Content marketing is a crucial element of an overall marketing strategy which focuses on distributing pertinent, valuable content to your target audience.
It drives customer action so you generate and grow revenue for your luxury hotel resort.
Content which is engaging, interesting, and relevant to their values will resonate far more than generic marketing or sales messages.
Not only will it help guests discover your resort online, it will educate or inspire them and increase the possibility they will spend their holiday at your property.
Content marketing for luxury resort is a great way to increase your brand awareness, boost engagement, and build customer loyalty.
It comes with a host of benefits and we lay out some essential steps in this article.
1. Develop your content marketing strategy
A clear, goal-oriented strategy for content should be your number one aim.
It can easily be repurposed across multiple platforms and will deliver far better results compared to simply sending out information which has no point or defined purpose.
To create your resort content strategy, you must define both the objectives and your target audience.
For example, are you aiming for wedding business which also includes a package for the honeymoon as well? Or maybe professional couples looking for a barefoot luxury detox.
Find out each audience’s passions, interests, and demographic in order to produce more specific and relatable content for potential guests.
To maximise acquisition new online visitors is strategy optimise the keywords in your content.
2. Generate content marketing ideas
This should come before planning your other marketing strategies.
Think about it –
social media requires great content;
PPC needs good copy; in
SEO Google rewards sites with fresh & engaging content. Consider:
- Where your content will be published?
- What is your imaging and messaging?
- Does it provide a solution or irresistible attraction for your guests?
Not only should your content be perfect for the platform it is published on, but also have a consistent message and branding.
Some ideas:
- Create an inspiration gallery. Use photos with a beautiful, holistic overview with rooms, beach, pool, and spa.
- Develop positive reasons to visit your resort such as health & wellness or pain points of things people are escaping like harsh winters.
- Post quotes to inspire guests to get away. 3rd party reviews from like-minded travelers are so much more effective than bland marketing copy.
- Respond to online reviews. Read your customers’ reviews to find out what they love about your property and what they think your resort needs to address - and answer them.
3. Distribute content
a. Blog posts & website
Your website is a great place to provide all the answers to your potential audience’s questions. Why?
Because with the right design and user experience you have the perfect opportunity to convert a looker into a booker.
Your website also has a synergistic relationship with all your social media channels and blog posts.
The best topics for these posts come from your guests' questions – use them to develop articles about the area and the resort.
Imagine that somebody reading might look forward to receiving content from you and share it with family and friends.
Generating this content should not be a chore – it has the potential to dramatically increase revenue.
b. Photos
You should have a gallery of gorgeous photos which show all aspects of your resort and resonate with the benefits which you are promoting.
As well as the website these can be then be shared across all social media platforms - Instagram is particularly effective and enables you to harness the power of hashtags.
To provide an authentic touch, ask guests if you can use their photos for social media and promote them via specific hashtags e.g. #sunsetbeach, #cocktailhour.
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c. Videos
Video is the most consumed content on the web and has great power to convert potential guests into real guests booking at your property.
Video is now the primary source for travel inspiration because as well as the imagery it has the ability to tell a story.
Develop several for your resort telling different narratives e.g. beach days, health experiences, food & wine.
As with photos, carefully curated guest and influencer videos provide an authentic insight for prospective guests.
d. User generated content
Travelers love to remember and share their holidays. Take advantage of this by using their videos, photos, and personal stories and packaging them up to replay to your target audience.
How can you access this content?
Potential ways to source user generated content include:
Many users are happy to share the content they are producing as long as they get credit. Search on each social media channel for hashtags that are related to your luxury resort and location.
To garner user generated content, a great way is to hold a contest for your resort. Use hashtags in contests to make them incredibly easy for people to enter.
One of the most important aspects of content marketing for resorts is online reviews. Great reviews of your resort are a fabulous marketing opportunity and are also local ranking factors for your website.
You should answer all reviews on all platforms whether they are positive or negative – try and take any discussion of the latter online by contacting the author directly.
Show luxury guests that you care about the values you promote by addressing any concerns brought up in reviews.