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Are you wondering if there are any real benefits to having a location marketing solution for resorts? Do you wish to learn about the true potential of using a location-based marketing strategy to provide a guest experience that is unlike any other at your five-star hotel? Do you want to learn how methods like geo-targeting and geo-fencing can boost your hospitality marketing efforts?
Find out why a location-based digital marketing strategy is important to hotel marketers, and how you can utilize the various methods discussed here to provide the best possible experience for your guests. Not only will visitors have a more enjoyable stay at your hotel, but you will be able to add a personal touch that will keep them coming back for their next vacation.
What Is Location-Based Marketing?
A location-based digital marketing strategy utilizes the physical location data of potential customers to target them with online or offline messaging that is highly personalized. When it comes to the resort and hotel industry, the target audience is potential guests, those currently staying at your establishment, and even returning visitors.
Based on their current location data such as proximity to your resort, your digital marketing team can keep them updated on the activities, events, attractions, and other services around your resort. This will entice guests to try out everything your resort offers, and make the most out of their chosen destination. The more memorable their stay, the better chance they will return to your resort. This may even increase the chance of direct bookings.
The Benefits Of A Location-Based Marketing Strategy
Location-based digital marketing strategies have been one of the latest trends growing popular among many businesses as powerful tools to complement their existing marketing efforts. The use of location data has provided many, especially those in hospitality marketing with quick wins, allowing them to easily target a customer, and provide a better experience than they have been able to before.
Display More Relevant Ads
The ads a potential customer will see on their social media platforms, while visiting a website, or even on their search engine results pages can be made more relevant based on their real-time location data. More contextually relevant and timely marketing content is generally more appreciated and will improve your click-through rates for your ads. As more people click on your advertisements, more potential guests will visit your website, bringing in more direct bookings.
Provide A Better Customer Experience
The more relevant nature of your communication with a customer through targeted advertising means they will receive an overall better experience. You can offer incentives and other useful information which is useful to them. This means less time wasted on search engines or social media platforms looking for things, and more time spent actually enjoying them.
Nurture Relationships With Customers
A customer will often develop a relationship with your business based on your brand image which is on full display through your targeted advertising, and the customer experience we mentioned before. Some location-based techniques can even identify returning guests, allowing you to add a more personal touch on their next arrival. As location-based digital marketing strategies improve in these areas, so will your brand image in the minds of your customers, making them more loyal to you.
Drive Customers Towards Your Business
If your services are based on convincing people to visit your place of business, then you are most likely competing with other businesses located nearby. This is especially true for hotels, restaurants, and pretty much every business that relies on tourists to visit them. Location-based digital marketing will grant you a competitive edge, and drive potential guests toward your business instead of your neighbors.
More Bookings
As more potential guests nearby start visiting your website, learning about what your resort has to offer, and becoming impressed, you will naturally be able to increase more direct bookings at your resort.
Location-Based Marketing Strategies You Can Use
Using real-time location data for marketing purposes has increased in the past decade with the rise of connected devices with the smartphone being at the center of it all. Now other devices such as smartwatches, and even cars give marketers access to this type of data. Let’s look at the different location-based marketing techniques available to resort and hotel owners.
While all this may seem very high-tech, even independent hoteliers that are not part of major hotel chains can leverage these techniques with the assistance of a digital marketing expert to increase their direct bookings, entice guests to try out new things, spend more time at your establishment, and make their stay more memorable.
Geo Targeting
Geo-targeting is a method of determining the location of a user to deliver personalized messages on their smartphone application or push notifications based on their proximity to your business. This method works by using the IP address of the device which includes the data to track the location if the user has opted in to let that application access it.
These messages can be contextually relevant to the location, including weather information and activities happening nearby. For example, if your guests are looking for a place to get a relaxing massage and spa treatment, but are currently unaware your resort is offering the same services, you can direct them to your own place.
You don’t need a smartphone app to make use of the power of geo-targeting either. If you have optimized your website pages for location-specific keywords, your services will appear in search engine results when guests use Google Maps to find out what is available nearby. This is an example of search engine optimization (SEO) methods working together with geo-targeting.
Geo-Fencing
Geo-fencing works by creating a boundary in a specific region. For a hotel or resort, this could be a boundary surrounding a kilometer or two of the property. When a member of your target market crosses this boundary to enter the region, they will receive marketing content relevant to them.
This doesn’t even have to be your existing guests. Even travelers that are passing through the area may be able to learn about your great seafood restaurant or the water sports like jet skiing you are providing at your beach resort. If anyone in the designated region is searching for boat rides, they will receive a message that you are offering exactly that.
