Cogwheel Analytics Debuts at HITEC e20X Start Up Pitch Competition
In June 2022, Founder, Stephanie Smith, of Cogwheel Marketing debuted Cogwheel Analytics at the HFTP HITEC e20X Entrepreneur Startup Pitch Competition. In a rigorously timed 4 minute speech, Stephanie shared with the hospitality industry the vision of her digital...
Stephanie Presents at HSMAI: ROI is Dying, A Love Story
During Commercial Strategy week at HSMAI 2022 in Orlando, owner Stephanie Smith gets on the main stage to discuss a somewhat controversial topic. The presentation is done in a style called Pecha Kucha, so 20 slides and only 20 second per slide. The entire presentation...
Where is this Image Coming From?!?!
Do you ever feel like you are playing a game of whack-a-mole with your images when you go through a hotel renovation? The Hotel Renovation Scenario Your hotel just went through a beautiful renovation. You hired the best brand-approved hotel photographer in the...
25 Point Checklist to Audit Your Hotel’s Total Online Presence
Your digital presence is more than just your hotel's website. Studies show that people check between 7 and 35 sites before booking a hotel. Therefore, potential guests need to see you multiple times before your hotel is a part of their consideration set. Your hotel...
Map Advertisements: Should You Be Using Them?
Capturing last-minute demand aka walk-ins is still relevant. In fact, it may be more relevant now than it was pre-pandemic. I know we all love and adore our highway signage from the local department of transportation and advertising billboards, but for a hotel that is struggling to ramp back up post-covid, why not put a little funding into something that is “with the times?” I am talking about Map Ads.
Podcast: Branded Hotel Marketing Demystified: What Is It and What Hoteliers Should Know
What is demystified hotel marketing? Cogwheel Marketing’s Stephanie Smith and Cory Falter from the InnSync Show discuss the importance of maximizing your brand’s marketing efforts.
Podcast: The Marriage of Revenue Management and Marketing
Revenue Management + Marketing = The Perfect Match. Cogwheel Marketing’s Stephanie Smith and Topline Revenue’s Connor Vanderholm sit down with Revenue Hub to discuss how marketing and revenue management beautifully collaborate, providing excellent expertise.
Developing a Social Media Plan for your Hotel
Whether you are tasking your in-house team or outsourcing to an agency, resources must be determined to dedicate to social media. This includes resources of both time and money. The size of your hotel and competing market can help you determine how to compete.
Who Should be Responsible for your Hotel Social Media?
Defining and executing a social media plan is not for the faint of heart. Currently, hoteliers are short staffed in every department and sometimes social media is a last priority. But, if we have learned anything through the pandemic, it is not to forget or devalue our transient guests.
Podcast: How to Approach your Hotel’s Marketing Strategy in Extremely Fluid Times
Stephanie Smith joins Susan Barry of Top Floor Podcast to talk all things metasearch, OTA effectiveness, and more. Podcast Highlights Stephanie Smith combined her love of hotels, her coder brain, and her knowledge of what was missing in the marketplace to create an...
Determining Your Hotel’s Channel Strategy within Koddi
Each brand has slightly different channels and opportunities within Koddi, but most are fairly similar. But, you need to understand WHEN and HOW to use each channel based on your hotel needs. You don't have an unlimited budget, so choose wisely. Direct Media...
Podcast: Leverage Marriott Hotel Systems to Drive Commercial Strategy Results
Stephanie Smith of Cogwheel Marketing and Connor Vanderholm of Topline Revenue joined Trevor Grant of Revenue Hub in December 2021 to discuss leveraging Marriott systems and all the fun acronyms that go along with each system. Specifically, they look at it from a...
IHG Now Offers On-Page SEO Opportunities For Your Hotel Website
For as long as we can remember, IHG, which has brands like Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and many others handled their SEO marketing efforts in-house. The title and meta descriptions were written by their team as they did not...
Podcast: How a Hotel Marketing Audit is Crucial to Your Budget
In this podcast recording, Stephanie Smith, Founder of Cogwheel Marketing, and Trevor Grant of Revenue Hub, have an in-depth conversation about performing the proper marketing audit. Stephanie outlines why she feels the ideology around the digital marketing budget...
