaign, giving you the best possible chance of attracting the best talent.

Getting good candidates interested in applying to your company is a great challenge. You have to combine recruitment efforts with marketing tactics, even though they are usually too distinct and separate teams at any business. For the continued success of your company, however, you must be selling not just your product or service but also your organization as a place to work.

Below are some strategies that a business can use to recruit for their team.

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Just when you thought you had a handle on your hospitality B2B sales attribution, a phenom has occurred and you may not know what to do. Fear not! We are here to explore the murky new world of Dark Social.

How Dark Social Changes Tracking Hospitality B2B Sales

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It's Not What You Say; It's What Your Customers Say

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people copy the actions of others to appear more normal. The greater the number of people doing something, the more normal it appears to be, and hence, more people tend to do it. Social proof isn't just a sales trick. It is a social reality that the decisions of others significantly influence human beings. We see what our peers are doing and make our decisions based largely on what we see. Their actions validate our decision to take action.

To put it in a sales context, the potential buyer is considering their options and evaluating options. Their mind is full of doubts. They're looking for reasons not to trust you or buy the product. Social proof helps them understand what your business offers from the point of view of another customer just like them. It's part of any rational decision-making process.

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It's no secret that you need quality leads to grow your business. But how exactly do you get them? There are a lot of different methods and approaches, but today we're going to focus on three quick tips that will help you find high-quality prospects using LinkedIn in less than 10 minutes! These lead generation ideas for B2B are tried and true for growing your network and eventually, your bottom line.

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The process of going from lead to customer is a delicate one. It's not enough to just present your product or service on your website and hope that the right people will find you. In order for this to happen, you need to know how and when to trigger the appropriate reactions in visitors so they convert into leads and eventually into customers.

This blog post discusses psychological triggers that cause us as humans to react with urgency, curiosity, fear, excitement-and more importantly-to act! Let's explore the psychology of how to convert leads into sales.

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The Secret Sauce to Digital Success Should Include a Valued Partner

In a world where everything is changing, the days of one-way communication are over. Today's successful business owners have to be creative and create deep connections with their customers if they want any chance in today’s marketplace. So what then? You might ask yourself... Enter the integrated marketing agency!

You may want to consider hiring an integrated marketing agency because they can use their cutting-edge technology and creativity in order to provide you with a well-thought-out, cohesive campaign for your business. This will make it easier for you so that all the hard work of converting leads into clients is done by professionals who have perfected this art form. It's the secret sauce of Science + Soul Marketing, just like we do here at Lure Agency.

Hiring an integrated marketing agency is the best way to get your brand the attention it deserves; because you're busy working in your business, your agency partner can get you new business with a marketing strategy and then execute it.

We will discuss seven reasons why you should choose such an agency for ultimate success, plus explore a few questions to ask and examples of other brands who have used them with successful results in this blog post.

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We know what you’re thinking: haven’t we already talked about how important content is in hotel content marketing strategies? We all know that content is “king” when it comes to marketing your brand. Most companies are churning out some kind of content to increase their audience and revenue.

However, what many people don’t talk about is the network of connections that are formed by strong content. When done properly, a content marketing strategy extends your brand’s reach beyond the borders of your own website or social media account. 

Being a part of a “content community” grants your hospitality business access to a bigger audience and powerful partners. The more you expand your network with excellent content, the better your return on investment will be in the long run.

Today on the LURE blog, let’s talk about hotel marketing content that reaches a connected, thriving community rather than disjointed, one-off customers.

Hotel Marketing: Build Relationships for Maximum ROI

How does creating the right kind of content grow relationships and ROI for your hospitality brand?

Let’s talk about it.

Find Collaboration Opportunities

When you create influential content, you form relationships with other brands, content creators, and customers to further promote your message. Let us explain.

A “content relationship” is a mutually beneficial connection formed with other content creators or brands. 

Guest posting and link sharing are also elements of content collaborations. With a guest post, you expand your own content creation capabilities while also promoting the benefits of your content partner. It’s a valuable form of content production - one that should benefit you as much as your audience.

Image Source: Travel Update

Sometimes, a guest post is simply “sponsored” by another brand, such as the example above in which Travel Update included paid-for links from relevant hotels. In other cases, a representative from a different brand will actually play the role of a “guest” on another website, creating unique content on behalf of their partner.

Beyond guest posts, there’s also an opportunity to form public partnerships. Take a look at the popular relationship between Starbucks and Spotify - two very different brands with a powerful connection.

Image Source: Spotify

Starbucks is known for its premium coffee shop hospitality - it’s a part of their brand image, including the music they use to craft the perfect ambience in its shops. As a music streaming platform, Spotify saw the opportunity to forge an innovative co-branding partnership. Starbucks fans were drawn to Spotify’s platform, and Spotify users got in touch with the musical element of Starbucks branding.

Finding content collaborations is a huge step in maximizing your hospitality marketing ROI. Your brand benefits from reaching a wider audience, whether it’s through a guest post or a co-branding partnership. Additionally, such partnerships help you build relevant links across the web - something Google loves to see when it comes to hotel SEO.

Being Part of a Bigger Community Builds Trust

Another reason to create content for the sake of relationships? You need connections to be reputable. 

Who has more credibility - the lone wolf that no one seems to support or willingly work with? Or the company that’s a part of something bigger? 

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report (2020), trust in a brand is second only to a product’s price. If you want a strong return on your investment with hospitality marketing, you 100 percent need to ensure that people are learning to trust your company based on the content you’re producing.

