Euromonitor International Interview With Vikram Singh

 

I was recently interviewed as part of the Euromonitor International Interview Series conducted by Michelle Grant, Euromonitor’s Travel and Tourism Manager. Here’s the article that was published.

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Euromonitor International is pleased to present an interview examining online distribution for hotels. Euromonitor International Travel and Tourism Research Manager Michelle Grant spoke with Vikram Singh, Co-Founder of Evision Worldwide (2006) and Madbooker (2013). Both companies were established to improve ecommerce for hospitality businesses.

What is your background?

After graduating from hotel school, I started my career in hospitality with the Taj Group of Hotels, Resorts & Palaces, and then moved to Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts in San Francisco. These experiences gave me the chance to cover every possible department in a hotel and truly understand how hotels operate.

My career in hospitality veered toward technology while I was in San Francisco. I decided to move into online revenue, distribution and optimization technology services. I took a deep dive and instantly loved it. Working with and developing clients from San Francisco to NYC, London to Tokyo, was simply exhilarating.

In 2006, I co- founded Evision Worldwide, which continues to provide high-level strategy to private equity and hotel companies. We have worked with some of the top real estate investment trusts and investors worldwide, on asset deals worth well over $1 billion. Our comprehensive strategies have helped clients achieve tremendous success with their new acquisitions, existing assets, and hotel rebranding efforts.

In 2013, my partners and I started our newest venture: Madbooker. It offers the most streamlined and productive reservation system in the travel and lodging industry. It is built to excel on all devices and harnesses open source power at a great price point for hotels, bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals. Madbooker customers can also take advantage of our team’s extensive online marketing experience via affordable monthly packages.

How should hotels approach the development of a rate and distribution strategy?

Guests are booking their accommodations quite differently than they were just 5 or 10 years ago. The hotel industry needs to change their approach as well. Many of the current rate and distribution strategies rely on historic data and focus on price trends. I think it’s time to focus on value, rather than obsessing over your rate and what your competition is doing. Creating a value proposition needs to be Step 1 before embarking on any kind of detailed rate and distribution strategy.

How is online marketing evolving, both search engine marketing and social media marketing?

I do not like the concept of “social media marketing.” I think hotels should be doing more “social media conversing,” where they use social media to communicate with their guests: listen and respond, not just push out offers. Paying an agency to handle social media communication is a big misstep that a lot of hotels make. The voice has to be authentic and original, and not the mass-produced noise that we are often seeing these days.

Search engine marketing is getting much more targeted as Google is now using its massive online powers to:

1. Make the process of searching for travel more efficient, and
2. Ensure that they continue to make money from click- and impression-based advertising.

Specifically, the concept of ranking for high-volume keywords using search engine optimization is no longer a feasible inbound marketing tactic. Creating quality content to provide answers and build your brand based on value (not hyperbole) needs to be the core focus for any lodging business.

The final step is to make sure you set aside enough budget to spend on Google to harvest all of your brand name searches. In other words, when I look for your hotel by name, I should see your enticing ad right on top of the page. Otherwise, Priceline, Booking.com and Expedia will have their pay per click ads ready to harvest that sale for you.

What should hotels be doing to have an effective online marketing strategy?

Every hotel needs to decide what their value proposition is going to be. They need to build a story around their location and value. The focus needs to move from marketing platforms like Facebook and Google Plus toward compelling location marketing and storytelling.

It’s amazing how little local information many hotel websites provide to a prospective visitor. Design-heavy, content-light websites are wreaking havoc on direct conversions. Google will be glad to answer questions about any location in the world; don’t be surprised when they also sell the room, tours and activities because you were too busy yelling “Book Now!” on your website rather than answering your guest’s questions.

How do you view the role of online travel agencies in online distribution and marketing?

I respect the OTA’s and admire what they have achieved in a relatively small amount of time. They dominated search engines in what I like to refer to as the  “golden age of search engine optimization” by launching hundreds of content-rich affiliate websites. Around the same time, the big hotel brands were serving notices to owners to shut down their local independent websites – a grave error.

OTA’s also have heavily spent where it really mattered – Google AdWords. By buying keywords in every stage of the travel search and booking funnel, they ensured that they would not only build trust, but also made it very easy to buy a room from them.

I think every hotel should aspire to run their online marketing program like an OTA, with the determination to get the click and the booking.

Does online marketing level the playing field for all accommodation players, or do the brands still have an advantage thanks to their resources?

Internet is the great equalizer. Over the past few years, it has helped some amazing new concepts in hospitality surpass everyone’s expectations (eg, Airbnb, Hotel Tonight).

The big hotel brands definitely have the resources, but I see them focusing on the wrong things. They are just building their brand, and not working to improve the travel search and buying cycle. They are buying online marketing and strategy like they buy toiletries. However, unlike soap distributors, one marketing agency cannot power the strategy for 1000+ hotels in different locations across the world. This is the biggest challenge, I think. There is no urgent danger to brands but… to quote PB Shelly, “nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon.”

How important is Google for hotels, and in which way? What do you think will be its role in the future?

Google has always been a travel powerhouse and is not going to let go of its #1 spot. Their recent updates have ensured that:

  • Hotels that are building their brand get rewarded, and
  • Anyone trying to game the system for a few extra clicks gets penalized.

There has never been a better time than now to produce location-based content on your hotel website. Even though the overall volume of referral traffic that hotels get is gradually declining, Google AdWords is still very relevant, and every hotel needs to participate in that program. Especially when it comes to brand name keywords. You must buy your brand name keywords or the OTA’s will be happy to do it for you, and get your clicks and your bookings.

As for the future, I think Google is looking for revenue streams beyond its one-trick pony (pay per click) in the world of travel. Products like Hotel Finder are an indication of things to come.

What are the prospects of the mobile channel for the hotel industry for bookings and as a customer service tool?

All commerce is mobile commerce. I have been talking about mobile marketing since 2010 at hotel conference and events. It’s amazing to see every projection about popularity, usage and growth hold true. Unfortunately, as with everything else, hotel marketing agencies have used “mobile marketing” and “mobile website” as buzzwords to sell products and services. They haven’t truly embraced mobile as a fundamental part of the overall marketing strategy.

There is a lot of improvement that needs to be done. One of the biggest reasons we launched Madbooker was to update the mobile commerce experience for guests and hoteliers. Our system breaks down all stats by device right on the dashboard, and works great on all devices whether you’re using the front or back end.

