The world has become insanely complex, especially for emerging, small, medium and independent hospitality and tourism businesses. It is no longer good enough to work with few traditional but often no longer sustainable value chains, an increasing amount of new digital value chains appearing every month, dominated from a duopoly of online travel agents most hospitality and tourism businesses have become dependant on.
Many hospitality and tourism businesses think the way out would be to have a new website. Others think the solution is to post more on social media while others are focusing on eMail marketing. However, this are all single silos in an overall marketing mix. Silos, as we know, don’t work very well. Another aspect is that many hospitality and tourism businesses think that a website, Facebook, Instagram, etc. are sales tools providing instant results when just launched. This is not true.
Hospitality and Tourism Marketing is a Marathon and not a Sprint
If I look back to my 37 years of experience, marketing and advertising never was a sprint or an instant sales tool. It always was part of a puzzle of a long term holistic approach. Nothing has changed in the Digital world. Many hospitality and tourism businesses think to put up a website and next day bookings will just flock in. No, this is not the case at all. A WebSite is nothing more than a brochure that was once printed, put on the counter, the door of the shop was opened, but nobody was told about the new brochure and one expected people would flocking in to pick up the brochure or book a room. This wasn’t the case, was it? Why would it be the case with a WebSite. This is not how it works.
Thinking in Silos only Cost Money and Doesn’t Provide Results
What needs to be taken into account is the traveler’s mental model – Dreaming – Planning – Booking – Experiencing and Sharing. This is a closed-loop every potential traveler goes through. If hospitality and tourism marketing doesn’t adhere to their activities to the traveler’s mental model in a holistic way, your results will suffer.
It is all about your visibility (To Be Found), your digital presence (WebSite), your Reputation (Reviews and Responses), your Marketing Communication (Content-, Social Media, eMail Marketing, PR) and your Distribution (Sales Channels) and how to seamlessly and holistically integrate and align each and every element together as they are all interdependent. One Silo alone doesn’t buy you anything.
What can be achieved with an Integrated Approach
The 5 Stages of Success, powered by the VISTA Destination Network Open Platform and Ecosystem is a holistic and seamlessly integrated managed service taking care of all those aspects. For our customers in Namibia, we have achieved more than 11 Million Searches, resulting in 23 Million Views, 42 Million 360° Virtual Tour and Image Views (Visibility) and 1 Million conversions, creating an X5 to X12 return of investment.
Author: Thomas Muller Founder & CEO at rainmaker digital