HSMAI 2021: Defining Success in the New Market
In September 2021, Stephanie Smith of Cogwheel Marketing and Melissa Kavanagh of Westgate Resorts did a joint presentation on "Defining Success in the New Market". While Stephanie is an expert on branded hotels, Melissa covers the other side of the equation with...
Which Tripadvisor Platform is Right for My Hotel?
Tripadvisor continues to try to find ways to generate revenue, but how do you know which platforms are best for your hotel? The review-giant-turned-distribution-platform-turned-membership-program just rolled out its fourth program, Tripadvisor PLUS, and time will...
Hotel Marketing Platform Comparison: Expedia Travel Ads V/S Koddi?
Expedia TravelAds Sponsored Listings, Expedia Groups flagship performance product, has been a necessary paid media tool for hotels to secure premium and additional placement across Expedia Groups brands. When you run Expedia TravelAds, you get the Expedia network...
How a Detailed Hotel Marketing Audit Helps Determine Budget
Ah, budget season! While all forecasts at this point are worthless, let’s focus on what we know today and make a plan that can be agile with what happens. Since every dollar is scrutinized more than ever before, you need to ensure each marketing dollar is...
Increasing Diversity Efforts in Hospitality Marketing with HSMAI
While there are a lot of considerations for hotel marketers when putting together advertisements and campaigns, ensuring that they promote the company’s values surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion continues to be top of the list. The conversation can be...
7 Hotel Commercial Strategy Mistakes and What to Do About Them
Stephanie Smith, Founder and Digital Matriarch of Cogwheel Marketing, joined Jack Lindemuth, consultant at Strategic Solution Partners, on Trevor Grant's podcast, Revenue Hub, in May 2021. The topic was focused on hotel commercial strategy and digital marketing. ...
A New Way to Look at Your Hotel Marketing Campaigns
In a previous post, we discussed how hotel marketers should think of more than just ROI when analyzing their marketing campaigns. When you expand your analysis outside of ROI/ROAS, you will find yourself analyzing more metrics and more guest touchpoints. Here are some...
How to Load a Job on Facebook
As the economy gains traction, especially for hotel and restaurants, many areas are already seeing a staffing crunch. Leverage Facebook to load open jobs connected with your business page and reach a different audience than LinkedIn or Indeed. The roles that perform...
It is Time for Hotel Marketers to Evolve Past ROI
To achieve total commercial strategy, marketing must look at different KPIs like competitor data to have a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Tiered Marketing Approach to Hotel Recovery
Hotel markets across the US are behaving differently. They are rebounding at a different pace. Even hotels within the same market are not seeing the same patterns. While you cannot predict the future, you still need a plan. A tiered plan will...
Is your Hotel Barking up the Right Tree?
Was it the picture of our staff’s adorable dogs that interested you in this article, or was it the punny title? Regardless of your answer to that question, I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you are not pet friendly, you’re missing out on a “Mastiff”...
eCornell Webinar: Effective Digital Marketing During COVID-19
Stephanie Smith of Cogwheel Marketing joined hospitality experts Max Starkov and James Siebold on eCornell’s webinar, Effective Digital Marketing During COVID-19: What Hospitality Managers Need to Know, hosted by Bill Carroll. During the webinar, they discussed...
Podcast: How to Pivot for Recovery with Knowland
On November 18, 2020, Stephanie Sparks Smith sat down with Kristi White of Knowland to review hotel digital marketing and how to pivot for recovery. Highlights from this episode: Where Hotels Should Focus their Limited Marketing Dollars: Focus on in-market travelers....
Digital Marketing Opportunities Regarding Hilton
NOTE: The following is our own independent information; we are not affiliated with Hilton and neither pay nor receive compensation from Hilton regarding the marketing opportunities described here. Any Hilton-related trademarks referred to here are used for...
Branded Hotels: Who has the Best Contactless App?
Safety is still paramount for those that are traveling today and putting guests at ease is a top priority. So, of the major brands (Marriott, Hilton, IHG), Cogwheel Marketing did a little research on which brand the best contactless opportunities for guests. All...