Nothing beats a mobile device when it comes to giving on-the-spot customer service.  Every hotel must get comfortable with the fact that guests are using phones and iPads to search, book, and communicate. To keep up with Google and the OTA’s, make sure you’re reaching today’s and tomorrow’s guests where it matters – on their phones.

Hotel Pay Per Click: Your Single Most Powerful Marketing Tool

I have had a front row seat to the hotel pay per click (PPC) world for the past decade. PPC is not new, but it’s rapidly changing. One thing that hasn’t changed: hotel marketers and owners are still caught up in debates about its effectiveness and viability. As a result, a lot of hotels are still not embracing the power of pay per click.

Google’s Golden Goose

Time for a reality check: Since its inception in October 2000, pay per click advertising, aka Google Adwords, has been Google’s nonstop money-making Golden Goose. Here are some powerful statistics highlighting its power:

  • In 2013, Google officially surpassed $50 billion in total advertising revenue. This comprised 85% of their total revenues for 2013.
  • Google reported $12.9 billion in net income for 2013.
  • Total paid clicks on Google and Google Display Network sites were up 31% over the prior year, and up 13% over the third quarter of 2013.

All the actions (algorithm updates, layout changes, etc.) that Google implements every few months have a clear goal, which is to make sure that Google can sell more ads. Google cares very much about pay per click, because billions in revenue depends on it. They need it to work for you.

Hotel marketers and owners simply cannot overlook or ignore PPC. Unscrupulous marketing “experts” love to trash PPC as a waste of funds. You should run from those who advise using search engine optimization (SEO) as a replacement for PPC. SEO is important, but only PPC can explicitly guarantee you placement in exchange for your investment. Every time someone starts talking about how they are not doing pay per click marketing because they are focusing on SEO, an angel in revenue heaven dies.

Brand Name PPC Is Not Optional

There are a lot of things that your hotel can save money on. Opting out of PPC is an axe to the foot, which you do not need. PPC is exponentially important when it comes to someone looking for your brand name on Google, i.e., someone “googling” your hotel by name. Look at this example:

hotel pay per click

 

When someone looks for you by name, one of these three things might have happened:

  1. They researched you on any of the hundreds of travel sites (TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia, etc.) and are now ready to have a direct conversation with you.
  2. They received a personal recommendation from a friend.
  3. They saw your offline marketing somewhere, and now they want to learn more.

These are the searchers that are lowest on the conversion funnel. In simpler terms, they are the people who are most likely to buy something from you right now.

There are only two scenarios that happen when people look for you by name:

  1. You are showing an PPC ad for your hotel along the lines of “Official Site, Book Direct, Learn More.” You get the click and convert them on your site.
  2. The OTAs and resellers have no competition from you (woohoo!) for their ads offering “Best Rate Guaranteed, No Cancellation Fee, Learn more!” They get the click and sell your room, making a handsome 10-20% commission.

It does not take rocket science to figure out that hotels participating in PPC for their brand name terms are harvesting those clicks into direct revenue, instead of giving them away to the OTAs. Please keep this in mind when the next budget meeting comes around. Pay per click can always be beefed up and fine tuned.

Pro tip: Do not waste time hating on OTAs. In the world of Google, it definitely takes money to make money. Own your brand on Google.

Be There or… Lose Revenue

I often observe a clear and present disconnect between hotel marketing/revenue goals, and setting budgets for PPC advertising. It’s strictly a pay to play party. Budget is generally a function of your location and how much competition there is in your market. You should spend enough to get optimal ROI. This amount will be different for each hotel.

Brand Name Keywords. You must aggressively bid on your brand name. This might run you anywhere from $100 to $300 per month. You can quote me when I say, “it will be the best money you have ever spent on online marketing.” As I mentioned earlier, these searchers are specifically looking for you. Make sure they find you.

Pro Tip: No matter how many OTAs are bidding on your brand name, you as the hotel will always get preferential placement, a lower cost per click, and higher conversion from these keywords.

Location Keywords. Once you are doing a smashing job of showing up and converting for your brand name, it’s time to take your campaign to the next level. This is where you target broader location-based keywords like “hotels near Wrigley Field,” and “hotels in downtown Chicago.” These keywords are much more expensive than buying your brand name, so you have to make sure you are paying close attention to your website and conversions. Quality counts. The quality of your website and booking engine can make all the difference is conversions. The quality of your PPC advertising team affects your placement and cost per click.

Pro Tip: Avoid automation at this level of spending. See below.

Look Beyond Automation

Automation is one of the key differentiators between hotels running effective PPC and those who are struggling. If you’re using a big agency, your campaign is probably automated. Once an agency has signed up hundreds of clients, its biggest goal becomes creating efficiency for its own department. Your hotel campaign’s performance is not top of mind for an intern clicking away on software that manages hundreds of hotels without any unique strategy.

Using automated software is so 2005. Active management, such as testing ads, running specials, and adjusting bid strategy, is what makes a campaign successful. If you’re worried about overspending on PPC, put some thought into who you are hiring to spend money on your behalf in Google. A slightly higher management fee can often result in thousands more dollars in revenue.

Pro Tip: It’s not the cost that matters; it’s the revenue. Getting a “great deal” on PPC management isn’t always such a great deal.

Conclusion

Don’t trust your most powerful marketing channel to automated software or an overworked/underpaid project manager at an agency with several hundred clients. There are no shortcuts or discounts on the road to hotel pay per click success. But you can tremendously increase your odds of success (and your PPC revenue) by working with the right team.

Hotel Marketing Is Not a Substitute for Innovation

One of the trends I have been noticing is that hotels continually generate hype instead of value. Hyper-marketing on social media platforms has led to a race for hotels to participate in everything; that participation then somehow reflects the level of “modern-ness” or innovation at your hotel.

On the contrary, innovation requires time and effort, from ownership and management, and the on-property staff. Asking your internet marketing vendor to bring innovation to your hotel does not work. It just enables them to sell you a new product or service. True innovation, on the other hand, supercharges your marketing. You have a new story to tell and a chance to reconnect. You have to invest in innovation before marketing to future-proof your hotel revenue.

Marketing is not a substitute for innovation; it never will be. Stop worrying about the next big social/mobile/local online marketing fad. Focus on making changes to your lodging business that bring increased value to your guests. Here are some interesting ways you can jump-start your innovation process.

