4 Things I Learned From My Recent Blog Reader Survey
If you’re a blog reader and/or email subscriber, you’ll know that last month I sent out my first-ever Reader Survey.
2020 was a wild rollercoaster ride of a year, but true story, writing this blog has been so fulfilling. I set out to create the sort of resource I wished I’d had when I worked on-property as a hotel digital marketing manager.
But blogging can also feel like a one-way conversation.
Every once in a blue moon, I’ll get a notification that someone has left a comment on one of these blogs (!!) — so I’ll race full-speed into Squarespace to check it out, only to discover it’s some spammy person promoting some spammy thing. Aww. 😔
So I just sort of sit here, typing away, wondering if what I’m saying is actually helpful. Then, of course, the lightbulb finally went off — I need to get your feedback. Duh!
This blog is for you, after all. (And maybe a little bit for Google…)
That’s why I created the 2020 Reader Survey: To learn more about YOU, how your hotel business is doing, and what you want to learn from me, so I can focus my energy on creating content that solves your problems.
And… not to be all clickbait-y sounding… but the results really did surprise me!
As a hotelier, should you survey your audience?
Yes! It’s pretty simple, really: You want to offer your audience the solution to their problem, want, or need.
This isn’t just something a consultant or marketing freelancer should do. Hotels should also want to know who’s going to book a stay, who’s going to book a meeting or event, and who’s going to visit their bar or restaurant.
When you survey your audience, you learn so much about who they are, what they want, and what pain points you can address. This helps you help them — and in the process, surveying helps you reach new customers with similar wants/needs.
There are different ways to go about it. Here are three simple survey tools you may want to consider:
Google Forms (This is what I used!)
Now, let’s get into how I surveyed my audience and what I learned in the process.
I asked, “Which best describes your current role?”
I learned: Many of you reading this blog don’t work inside hotels. 🤯
Um… what? Seriously, this one threw me a little!
When I think of who might want to read this blog, I tend to think about two specific people I’ve worked with in the past, ie. I’ve created two distinct audience avatars for my business.
One is a hotel GM: He or she is 40+ and most likely came up on the Operations side of the business. Maybe a Rooms background or Food & Beverage. He or she is the leader on-property, the Head Honcho, the buck-stops-with-me type. He or she is confident in their position. They don’t necessarily handle the day-to-day marketing but they’re still super curious about all things digital and see the value in it.
The other person I write for is the Marketing Manager: He or she is in their 20s or early 30s. This might be their first job out of school or maybe they had a few years at an advertising agency before coming in-house to work at the hotel. He or she wears many hats, from social media and PR to website content and copywriting. They probably report up to a DOS or DOSM, but don’t necessarily have a team or a ton of extra support.
While my reader survey showed me that most of you DO work inside a hotel or for hotels in some capacity, I was really surprised to see how many of you don’t.
Some of you are external consultants or freelancers like me — in which case, uh, come say hi and let’s help each other out!
And interestingly, there are a few students reading as well as folks who don’t have anything to do with hotels.
I asked, “What is your biggest hotel marketing problem/struggle right now?”
I learned: COVID-19 looms large, but hotel marketers are struggling in other ways, too.
One of the questions I ask on my reader survey is “What is your biggest hotel marketing problem/struggle right now?” It should surprise no one that the top answer to this was COVID-19.
But let’s dig a little deeper, because this is only part of the story.
Instead of simply ticking a box for this question, I asked you to write out an answer. This is because I didn’t want to “direct” your responses in any way… how else am I going to learn what you’re REALLY struggling with?
I also did this to see who would write out a longer answer.
When you’re asking for feedback in order to create a product or solution to a problem, the people who respond with a one-word answer are maaaaaybe not quite ready to buy from you. People who respond with greater detail and actually share more are perhaps more interested in the potential solution you have to offer them.
So I took these answers and divided them up three ways: One-word responses, medium-length responses, and long responses. Now, I’m not going to completely ignore any one-word responses — but I have to give a bit more weight to more responsive feedback from folks. C’est la vie.
Here’s what people said:
One-word respondents struggled most with: As expected, this was pretty much just, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia—er, I mean, COVID COVID COVID. Fair enough.
Medium-length respondents struggled most with: Lack of brand awareness, finding their audience, and maximizing a low marketing budget.
Long-length respondents struggled most with: Getting buy-in from boss/owners for digital marketing, running an email sequence, lack of brand awareness, showing up in search results, finding their audience, and lack of people/support.
Building on this further, I also asked readers “If a magical marketing solution appeared, what's your preferred format?” This one was a tick box with a few specific options mentioned because, well, I had some ~ideas~ for 2021 and I hoped this survey would validate them…
I was wrong. 😅
I asked, “A magical marketing solution appears: What's your preferred format? (Check any that interest you.)”
