To make a good marketing investment budget, you must take into account some guidelines that will help you make better decisions.
by Iñaki González Arnejo*
What percentage of sales do we invest in marketing and advertising? Do we know which is the most effective medium? Should we invest more in traditional media or on the Internet? Was more spent than you thought to spend? All of these awkward questions are difficult for the average hotelier to answer today.
It seems that we are investing in marketing as we are making proposals during the year and we choose those that we like the most or we are guided by common sense; but there seems to be no formal and deliberate process of putting together a marketing plan. So the hotelier encounters the following unknowns when the season closes: Did I spend a lot or little on advertising? Did what I spent work? What media do I have to invest in next year?
One way to try to solve those unknowns is to put together a marketing plan. You can find here a series of guidelines and steps to keep in mind:
Define the Budget
Define what percentage of sales we are going to dedicate to marketing and advertising. 4%? 10% We must define how much we plan to allocate in exchange and how much is payment.
At the same time we must see the numbers not only in percentage but also in absolutes to understand if it is much or little. For example, 10% of sales may sound like a lot, but in a small hotel it may not be enough for us even to make a game of brochures.
Media Budgets
Depending on the total budget, we must request quotes in the different media or actions that we want to carry out in order to know the costs that they have. In this way we will have a first approximation of what means we can pay depending on the budget we have.
It is important at this stage that each medium tells us the publication price it has, the number of contacts that are reached and the frequency with which the medium leaves.
Allocation of the budget
At this moment we sit in front of a spreadsheet where we must define the total budget, how much we are going to distribute in digital media, graphic media to trade, graphic media to the final consumer, merchandising, etc.
Once the totals of each category have been defined, we must put the budget to each medium within each category. For example, if we are going to advertise in Google Adwords, we must include it within the digital media, assigning it a monthly budget with an annual totalizer.
Negotiate and close guidelines
Once the budget is crazy, we must try to govern ourselves on the basis of it. Sit down to negotiate with the designated suppliers and close the pattern in these media. This is the stage when the plan becomes a reality.
Measurement of results
Once the season is over we have to measure those means that have been most effective when selling. Sometimes it is very difficult to determine, given that the consumer or the trade today is accustomed to seeing a hotel on different sides (Internet, newsletter, web, graphic media, etc.), so it is very difficult to define based on which medium was the driver of the purchase.
In conclusion, we believe that the Marketing Plan is a process that helps us optimize our investment in advertising and marketing, helps us to know if we are distributing the media categories well and then to measure the effectiveness of them. The marketing plan will be the roadmap that will guide us through the season.
*Director of AADESA S.A. – Hotel Manager.
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