Consciously Uncouple From Platform-Obsessed Marketing

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. are platforms controlled by billion dollar companies that have a clear common goal: to sell you advertising. They are in no way interested in “innovating” your marketing. Mass-produced hyper marketing on these platforms is generating unprecedented FOMO (fear of missing out) and forcing owners and managers to continuously chase the next big thing. It’s also leading to a lot of “social media” spending – hiring outside agencies to generate social media content that is not relevant to your audience and not worth the budget you are spending.

Do yourself a favor, and stop worrying about what you have to do to keep up with the hotel across the street. Focus on one or two platforms, and then only if you can do it right. Handle social media communications in house. Listen and respond to your customers; have an authentic conversation and provide the information they are looking for. Answer questions, thank guests for positive comments, apologize when things go wrong. Talk. Don’t try to “market.”

Innovate IRL (in real life)

Innovation comes in many forms. Keeping your business model relevant and up-to-date can have a massive impact on your revenue. Here are some examples of innovations that provide added value to your guests:

  • Fast WiFi (free is even better)
  • Mobile, on-site customer communication (eg, restaurant offers via text message)
  • Better quality coffee and tea (eg, Nespresso in room)
  • New product and/or service in addition to a room (eg, carry-out room service)
  • Creating new room types (eg, family floors)
  • Better fulfillment process (1- to 3-click booking engines)
  • Support/customer service (mobile concierge)

Innovation Is Not Optional

The idea of “this is all we are going to offer” is not a sustainable strategy for profit. Innovation is the name of the game, as some new player is always going to raise the bar by providing a more convenient, efficient or cost-effective service or product. Why not your lodging establishment? Startups in the lodging business, like Airbnb and Hotel Tonight, are changing and innovating every day. You cannot afford to stick with the status quo.

Just look at the some of the major hotel brands worldwide that are struggling to connect with the reality of today’s travel market. A great example is the Second Life platform (2006-2010). It had a Twitter level of hype in its golden years. It had blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines. Starwood Hotels rushed into opening an aloft brand hotel in that virtual world in efforts “to attract hip, youthful, tech-savvy customers to the aloft brand.” Long story short, Second Life is on life support and nobody cares about it anymore. It’s a platform that lost its glory, just like every marketing platform eventually will. The time, money and effort wasted, however, are never coming back.

Conclusion

The travel industry as a whole has seen tremendous innovation over the past 10 years. Marketing, no matter how hard you push, is not going to make up for lack of innovation at the property level. Hotels that are expecting marketing to magically make them look good are failing. Are you innovating?

How to Supercharge Your Hotel Revenue After Rebranding

castle-clipart-2

A Tale of Two Brands
(based on a true story)

Once upon a time in December 2012, there was a hotel asset. It lived in a spectacular location, right on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. But alas, it was caught in the middle of an epic battle between The Brand (who managed the hotel) and The Bank (who owned the hotel). This 500+ room hotel was located in one of the fastest-growing cities in the US. The Brand had a strong presence in this location, and in other metropolitan cities. It was a regular haunt of A-list to D-list stars.

The Brand was strong, but The Bank was stronger. Someone had to intervene. There are very few private equity funds who could have made a bid for an asset in this much legal turmoil. But one did, and it had a very powerful reason to do so. That reason was pure profit. Even without The Brand, there was money to be made from this beautiful princess of a property.

knightThey called for reinforcements – enter my team in shining armor! Our goal was clear: supercharge hotel revenue after rebranding to minimize negative impact from the loss of the brand name.

How did we know we could do it? You see, when the hotel owners, the brand, and/or the management company disagree, something inevitable happens: the hotel loses focus and revenue stumbles. Even with all its advantages, we knew the hotel was not peak performing.

I define a lodging business to be peak performing when the % direct revenue booked is at its maximum possible number. Basically, that means you are selling more rooms directly to your guests than anyone else in your market.

No marketing/revenue management plan can ever be successful without setting goals. In this case, the goal was clear: not to have too much of a revenue drop when the old brand faded away at the stroke of midnight.

Into the Fray

The deal was finalized with a really, really big catch. The new owners would not be allowed to use the former brand name. And they meant it: not on the website, not in Pay Per Click ads, Display Ads, not even whispered over the breakfast buffet. Any utterance = massive lawsuit. Pow!

From an online revenue perspective, our first important task was to make sure all the property’s digital assets were acquired and accounted for. These included:

  1. Domain name
  2. Website files
  3. Analytics
  4. Social media accounts
  5. Historical revenue and online marketing reports

At the same time, we had to come up with a unique revenue recovery strategy. We had to match the revenue the hotel was producing as an established brand but without ever mentioning the old brand name.

Let the games begin.

What’s My Name Again?

There was no time for custom design jobs. But there was a working website which had been designed by a big box hotel marketing agency. We quickly ripped the site off the browsers and recode it using WordPress. Calls to action and device compatibility were addressed right away. (It’s amazing how many simple things are missing from expensive “custom” hotel websites). For the record, the former management was absolutely in love with their website and vendor. It never ceases to amaze me that when people really like how their website looks, they don’t even notice (or care) how poorly it is performing.

Well, no matter. No time for redesign! With the new asset managers backing us on the right usability issues, we deployed the new site in one week. With the keys to the asset in hand, we walked into the hotel with new asset managers for the takeover meetings. The official handover date and time was finalized, and that’s when we are slated to go live with out marketing campaign. At the stroke of midnight, our site and campaigns will launch with the hotel’s new name. There is one small issue…we do not have a name yet!

Amazing but true. We have taken over the online assets, have a website ready to be deployed, and a marketing campaign ready to be unleashed… as soon as the new owners can agree on a name.

the larry

This will be a sobering thought for a lot of brand name aficionados, but the name of the asset was not decided until 8pm on the day of the official takeover. Basically 4 hours before the legal deadline.

Ironically, the name they chose was a common first name. It was the equivalent of calling the hotel “The Larry.” The website and all the online campaigns went live with the finalized name. And at 12:15 am EST, the first reservation was booked from London at the hotel we now lovingly call “The Larry.”

The Results: 30 Days After Takeover

Here’s what we delivered in Month 1:

  • 48% increase in year-over-year total revenue
  • 23% increase in year-over-year web and mobile revenue

Instead of just minimizing the loss of revenue, we helped The Larry come out of nowhere and make 50% more money than it was making as a well-established brand in a major metropolitan beach market.

