During a recent conversation about how to know which ads work, here’s are some thoughts for you to keep in mind (this is text copied right from our online discussion):
It often takes multiple “ads” to win guests, so links can be deceiving (your website analytics tells the immediate inflow but usually not the full trail that led to that click into your website), and what grabs 25 might be 25 high payers compared to 75 who don’t book.
For example: A membership listing or their social media post leads a guest to look at your reviews, which then links them to your website. They book for 2 weeks. Do you “see” that the membership listing brought you 2 weeks of revenue? A paid ad on another site produces 6 hits, and 3 chose to book for a night. Remember that stats without full awareness can skew your decision making.
Too, additional online presences can improve your placement in search results. But do every one of those online places get tallied as leading folks to you? Nope. Yet they had a role in drawing attention to your business.
In other words, it is great to track but you must always remember WHY your marketing program includes each of its pieces. If one no longer fits, or if new options materialize, adjust accordingly but make sure you remember WHY you chose to go with each before you eliminate.
As the executive director of a state association with a very popular online directory, we created very robust listings for our members. So robust that many no longer even go to the individual campground websites because they glean enough insight to be able to call or email the park or go directly to the reservation page. So, after the first full year of insanely busy web traffic on this new site, some members said they weren’t renewing because their Google analytics showed a drastic drop in traffic. I then told them how many hits their listing on our page had … and they were floored.
Now, this campground owners association has EIGHT areas of focus, and marketing is merely one. I wish more campground owners recognized the full value of the other seven focal areas. When I was an owner, my park gained greater fiscal growth because of my use of most of the focal areas … much more so than the fiscal growth from bringing me more guests (which it also brought).
(The response from this has been very positive, so perhaps it will also help CCLOA members.)
Colorado Campground & Lodging Owners Association (CCLOA) 