How to Audit (and Fix) Hotel Tax Rates to Save a Few Bucks
With the amount of uncertainty in the world due to COVID19, now more than ever hotels must fight for every dollar! There is no easy reservation today. One of the most overlooked ways hotels can reduce their losses is by ensuring the correct tax rates are reflected on...
HSMAI DC State of the Union: Digital Marketing How to Pivot
Can we get back to in person meetings? I think everyone, at this conference especially, can appreciate that sentiment.... With that said, the virtual HSMAI DC State of the Industry meeting on September 24, 2020 was still jam packed full of great content. Ellen Wilson...
Update COVID-19 Hotel Attributes on 3rd Party Websites
Every webinar, training, and travel-related article has heavily leaned on the notion that making travelers feel safe while staying in your hotel or visiting your city is how we will get our occupancy back up. By this point, you surely have a pop up or landing...
What is Hotel MetaSearch?
Hotel MetaSearch websites allow consumers to search for hotels then compare prices across many websites at the same time. If the hotel in question is in parity across all channels, the transaction likely goes to the top placed website. If the hotel is not...
Why you should NOT Invest in MetaSearch Right Now
Buckle in kids, this is not a popular opinion. If you had asked me my opinions about MetaSearch pre-Covid, my response would be different. If you need a refresher on MetaSearch, this article explains what is hotel MetaSearch. But, today, cash is tight. Budgets...
Refining and Refreshing your SEO Strategy for Changing Travel Behaviors
The hospitality industry has been reeling from a series of body blows delivered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent earnings reports show that Q2 RevPAR is severely depressed as hotels are looking for ways to capture what market there is for travel. Now is a good time to...
Podcast: Aligning Sales & Marketing with Holly Zoba
Stephanie Sparks Smith sat down with Holly Zoba of Influencer Sales to discuss how Marketing and Sales can and should work together. It's not a new concept, so why can't we do it? Click below to listen to short, but packed, 22 minute podcast: Some of the podcast...
MozCon 2020 Recap
MozCon 2020 was like something we have never seen before; it was 100% virtual. Cogwheel Marketing uses Moz’s tools daily to research search volume, keywords, link discovery, track ranking performance and more. We make a point to attend MozCon yearly and always...
AAHOA Webinar: Getting Back to Business: Tangible, Tactical Business Generation Ideas for Hotels
On July 22nd, AAHOA led a webinar of panelists as part of their ongoing learning series. The panelists were a group of hoteliers whose focus was in Sales, Marketing and Revenue Management, also known as Commercial Strategy. The Powerhouse of Panelists included:...
6 Free Google Tools
Google wants to suck you into their world, so you are dependent on them. And, hopefully spend more money in their world. Here are some free tools you can use to help make data driven decisions and understand trends for your market and specific location. Google Trends...
Recovery for Branded Hotels and Where to Put your Marketing Resources
There are plenty of articles telling you how to spend your money right now. While shortage of funds is obviously an issue, you have more limitations if you are a branded hotel like Marriott, Hilton, IHG or Hyatt. As each market rebounds differently,...
Lodging Stream: Marketing for Future Guests
Long Live Lodging accomplished a first: a completely virtual hospitality conference on April 30th. There was a plethora of topics covered to discuss recovery and projections post-Coronavirus. Skip to the bottom for the full replay, or scroll through the highlights of...
Get Cash by Selling Rooms Now for the Future
It is no secret that the hospitality industry is sitting in the front row on the struggle bus during this unprecedented time. If you’re finding your hotel having cash flow problems, we have found a few options for you to consider taking advantage of. Option 1:...
Hotel Strategies to Target Drive Market Post Pandemic
As we come out of this pandemic there is still a wait and see game as to which segments will start traveling first, and when. It is a commonly held theory that the transient drive market will be the first segment to start to venture out. There are hoards of kids...
Coronavirus Hospitality Resources
Oh my, so many resources, so many that think they know it all. Well, news flash, it's a bunch of speculation. I put together a list of trusted resources and you can glean as you see fit. My Favorites Fuel Travel Crisis Management Resources - This is a MASTER LIST with...
