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December 28, 2021 by James Schulman

Why Blogging Should Be the Focal Point of Your 2022 Marketing Plan

You’ve heard the saying, “a blog a day keeps the SEO Ninjas away.” Okay, so maybe it’s not quite like that but blogging is the healthiest thing you can do for your business’s marketing strategy.

Over ten years ago when we formed The Found Gen, it was commonplace to have to explain to businesses why a blog was an important factor in their overall marketing strategy. Most people simply thought of a blog as a daily diary for bored adults who liked to overshare.

Today, blogs have become more widely accepted and used on most business websites across the globe. And yet… businesses are still not taking the practice seriously as a main driver of potential new clients and revenue.

In fact, many businesses will spend more money (and we mean boat loads more) on social media management and ad buys than they will in original blog content.

The genuine misinformation campaign on behalf of social platforms as to their effectiveness for businesses, along with the immediacy of a live feed, causes businesses to mis-align their marketing budget and priorities year after year.

The Skinny on Blogging

When it comes to the digital landscape there are only two things your business can control: your website and your email list. That’s why both are the most valuable parcels you have online.

Every time you publish a new, original blog post you are essentially adding a new page to your website. Ideally, your blogs are rife with pertinent information that your potential customers are looking for – or better yet – Googling. Every 28 days or so, Google crawls the entire internet. All of it. In that time period, if you have added more original content and pages to your website, Google logs it. They note that you have an active site that is providing valuable information. If you continue to provide answers that people are typing into Google’s search bar – then Google will start to note that it can turn to your site as a place to provide its users with valuable information. The longer readers are on your site, the more blogs they read – Google notices. And Google rewards.

The Real SEO

Blogging is the best SEO you can do for your website. You control it. You manage it. You own it. You are also not paying some “SEO Ninja” or company thousands of dollars to do something to your site that they can’t explain transparently – and eventually hold your site hostage.

Editor’s Note: This is really a sad story we hear regularly. If you are paying a company to manage your SEO but they have full control of your site and aren’t being direct in answering what they are up to – give us a call today. Friends don’t let friends spend money for nothing.

By having a robust blog strategy, you are able to cultivate a strong presence online where you (bonus!) provide great information to potential clients who are more ready to buy or hire you from the start. If you have an SEO strategy in place but aren’t blogging, you don’t have an SEO strategy.

How to Blog in 2022

This year, when you’re developing your marketing strategy be sure to add blogging. We always recommend starting with four blogs a month, or one a week. If you’re already blogging that much – great! – now up your game, try six or eight blogs each month.

If blogging is too time-consuming and not something you are able to handle on your own – consider outsourcing to experienced professional content writers. This is key. Don’t just hire someone on Fiver or your best friend’s cousin’s nephew. Content writing is an art form. Content writing for business is a whole different ball of wax.

Find a team of professional writers and marketers who research your company, your industry, your tone, your audience, your information and more. And honestly, spoiler alert: you’ve just found one. Get in touch with our team today if you’re ready to start blogging for your business.

December 21, 2021 by James Schulman

Building a First Principles Marketing Strategy

When building a marketing strategy, most entrepreneurs just look at their revenue from the last year and dedicate a percentage of that to go into the marketing budget. Too often, it’s just sprayed over multiple channels to see what sticks. The better option is to build a first principles marketing strategy.

What is a First Principles Marketing Strategy?

For the uninitiated, first principles thinking is simply a way to approach complicated problems. Specifically, you break them down into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up.

With that being said, a first principles marketing strategy would set aside the Facebook versus Google ads debate and first answer, ‘What is the goal of marketing?’

If you ask us, the goal should be to generate leads that have a high chance of turning into clients or customers. This (naturally) begs the question – who has a high chance of becoming a client of yours?

The answer depends on the problem you help people solve.

The Truth Behind Your Brand

Whether you’re selling legal services or coffeemakers, you are helping people solve a problem.

Divorce attorneys help people move on to the next chapter of their life.
Coffeemaker manufacturers help people get their day started on the right foot.

Before you can determine how to find people that have a high chance of becoming a client, you have to define what problem they need help solving.

