Increase your reach with generic Google Ads campaigns

Let's first look at the search behaviour of the users. In Germany, 93% of Internet users research online for their holiday. Of these, 56% search via Google. These statistics illustrate the great potential of Google ads for the hotel industry. Compared to classic brand campaigns (placement of ads for your hotel name), generic campaigns, however, are mainly focused on the acquisition of new customers.

But first things first. What exactly is meant by a generic campaign?

In contrary to this, with brand campaigns the hotel name is searched directly: 

Potential guests are often not necessarily looking for a specific hotel, but rather have only a vague idea of their holiday or business trip at first. For example, they are initially interested in a wellness hotel on the Baltic Sea in a certain period of time or a hotel in Berlin that is located in the city centre. This is exactly where the generic terms come into play, such as "Wellness hotel Baltic Sea" or "Hotel Berlin city centre". These are so-called keywords. In most cases they are structured according to the scheme "hotel type + location" or "hotel type + location + period of time". If you run campaigns for these keywords, users will become aware of your hotel.

With different keywords or keyword combinations you can cover a wide range of topics related to your hotel and generate a high reach. This is because generic terms are in high demand and with a click on your ad, users are taken directly to your hotel website, where they can find out further information or, in the best case, book directly.

What are the concrete advantages of generic campaigns on Google?

1. High range

Generic campaigns are mainly characterized by a high reach. While brand campaigns are usually used to search for a specific hotel with a strong booking intention, visitors click through various ads in the generic search to find inspiration. As a result, the traffic of generic campaigns is much higher and offers the opportunity to win new customers. Whether with low generic campaigns such as "Hotel near Berlin train station" or high generic campaigns such as "Hotel Berlin" - you have the opportunity to grab your customers right at the beginning of the Customer Journey, to draw attention to yourself and finally to inspire them.

2. Potential to increase Occupancy rate

Generic campaigns are an excellent tool to increase your occupancy rate in the short term if required. New users are attracted to your website, as your hotel is advertised to people who are generally interested in an overnight stay or an arrangement, but are not yet familiar with your hotel brand.

3. Control of the traffic

Another advantage of generic campaigns is that you can control the traffic in terms of your target group. For example, if potential guests are looking for a luxury apartment or a wellness hotel in a certain region, their needs will quickly become clear. However, you may not yet have been able to attract the attention of this specific target group. Now you can run generic campaigns with the keywords "wellness hotel Baltic Sea" or "luxury apartments in Berlin". This way you will reach your target group where potential guests are already looking for you.

4. Push vs. pull marketing

Even if the reach of generic campaigns is significantly increased compared to brand campaigns, we can still speak of pull marketing. With push marketing, you try to show your advertising to potentially interested parties, e.g. in the form of banners on the Google display network or on Facebook. With generic Google Ads campaigns, on the other hand, you address users who are already looking for a solution to their needs. In your case, generic search network campaigns are where travelers first want to get more information. Now you "only" have to "pull" them to you. High-quality advertisements appeal to potential guests, create interest and ideally a bond. If the user does not book directly, there is still the ideal starting position to motivate the customer to book with a push (e.g. remarketing) or brand campaign.

Conclusion: With generic campaigns you reach users who are already looking for your offer - the need to search for a hotel does not have to be created.

However, many hoteliers have a wrong understanding of the costs of generic Google Ads campaigns. While brand campaigns can achieve a high conversion rate with just a few clicks, generic campaigns with more clicks generate relatively few bookings. This results in a rather high cost ratio.

Does this mean that generic campaigns are not worthwhile?

Far from it. With generic campaigns, visitors are still in the research stage, trying out several ads and clicking through different offers. This causes higher costs than brand campaigns, but also appeals to a whole new group of customers who would otherwise not have noticed your hotel at all. It therefore has a strong advertising effect.

In addition, not using generic campaigns also has an effect on the revenue of existing brand campaigns. We have already seen that traffic on brand campaigns without the use of generic campaigns has fallen by up to 50%. The reason for this: without generic campaigns, guests do not even look for your hotel in the first place. The connection between brand and generic campaigns is obvious. Many customers search for a hotel via generic keywords, click on several ads and finally decide on a hotel (brand campaign) where they book. This means: Without generic campaigns - no new customers. One more reason to rely on advertising with generic campaigns.

5. Long-term branding effect

Last but not least, more conversions (bookings) can be controlled with search engine marketing - especially with generic campaigns. If guests become aware of your hotel through a generic ad today, they will book again later - whether through a brand campaign or directly on your website.

6. Strong search volume

The search volume is decisive for the reach of search engine marketing. This indicates how often a keyword is used in a web search. Keywords with a low search volume therefore achieve a lower range than keywords with a high search volume. With the help of the Google Keyword Planner you can not only determine the monthly search volume of keywords, the tool also shows the development of keywords over time and suggests new keyword ideas based on your domain. It is therefore important to generate not only as many visitors as possible, but also the right visitors to your site through optimally targeted ads on relevant keywords.

That means: Draw attention to your hotel today and turn visitors into guests!

In short, generic Google Ads campaigns are the key attracting guests to you. We kindly recommend our online seminar by our CEO, Ulli Kastner, where you can find further information.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions, we will be happy to advise you regarding Google ads at business@myhotelshop. de or +49 (0) 341 / 392 816 751.

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