Internet Marketing Series

Transcription

1 Internet Marketing Series The Where Should I Budget My e-commerce Marketing Dollars? webinar will begin shortly. If you need technical assistance with the webcast, contact us at hsmai@commpartners.com and we will assist you immediately. 1 Where Should I Budget My e-commerce Marketing Dollars? Tuesday, November 4 th, :00 3:00 PM EST Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) 2

2 Overview of Format and Topic Moderator Barb Taylor Carpender, CMM, CHSC Managing Director, HSMAI University 3 HSMAI University Alliance Partner 4

3 HSMAI University Sponsor TravelCLICK, the leading provider of hotel ecommerce solutions, offers award- winning Internet marketing solutions from website design to consumer review monitoring that drive more direct bookings and higher revenue for r your hotel. POLL QUESTION #1 How many people are participating in this webinar at your location today? or more 6

4 Today s s Speaker Gordon Liametz Revenue Performance 8 Years of e-commerce SEO/SEM Consulting 20+ Years of direct hotel sales experience Approved vendor with Marriott, Hilton and Wyndham Hotels e-commerce expert and frequent speaker at industry events Fortune 500 client projects ranging from strategic e- commerce planning, Customized SEO/SEM Solutions, Web 2.0, online press releases and SWOT Analysis to drive revenue 7 Online Advertising Continues to Grow emarketer forecasts that online advertising will more than double as a percentage of total media, increasing from a mere 6% share of total media in 2006 to over a 12% share in

5 POLL QUESTION #2 How much are you budgeting for your online media budget in 2009? (Not including your SEO/SEM Management Fee) Less than $6,000 $6,001 - $ 9,000 year $9,001 - $12,000 $12, Options For Your Media Budget Spend Paid Search Engines Paid Links Local Search Local Ad Networks OTA Websites Online Press Releases Social Media Optimization Campaigns 10

6 POLL QUESTION #3 Do you manage your pay-per-click campaign inhouse or do you have a SEO/SEM Company manage it for you? In-house SEO/SEM Company 11 At the end of each month you need to evaluate where you are with your online marketing efforts, and where you want to be. What are your goals with your online marketing budget? Increase clicks Increase conversions Decrease your cost-per-click Increase revenue Enhance your click-through rate Online Branding of your hotel/destination For example, let s say you want to increase conversions but have no extra budget.

7 PPC Budget Options If you keep your cost-per-click high you will go through your budget more quickly, thus causing your ads to stop earlier in the day, which in turn hinders the performance of your campaign. First, you will need to lower your cost-per-click Your ad position may decrease slightly, but this step will help increase traffic PPC Budget Options Next, create a new landing page with more relevant copy, new pictures, etc. Have all your content above the fold and clearly indicate the rate offer This will help increase your conversion rate, therefore lowering your cost-per-conversion and stretching your budget even further. 14

8 Which Search Engine Should You Use? There are dozens of paid search marketing engines If you are just getting your PPC campaign up and running, you should focus your efforts on where you have the highest possibility of generating the most revenue and traffic This doesn t mean that you shouldn t eventually branch out into other paid search sites 15 The Big Three 16

9 U.S. Share as of June 2008 Source Hitwise June Budget is $500 per month Google should be the cornerstone of your paid search campaign as it has the majority of search traffic (both paid & non-paid) Google AdWords has the best reporting options Advertisers can really drill it down to the smallest detail of their campaign s performance 18

10 Google AdWords uses a quality score which impacts your campaign placement and cost-per-click The AdWords interface is very user friendly They also have AdWords Editor which makes your ad management/optimization a breeze to create and update 19 Budget is $500 per month Yahoo! can be a great secondary source of hotel revenue and leads which can complement your Google campaign Yahoo! interface is not as user friendly as Google but they have come a long way in the past several years 20

11 Recently Yahoo! launched Panama in order to give advertisers more information on their performance The reports provided by Yahoo! are fair to manage your account successfully 21 Budget is $500 per month From the Hitwise study we see that MSN adcenter generates very little traffic compared to Google and Yahoo s traffic However, MSN is often the default search engine on many Windows computers While there may be less traffic on MSN, when a user is ready to buy your hotel name then they may be more likely to click on your ads and make a purchase 22

