Video marketing has been on the rise in recent years. Trends point to continually increasing lead generation rates from 2019 to now, leading more than 80% of marketers to confirm its undeniable advantages, regardless of the industries they belong to. Is it any wonder that YouTube marketing for hotels is also gaining plenty of traction at present?
Indeed, many hotels can vouch for this strategy. However, should every hospitality business adopt it? Let’s find out by diving into the proven benefits of this type of marketing for hotels coupled with tips and other facts and figures.
What Are the Advantages YouTube Marketing Imparts to Hotels?
Since it’s technically a direct offshoot of video marketing, it should come as no surprise that YouTube marketing imparts the same benefits. Here are but some that we simply can’t deny:
- There’s almost a guaranteed increase in reach and visibility for companies, given YouTube’s still unfailing popularity.
- Through YouTube videos, hotels can provide more engaging content and experiences. It’s easy to personalise their videos, and they choose more creative ways to do it like giving VR tours of their rooms and amenities and adding effective CTAs in them.
- It’s all about making your content as memorable and impressionable as possible, and video marketing readily provides this advantage.
- It capitalises on the naturally high engagement of videos, which hotels can consistently rely on when sharing stories, exclusive information, and building brand awareness.
- Influencers like to use social media platforms like YouTube. As far as the duo of video marketing and influencer marketing goes, let’s just say that it’s almost a perfect marriage considering the powerful benefits you can derive by combining them.
- It’s been found that videos work well with email marketing as well. High-quality video content has been found to boost email opening rates by close to 30%.
- All of these advantages combined pave the way to higher revenues.
Of course, guaranteeing the most ROI with careful strategising and execution remains the top priority.
How Much Does YouTube Marketing Typically Cost for Hotels?
The cost ceiling for YouTube marketing in general is $0.30 for every view. It can get as low as $0.10. Factors such as watch time, target audience, niche/industry, and your specific goals (e.g. brand awareness, sales, etc.) influence the cost, so expect to pay attention to them in your campaigns for YouTube marketing for hotels.
However, there are also other factors specific to the hospitality industry that may affect your expenses, such as:
- The hotel’s size
- Video creation tools and resources
- The campaign’s scope
- Video editor and videographer’s salaries
- Post-production costs
Of course, these are assuming you’re settling for no less than professional, high-quality videos, which should be every serious hotel’s aim.
We have to admit that small businesses that are just starting out in the industry may struggle a bit (or a lot), as most of their resources will be syphoned to ensure topnotch, highly engaging and converting videos.
Tips to Make the Most Out of Hospitality YouTube Marketing
The challenge is definitely there but with the right knowledge of what steps to take, you should be able to make the most out of your budget and effectively play the cards you’ve been dealt with.
Put quality first and foremost.
It’s important to adopt a mindset of producing high-quality and original videos from the get-go – no more, no less. You have to make an excellent impression through the tours, first-hand footage, and customer testimonials you share.
If you can integrate a good story, seize that opportunity! Who among us doesn’t like stories?
Don’t be afraid to try out new approaches.
The key ingredient to successful campaigns is a willingness to experiment. You can never solely rely on formulaic solutions since, chances are, it’s been done a hundred times already by the competition. In turn, you end up breaking the first, golden rule we mentioned above.
Start in the formats you’re choosing. More importantly, your decisions should always be guided by careful analysis of the data that you’re receiving with regard to your audience.
Exercise your creativity to the fullest when showcasing the various strengths of your hotel.
The best keywords can get you going places.
We can never really take keywords out of the equation because they’re the current ideal way to make sure that your target audience will be able to find you. As such, you should know the correct ones to include in your video titles, description, and tags.
Not all keywords are obviously built the same. It’s a matter of finding the balance between competition and average traffic volume. Oftentimes, even low-competition keywords are well worth targeting.
Include paid advertising in your strategy.
YouTube ads give you free rein in modifying your advertising campaign according to your goals. Do you want to drive more traffic and get more conversions?
Moreover, you should be meticulous in the ad formats you choose in the same manner when selecting video formats. Conduct A/B testing between formats like bumper ads, in-stream ads, and discovery ads, then choose the most optimal one.
Stay on top of present promising trends.
It won’t hurt to be mindful of the trends that are happening in video marketing as a whole. We’re referring to the integration of virtual reality, NFTs, and the metaverse in the industry, which could prove to be pivotal for hotels in the future.
Incidentally, the fact that these premier technologies figure a lot in video marketing at present tells you all you need to know about its solid future going forward.
Conclusion
To summarise, YouTube marketing for hotels can bring plenty of its proven magic to the hospitality industry. Even so, its viability for every hotel remains up in the air. It’s up to the business owner to determine whether the figures stated above fit their budget or not.
Video marketing requires no less than the meticulous planning required when embarking on any marketing campaign. This planning goes beyond budgeting and ensuring viability – it’s also about anticipating possible hurdles down the road and continually learning about your target audience.
