Return to article listPay-per-click advertising for luxury hospitality brands
Your brand can’t afford to ignore it anymore
Is pay-per-click advertising—the sponsored links on the right side of search results—just for mass marketers? Not at all. Luxury hospitality brands do everything possible to optimize their standing in organic—non-paid—search results, but they can create even more visibility, customer awareness and booking potential with a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.
Consider pay-per-click advertising
When it comes to search engine advertising, luxury hotels have more at stake than mid-tier properties. Why? Because of Google’s influence on consumers worldwide. (The BrandZ Top 100 study conducted by Millward Brown Optimor (a division of marketing giant WPP) named Google the world’s “most influential brand” in 2007 and again in 2008, beating brands such as Coca Cola, General Electric, Apple, and Toyota.)
Simply put, your guests are searching for your hotel—or your competitors’—with online search engines. Luxury hotel guests may get initial recommendations from friends, lifestyle publications, or other media, but inevitably three out of four guests will conduct a search engine query at some point in their decision-making process. Search engine algorithms make it nearly impossible for your property to rank organically on the first page for every single keyword that your guests might use to start a search. To balance this out, you can widen your potential “branding net” by having a presence on that first page of search results via pay-per-click ads.
Positioning your ads — and your property
For luxury hotel brands, it’s crucial to appear at the top of a PPC campaign, since appearing “at the top” conveys a sense of brand positioning versus competitors. This is especially true for queries that involve key phrases such as “best,” “luxury,” “top reviewed,” “chic,” “upscale,” etc.
In a Google-commissioned study, Enquiro Research studied the effect on a consumer brand of position on the page in both organic search results and PPC advertising. The result: placement at the top led to greater brand affinity, brand recall, and purchase intent. Consumers had an inherent trust in Google’s search results—meaning that they felt the top ranking websites in their search results (both paid and organic) were the leaders in their specific field.
So, not only must luxury hotel brands engage in PPC advertising campaigns to stay top of mind with consumers, but to fully succeed in these campaigns, they must also command top ad positions (one of the top three PPC ad spots on the page).
Who gets the top spot?
Although other search engines determine top ad placement via a straight-bid system (the more you’re willing to pay per click, the higher your ad’s position) Google’s PPC ad positioning is more complex. It is determined by the following formula:
[Highest Bid per Click] x [Quality Score] = Ad Position
Several factors determine the Quality Score, including your CTR (click-through rate, or ad popularity) and landing page performance. This means that when you create an effective PPC campaign, with compelling ad copy and a well-designed and accessible landing page, you’ll get a higher position for your PPC ad. And you’ll pay less per click as well.
Designing for click-through — and booking — appeal
To be truly effective, your PPC ad campaigns and the pages they lead to must complement each other. The copy for your Google ad must be crafted to make prospective guests want to click through to the landing page, which should be appealing, easy to navigate, and invite bookings.
This specially designed landing page needs to extend the brand of your luxury property with flair. Visually, it should clearly display all the information guests need to make a decision—and calls to action (such as “Register”) should be prominent and attractively framed.
When you combine these elements in a campaign that truly marries form and function, you’ll quickly see the rewards: a higher click-through rate and increased bookings. In addition, you benefit from the higher ranking of your PPC ad on Google, as its formula takes your CTR and landing page performance into account.
Getting the most out of your PPC campaigns
Effective PPC campaigns should be designed around these guidelines:
- In your PPC ad copy, include keywords and combinations that luxury segment guests actually search on. Don’t just stick with broad search terms such as “hotels San Diego,” but use terms like “upscale boutique hotel San Diego” and “charming luxury hotel San Diego” that evoke your brand and guests may search for.
- Since top Google search results—both paid and organic—are opportunities to strengthen your brand in consumers’ minds as well as to get additional bookings, for best effect, you’ll want to make sure your ads are in the top three positions of PPC ads on the page.
- Make sure your PPC campaign effectively marries form and function. Great ad copy that leads to a landing page that is confusing to navigate won’t work. Nor will a pretty landing page that doesn’t truly extend your full brand promise. Or a great landing page that doesn’t get enough click-throughs because the ad copy didn’t appeal.
- As Google’s Quality Score is a key metric for determining PPC ad position, make sure your PPC campaign benefits from having an experienced online marketing manager on board. Work with someone who can optimize your ad copy for click-through effectiveness, the appeal of your landing page, as well as keywords and search terms for your ads and website.
Pay-per-click is a valuable opportunity for your property—your brand—to engage with potential customers and attract their attention. Every click on your site—from the top landing page, through information and photo gallery pages, to practical matters like checking availability or making reservations—should reflect the experience and values that mean “your brand.” Enhance this strategy with smart PPC practices and great design, so more online visitors have a positive brand experience. From there, improved bookings will follow.