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The Smart Hotelier’s Guide to 2015 Digital Marketing Budget Planning Apr 26, 2015: For the ninth year in a row, HeBS Digital announces the launch of "The Smart Hotelier's Guide to 2015 Digital Marketing Budget Planning," just in time for the 2015 budget planning season.

This article outlines how to structure your budget so that you can shift more bookings to the direct online channel, better utilize your marketing dollars by increasing campaign effectiveness, and generate the highest returns possible from your property website and digital marketing initiatives.

SEO is a Journey, Not a Destination: How to Implement an Ongoing SEO Strategy and Maximize Website Revenue Jan 28, 2015: For years now hotel marketers have claimed that search engines are on the way out as a viable marketing and distribution channel in hospitality. These claims, of course, have been followed with boasts of 'the next big thing' to save hotel distribution – from social media to the mobile channel and wearable devices.
Why are we even talking about SEO in this day and age? HeBS Digital's own experience categorically shows that more than half of website booking revenue across our client portfolio comes as direct referral from the search engines, including organic and paid search.

At the same time, there is a direct correlation between the quality of the website SEO and the results from your paid search (SEM) campaigns. The better the SEO on the site, the better the Quality Index assigned to your paid search campaigns by Google, which means higher ad position, better conversion rates, higher ROIs and lower cost per click.

Story Highlights

When contemplating a price change, firms need to first assess the required demand response to make the price-change contribution positive.
Revenue managers need to think like marketers—making sure their price changes and promotions are targeted at price-sensitive customers.
A recent study found OTAs significantly increase reservation volume at non-OTA channels (hotel’s own website, call center, traditional travel agent, etc.).

What's the Problem? and The Solution Is™ Addresses SEO for Hotels Jan 25, 2015: What's the ProblemTM?
Knowing where to look and what to do in order to maximize Search Engine Optimization.

The Solution Is™
More than 100 specific answers for today's hoteliers to tackle this must-know issue.

Increase Hotel Revenue By Using A Multi-Prong Approach Jan 24, 2015: The hospitality industry is slowly waking up from a slumber it was forced into due to the recent economic downturn. Thankfully, things are looking up now and hotels are not wasting time making up for the low occupancy they had to endure. Incidentally, there are number of things that hotels can do to increase sales. The trick is to use a multi-pronged approach.

Discussed here are some strategic ways through which hotels can increase their sales and profit margin:

A Brief Guide to Google Hotel Price Ads (HPA) Aug 15, 2014: A Brief Guide to Google Hotel Price Ads (HPA)

Hospitality Tip of the Week™: Focus on Matching Needs and Wants Jul 29, 2014: Focus on Matching Needs and Wants
" No Need: We don't just sell people what they need- we sell them what they want.
The approach is to make what they need so appealing that they will want it.
When you combine wants and needs, sales increase. "
Zig Ziglar

.Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople Jul 14, 2014: HBR Blog Network

Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople

If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all. Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally.

Pinterest Best Practices for Hotels Feb 6, 2014: Pintest’s new dashboard now gives business owners the ability to see all of their Pinterest traffic activity in an intuitive, cleanly laid out display. Your Pinterest data will show your pins/week, repins/week and followers. In close, it’s never been more apparent that Pinterest has become a major social media platform that can effectively augment your overall social media strategy.

Are You A Real Sales, Marketing, or Business Pro? Dec 29, 2013: Posted by Dave Brock

I’m a tremendous fan of Steve Pressfield’s writing. If you haven’t read him, pick up a copy of The War Of Art or Turning Pro. I reread each a several times a year. Every once in a while, when I seem to lose my focus or purpose, rereading either helps me rethink what being a Professional is about. It helps me rediscover what I am here to achieve,

As we wrap up the year, reflecting on what it is to be a professional is important, so I thought it would be useful to highlight the qualities Steve says the Professional possess. I’m just listing them, they are pretty self-explanatory, but if you need explanation, look at the books.

Aligning Strategy and Sales Dec 21, 2013: Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, on how to connect what your people sell with your business goals.