How did this miracle happen? Well, first of all, it is not a miracle. Brands no longer have the same power in major metropolitan areas. “The Larry” proves that a major brand simply is not required to pull in online bookings, you just have to know what you are doing.

How We Did It

There are five things that, when properly executed, can supercharge your new asset’s revenue when you are losing the brand name.*

  1. Manage Your Rates & Distribution. Value-based pricing is the best practice whether you are a brand name or not. Remember, no amount of online marketing or social media activity will make up for an inadequate rate and distribution strategy.
  2. Forget Groups. Probably the worst business you will ever get. Get FIT (flexible independent travelers) or go home. If your asset is in a major metropolitan area, capture direct demand and convert it.
  3. Leverage Online Travel Agents. You need and want the billboard effect. The only way to capture that is to get a solid relationship with one of the top OTAs (Booking.com or Expedia, your choice). In the end, if you have to go exclusive with an OTA for top placement, in the words of Nike marketing… Just do it!
  4. Budget for Effective Online Marketing. Budget to win, not to skim the surface of your location-based demand. Example: this 500-room hotel post-takeover was spending $40K/month on online marketing. Before takeover, the brand hotel was signed up with a $2000/month marketing package – which was producing nothing. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. It never works.
  5. Know the Difference Between Vendors and Partners. A vendor can be good at carrying out tasks. Do not confuse “doing things” with setting strategy. Rebranding calls for targeted strategy and fast implementation. Every case is unique; you cannot count on someone with 600 clients to give you a winning strategy.

* Also, a tremendous amount of caffeine was consumed in the making of this epic transition.

The End?

“The Larry” had one of its most amazing years in terms of total revenue growth. A lot of asset managers got hefty bonuses, you’re welcome. The private equity fund used “The Larry” case study at its global investor meeting, showcasing their strength in transforming underperforming assets in major metropolitan area. “The Larry” was closed for renovations after a super-successful 1½ years. It is now going to become a brand new concept hotel and residence brand.

Hotel Marketing Cannibalization: Is Your Hotel Website Traffic Eating Itself?

website cannibalization

Hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals are all competing for their market share of today’s travelers, who are armed with multiple devices and tools to search for lodging . Even if you get their clicks, it’s getting harder to keep their attention. Add to the mix Airbnb, deep pocket OTA’s, and meta search engines, and you are now competing in the big leagues, no matter how big or small your lodging operation is.

Now there is one competitor you absolutely do not need – yourself! Cannibalization of your hotel website traffic happens when you help your visitors leave your site via external links. It takes a lot of effort to get visitors to your site.

Here are the top ways you are confusing your visitors, and even pushing them off your site.

Social Media Cannibals

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., are a special breed of cannibal. Special because when used the right way they actually boost engagement and drive a lot of qualified traffic to your website. The social media gold rush of the past 5-6 years has resulted in a consistent hotel website feature: every lodging website now has the bright, shiny, candy-like social media icons. They have spread like a virus. Everyone is giving their users the option to click out from their website directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Basically, you have taken your visitor out of your website to a place where they are highly unlikely to book a room.

Why? The answer is distraction: new baby photos, breaking news, family drama, friends living a perfect life, etc.

Guide your audience from social networks to your site, not vice versa. Tone down the screaming social icons on your website. Do your best to keep your visitors on your site, which should be primed to put direct revenue into your bank account.

Video Cannibalized the Traffic Star

If you’re using YouTube to embed videos on your website, you can easily fall victim to this form of traffic cannibalization. This is especially true if you have a YouTube link on your embedded video player like this one:

Youtube

A visitor clicking on this link is likely never coming back. Why? Because cat videos, fail videos, and other viral videos are now fighting for their attention and winning.

Always remember this fact: YouTube is extremely good at keeping their visitors. Once people leave your site and link into YouTube, it’s pretty much game over.

What’s a better alternative? I suggest the following:

  1. Self-host your videos – for better website conversions (keep visitors from leaving).
  2. Use a video service like Vimeo or Viddler – a cleaner, decluttered space to share in.
  3. Directly post on YouTube – to get social shares.

YouTube is a huge community and a popular search engine. However, unless you are seriously cultivating your YouTube subscribers, you will be better off hosting your videos elsewhere.

Cannibalization Through Clutter

If you have multiple images and messages on a page of your site that are vying to be the most prominent thing on that page, you might be damaging your traffic. B&B/hotel/vacation rental sites generally have a common theme: the home page is a sensory overload of offers and specials. The whole “call to action” thing tends to get out of hand when you implement website design that has been approved by an eager committee.

Your mix of images, content, and calls to action needs to be razor sharp. Focus on one message per page. This is possible 99% of the time, so don’t let your own website content distract and visitors from taking the actions you want them to take.

Death by Zombie SEO

Search engine optimization can be used to immensely improve your traffic stats. But, over-optimization can hurt your online traffic. If you are going after multiple keyword rankings on every page of your website, you are cannibalizing your traffic. Good lodging websites should stick to a sitemap that optimizes for keywords and user experience. Over-optimizing (using more than 2-3 focus keywords per page) dilutes your efforts. It also eats away at your search engine referral traffic. It’s better to rank for on top for one keyword than to never rank for anything due to traffic dilution. Stay relevant. Stay on top for the keywords that matter.

Conclusion

Marketing takes a lot of time and money. It’s imperative not to compete with yourself on your own website. All your demand generation, social media, branding, and search marketing efforts should lead into your website; your website should encourage visitors to stay and book. Cannibalizing your traffic after they have arrived is like running a marathon and stopping 20 meters from the finish line.

Top 5 Resolutions Hotels Should Make to Boost Online Revenue

We have entered a new year of awesome possibilities. The hospitality and lodging business is poised for more disruption, innovation and growth.

I would love to see my readers address and implement a very simple list of hotel marketing strategies this year. Doing so will help boost your online revenue and make your marketing more meaningful and self-reliant.

1. Own Your Best Revenue Channel: Your Website

This is an excellent year to take ownership of your most important digital asset. Amazingly, the majority of hotels, B&B’s, and vacation rentals today are still “renting” their websites. You simply cannot be doing this in 2014. Repeat after me: “My website is my single most profitable channel of revenue, and I must own it.” Don’t leave your online presence in the clutches of an agency. The value of the direct revenue from your website is too important.

