4 Digital Marketing Assets Every Historic Hotel Needs

You’ve already done the hard part — you’ve established a historic hotel with irresistible charm, incredible amenities and excellent service. 

But without a comprehensive marketing strategy, nobody will know you even exist. 

I’m India, a travel content marketer and copywriter with nearly 10 years of experience in the digital marketing world, and I specialize in helping historic hotels and boutique inns elevate their marketing strategies so they can find more clients and book more guests online. 

In this article, I’ll be highlighting four of the most important digital marketing assets your hotel or inn needs in order to grow online. 

(Spoiler: A lot of people skip #4, but it’s one of the most important!)

1. Social Media

As a historic hotel, your social media presence is vital to your business’ success. This article by Forbes highlights some of the reasons why social media is so important for brands — and as a historic hotel, having strong social profiles is absolutely critical. 

One of the main purposes of social media is to build awareness of your business. This means you’re being exposed to a wider audience so more people can learn about your property and why they should consider booking with you. 

While social media rarely leads to conversions immediately, it does create intrigue and interest surrounding your property. That way, when travelers are ready to book, you’ll be top of mind. Guests who are casually looking for places to stay but aren’t ready to book are considered to be in the “awareness” or “consideration” stages of their buyer’s journey. 

Additionally, social media is essential for historic properties because of the visual impact it provides. Having high-quality photos on your website is important, too, but sites like Instagram, Tik Tok and Pinterest are visual-first platforms. 

In fact, according to this article by Islands.com, an increasing amount of Gen Z travelers are actually booking their vacations through Tik Tok. 

While you may not be targeting this specific demographic in your marketing efforts, having a strong social profile can help travelers imagine themselves at your property — and be more ready to book with you when they’re ready to lock in a hotel. 

2. Web Copy

If your social content performs well and encourages travelers to learn more about your brand, they’ll likely head to your website next. 

Unfortunately, this is a spot in the content marketing funnel where a lot of brands lose prospective buyers. This usually happens because historic hotels’ websites are outdated or the copy itself was never properly optimized for searchability. 

As a content marketing specialist and copywriter for historic hotels and heritage tourism sites, this is one of the services I offer clients. With a strong website, you’re able to: 

• Be found in search engines like Google. 
• Clearly communicate your brand message. 
• Highlight amenities and benefits at your property. 
• Show why guests should book with you on their next trip. 

However, it’s important to note that website copy isn’t just confined to your home page. You also need to have an optimized (and compelling) about page, services page and product page — which, as a hotelier, would highlight your rooms and property. 

4. SEO Blog Posts

Another important digital marketing asset your historic hotel or boutique inn needs to have on your site is blog posts that have been crafted with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind. 

Essentially, SEO blog posts are written and researched in such a way that they are more likely to appear in Google Search Results Pages (SERPs) for the keyword or topic you’re targeting. 

In other words, if you run a boutique hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, creating a blog article about best restaurants in Charleston or the best time to visit Charleston would need to have certain keywords in it. That way, you have a better chance of showing up for that query when people search it online. 

There’s a lot of effort that goes into an SEO blog post, and it’s one of the services I offer historic hotels to help brands like yours show up in front of your target audience. With a properly optimized blog, your content can act like the images and videos you post on social media and draw even more travelers to your brand. 

5. Email

According to twilio, email marketing is super important for businesses that want to build relationships with their audience — and in a crowded travel market, these connections are critical. 

With an effective email marketing strategy, you can easily: 

• Send prospective and returning travelers personalized offers. 
• Update your audience with brand news and send them new blog posts. 
• Showcase your brand identity and help subscribers feel like they actually “know” you. 

Having an email list can also be a useful way to turn one-time guests into recurring customers. While some travelers only visit a destination once, those who return to an area might be more willing to stay at your property again if your emails remind them about your brand. 

And if they don’t return, those same travelers might be more willing to recommend your property to a friend taking the same trip if they remember who you are and why they loved staying with you. 

Conclusion

If you want to grow your historic hotel or boutique inn’s online reputation, there are four key digital marketing assets you need: social media content, web copy, SEO blog posts and emails. Two help buyers in the “awareness” stage (social media and SEO blog content), and two help buyers when they are ready to book (web copy and emails). 

You need all four if you want to have an effective digital marketing strategy, but knowing what to write can be intimidating. I’m India, a travel & hospitality content marketing writer, and I specialize in content marketing and SEO copywriting for boutique hotels and independent inns. If you need help creating web copy that converts, blog posts that are discoverable online or emails that foster brand loyalty, let’s connect.