The importance of email marketing for tourism and hospitality businesses
HubSpot shared its most important statistics in email marketing recently. There are more than 4 billion daily users worldwide, 78% of email marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months and 74% of baby boomers (people aged 55+) think email is the most personal channel to communicate with brands. But how important is email marketing in Tourism and Hospitality in Ireland? We have come up with 5 reasons on why you should have an email marketing strategy as part of your marketing campaigns going forward.
-
Everyone uses email
An email address is something that everyone has these days- whether you are 18 or 80. HubSpot’s statistic that 74% of baby boomers prefer this channel over other communications. With the introduction of more stringent laws in GDPR in 2018, it has become harder to collect email addresses from potential customers but with a good plan of action from your marketing team, you can continuously grow your subscribers. Check out HubSpot’s blog here on how to grow your email subscriber list. Remember to segment your list so you are not sending relevant emails to the relevant target segment. For example0- why would you send an email about a wedding event to someone who signed up for offers on Active retirement packages. These subscribers will more than likely unsubscribe if they are not received relevant content.
-
Send direct traffic to your website
Sending deals, offers, news etc in an email is a great way to get direct traffic onto your website- and onto a particular landing page. Make sure to give your readers a reason to click on your link in your email to ensure this traffic. Failte Ireland recently released their email marketing industry toolkits with lots of tips on this subject. You can download it here.
-
Advertise to those with intent
When you are sending an email to your database you are advertising to those with intent. These subscribers have joined your mailing list for a reason and are more likely to open your email than if you set up a social media campaign. It’s a great way to get information on breaks, packages, and events out there. Its also a great way to advertise vouchers coming up to Christmas, Valentines, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
-
Make it personal/ exclusive
Email marketing is a great way to let people know about offers, deals etc before you even set them live. The music industry uses this tactic a lot for presale tickets. Why not create a secret deal database for your loyal consumers. Again, make sure to segment your database so you are sending relevant deals to the relevant target audience.
-
Cost effective marketing
Email marketing is probable one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics in Hospitality and Tourism. A good ezine software can be less than €20 per month with some good free software like Mailchimp to get you started.
So, there you have it, contrary to what other industries may say, email marketing is definitely still so important in hospitality and tourism. If you need any help on advice on getting started with email marketing or how to ramp up your efforts, just send Helen an email on info@backofficems.ie
To receive our blog post direct to your email every week, just sign up here.