DHM: 10 Free Digital Marketing Tools Perfectly Suited to the Hotel Industry

DHM: 10 Free Digital Marketing Tools Perfectly Suited to the Hotel Industry

Navigating the world of digital marketing as a hotelier can be difficult and disorientating. With the hospitality industry in the UK being a world of its own. It can’t be expected for a hotelier to also play the role of an expert digital marketer. Digital marketing careers, professions, degrees and agencies all exist for good reason. Even after a lifetime of studying digital marketing there will still be more to know and learn.

This may sound daunting but there are plenty of viable options out there for hoteliers. Agencies of course are your one-stop solution for your hotel digital marketing needs. Working with an agency will give you access to the knowledge and know-how of digital marketing professionals that will be able to curate and design an effective digital marketing strategy specific to your hotel.

Some hoteliers still prefer to tackle their marketing needs themselves and we understand this. Thankfully there are tools out there that can help assist you in your marketing efforts without breaking the bank. Tools that can guide you through the complex world of hotel digital marketing here in the UK.

We know that not every hotelier will be able to work with us forever and so we’ve decided to compile a list of the best hotel digital marketing tools that any hotelier can use in the UK. Without further ado, here are the top 10 free digital marketing tools perfectly suited to the hotel industry.

Google My Business

First up is a selection of tools from the one and only, Google. Google has a wide selection of free to use tools that hoteliers can take advantage of for some of their marketing efforts. When prospective guests are looking for a hotel to stay, where do they go to find one? The internet is the correct answer. With Google being the most commonly used search engine, listing your hotel on Google is an absolute must. To do so you can use Google My Business to create your listing and provide your searchers with all the information they need when deciding where to stay.

Google Trends

Next up on Google’s free to use tools is Google Trends. For every industry whether you’re in the retail, manufacturing or textile industry it is a necessity to stay up to date with your industry movements. Keeping up to date with trends in the hospitality industry is no exception. To do so you can use Google Trends by searching hotel related queries to determine what’s popular and what isn’t.

Google Search Console

Things may start getting slightly complex here with this tool. There are, however, plenty of resources online to get started with. Google Search Console is a great tool for improving your search listing. When prospective guests search for your hotel on Google, often other businesses may come up first. This is because your listing has not been fine tuned to match your prospective guests search queries. Google Search Console will enable you to see how many visits your website gets and where from. If you need any assistance with this feel free to reach out and we’d be happy to help!

Google Analytics

Having a website online is a necessity. Determining how well your website performs is possible through Google Analytics. This is a free to use tool but you can pay for a more advanced version. You can determine your website demographics, how many people visit the site each month and much more.

Canva

Here was a classic that everyone in the marketing, design and creative industries will be very familiar with. Canva is a free to use tool that helps you create and design social media posts, menus, or even website pages.

Social media

We couldn’t write this article without mentioning social media. There’s no avoiding it. If you’re not using social media, sure enough your competitors are. Social media can be a great tool to get your business out there and engage with loyal and prospective guests. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are all great platforms to get started with.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a great tool used by almost all marketers. They have many paid options but the free versions are great too. Hubspot can help you gather email addresses from interested or previous guests so that you can follow up with them in an efficient and profitable way.

TestMySite

Another great free to use tool by Google. This is a great way to determine how well your website performs. The slower the website the less conversions your business will achieve. Using the tool is simple. Enter your domain name and you’ll be rewarded with stats and figures on your website performance.

Buffer

Buffer has a great free to use plan that will allow you to schedule social media posts in advance so you can stay ahead of the game. By scheduling the posts in advance they will automatically post to your social media accounts. You’ll also be able to view how well your posts perform.

WordPress

A tool we are very familiar with here at DHM. Some technical knowledge may be required for using certain aspects of this tool but generally it is fairly intuitive to use. WordPress is a great option if you want to edit or change certain aspects of your website.