This is the defining factor that should be at the core of your marketing strategy. Defining the problem answers why people come to you in the first place.

The reasons vary significantly, but a few examples:

For B2B businesses:

You help them save time

You help them increase their revenue

You help them reduce risk

Oftentimes, you can market your business to show how it does all three – whether you’re selling IT, bookkeeping, marketing services, sales consulting, legal advice, et cetera – you should be helping them save time, increase their revenue and reduce their risk.

For B2C businesses:

You solve an emergency (plumbers, roofers)

You make them happy (luxury brands)

You provide an experience (restaurants, hotels)

Once you single out all the problems you help your prospects with, the next step is to figure out their mindset when they are ready to buy.

Getting Discovered at the Right Time

If someone has a plumbing emergency, they’re going to Google ‘plumber near me’ and call each one until they find one that can come fix it. If they call you and you do a good job, they’ll remember and call you next time right away (and tell their friends and family about you). Being discoverable when they need you is key.

Similarly, if you are something a little more esoteric (say a sex therapist or a divorce attorney), people are more likely to be researching their problems for a while before they call. Having a more robust website with an extensive blog that answers the questions your clients ask you when they’re Googling to find answers to their problems in the middle of the night is likely a better approach than plastering social media with ads (where their spouse could see them interacting with a divorce attorney).

Once you determine the problem you help prospects with and why they want you to help them, your marketing strategy will be built on a powerful foundation.

Want to hash it out? Drop us a line.

November 23, 2021 by James Schulman

How Hotels Should Use Social Media to Their Advantage

We all know that social media is a powerful tool when it comes to marketing your brand and driving engagement. Companies can seemingly blow-up overnight just by having a strong social media game.

For hotels, it can be intimidating to carve a path within the social media realm – especially as a new property or as a property looking to upgrade its current online presence.

While it can seem like many hotels have become a premier destination simply as a result of a few well-positioned photos plastered on Instagram or videos on Tik Tok, we can assure you that is not, in fact, the case. As in all things with social media, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

The Evolving World of Social Media

Between Facebook crashes, Twitter bashes, and Tik Tok Mashes – social media is ever-evolving. It is easy to see how businesses and brands are quick to want to jump on the latest and greatest trends and feel immense pressure to be everywhere all the time.

One of the most important messages we tell all our clients, no matter their industry, is that when it comes to social media – it’s a savant’s game. Marketing your hotel on social media should not be approached in the vein of Jackson Pollack to a blank canvas. But rather more Martin Scorsese to film: it’s going to be a long, arduous process with an exorbitant amount of takes but greatness is guaranteed.

Pick Your Battles & Choose Wisely

Select a few (or less) social platforms that make the most sense for your brand. Today, Instagram is a top choice for hotels as it is a more aesthetically-driven platform with engagement that rises when content is heavier (read: longer posts do well on IG). Twitter is a fan-favorite for brands willing to get a little more edgy with their tone and engage with guests and the world at large. Tik Tok is a way to show your more playful side, highlight guest videos, and tease all sorts of great experiences.

Transparency is All

We really hope you read that headline in the voice of Uhtred Ragnarson from The Last Kingdom (IFKYK). In our offices, we work with a number of hotels and brands within the hospitality industry. We abide by what we call “The Hospitality Rule.” Which is to say – we understand just how delicate it can be to market your property and business in the hospitality sector. Words matter. Response time is key. Transparency is vital.

When it comes to social media, being aware of the implications and complications of messaging and responding to disgruntled guests is imperative. Not responding in a timely and effective manner on social (even for just a comment) has been shown to reduce brand advocacy by up to 50%. Bonkers.

Hotels & resorts should use social media to build a community of like-minded people that will love the property and tell all their friends about it (and it doesn’t hurt if they have some help posting from the property to their feeds).

If you are looking for a team to manage your social media presence for your property or business, get in touch today.

November 18, 2021 by James Schulman

Should Hotels Even Bother with Blogging? Yes!

Here’s the thing: the digital age we live in makes it easier than ever to search for the information you need and want. More than likely, a potential guest will visit your website before their trip at least once and will also likely book online as well.