Temporary Closure Digital Checklist for Hotels
If you are in a circumstance where you need to temporarily close or suspend operations at the hotel, here is a checklist for hotels that lists the sites you can/should update with proper messaging. Download Printable ChecklistDigital Checklist for Temporary Hotel...
Get More from your Hotel GDS Ads
So often hotel GDS (Global Distribution System) ads go mismanaged or underutilized. Before running any campaign, be sure you have strong objectives and goals and that is communicated to marketing, revenue management, sales and your vendor. Define targeting parameters...
Facebook Ad Strategy for Hotels
If you have never run Facebook ads for your hotel, it is a low-cost option to try. You can get started with as little as $20 and do some testing. It is important to go into running ads on social media with a different mindset as compared to Expedia Travel Ads. When...
How to Build Quality Links to Your Hotel Website
Break down the different business segments and demand generators in your hotel market to determine who to ask for links on their website.
Podcast: How Hotels can Avoid Silent Nights this Holiday Season
Prepping for the potential market slow down of the holiday season should have been in planning for months. If not, let's learn from it and plan ahead for next year. When developing a marketing plan for the holidays, there are many factors, including your hotel’s...
What is a Good Channel Mix for a Hotel?
A hotel’s channel and its respective contribution from the various distribution channels is a sign of the health and diversity of your revenue. Yes, it varies by hotel location, brand, mix of sales and a variety of other factors. But, let’s discuss what distribution...
Independent Hotels Can Learn from Big Brand Marketing
You have to know your competition to beat your competition. There has been a debate for years, if not decades, about which is "better" - branded vs independent hotels. While we are not going down that road today, it is important for independent hotels to know the kind...
10 Items to Include in your Hotel Marketing Budget
Now is the time to ask for funds for your 2020 hotel marketing budget. Here are some must-have digital marketing items to include and how to think through that process. Note for branded hotels: be sure you understand what the brand does for you, and what you need to...
Hotel Digital Marketing Podcast
https://youtu.be/kXZScLROpwc Stephanie Sparks Smith of Cogwheel Marketing was delighted to join the crew of Hospitality Digital Marketing on September 7, 2019. My savvy (and funny) co-hosts included: -Loren Gray of Hospitality Digital Marketing -Robert Cole of...
HSMAI Roc 2019 Conference Recap
Recap of HSMAI Roc 2019 from a hotel digital marketer. Highlights were presentations on data science and on pricing your different room types.
How to Optimize for Marriott SEO
When optimizing for search engine optimization on a Marriott brand site, it is important to know the systems and limitations of EPIC, eFast and Brandworks.
MozCon 2019 Recap by Topic
Highlights focused around PR, Visual Search, Google My Business, Blogging, Voice Search, Google Ads, Featured Snippets, People Also Ask and cool tools.
Hilton Advance: Marketing Strategy and Fee Changes
Hilton launched a new digital marketing program, called Advance, on July 1st, 2019. Hotels can expect a $2000 increase in fees each year and less control over content and images. See examples of One Hero Web.
Stephanie Smith Becomes Partner at Cayuga Hospitality Consultants
In an effort to widen reach and offerings to her clients, Stephanie Sparks Smith becomes a partner at Cayuga Hospitality Consultants.
IHG Now Offers Landing Pages and SEO
IHG websites now offer the ability to create custom call to actions with unique landing pages for marketing and targeted search engine optimization.
Russell of Hotels Video Interview
Stephanie Sparks Smith of Cogwheel Marketing was interviewed by Russell L Edmond of Russell of Hotels on LA Talk Radio on May 28, 2019. Also available via Podcast from Russell of Hotels. Topics of discussion: Hotel digital marketing for branded versus independent...
Pricing Hotel Packages as a Revenue Manager
Welcome to Part II of our hotel package strategy blog where we analyze package from a revenue management perspective. In Part I, we looked at hotel packages from a digital marketing perspective and answered the questions of Who, What, When, Why and Where. Now, we...