This is why it’s also time to embrace open source publishing. WordPress is an excellent option on which to build your digital empire. Oh, and before anyone freaks out about “security,” please read this article and be bold. You simply cannot be hands-off with your single biggest online asset. 2014 looks like a great year to be an owner!

Agency-powered, proprietary content management systems need to be dropped like a bad habit. If there is only one thing you implement this year from my list, please let it be this one. Fortune favors the brave, and those who take ownership of their digital life.

2. Do a Meta Search Advertising Reality Check

I am sure you have heard bigwigs say how big “Meta Search” is going to be. Some are even convinced that “Meta Search Is the Future.” Actually, there is a good chance that you or someone you know first heard this hyperbole from either:

1. A hotel marketing agency selling meta search ads/banners.
2. The meta search providers themselves, trying to sell advertising to you.
3. Folks trying hard to sound profoundly in tune with the world of online marketing for hotels.

I have had a front row seat to the Meta Search Show and have witnessed hundreds of thousands of marketing dollars spent. These investments were made by hotels in major metropolitan locations globally, on products from TripAdvisor to Google Hotel Finder. The results have not been spectacular.

Did all the meta campaigns fail? No: they managed to get a few clicks and few dollars in revenue. Was it worth it? Not really. Meta search is not building your brand or selling your value. It’s all about price. Price-focused shoppers will continue to browse hundreds of sites, as they are now wired to do it. They don’t care about your hotel or its brand. For long-term revenue growth, you will have to focus less on the deal-seeking crowd and more on people who are staying with you for your value and location. If they can meta search, they can definitely use Google to find you directly and book on your website. Save your money, and use it to solidify your most profitable channel, aka your website.

*Prophecy: Agencies will continue to advertise 45:1 ROI on everything Meta Search for the next few years.

3. Chill Out on SEO

Pandas, penguins and hummingbirds need to be in the wild and not on the list of top things to talk about this year. Losing your marbles about rankings every time Google makes an algorithm change is a humongous waste of time. Please do not waste time on things you cannot control. One of my predictions for 2014 is that a lot of hospitality and travel websites will continue to witness a decline in organic traffic from Google. So…let it go. Shift your online marketing efforts away from entirely focusing on search engine keywords. The time, money and effort you’ve been putting into chasing rankings are better spent on your lodging business. Innovate. Give more value to your customers. Streamline your operations.

Make 2014 the year of creating great content and maintaining site health. Focus on what you can control, and let your competitors chase the rankings.

4. Look Beyond Vendor Magic

Hiring an online marketing agency cannot be the only step in your ecommerce strategy. You have to decide what you want your online marketing and revenue to look like in the future. That means someone at the property or ownership level is going to have to get his/her hands dirty with digital marketing. Move away from hiring vendors, crossing items off a checklist, throwing cash at a search engine (meta or otherwise), signing up for every social media platform out there… and then tuning out. If you are only going to pop in to review monthly reports, there are some hard times ahead. The fact is that a lot of hotel marketing/ecommerce department employees are spending 90% of their time on vendor management. If you are one: This has got to stop. Instead, in 2014 your goal should be to bring at least a few of your online marketing activities in-house. This, of course, highly depends on the caliber of the people you hire. Hire well, and then let those people do the real work; you will not regret it. Don’t let the fear of making mistakes makes you hands-off.

Let me share a little secret: Everyone messes up in ecommerce; it’s not a perfect science. The only way to learn is to dive in and make some mistakes. Try-Observe-Modify-Repeat.

5.  Say No to FOMO

Fear of missing out (FOMO) syndrome is making it hard for you to focus on revenue. Social media is one of the biggest distractions in the industry right now. You feel like you have to stay tuned into news feeds or social networks, or else you will miss something in the ocean of updates and conversations. You feel “social media jealousy pangs” when you see your competition doing cool things on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

The cure is simple:

1. Accept that you are not going to be shining on every single outlet. You will not get a positive review on everything you post.

2. Limit the distractions. Pick one or two channels where you can consistently post your side of the story and build your community.

If you can live in the present rather than somewhere else all the time, you will see an increase in your productivity and revenue.

Conclusion

2014 is going to be a banner year for those of you who are taking ownership of your digital lives. Innovation in 2014 will come from the property level, and not from a sales/account manager at a hotel marketing agency with 100’s of clients. Connecting with guests is always better than connecting with algorithms and  AI robots (unless the AI robot is Scarlett Johansson). Don’t let FOMO (fear of missing out) dilute your marketing. You can’t do it all, but you can do a few important things very well. Focus and win.

My Top 6 Posts of 2013

This has been an amazing year for the Words of Vikram blog. I remember publishing the first post on a beautiful day at Kaaawa Beach Park in Oahu on March 1, 2013 #nostalgia. Today, I am writing this recap from rainy Tokyo. Cue in Passenger by Iggy Pop.

In less than one year, the blog has welcomed visitors from over 120 countries and 1,870 cities worldwide. Thanks y’all! I am thankful for the readers. I also want to give special thanks to my subscribers. You encourage me to stay on top of the issues, and be accountable to my mission of being a catalyst for change without being boring!

Since I do not have comments enabled on my blog, I instead got some passionate emails. (These are great.) I have kept my promise of answering every single email. You’re welcome! I also got to do a few radio interviews. I’ll be on NPR in January. Next stop: TV. Then Hollywood.

Based on distribution, feedback, and analytics (thanks.,Google Analytics)… Here are the top 6 all-star articles ICYMI, plus some of my thoughts on why I think these posts generated interest and conversations.

1. How Airbnb Is Crushing Traditional Hotel Brands

The popularity of this one was truly unexpected. The Telegraph in the UK released some stats on Airbnb that reinforced my belief in its awesomeness, which led me to write this post. The head of hospitality for Airbnb then tweeted and shared my article, which was great. Some folks were not impressed, because they refuse to deal with the reality of today’s online world. Overall, I still think it’s a great list of items that brand hotels should start addressing right away.

2. It’s Time to Burst the Hotel SEO Bubble: What Hotels Really Need to Know

Search engine optimization has always been exciting and controversial. The massive change in how Google views travel websites is impacting hotels worldwide. But a lot of industry people are still caught up in the bubble, and in agency contracts that are out of sync with reality. RIP, Golden Age of SEO. Hello, 100% pay to play.