This is especially true in the hospitality industry. COVID-19 has left us all on edge - are people going to trust your travel-related business after a pandemic with global shutdowns?

Strong content sets you up as an authority within your niche. Google and real consumers want to see that you’re connected in your field of expertise. They want to know they can trust your content, as well as the products and services you are selling.

A great way to build credibility is to pull in other experts from across the web. For instance, if Travel Awaits wants to seem like a credible source for trip planning information, they need to work with real travel experts - such as the travel experts they pulled in for this blog post. Even the title encourages people to think, “Hey, this website seems to know what it’s talking about.”

Image Source: Travel Awaits

If you are able to form relationships and create content that earns your audience’s trust, bingo. That’s where the hospitality sales come in.

Get to Know Your Customers Better 

Content works to create relationships with your actual buyers. When you craft content that targets the right people and gets them talking, that’s when your ROI goes up. 

Customers are always in the process of moving through a “buying journey.” They start with simple awareness about your product, and with your help, they’ll make their way to the final stage: actually purchasing your product or service.

To really play into this buying journey, you need to understand what your customers want/need, then create content that fits the bill in a meaningful, authentic way.

Image Source: HubSpot Instagram

Now, more than ever, you need to know what’s guiding your customer’s purchasing decisions.

-          What are the problems they’re encountering?

-          What do they want to know?

-          How can your brand provide the solutions they seek? 

If you don’t know the answers to questions like these, just ask! 

Use content as a platform for learning about and engaging with your customers, as well as other patrons. Trust us: that’s where the real revenue comes into play.

Remember that content doesn’t just play a role in the digital realm. It can also serve as a tool for engaging in the real world and with local communities.

Image Source: Tribal Village

If you have volunteer opportunities to engage nearby travelers, write about them. If you’re hosting a fundraiser, event, or big meeting, let people know. The more traction you can gain with your local community via content, the better. The influence of your content shouldn’t stop at the borders of digital devices. 

Research shows that over 50 percent of your brand’s reputation comes from online sociability. The more leads you can generate by working with real customers, companies, and bloggers, the more your brand’s reputation will translate to a high ROI. 

Purpose, Purpose, Purpose 

Creating content does build relationships - but only when the content has a real purpose.

A “partnership” with no core goal or shared objective won’t last long. You need to find content partnerships that actually push your brand toward a better future - and that means creating purposeful content that patrons and other brands can really get behind. 

Image Source: 1 Hotels

For instance, look at the 1 Hotels brand. They’re all about sustainability in travel - which means they are very picky about their hotel marketing partnerships and the type of content they produce. That might limit them when it comes to some revenue opportunities, but as a whole, it’s a powerful way to imbue purpose into their content and products.

Customers are proud to say they “partner” with Hotel 1 when there’s such a great purpose to support. They want to partner with a brand that has meaning behind its name, and this brand ensures that all of their partners are working toward a bigger, better purpose than just turning a profit. 

Ask yourself: what is your hospitality brand’s purpose? We’re not talking about your sales goals or products - we’re talking about the big picture objective behind it all. If you can’t nail that concept down and convey it in your hotel content marketing strategies, you’ll struggle to form powerful relationships with others.

Draw More Eyes to Your Brand 

Lastly, we want to share an obvious but important idea: more attention = a higher return on investment in almost any case.

At the end of the day, does a piece of content that’s never seen make a sound? 

Does it really help your return on investment?

Probably not. That’s where partnerships for the sake of attention come into play.

Think about partnering with social media influencers. You don’t do it because you’re just dying to work with the popular Instagrammer or YouTuber. You do it because they have a wide audience, and a partnership with them puts you in the line of sight of very valuable buyers.

Image Source: The Blonde Abroad Instagram

Additionally, influencer partnerships can be big time savers. You’re essentially outsourcing the content creation to a powerful partner with a wide reach. They create the blog post, image, video, or email - you simply reap the rewards for a price. 

Of course, influencer partnerships aren’t the only content relationships that get more eyes on your hospitality products and services. You’ll also want to form relationships that encourage people to share your content more.

Image Source: Beat of Hawaii

For instance, look at this blog post from Beat of Hawaii. They “partnered” with Hawaiian Airlines to offer their readers a relevant, desirable reward for participating in their content. This gets their readers to not only share their post with others but also to engage more publicly with their brand.

The bottom line? More eyes are always a good thing for your hotel or any other business. Creating the right kind of content partnerships will help you achieve that goal.

Content might be king, but its queen is the network that surrounds it. Your highest returns on investment will appear when you strategically create content to build relationships with brands, websites, and customers. 

Not sure where to begin on your own hospitality online marketing journey? Reach out to our team at LURE Agency. We're all about building relationships and maximizing your revenue with smart hotel marketing.

Is your FOMO (Fear Of Missing Opportunities) kicking in? Traditional networking has come to a screeching halt in 2020 and maybe on ice for the unforeseeable future.

Like many of you, I love rubbing elbows with some of the industry’s best and brightest at events such as HSMAI and HTEC. 

I can’t believe my last experience was nearly a year ago at The Hotel Revenue Conference in Seattle, right before all hell broke loose.

Dang, I REALLY miss going to events like that.

If there’s a silver lining from last year, it is the reassurance nothing can replace or replicate in-person events. No way. No how. Thanks, Zoom 

It’s crystal clear there are certain aspects of our lives that technology will make obsolete, but levering the right strategies can elevate your networking game to a whole new level.

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