If you haven’t made a New Year resolution yet, start now by quitting one – or more – of these bad habits. Good news is, they’re not hard to ditch.

8 Bad Marketing Habits Every Hotelier Must Quit in 2019

1. Constantly Talking About Yourself

If you think about the people you like most, they probably have one essential trait – they listen and don’t prattle on about themselves. Yet, when it comes to marketing your property, most hoteliers easily fall prey to harping on about themselves – ALL THE TIME!

What your users really want is for you to help and entertain them. Use that angle to grab their attention and become your loyal follower.

2. Talking like Robots

In an effort to fool Google, many marketers make the mistake of talking like a machine. Make this year one where you write honest headlines for your readers and not the search bots.

3. Trying to Be Everywhere

Trying to be everywhere and everything to everyone will get you nowhere. Instead be focused in your marketing approach. Find your niche and target your communications to your core audience for maximum benefit. Even when it comes to channels (Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc), find the ones that are most relevant to you and get maximum returns.

Consider your property and resources available when making choices about the channels you will be present on. Once you’ve chosen them, master your channels of choice by aligning your content to the platform best practices.

4. Getting Too Bogged down by Data

One of the drawbacks of having multiple analytics sources is information overload. It is easy to get drowned in a pool of data, which often seems contradictory. In 2019, make sure you don’t fall into this trap. Figure out which statistics and KPIs matter most to you and focus on them.

5. Being Erratic with Your Content and Posts

As a fan or follower of your content, another annoying habit is inconsistency. Make sure you provide content regularly on your channels to keep users engaged and entertained. It is also recommended from an algorithm perspective from platforms such as Google and Facebook. When it comes to social media, aim to post 4-5 times weekly (daily preferred). Aim to educate and entertain rather than sell in your content.

6. Mass Emailing Random People

Mass emails are equivalent to junk mail in modern marketing. In fact, it may have a detrimental effect on your brand. Stay clear of it, especially in the light of new laws in the European Union (GDPR). Instead, build you list using data in your property management system (PMS) and smart marketing on your website and other platforms.

7. Not Adding to Your Marketing Toolbox

What worked last year, may or may not work in 2019. To remain relevant, it is important constantly innovate and add to your tools. Well-spaced repetition of your communications is good, but too much can become boring.

8. Not Linking Your Content with SEO

How many of us are guilty of creating content and plugging in keywords and links later? Most of us. Let’s resolve to quit this habit. The internet is a dumping ground for content. To make the cut through, you have to be unique. For search engines to notice, you’ve to add another layer – adding the right keywords and giving search engine optimisation (SEO) its rightful place at the top in your hotel’s marketing strategy.