eT-Marketing – (More) a lot more of the same!

Artigo publicado na Revista Hotelaria – Publituris

Nearly two years ago I was sitting at my mobile office writing an article pompously entitled: “2012: The 2.0 Year of Online Tourism in Portugal?” and I do stress the use of the question mark at the end of the sentence.

Ever since 2012 my office has changed dramatically. I’ve let go of my former brother in arms PC and acquired the most recent laptop of the Macintosh family. Not only does it smell brand new, it also processes information three times faster, the operative system has been updated twice already, just to give you some examples. Some will say that it’s unnecessary, today everything is managed via Cloud and browser, and like the other one used to say: “there’s just no need”.

I strongly believe that constant adaptation is a must; using the best possible tools available in the market, even if the job per se continues to be exactly the same. Productivity and efficiency invariably lead us to better results and in all my innocence, I still consider them the essence of “necessity”. eT – Marketing or Digital Marketing at the service of Tourism, in particular Hotels, is the case study of this much needed evolution. We cannot deprive ourselves from evolving, just because the core business remains the same.

Ever since 2012, we’ve been doing more of the same: but on the positive note, I consider that we’ve managed to do a lot more.

Tourism professionals definitely talk a lot more about digital nowadays. At the time we used to talk about social media, it was an intimate and sexy topic of conversation; today we talk with top hoteliers about the relevance and quality of a good “copy”, how to make your brand stand out from the crowd through storytelling, content marketing, best SEO practices, how to segment from an Email Marketing perspective in order to get qualified leads, etc. There is clearly a much more solid awareness of the importance of digital in the world of tourism.

I even remember a presentation during an AHP congress in 2013, demonstrating the success of several digital marketing campaigns promoted by our own Tourism Board; and the confirmation that results exceeded by far previous campaigns done using a more traditional mix in terms of communications mediums and channels.

On the other hand, there’s still a lot that needs to be done.

There always is! A lot more to be done and better; its’ just not worth it listing all the shortages associated with the project; I much rather focus on the essential: Paid Media Advertising.

Usually known as “Search Engine Advertising”, or “Website Banners”, it’s still far from being considered a tool with a ton of potential sales wise. And it’s ultimately frustrating to acknowledge that the pre-2015 Hotelier is still not interested in making at least 50% more in direct sales, alike some of his competitors are already doing. I stress, “not interested” on purpose, because from a rational standpoint there can be no other reason. The irony of it all is that most of the times budget is the number one obstacle claimed as being the reason. It’s like as if a good good friend told you that if you lend him 100 he would give you back 1000. Would you decline? It works pretty much the same way with Paid Media Advertising; as long as it’s well planned, carefully planned; rigorously implemented and price parity and available stock are secured along all distribution channels.

My sincere wishes are that this may be your resolution for 2015.

Olivier Soares
Sales Manager | HDS – Hotel Digital Strategy
olivier@hoteldigitalstrategy.com