12 The reporting functions in MSN lag behind Google, but are still helpful! They have a desktop management program for adcenter which makes managing and optimizing your campaign user friendly 23 Paid Links Budget $1,000 - $6,000+ per year 24

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14 IYPs Convert Purchase-Ready Consumers Closing the Travel Sales Funnel Did You Know? IYPs Aware of Need Research Destinations Evaluates Buying Criteria Decides & Finds a Hotel Reservations Online or Offline *41% of all IYP users have no business name in mind when they conduct a search Is your information available during their decision-making process? Source: KN/SRI Budget is $500 per month Google Local Business Ads Local Paid Search allows hotels to target customers searching within your specific geographic area These ads appear above and below the Natural Local listings on and include the advertisers address, phone and a map marker 28

15 Local Search Marketing Yahoo! Local Enhanced Listings Increase your chances of hotel appearing at the top of the Yahoo Local listings List cost $250 per year 29 IYP Paid Search Budget is $300 per month 30

16 60 Online Yellow Pages Standard Update = $349 Enhanced Updates = $ Local Ad Networks Budget is $500 per month 32

17 33 Budget is $500 Geo-targeted by city Travel-date driven - Create ads and bid for specific travel date searches based on your inventory needs You pay only when someone clicks on your ad Great way to be listed on the first page of Expedia 34

18 TravelAds are bid for placement : you bid against other hoteliers in your area for one of three premium placements on the hotels search results pages The top bidders in each geographic region receive premium placement on search results pages across Expedia.com and Hotels.com You set your Maximum Bid price, so you will never pay more than that amount per click TravelAds Position 1 TravelAds Position 2 & 3 35 OTA Advertising Budget is $10,000 36

19 Online Press Releases Budget is $1,200 per year Social Networking Budget is $1,500 per year Social Media Marketing is primarily driven by off-site activities that are initiated on social media websites such as Digg, Wikipedia, Flickr, and others to spread a message or content Social Media Marketing is characterized by communities that allow users to do many or all of the following: 38 Create profiles/accounts Grow a network of colleagues/friends Collaborate with other community members Submit content Vote on content

20 Spreading Messages Through Travel Related Social Networks: It is all about making something easy to spread This, by the way, used to be called word-of-mouth This is pull marketing; it is not "push your message onto someone marketing 39 Marketing Budget is $600 - $5,000+ per year Based on the market segments you are trying to grow, you should consider marketing In-house Lists Travel Agent Lists Meeting Planner Lists Niche Markets Travelzoo Lists can be very costly based on the broker you are purchasing the list from 40

21 What Should You Pay Your SEO/SEM Company? $300 per month? $500 per month? $1,000 per month? Yes, there are companies who charge $10,000 per month Do they really get you the same services and which services should you be willing to pay more for? In-house or outsource which should you choose? 41 Summary Consider your various audiences (corporate, group vs. leisure) and what they re doing online in the travel purchase process The internet is important as a source of information, not just as a booking channel Base your PPC spend on occupancy and hotel goals Select your online media partners based on your campaign goals and budget 42

22 Questions? Gordon Liametz Revenue Performance 8 Years of e-commerce SEO/SEM Consulting 20+ Years of direct hotel sales experience Approved vendor with Marriott, Hilton and Wyndham Hotels e-commerce expert and frequent speaker at industry events Fortune 500 client projects ranging from strategic e- commerce planning, Customized SEO/SEM Solutions, Web 2.0, online press releases and SWOT Analysis to drive revenue 43 Upcoming HSMAI University Programs Internet Marketing Series What Types of Campaigns Are Effective? Tuesday, November 11 th Researching Companies Online...What Can I Learn Before the Sales Call? Tuesday, November 18 th How Can I Increase My Local Search Revenue? Tuesday, December 9 th 2:00 3:00 p.m. EST 44