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O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing Blog

Welcome to O’Rourke Hospitality’s Blog! Our blog posts are written for and about the Hospitality Industry. We have a wealth of information we would like to share with our readers including our research findings, latest industry trends, and monthly Internet Marketing tips. Sign up to receive our monthly tips directly to your e-mail!


EMail Evolution Conference 2010

February 2nd, 2010

O’Rourke is attending the Email Evolution Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, February 1-3. This conference is sponsored by the Email Experience Council and the DMA, and will focus on how email and digital media drive each other and how businesses can gain the most ROI by utilizing a multichannel strategy. O’Rourke will keep you updated on best practices and new strategies to help your hotel email marketing campaign excel. You can follow the twitter stream of the conference by searching on the hashtag #EEC10 (on a site such as search.twitter.com). Read the rest of this entry »



New Media Transformed the Obama Campaign, Can it Transform Your Hotel?

January 6th, 2010

Dan Siroker Shares Lessons Learned From the Unprecedented Campaign


Dan Siroker, former deputy New Media Director of the Obama Presidential Transition, gave a keynote presentation at SES Chicago in December about how he and his team used Data to win the Obama presidential election, and the lessons they learned along the way. Your hotel can learn from these lessons and apply them in your own internet marketing campaign.

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Augmented Reality App From Yelp- O’Rourke Interview with Colleen Curtis

January 5th, 2010

We met up with Colleen Curtis, Midwest Regional Director of Yelp, at SES Chicago in December. Tom ORourke, Founder/CEO of ORourke Hospitality Marketing, asked Colleen if she could explain the new augmented reality app from Yelp. Colleen explained that there is a Yelp app for the iPhone and one for the Android. The iPhone has Monacle, which has an augmented reality function which allows users to point their phone on the street and find out the location and ratings of nearby bars and restaurants. The virtual listings appear as an overlay of the (reality) image you see through your camera. This app is great for travelers and can be thought of as the new e-concierge to help your guests find their way around your city!



What’s the Link Between E-Mail Marketing and Social Media?

January 5th, 2010

Tips on How Your Hotel Can Use Both Tactics in 2010


Ever since social media arrived on the scene there has been speculation that it would be the death of e-mail. Some claim that e-mail is on the decline, and it is the old way of communicating. That is not exactly the case. E-mail is not threatened by social media, in fact it is the home base of all accounts, it drives social web activity, and it can work in sync with social media to increase overall message reach and engagement. We will discuss how social media has affected e-mail usage, explain why your hotel should use the two in conjunction, and give you some tips on how to use the two tactics together.

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20 Secrets of Top-Converting Websites and How They can Boost Your Hotel Bookings

December 22nd, 2009

Re-cap of Bryan Eisenberg’s presentation at SES Chicago

 

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If the average conversion rate for a website is around 3 percent, why do some websites achieve a 10 percent conversion rate? What do they do that the others don’t? This is the question that Bryan Eisenberg set out to answer in his presentation ‘20 Secrets of Top-Converting Websites’ at the SES Chicago conference this December. Bryan revealed 20 of his most valuable tips that will help you increase your hotel website conversion rate. Bryan is a New York Times bestselling author and a recognized authority in improving conversion rates, persuasion architecture and persona marketing.

First of all, what is a conversion? A conversion is when someone takes a desired action on your website i.e. they purchase a product, download a whitepaper, or in the case of the hotel industry, they make a reservation. You may attract a lot of traffic to your website but this means nothing if your site isn’t designed to facilitate conversions. Read the rest of this entry »