How Football and Digital Marketing are Alike
What do Superbowl champions and hospitality digital marketing organizations have in common? They both need: Winning playbook to beat the competition Great coaches to provide direction before during and after engagements Quarterback to execute a winning plan in real...
PicMonkey Review From a Photoshop Illiterate
My Unsolicited (Rave) PicMonkey Review I found out about PicMonkey at the Seattle Digital Summit. You visit so many exhibit booths it is hard to keep track. This one stuck. They offered me 3 free months. So sure, let’s give it a go. First, let me say I am PhotoShop...
Hotel Packages: Who, What, When, Why, Where
When developing a hotel package strategy, it is important to remember that building these offerings will not sell out a hotel. They may not even get bookings if not properly marketed. In a nutshell, hotel packages should showcase your proximity to demand generators,...
Tricks and Cool Stats from the Digital Summit
Last month, one of the Digital Summit’s was hosted in Seattle. Content strategy, along with AI and machine learning, were the hot topics on everyone’s radar. Cogwheel Marketing shares the top insights and cool statistics from the conference. 1 - Most people have...
10 Hotel Digital Marketing KPIs
You don’t have to be a digital marketing expert to look at high level reports and find trends for your hotel. Briefly review monthly reports and start asking better questions of your vendors, partners and team. If you don’t have someone on your team with the skill...
Infographic: Hotel Digital Marketing Flywheel
The "Old" Sales Funnel In every sales and marketing class, since the beginning of time, they show you a diagram of a sales funnel. It was shaped something like a cone or upside down pyramid, like this: Over time, the model was twisted for digital marketing. The main...
Favorites from HSMAI Digital Conference 2019
Cogwheel Marketing attended the HSMAI Digital Conference in New York this January. Here are 10 interesting facts and useful (or useless) tidbits to take home with you. There were 150 billion searches last month with an average length 4 words in which 20% never been...
How to Run a Facebook Ad
8 Simple Steps on How to Run a Facebook Ad Facebook has seriously awesome targeting parameters to get your business in front of potential customers that align with a business’ target market and need periods. The same cannot be said for Google Adwords or any other...
Optimize your OTAs (Without Paying More)
Audit your hotel’s Expedia and Booking.com listings to get higher rankings, reduce confusion and tell a consistent story. Here’s how to do OTA optimization!
Hotel Marketing: Brand vs Local
Where does the Brand Level Marketing Stop and Hotel Level Marketing Begin? You own or manage a franchised hotel under a specific flag. The brand may or may not have given you some marketing guidelines, or was wrapped up in onboarding training. Maybe your hotel just...
Digital Marketing Checklist for New Hotel Opening
A new hotel opening or changing of flags has so many moving parts. As an owner or manager overseeing this transition, you are likely wearing multiple hats. Here is a hotel pre-opening marketing plan and checklist from a digital standpoint to ensure you are building...
How to Choose the Right Hotel Photographers
Hotel photography rules and standards have changed quickly. Previously, any photographer could shoot your hotel. Resolution requirements, brand standards for photography, and images rejected by websites did not exist. Read these 7 tips to ensure your company has...
Hotel Review Response Platform: Medallia vs Revinate
If you represent a hotel management company overseeing multiple brands, here is some food for thought on having Revinate on top of Medallia as a review response management platform. (If you are someone only handling review responses for a single hotel, this article...
Why IHG Hotels Should Allow Vanity Sites
IHG recently decided to make it a policy that vanity (or independent) sites were not allowed for certain brands, with a 3 month compliance. Brands don’t approve of vanity sites because they are hard to control, may cause guest confusion, lack of loyalty integration...
Slide.ly Promo for Cheap, Quality Videos
For mini social media campaigns for hotels that don’t have large video budget, check out Slide.ly. This super cost effective platform called "Promo" lets you choose from millions of short, premium videos. Footage, (royalty free) music and editor are included. They...
Free Way to Connect with People from Paid Ads on Facebook
Everyone probably already knows this little trick, but I thought I would throw it out there. When you run Facebook campaigns, you can target reach, traffic, conversions, video views and the list goes on. This trick works best if you went after engagements. One of the...