3 Content Marketing Strategy Tips to Make Your Hotel Stand Out

Much has been written about how a good content marketing strategy is an integral part of your hotel's digital marketing campaign. To reap the benefits of a good content marketing strategy, you must get a grasp on what matters to travelers who are looking to stay in your area. The purpose of any content on your website is to provide useful and valuable information that is both insightful and entertaining to potential guests. Even more importantly, you must deliver content that is consistent with your messaging across your hotel's website and social media channels. Remember, an effective content marketing strategy allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition by creating a social interaction between you and the travel shopper. Before you can begin writing your hotel's website, there are steps that hoteliers must follow in order to attract your target audience best and influence them into booking a stay with you. An excellent place to start getting to know what interests your audience is by analyzing Google Analytics and using online reviews as a basis of what former guests loved and disliked about your hotel. Get to know the demographics of where your audience is coming from and analyze their browsing behavior on your site using Google Analytics. Once you've identified what attracts your target audience, then you will be able to start developing a content marketing strategy that incorporates these three tips.

Think Quality Over Quantity

Capturing the attention of travel shoppers with your hotel's content can be challenging to many hoteliers, especially if most of your existing content is promotional messages about your hotel. When done correctly, content marketing should enable you to communicate the value of your hotel with the user without sounding salesy or generic. The key to providing content that is of importance to customers is by presenting them with information that is compelling, inspirational, and helpful during their travels. Many hoteliers have the misconception that quantity reigns over quality when it comes to content marketing. However, in this digital age, Google's algorithm has less to do with keywords. It has more to do with bringing as much value to the shopper as possible. Writing content merely for the sake of ranking your website should not be the goal for your hotel's content marketing strategy. Instead, focus your attention on providing quality content that engages and entertains your online visitors. Give users a reason to want to stay with you by showcasing not only what your hotel can offer but what the surrounding area has in store for you.

Highlight Your Hotel's USP

If you haven't yet identified what your hotel's unique selling propositions are, then start jotting these down even before writing your hotel's website content. When gathering this information, think about what guests most love about your hotel, whether it be the central location, your amenities, or/and helpful staff. Use online reviews left by former guests to determine what kind of propositions are being raved about. Once you've identified the characteristics of what makes your hotel special, then be sure to highlight these USPs throughout your content. A great way to mention your hotel's USP within the content is by painting a picture for your audience using descriptive words. Make readers imagine themselves already staying at your hotel. Here's an excellent example from the Best Western Sunset Plaza Hotel that illustrates this:

"The Sunset Plaza Hotel is styled with a European decor featuring rural art pieces, stone fountains, and dressed in colorful floral arrangements that will make guests feel like they're in a small, Italian villa."

Online visitors reading this sentence can envision themselves at the hotel in its Italian villa-style decor. Also, adding high-quality photos and videos along with the content will inspire the traveler and create an emotional connection that they will likely remember during their shopping journey.

It's not about Copywriting. It's about Personalized Storytelling

When it comes to website content for hotels, it isn't about copywriting. It's about personalized storytelling. The use of descriptive words is critical to a hotel's website and to encourage travel shoppers to book a stay with you. Inspiring visitors to want to stay at your hotel requires storytelling. So let's distinguish between copywriting and personalized storytelling. With copywriting, we simply state something that is there, whereas storytelling involves descriptive words that invoke memories and imagination. For instance, instead of just saying, "our hotel has a beautiful garden," you should paint a picture for your potential guest. You can say, "take a stroll along our beautiful garden and smell the wonderful aroma of roses with your significant other while sipping on a refreshing lemonade from our cafe."

As you can see, the first sentence is a simple statement, whereas the second sentence gives the reader a chance to envision themselves in that particular scenario. Personalized storytelling creates a sort of fantasy that the guest is waiting to experience. So get travel shoppers inspired through the use of storytelling.

Incorporating these three simple tips into your content marketing strategy is vital in attracting more prospective guests and driving relevant traffic to your hotel's website. Be mindful that any content included on your website and social media should appeal to your target audience's needs and interests. Every piece of content should also provide value to the reader. With that said, use these tips to convey your hotel's story better and inspire travel shoppers during the booking journey.