(Fun fact: we even know a few Gen Z’s who have never actually dialed out from their cell phones.)

As more and more travelers are looking for fast and easy information, a hotel’s website should be able to tick all the boxes of a guest looking to plan a vacation of a lifetime. The last thing guests want is to call the hotel to get an answer to a simple question – especially one that could have been readily available at their fingertips.

That is why blogging is so essential. When it comes to hotels, we want homepages to be clean, enticing affairs with low content. We want to feel the experience jumping off the screen.

Once we’re hooked on the goods – consumers, as internet savants, then dive deep into a given site to learn more about the hotel, the area to which they’re traveling, and look for advice on things to do. That is where a quality blog steps in: to provide guests with bountiful insider information in one easy-to-find location. A robust blog can convey the tone, feel, and overall experience of the property.

The Added Benefits of Blogging:

In case you needed more reasons to convince you that your hotel property should have a well-run blog page, here’s a couple key things to consider:

It Boosts Your SEO Rankings: Each new blog post serves as a new page on your website. Each new page, especially those providing valuable information to readers and Google users, gets you brownie points from search engines (okay, Google). Those brownie points add up to put your hotel higher than the rest on searches.
It Engages Guests: Nowadays, it’s all about experience and engagement. If your site is just a placeholder, what does that say about the experience guests will have once they book? Give them a taste, welcome them to the experience of a lifetime, through engaging content. Keep them on your site – and keep them coming back for more. With a great blog presence, your site can act like a lifestyle experience rather than just another room to book.
It Helps Share News: You’ve got updates, news, cool new food items on the menu. Share it on social but also on your blog. Gone are the days of traditional PR – today, most brands and businesses are leveraging their own blog as a place to share newsworthy updates to readers, guests, partners and more.

Have questions about getting started on your blog or looking for an experienced team of writers and marketers to do the heavy lifting for you? Get in touch with our team today!

November 2, 2021 by James Schulman

Hotel Marketing In a Post-Pandemic World

For hotels and hospitality, trying to beat back the epic whiplash that has been the Covid Pandemic this past 19 months has been one for the books.

Guests want to travel. Guests cannot travel. Countries have opened borders, countries have closed borders. Travelers need a covid test. Travelers need a vaccine.

One word: chaos.

So, as a hotel or a business in the hospitality arena – how do you focus on growth and driving bookings in the face of all the back-and-forth?

It’s simple really: you focus on the experience. We are all in desperate need of a vacation, or three. Guests are ready to go and primed for the pump, as they say. It’s not a question of are people ready to travel, it’s a question of “where to first?”

While the digital world has made of-the-moment marketing that much easier and more accessible, it is imperative to break through some of the white noise and make your property stand out. Guests need to go from “this property is on my list” to “I’ve just booked a trip!”

It’s All About Allure

A picture is worth a thousand words. As a content marketing company, that means quite a bit. If you haven’t updated your image bank during the pandemic, now is the time. Snap some Gram-worthy shots of food, rooms, and the overall experience of your property. Be sure to get photos that both capture the lifestyle and feel of the hotel as well as some standard lay-flats, and product shots. One key note: don’t use the same models in each photo – you want to extend the life of the photography and having a number of models at one shoot is a great way to do that.

The photos should be used across mediums: blog posts, website portfolio, social media channels, and of course, email marketing.

Create Enticing Promotions

When building promotions for your hotel, try and get creative today. Most hotels will also be offering promotions (stay 3 nights, 4 night free; credits at the restaurant or spa, etc). While all promotions are fun, it captures the attention better when your promotions are playful and unique. Create something that will entice guests not only to book with you but also to share in the joy of this great promotion you’ve created. Capture the tone and feel of your space and go wild.

Don’t Go Too Deep into the New

A lot of times, when we are hungry for growth – we tend to throw a fair amount of ideas at the walls and see what sticks. The same is true for hotel and hospitality marketing. Trust us when we say: avoid this at all costs. Focus on key avenues that you want to pursue and see them through. Don’t waste time, energy and money trying to find out-of-the-box ways to drum bookings.

You’ve got this. Guests will come. If you need help executing your marketing or creating new property-specific strategies, give us a call today.