3. Biggest Myths About WordPress Perpetrated by Hotel Marketing Agencies

This was one of my personal favorites because it’s about WordPress, one of my favorite topics. I’m still waiting for the hotel industry to embrace it as the greatest open source publishing platform out there. Sadly, big box agencies and their pseudo experts love to bring it down. This article was my definitive list of reasons why hotels should embrace open source platforms like WordPress. Owning your online assets is Step 1 of a great online marketing strategy. Of course, the agency shills hated this article, but haters gonna hate, right?

4. RoomKey.com: Hotel Brands’ Misguided Attempt to Become an OTA

This was one of the highest-traffic articles for 2013. Roomkey has got to be one of the biggest collective disasters involving hotel brands in recent years. My article addressed the most fundamental flaws in its development and marketing strategy. There is definitely hope for Roomkey, but it is going to have to pivot (sorry for using an MBA term) big time! This would be a great turnaround project to work on. Meanwhile, look who is bidding on their brand name in Google. Is anybody even watching this site anymore?

Roomkey.com

5. What the Hotel Industry Can Learn From Heads in Beds

If you are in the hospitality business, you must read Jake’s book. (Yes, I am on a first-name basis with the author.) I don’t think anyone has written about the industry the way he has. It takes immense courage to lift the veil on an industry masked in so many layers. This blog post was the first one to jump from online to print. California Hotel & Lodging Association published this article in their annual resource guide. Thanks CH&LA! You deserve high praise for getting the word out on a great book.

6. Death by Data: How Misusing Hotel Analytics Data Can Hurt Your Revenue

This one was close to my heart, and it struck a chord with a lot of people. Many managers and owners are destroying their online presence due to their limited knowledge of how web analytics work today. Using a powerful tool like analytics to justify bad decisions is scary and is definitely hurting the hotel industry’s online revenue. This was my wake-up call for people in power to use smart analytics. I am happy to report that this was one of the most read and circulated articles of 2013.

Be a Catalyst: Subscribe & Share!

2014 is upon us. I will continue my mission to be a catalyst for change. I hope that you will continue to support the blog by subscribing and sharing. There is no bigger compliment you can give me than subscribing to my blog and sharing it with your peers. So go ahead, make my day!

How Airbnb Is Crushing Traditional Hotel Brands

In April, I wrote one of my first ever articles about Airbnb’s impact on the hotel industy. It started as a response to the Euromonitor report highlighting how little impact it was going to have. I fully disagreed. While I did not have the numbers to prove it, I have always known that Airbnb’s impact was going to be HUGE based on the steps they were taking, and the rapidly changing needs of the global traveller.

In the few short months since my first article, Airbnb has released some super cool stats that prove what I have always believed: they are changing the hospitality business.

• They created $632 million in economic activity just in New York in one year, and they supported 4,580 jobs throughout the five boroughs.
• They have 500,000 properties worldwide.
• They have found accommodation for 9 million guests worldwide (5 million in just the past nine months).
• Over 150,000 guests stay in one of its members’ properties every night.
• They expect to pass InterContinental Hotels Group and Hilton Worldwide to become the globe’s largest hotelier next year.

This is big news for the hospitality business and hotel brands specifically. The lodging industry needs to brace itself if it hasn’t already.

So, how are they doing so well so quickly? Here’s how they went from startup to market leader in just 5 years.

Good Reviews Trump Brand Loyalty

Over the past few years, I have noticed a very interesting trend: People do not care as much as they used to about hotel brand when they plan their travel. What they care about is a hotel’s location, value, and reviews. Review websites like TripAdvisor have changed the game. Independent hotels that provide exceptional service and value get great reviews on TripAdvisor, and start moving to the top-ranked spots in their cities. This leads to a tremendous increase in brand name searches conducted by travelers who start researching on TripAdvisor and then move to Google search. In the end, this review-driven ecosystem funnels more revenue to hotels that are treating guests well.

To make things worse for hotel brands, Airbnb is spurning an army of independent hoteliers. Brand new entrepreneurs with fresh ideas and energy are surging into the market. All of these new travel entrepreneurs have the three things travelers are looking for – location, service and value. AND, these entrepreneurs are rated within the Airbnb ecosystem by verified users. This is genius! Why? Because unlike traditional and brand hotels who rely on TripAdvisor, Airbnb closes the loop by allowing its users to trustfully book and review their stay. Transparency is a huge turn-on for today’s travel planner. Coupled with general apathy on the part of the big hotel brands, these moves make Airbnb a darling among smart travellers worldwide.

Brands Devalue Themselves

Wise folks have argued that one should not bite the hand that feeds you. There are still legions of hotel loyalty point fanatics (ie, big spenders) out there. Most of them use points accumulated during business travel to take personal/family holidays. Yet every major hotel brand (including Hilton, Starwood, Marriott and Hyatt) has devalued its loyalty point’s value in the past 12 months. Basically, it is taking you a lot more points to purchase “free” room nights. Hilton in particular was pretty harsh on its most loyal customers this year with a brazen reduction in the value of their points. Marriott has taken it to a whole new level by creating a brand new top tier called “Category 9”and updating the category level for over a third of their properties around the world! The extra effort business travellers were making to stay loyal to their hotel brand is quickly losing its value.

This is an extremely shortsighted approach to profitability. It might look great on a balance sheet today, but it is setting up the brands for huge losses in the very near future. This is opening a nice window for Airbnb, as point-obsessed business travellers learn to seek better value via alternative lodging options. I can only imagine what big plans Airbnb has in store for their loyal users.

Airbnb Builds Trust & Community

Another area where Airbnb excels is in building trust and establishing personal connections. The hotel industry has never been particularly transparent. A lot of fancy adjectives may find their way onto a hotel’s user-unfriendly website in the name of marketing. Until the year 2000, there was no place for people to go to find out the truth. This huge vacuum was filled by TripAdvisor’s launch. Since then it has been making well-deserved millions for lifting the veil on an entire industry. Airbnb, unlike the big hotel brand names, is very open about everything. Hosts and their guests communicate before the booking, during the research phase, during the availability search, upon stay confirmation, before arrival – often offering concierge style advice, at check-in (often in person!), and even post check-out.