Geo Conquesting
Geo conquesting also creates a boundary, but instead of being around your hotel or resort, this boundary exists around your competitor or competitors. This is one way of diverting customers away from your competitors and directing them towards your business instead.
You don’t want your guests checking out your rival’s seafood restaurant when you have your own. If any are located entering the boundary around your competitors, you can give them a better offer to make them reconsider where they will be dining.
Guest Wi-Fi Marketing
When new guests arrive at your resort, you can offer them free Wi-Fi. By displaying a splash page, you can request them to type in their email, phone number, or social login before they can start using your internet. You can even prompt them to follow your Facebook page or other social media channels when they log in. If you have developed your own smartphone app for guests to use during their stay, this is a chance to get them to download and start using it.
By using all of this information, you can build a database for these guests and tie their contact information to the smartphones they use. Afterward, you can use this database and your wireless network to trigger marketing messages for these smartphone users that come within range of your Wi-Fi. For new guests, you can direct them towards video content such as virtual tours which take them through everything your resort has to offer so they don’t miss out on anything.
The next time they enter your resort, they will automatically get connected to your network. You can greet them with a personalized welcome message, display offers, tell them about any new activities or restaurants you have introduced since their previous stay, and make the checking-in process feel smoother. When they check out, you can even prompt them to leave guest reviews while they wait for their taxi to the airport.
Social Media Channels
Apart from using search engines like Google, smartphone applications, and sms, you can use social media to display relevant advertisements to users. If you have convinced them to follow your social media page when they connected to your Wi-Fi, you can easily target these new guests and show them what else you are offering at your venue.
The secret to success when using social media is to make your marketing look just like other user-generated content and blend into their news feed. Depending on the platform you use, you will also be able to learn more about your guests and refine your marketing approach to be more relevant the next time.
Beaconing
Beacons are devices that use Bluetooth technology and are great for understanding guest behavior as they roam around your premises. This will be useful if your resort is very expansive or in an exotic location where there is no mobile 4G/5G connectivity available. The beacons placed strategically around your resort will be able to track your guests precisely and deliver notifications on their smartphones.
As long as they have their Bluetooth activated and opted in to receive messages, beaconing will provide you with a very direct line of communication with your guests even when regular GPS signals are having difficulty tracking. For example, if your beacon detects that your guest is near your spa, you can drop them a message about the available treatments. If they went near your restaurant but found it closed, you can let them know what time it will be open later in the day.
Other Digital Marketing Strategies
It is important to keep in mind that location-based marketing strategies do not exist in a vacuum, and there are plenty of other methods such as search engine optimization (SEO) which are of equal importance when planning your marketing approach. Your website content needs to be optimized well to ensure it is the first thing potential guests see when using search engines like Google to plan for their next vacation trip.
If you’re ranking high on search results pages, more guests will book directly on your website instead of going through a travel agent. To learn more about optimizing your website, read Website SEO Content Services.
Understanding Your Target Market Is Important
Depending on your target market and the location of your luxury resort, you may also need a digital marketing expert that has a deep understanding of both of these. For example, if your target market is travelers from South Korea, you need to know the online, social media, and smartphone usage behavior of this audience for your marketing efforts to be on point. To learn more about the uniqueness of this market and the best way to reach potential customers there, read How to Increase Your Digital Footprint as a Resort in South Korea.
If your hotel or resort is located in a location like Thailand, you’ll also need to understand what are the best things to highlight that will appeal to your target market. For more on the types of digital marketing methods that will work for a resort located in Thailand, read Marketing Strategies for Resorts and Hotels in Thailand: What You Should Do.
Looking For A Digital Marketing Partner For Your Location-Based Marketing Strategy?
If location-based marketing is beyond the scope of your technical skills, it’s best to rely on a digital marketing firm that already has experience using these techniques in the hospitality and travel industry. Inquivix is the digital marketing partner you have been looking for, with years of helping clients in the hospitality and restaurant industries, as well as a comprehensive understanding of target markets in the Asian region including South Korea. To learn more about digital marketing solutions, visit Inquivix today!
FAQs
Location-based marketing is a method where a smartphone user’s device location is used to deliver relevant marketing content through online or offline messaging channels.
Geo-targeting, geo fencing, beaconing, geo conquesting, and Wi-Fi are all methods of location-based marketing methods.
Yes. Location-based marketing allows you to provide your guests with a memorable experience by helping them find activities, attractions, and other relevant services nearby. It also helps you retain your customers and keep them coming back to your resort.