I learned: There doesn’t seem to be much interest in a private hotel marketing community.
Honestly, I’m both saddened and… slightly relieved by this.
There are quite a few “hotel sales and marketing”-type Facebook Groups out there. Most of them are hosted by a business or some consultant and yes, they’re all just sharing their own content and trying to drum up clients.
No shade intended, I respect the hustle!
But when I worked for Hyatt back in the day, we had an AMAZING Facebook Group dedicated to discussing social media ideas and updates as a company. Participation waned, but typically, if someone posted a question or needed feedback — a marketing manager from another property would jump in and help.
I looooved this group. It was a great way to connect marketing colleagues from 100s of hotels all over the world, exchange ideas, ask for help, etc.
So I thought maybe there could still be space in the industry right now for a similar membership-based community, as long as it was sales pitch-free (myself included). Alas, the survey says: Yeah nahhhh.
Now, why am I a little bit relieved?
Community management is tough, thankless work, my friend. I’m still a one-woman-show (for now…) and facilitating a (good) Facebook Group takes time and effort that I frankly just don’t have.
But have I completely given up on this idea? Nope. You might see still something like this from me in the future. If this sounds like something you do want, leave a comment on this blog, email me, tweet me, etc. and let me know!
I asked, “Why do you read the blog and/or my weekly newsletter? What keeps you coming back?”
I learned: You like me! You really, really like me! 😭
Hands down, the BEST THING EVER is hearing from readers like you that you actually enjoy the content I create!
Two of the questions I asked were, “Why do you read the blog and/or my weekly newsletter? What keeps you coming back?” and “If you used any of the freebies on my website, what did you think of it?”
With imposter syndrome raging, I fully expected to get some tough-but-hopefully-constructive feedback.
Instead, I got comments like this:
“Your hotel marketing plan template is one of the best things I've found this year for my job - literally so grateful for it.”
“The valuable information, the fact that it is hotel specific and your enthusiasm/style - I feel like I can finally read something specific to my situation.”
“Great writing and very relevant information for me as a hotel marketer.”
“Can you add more hours to my day? ;) More seriously, I'm sometimes lost in all the blogs, I feel I need to keep on track rather than jump from one to another. Maybe a guideline of what to read for what problem/question. But so far really it's mostly good. You could have more of your own interaction (see you more on your videos rather than static slides).”
“So much good information.”
“Knowledgeable, well written, inclusive and interesting.”
“Probably not what you want to hear but love the sense of humour. No matter how bad the (marketing) world is, you always make me chuckle. Plus, of course there's always something interesting and of value in each newsletter!”
‘Scuse me for a minute, I just… have something… in my eye… 🥺
(Source: GIPHY)
Honestly, it was so cool to read your comments, so THANK YOU to everyone who submitted responses.
It was just the boost I needed at the end of a tough year — to keep going, keep writing, keep creating, etc.
The hotel industry has been hit so hard and it’s going to take a lot to recover. I feel more assured than ever that the content I publish here is actually helping many of you!
So uh, what now…?
Don’t worry, I’m not just sharing all this to toot my own horn. 🙃
Your feedback helps guide my decision making as I think about what to create for you next.
I’ve already used your responses to brainstorm a massive Google Doc full of blog post topics, get clear on which paid product ideas I want to pursue, and plan out my own 2021 business strategy.
Not too much is changing around here, but here’s what you can expect going forward:
Free blog content remains a big priority for me. You’ll see a new post here every week.
To keep up that steady pace of free, useful content, you’re going to see more guest posts this year. However, I promise you this: none of them will be paid or sponsored in any way. You’d be horrified to see how many unsolicited pitches I get for product placement these days lol. Any guest posts you see here will be from folks who have valuable insights on topics I don’t personally cover: ie. experts on hospitality career growth or revenue management.
I’ll continue to offer content writing for hotels as it remains in demand, but I personally want to work on more conversion-focused hotel website copywriting projects this year as I enjoy the challenge! Rates for these services will also increase in March, so if you have a project coming up, do get in touch.
My online hotel marketing courses on social media and SEO are here to stay — but I know that price is a factor for many of you, so I’ll be making some changes to pricing and structure.
Later this year I also plan to launch an online shop with useful hotel marketing templates. These will be low-cost, instant downloads. Make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter to hear when this goes live. 😉
To ensure I keep getting a steady flow of feedback from readers, I created a mini version of the survey to place on my email confirmation page. Now, when someone signs up for my newsletter or opts into receiving a freebie (the hotel SEO checklist, for example), they’ll have the chance to tell me a little more about themselves.
Thanks again to all who responded to the wider survey — here’s hoping for a happy and healthy new year!