The host is the brand, and you have access to him at every stage of your travel experience. This is a huge reason why Airbnb has seen tremendous success. Meanwhile, hotel brands are chasing rankings on Google, fighting online travel agents (OTA’s), and trying to use online strategies to boost their reviews, rankings and authenticity on TripAdvisor and other review websites. On Airbnb, there are no ‘fake’ reviews because online reviews were not an afterthought. Expectations, questions and answers are exchanged between host and guest long before the check-in ever happens. This is how they make meaningful connections. Do I remember the guy who checked me into my last hotel room? Nope. Do I remember my last Airbnb host? You bet I do.

Online Marketing Done Right

There is a lot being said about the right way to do online marketing. Hotel brands are struggling to keep up with Google and the OTA’s, who are both moving quickly and with a clear agenda of making money. Meanwhile, the big hotel brand marketing machine is blithely playing Goliath to Airbnb’s David. Every time a hotel brand does a press release stating that they would like to “target the millennial traveler,” it ironically makes the millennial traveller cringe. Hyperbole and buzzword marketing is so 1999. Talking like real people, showing your value, and showcasing your location is the new black.

A classic example of how Airbnb has captured the imagination of an entire generation is their amazing city neighborhood guides. This is the way to reach out to young travellers that are looking to explore the world. The Airbnb online marketing plan is entirely based on location, value and connection. Meanwhile, hotel brands are too caught up in their own hype, are busy funding bad experiments like Roomkey.com, or worse…counting on magical “Big Data” to save them.

Conclusion

For decades, hotel brands have been riding the inertia that was built by big demand, lack of options, and brand loyalty. The reality today is:

  1. Demand took huge hits in the past decade (9/11, global financial meltdown) and can’t be counted on as a strategy.
  2. There are a plethora of lodging options and entrepreneurs thanks to Airbnb.
  3. We have to acknowledge that Airbnb is rapidly becoming the biggest hospitality brand in the world.

And they are just starting. In today’s travel marketplace, brand transparency powered by innovative technology is what the people want. Give travellers the experience they are looking for: value, service, a great user interface, personal global connections, and social sharing. Mix these together, and you have a success story called Airbnb.

 

Google Analytics vs. Adobe Site Catalyst for Hotels

Marketing is evolving, especially the Internet kind. Website analytics have come a long way in the past decade. We have access to more information than ever before. You can now monitor in detail how people are interacting with your website, where they are coming from, and where they are going.

Google Analytics vs. Adobe Site Catalyst (previously called Omniture) is one of those questions that I  get asked regularly, so here are my thoughts.

I have been an ardent user/supporter of Google Analytics for a while. I am amazed at the power and value it provides for free. On top of that, almost every year Google Analytics rolls out product updates and features that are a huge threat to the world of organized ‘enterprise analytics.’ To me, the choice is clear: Google Analytics gives hotels everything they need to excel at online marketing.

Not convinced? Let’s take on some of the superiority myths about Site Catalyst.

Analytics Tools Are Not the Issue

It really doesn’t matter what tool you are using to measure your online performance. A lot of agencies will tout Site Catalyst as a superior tool because they want you to think it matters. But it doesn’t. Why? Because you are not launching the next Mars Rover mission or performing neurosurgery! A few extra points of accuracy do not make a difference in the world of online marketing. As a rule, spend less on analytical tools and focus on hiring the right talent. Get people who can translate the data into insights for you. Remember, those touting the superiority of their analytics tool usually have a hidden agenda (ie, please work with our agency, we have Site Catalyst).

Sorry, Nothing Beats Free

Google Analytics gives you all the answers Site Catalyst does. The difference is that Google Analytics gives you everything for free, and Site Catalyst comes with either:

a) An agency marketing contract
b) A big monthly bill

If I can get all my basic statistics (traffic, clicks, conversions) and have the capability to set up custom dashboards, goals, behavior and visitor flow for free… I’m going to take it and run with it. Why drive a Ferrari to the grocery store? A Jetta can get the job done, minus the parking hassles and dirty looks you are going to get. The edge is not your analytics program; it’s the person logging in and giving you actionable insights.

Buzzword Alert!

The first thing Site Catalyst fans will throw at you is the super awesome level of customization  that it offers versus Google Analytics. Buzzwords like custom event metrics, site sectioning and hierarchy, and custom variable attribution will make your eyes glaze over. What they are really trying to say is: Site Catalyst can do some crafty things 75 times over that Google will only let you do 20 times over. I cannot even begin to explain how ridiculous this is. After working with hotels for a decade, I have yet to see one that tracks or even remotely cares about more than 5 “custom variables.” Try not to be seduced by buzzwords; focus on what you really should be tracking. What a hotel needs, Google Analytics delivers.

Shiny Custom Reports & Dashboards

If I had to pick the #1 reason agencies love Site Catalyst, it would be reports. Shiny, shiny reports! These can be generated, scheduled and emailed like nobody’s business. The sad thing is that nobody at the hotel is actually looking at these reports. If they are, they are likely are not trained to properly interpret them and deliver insights. You can’t really blame the agencies. They need these reports to justify their existence. (It’s a vicious cycle involving the ROI monster.) The reports and dashboards Google Analytics provides are pretty close to the ones you are going to really use with Site Catalyst. Features like ‘report collaboration’ are completely useless. How about collaborating on insights instead? Dashboards and reports are not going to magically give you those. You will need to take time to understand the numbers and what they are telling you about your marketing efforts. Too much focus on reporting can paralyze, and take so much of your time that you never take action. Last click attribution is killing hotel online marketing, and reports are not helping.

R.I.P. Data Accuracy

I’ve said it before: data accuracy is a fool’s errand. You can spend a ton of time chasing accuracy across your analytics platform. For example, you can run 20 reports on mobile devices that are sending you traffic, to look at top keywords, top pages etc. A lot of agencies love to tout the accuracy with which Site Catalyst showcases the contribution of branded hotel keywords vs. generic keywords to each booking. Guess what? We are now in the era of “not set, not provided.” Google has dropped the curtain on the keyword-based marketing show. No matter what analytics program you use, you are going to see the same thing. It’s time to look at the data you have and use it to make a plan of action, rather than endlessly debating the accuracy of one analytics program over another.

