All Things Metasearch for hospitality

In this episode we continue our Google discussion to address the verticalization of Google’s digital marketing formats for Hospitality.

We talk about how this applies to branded vs. non-branded keywords and how these apply to the marketing funnel.

We also provide an explanation of “The Marketing Funnel” in as it ties directly to our next episode on TripAdvisor Plus!

In this episode, we will talk about the recent launch of Google's Free Booking Links, aka Google Free Organic Meta.

We cover the pros and cons, as well as a few recommendations on who can benefit most!

In the spirit of thinking ahead to the new year, this week’s podcast takes a look at how metasearch is inspiring tomorrow’s digital leaders.

Inspired by a Koddi article from 2018, I talk about how the role of “metasearch manager” requires a skill set beyond that of a typical digital marketer.

We know the lines between revenue management, marketing, sales, and reservation managers were already getting blurry prior to the pandemic.

Today, the lines have often been completely erased, resulting in the need for everyone to add new tools to their tool belt.

The 6th episode of our Heavy Meta podcast focuses on the skill sets needed to become an effective metasearch manager.

You can also learn more / sign up for our educational webinar series by visiting https://basecampmeta.com/meta-educational-series

In episode #5 we take a quick look back at one of our most popular episodes where we talked about setting goals for your marketing campaigns.

We then transition into a discussion on how even the smallest of hotels (i.e. 10-room B&B in Omaha) can and should participate in Google meta.

In today’s podcast we welcome Adele Gutman Milne from Aspire Reputation Marketing to talk about the correlation between guest satisfaction and your metasearch marketing campaigns.

We cover practical tips for improving your guest feedback, as well as how to leverage this for better metasearch performance!

This week’s podcast taps into the elusive topic of how to set budgets for metasearch. We will look at 3 separate strategies and explore the pros and cons of each.

We will then tie this into how meta plays a larger role in your overall direct booking program, and tie this back to the budget discussion.

(1)    Budgeting for meta

1. Uncapped? Pros & Cons
2. No budget at all (PPS)?  Pros & Cons
3. Somewhere in between? Pros & Cons

(2)    Meta as part of larger direct booking program

1. Mobile vs. Desktop
2. Booking engine flow / conversion
3. Desktop widgets
4. Remarketing
5. Attribution

We continue our podcast by picking up with the cliffhanger question from our last episode – Would a 100% cost of sale be a deal breaker?

Learn more about how setting and understanding goals will dictate your path in meta, as well as any other marketing campaign.

We also talk about what to expect from meta, how this differs by hotel and device, and how this relates to your typical SEM campaign.

Outline

(1)    Setting your goals

1. Would 100% COS be a deal breaker? It depends!
2. Our goals dictate our path
3. Branding
4. Volume
5. Owning the guest
6. COS / ROAS
7. Diversified Portfolio

(2)    What to expect from meta

1. Segue from goals & revisit the comparison to brand / non-branded search
2. Conversion rates matter / Mobile vs. Desktop
3. Review 2019 Performance Stats
4. Law of Diminishing Returns