2021 is upon us again and there is no denying that the past year was an eventful one. Whereas things were still looking rosy in the summer with the hospitality and events industry opening up, our clients were dealt another major blow in December. The start of the new year is always a great time to look back at the previous year. What did we learn from that year, what will we especially not do again and what will we take with us into 2022?
The marketing funnel under the microscope
The use of social media has increased recently. More and more people are scrolling through apps like Instagram and Facebook to keep up-to-date with all the news around them. This means they see more ads and are therefore more critical of this. In addition, we are moving towards a Cookie-free world making it harder to measure online efforts. For us, enough reasons to make our marketing funnel of top to bottom under the microscope.
Awareness campaign
In 2021, we looked at the contribution of each stage in the marketing funnel to the number of reservations. Whereas our focus used to be on convincing people to make a reservation, we are now also concerned with brand awareness. We have become more aware that you have to let people get to know a restaurant or hotel before they decide to make a reservation or booking.
Coherence between KPIs
It has also become even clearer to us over the past year how important it is to be able to properly assess the connection between different metrics. We have learned that we can no longer simply draw conclusions based on hard conversions, such as the number of reservations, phone calls or leads. We have broadened our horizons to soft conversions, such as the number of pages visited or the amount of time visitors spend on a page, in order to conclude whether our campaigns are successful.
Focus on expressions
One lesson we will definitely take into 2022 is to focus on the expressions and less on the campaign settings. Over the past year, we have already made considerable strides with our ad executions. We experimented with different visual expressions and different angles. In 2022, we want to continue this growth and write ads that we have thought about even more consciously.
Server side tagging
With the prospect of a cookie-free world, we delved into Server Side Tagging using Google Tag Manager in 2021. This is another way to make our online efforts still (partly) measurable. In 2022, we will implement this across all our clients so that we can continue to be data-driven.
Don't forget to think long-term
The situation we found ourselves in in 2021 mainly demanded a lot of attention to short-term strategies. Yet we have seen over the past year that you should not forget the long-term strategy because it pays off later.
SEO is the long-term strategy
Search Engine Optimisation has again proven to be the right long-term choice this year. It allows you to build your position in search engines like Google in an organic, non-paid way. Before we got into the corona crisis, we made sure our clients already had a nice position got on different keywords. As the cost of getting a high position paid has increased, our clients can now enjoy a high organic position while saving budget.
Communication is key
Besides the learnings, which have to do with our operations, we also found some learnings in the area of communication. These lessons are not only about our internal communication or communication with our customers, but also how our customers can communicate with their guests.
One-to-one relationship with your guest
Communicating with your guests online often costs money. This is because an organic post on Instagram or Facebook will not give you the reach you would like. So to reach all your followers, you need money. A cheaper way to maintain the relationship with your guests is to have an e-mail database. Your guests consciously sign up for this, so you are sure they are interested in your hotel or restaurant. Then it's just a matter of writing interesting mailings, giving your guests something nice for their birthdays and your one-to-one relationship is strengthened.
Expectation management
2021 was a year full of uncertainties for many of our customers. As a result, expectations about us have risen. And you may not believe it, but we can't do magic either. We have therefore learned that managing expectations is now more important than ever. By setting the right expectations, you ensure that there is a realistic view of the possibilities. This prevents disappointments and makes it easier to make informed decisions.
Our personal learnings
Besides improving all the work we do for clients, we at The Fully Bookers believe it is important for our team to be able to develop on a personal level as well. As a team, we have also learned a lot on a personal level from the past year.
Flexibility and agility
The components the entire team has developed in are flexibility and agility. The constantly changing environment meant that we had to move quickly. If you had just worked out one strategy, you could already start working on another because suddenly different measures applied. We do not sit still and we always try to come up with creative solutions together with the customer to still be able to stay open and make guests happy. So it is really important to keep up with what is happening at the time. And let's face it: with a pandemic, that can change overnight.
Structure and planning
Such flexibility makes it easy to lose track. After all, what are we actually doing? After all, structure is necessary. By thinking carefully in advance about what you want to achieve, what you need to achieve it, planning everything clearly and only starting when everything is complete, you start working with a clearer picture. This not only saves energy and time but also creates peace of mind.
Do what you like
The final learning we learned in 2021 is to do what you like. When you are clear to yourself what you like and what you are good at, it is easier to decide whether a task is for you or better to let another team member do it. As a result, the team tackles tasks efficiently and everyone goes home feeling good at the end of the day.
Now it really is time to say goodbye to 2021. Despite all the measures and setbacks, we ended a learning year. We were able to do great things for our customers and for ourselves. On to 2022!