Data Ownership

Agencies love to say how Analytics you do not own your data. The fact is that unless your hotel is directly subscribed to Site Catalyst, it’s your agency that owns your data anyway. Not you. So, when you decide to move on from their services, they are taking their world-famous “data warehouse” with them. Now imagine your agency getting abducted by aliens, or just being upset that you fired them. You are not going to be getting direct access to anything past or present from Site Catalyst. Now with Google Analytics, you actually have a fighting chance. If you are the owner of your account (please be the owner of your account), you can switch agencies every 1-2 years and still have ALL of your data in your control and available for analysis. How cool is that? You become agency-agnostic with Google Analytics. Besides, who wants to store data in a warehouse? Warehouses are for storing grains, arks and alien stuff. (Source: Professor Jones.)

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In Conclusion

Site Catalyst is something that is much loved in the agency world and for good reason. It ties into Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, Test & Target, Digital Pulse, and Search Center. This makes agency life easy. They can: 1. Automate your marketing and save precious time spent per client; and 2. Inundate you with fancy reports to justify their existence every single month. Google Analytics, on the other hand, requires you to think. I love that feature. Insights happen when you get your hands dirty with analytics. Google Analytics is giving every business in the world, no matter how small they are, access to a world-class, enterprise level analytics platform. They are not asking you to spend anything or get into any contracts. Take the money you save on Site Catalyst, and invest in smart people who can tell you what to do with the information.

Death by Data: How Misusing Hotel Analytics Data Can Hurt Your Revenue

Analytics is an amazing and powerful tool. Voltaire/FDR/Stan Lee (depends who you ask) has said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This is particularly relevant to Analytics users in the hotel industry who are making marketing decisions. Unfortunately, a lot of people misuse the power of  hotel analytics, and end up hurting their hotel asset by limiting its online revenue or wasting precious time and marketing dollars.

Here are some changes you should make in your online marketing strategy to avoid common, yet costly, mistakes.

Note: Google Analytics is one of my favorite Google products of all time. I have been evangelizing and speaking on how to get the most out of it for several years. However, the opinions expressed below apply equally to any other analytics program your hotel may be using.

Getting Caught in Traffic

Analytics is a brilliant product because it is revolves around the basic human desire to be popular and have numbers to prove it. You know, Holy Grail stuff. However, chasing ongoing pure traffic growth can turn into a full-time waste of time for your marketing team. High traffic numbers can be a false growth indicator.

Instead, how about we start with the basics: Why do you have a hotel website? What do you want people to do when they get to your website? These are the questions that will help you reposition and reshape your website to bring in more revenue. Website conversion and engagement metrics are much more important than traffic numbers, and they need your constant attention. Focusing too much on month-over-month traffic growth distracts you from this important work.

No Goals = No Funnels = No Need for Analytics

I meet a lot of marketing “experts” who are heading a hotel’s marketing team, yet do not understand the basics of tracking goals and evaluating the conversion funnel. Some do not even know the difference between clicks and impressions! If you haven’t defined what goals you have for your website, there is no meaning to be found in staring at web statistics. It’s like staring into the abyss and waiting for some (any) meaning to pop out. So, make sure you understand the basics of goal setting and funnel evaluation before you get into analytics. Then, you’ll have to integrate Google Analytics into your hotel booking engine – not just your website – in order to start reviewing and monitoring your ecommerce conversion funnel.

Data Accuracy Is Dead

Google killed it. The way people are browsing the internet today is making accurate tracking very hard. In my experience, those obsessing over data accuracy are usually the ones who have the least amount to contribute, and the least understanding about analytics. The focus needs to be on gaining insights from the analytics you have, and not on a fictional super-accurate data set that will make all your dreams come true. An additional challenge for hotels is the need to get accurate numbers from two different domains: your hotel domain and your booking engine domain. Even seasoned professionals find this challenging; Google Analytics and the many booking engines on the market were not necessarily made to work together seamlessly. My advice on this: keep a cool head, and call in advanced technical help when needed. Most of all, know what you’re looking at and don’t lose focus on the big picture.

The ROI Monster

The way the ‘interwebs’ and specifically Google are shaping up, it is going to be almost impossible to know the exact ROI (return on investment) of your online marketing campaign. Cross-browser, platform and device tracking are getting trickier. Along with privacy concerns (affecting everyone but the NSA), these technical challenges are making it harder to track everything.

In spite of these issues, a lot of hotel ecommerce managers have been turned into reporting monkeys. Which begs the question: why pay a full-time hotel ecommerce manager just to chase your online marketing vendor for stats, stats, and more stats? In the mad rush to track ROI on every penny you have spent, everything else that is super important (insights, branding, growth, strategy) takes second place.

It’s time to move on to better things. Don’t drag down your hotel’s online marketing efforts because you are not seeing a hockey stick growth chart or a 10,000:1 ROI Excel report (and yes, to my dismay, I have seen both of these).

Instead, you can choose not to participate in the reporting/ROI mayhem that has taken over online hotel marketing. Focus on insights instead of numbers. Move away from checklist-style online marketing. Understand how the analytics data relates to your particular hotel, its location, and its online goals. Analyze!

Here is what you can instead of beating hard on the ROI drum:

  1. Don’t ask a question that is impossible to answer accurately. Instead, focus on what you have in your control: website conversions, abandonment, branding, and story.
  2. Educate yourself and others about what the reports really have to offer. Accept that Google has done away with data accuracy; the proof is in the (not set) (not provided) statistics that are all over your analytics reports. 
  3. Stop the madness. Toxic reporting and hyped-up sales pitches are the biggest byproduct of ROI-driven marketing. It’s a hostage situation when you refuse to spend money online until you see 100% accurate and super-high ROI. This attitude is forcing agencies and vendors to produce reports for the purpose of showing ROI instead of pursuing productive, revenue-driving goals. 

At your next marketing meeting, try this instead: Give analytics access to everyone. Go ahead, let them look around. Let them dig in, and then bring their own insights and questions to the meeting. This beats the pants off listening to one guy reading numbers off a report. Questioning and thinking leads to discussion = insights= action!

Conclusion

Analytics is a powerful tool, but it is only valuable if you know how to use it, and wish to use it to bring about positive change. Analytics data should be used to make your website better every day. Using it to justify marketing investment 24/7 is a real energy drain that will hurt your business. In the end, if you do not understand the value of online marketing in 2013 and need non-stop assurances about ROI… why not go back to print media ? I am pretty certain they would be very happy to hear from you.