Want to know how to exceed your hospitality sales and marketing goals in 2015? Here are three trends that emerged in 2014 which are going to be even more important as we head further into 2015.
1. “Meeting Planner” titles
I work with hospitality suppliers and took a look at how many different versions of the “meeting planner” title were recently submitted via a group RFP or request for additional information. The answer? A whopping 1,170! Guess how many of those 1,170 “planners” had the word “planner” in his/her title? Only 69!
I’ve been in the industry for almost 20 years and I never would have guessed that number.
How important are titles to you and your sales team? VERY important! As you know, it is imperative to diversify your client base. By knowing over a thousand titles used by “planners”, you can greatly improve your solicitation efforts as you use them for searches on Google, LinkedIN, Data.com, and any other way that you go about investigating and prospecting for “planners”. (If you would like a copy of these titles, please shoot me an email at chaunsea.keller@eprodirect.com. I would be more than happy to share the info.)
2. Content Marketing
I know, I know, this seems like such a buzz word. It actually is a buzz word and one that is here to stay. When I mention content marketing to my clients, they look at me like I am a cartoon character with the bubble overhead with all of the question marks floating around. It is not something to be afraid of! What is content marketing? Here is a formal definition. My definition is: “Giving information to clients that will make their lives/jobs easier, while establishing you as someone they can trust and will return to with their business”.
Think about it this way – have you ever purchased a newspaper or gone to a website just to look at the ads? No – you buy the newspaper or go to a given URL so you can find helpful information.
The same goes with your communication with your customers. They aren’t reading your email solely as an advertisement or for a special promotion you might be offering (although these are great things to give to them!), but also because they know you provide them with valuable content that will help them.
In the hospitality industry, there are so many simple ways to do this. Here are just a few ideas:
- share information about local attractions that attendees might be interested in
- tell them about the new airlift or easy transportation options
- share a special chef recipe or perhaps share a recent article about new food and beverage trends
The possibilities are endless! Oh – and in case you would like a statistic about content marketing, know that 60% of buyers are inspired to seek out a product AFTER reading content about it and 90% find custom content useful (source: Demand Metric).
3. Mobile-responsive emails
I am going to let the stats speak for themselves on this topic.The key take away here is that if you are not sending mobile responsive emails out, you need to be.
- 48% of total email open rates occurred on mobile devices in Q2 2014 (Experian)NOTE: In one month, the open rates on mobile devices of MEETING PLANNERS were 49.66%, even higher than the industry average!
- 80% of people delete an email if it doesn’t look good on their mobile device (Litmus September 2013) NOTE: Here is where everything we have seen supports this stat. EproDirect recently conducted a survey of meeting planners. 63.92% of planners view the promotional email on a mobile device (phone, tablet, etc). Of those, 58.23% said they would NOT read the email if it is not optimized for mobile. WHOA! Let that sink in for a moment. If you are not sending mobile responsive/optimized emails, you’re wasting your time.
Here is an image that shows three variations of an email – the desktop version, the nonresponsive design and then the mobile responsive version. If you want planners to read your emails (and not hate you because their fingers are bleeding from all of the pinch-in, pinch-outs), go with mobile responsive.
About the author
Chaunsea Keller is an Executive Vice President for EproDirect. She has over 18 years of experience in the hospitality sales and marketing field. Her role with EproDirect allows her to see daily interaction between suppliers and planners; therefore, it is a good gauge on the meetings industry as a whole.
EproDirect helps hotels & other meeting suppliers grow their group markets with an integrated digital marketing program. They can create progressive marketing strategies to nurture your database or help find new group business opportunities by using proven marketing methods targeting their database of over 80,000 U.S.-based meeting planners. From an e-blast promoting a special offer to a fully integrated digital marketing campaign, services include database development and management, email marketing, social media, creative design and development, triggered and drip campaigns and social sharing campaigns.
