CSS 304 Online Commerce Lecturer: Prof. Alberto Canas Planning digital marketing strategy for Novotel Hotel, Dammam Final Assignment Submission Date: Student Name Student ID:2 | P a g e Acknowledgement I certify that this assignment is my own work, based on my personal study and/or research, and that I have acknowledged all material and sources used in the preparation of this assignment whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, any other kind of document, electronic or personal communication. I also certify that the assignment has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other course or at any other time in this Course, unless by negotiation, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students and/or persons. I have read the GBS policy on plagiarism and understand its implications.3 | P a g e Executive Summary More than 90% of all travel purchases begin online making digital marketing one of the most influential ways to improve a property’s financial success. Since More and more consumers use online resources to find the information they desire for their travel needs and to help with the decision making process, many hotels have increased their spends in this area in order to increase their business. The aim of this report is to form a new strategic marketing plan for Novotel hotel (Novotel, 2016) emphasizing on how the hotel can improve their marketing and what marketing efforts are needed. At the beginning we performed an analysis to our current digital resources and based on the analysis we detected gaps in some areas that can be improved. Then analysis of 3 competitors in the same geographic area is made and the result was compared to our resources. Based on the internal and external analysis a marketing plan has been formed. We selected three areas for improvement based on our goals, and a schedule has been made to implant the actions on a timely manner. The results of the research formed the strategic marketing plan with situational analysis, marketing objectives and strategy, an action plan and at the end indicators to measure the performance of the plan.4 | P a g e Table of Content: 1. Executive summary 5 2. Introduction 6 2.1 Background: 6 2.2 Goals: 7 2.3 Scope: 7 3. Main Goals 7 4. Digital Marketing 4. 1 Current Digital Resources 7 5. Top 3 competitors- External analysis 10 5.1 Park inn Hotel Al Khobar: 10 5.2 Golden tulip Corniche Dammam 11 5.3 Ramada hotel Dammam 12 5. 4 SWOT analysis 13 6. Marketing strategy: 14 6.1 Novotel Brand aim and target: 14 6.2 Key channels: 14 6.3 Social Media: 15 6.4 Google ads 16 7. Improvement Plan-Specific Actions 7.1 expected effect of the planned improvement 16 7. 2 Calendar 17 8 KPI 17 9 Conclusion 18 10 References 195 | P a g e Table of Figures Figure 1 Novotel Building 5 Figure 2 Novotel room 5 Figure 3 The Square restaurant 5 Figure 4 Novotel website 6 Figure 5 Novotel Google Ad 7 Figure 6 Novotel TripAdvisor page 7 Figure 7 Example of review from TripAdvisor 8 Figure 8 overview of Novotel current digital resources 8 Figure 9 Park Inn website 9 Figure 10 Park Inn Google Ad 10 Figure 11 Golden Tulip website 11 Figure 12 Golden Tulip Google Ad 11 Figure 13 Ramada website 12 Figure 14 Ramada Google Ad 12 Figure 15 social media rule in hotels marketing 14 Figure 16 Novotel Building 5 Figure 17 Novotel room 5 Figure 18 The Square restaurant 5 Figure 19 Novotel website 6 Figure 20 Novotel Google Ad 7 Figure 21 Novotel TripAdvisor page 7 Figure 22 Example of review from TripAdvisor 86 | P a g e Introduction: 2.1Background: Novotel is a mid-scale hotel brand within the Accor Hotels group;ithas over 470 hotels and resorts in 61 countries, ideally located in the heart of major international cities, business districts and tourist destinations. The brand provide a multi-service offer for both business and leisure guests, with spacious, modular rooms, 24/7 catering offers with balanced meals, meeting rooms, attentive and proactive staff, kid areas, a multi-purpose lobby and fitness centres. Their branch in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, is a fascinating commercial building which possesses highly accurate details modern buildings. It is architecturally designed according to international specifications used in modern buildings. (Novotel, 2016) It was opened in January, 2011, and is located at the heart of the Dammam Business Park, an integrated business complex. Its location is close to the capital of the Kingdom’s Eastern Province and has a direct access to Khobar-Dammam highway and is only 25 minutes from King Fahd Airport and 20 minutes to downtown Al Khobar. Its aim is to serve both business and leisure travellers; offering a simple, welldesigned, modern hotel as well as superior facilities and services with initial room rates starting from SR350. The hotel is covering all markets with appeal to business travellers for group business as well as families traveling to Dammam for shopping or short city breaks. The hotel building is an integrated centre of four attached towers built horizontally. It has a total of 159 rooms. All rooms feature IDD telephones, satellite flat screen TV, high speed Internet and Wi-Fi connections, as well as 24-hour laundry service and an all-day snack service.A variety of dining options includes “The Square”, an all-day dining restaurant which offers an international buffet. The 24-hour Lobby Coffee Lounge for a relaxing tea or coffee with friends in a vibrant ambience or as a convenient chill-out venue to meet up with friends after work.Also there’s an indoor pool and a fitness centre, beside other recreational amenities including a health club and a spa. According to tripadvisor.com reviews, 34 rated that it’sexcellent, 56% of customers rated it as very good, Figure 1 Novotel Building (Novotel, 2016) Figure 3 The Square restaurant (Novotel, 2016) Figure 2 Novotel room (Novotel, 2016)7 | P a g e and 38 rated for average. (TripAdvisor, 2016) Novotel Mission:Leading business management in services and administration of offices. Novotel Vision: Professions brand awareness. (NOVOTEL, 2016) 2.2Goals:  Increase the revenue by 25% from online booking.  Improve engagement with customers on social media platforms especially focusing on Facebook and Twitters.  Target and Penetrate the families and business individuals and companies since Novotel is attractive for them due to its locating 2.3Scope:  Perform internal scanning about the hotel current digital marketing situation.  Perform external scanning by analyzing competitors situation in the digital marketing  Plan a marketing strategy based on the analysis which include actions that will be taken, targeted personas and plan calendar  select specific keywords to measure the campaign performance 1. MAIN GOALS Goals:  Increase the revenue by 25% from online booking.  Improve engagement with customers on social media platforms especially focusing on Facebook and Twitters.  Target and Penetrate the families and business individuals and companies since Novotel is attractive for them due to its locating 2. Digital Marketing: Digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing in that it involves the use of channels and methods that enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t, typically in real time. In order to outline a digital marketing strategy for Novotel Hotel, it is necessary to collect information about the business’s internal resources and external environment. Information that is developed from an internal analysis, coupled with the information that is gathered from the external analysis, provides the basis for developing strategic alternatives. 4.1 CURRENT DIGITAL RESOURSE ANALYSIS(INTERNAL ANALYSIS) Internal analysis is the process of identifying and evaluating an organization’s specific characteristics, including its: Resources, Capabilities and Core competencies. The aggregate reason for doing an internal analysis is to assess what the organization has or does not have and what it can and cannot do, in other words, its strengths and its weaknesses. (Marino, 2015) Novotel Hotels is currently utilising mix of online marketing channels including Search engine marketing, website, online partnerships, Social media and E-Mail marketing.This different channelgives our hotel an opportunity to be seen more by customers.8 | P a g e Website Our website design is modern and information about the hotel is easy to find with design and colors that represents Novotel. Customers can make a booking online,choose how many people are coming, and the type of room they want to reserve. There is a links of social media pages and Trip-advisor website for customers to check reviews about our hotel. A photo gallery is at the top middle of the page showinga high quality image of hotel rooms and other facilities like restaurant, swimming pool and gym, which allow customers to see what they will findthere. At the top of the page there is an option to create an account and subscribe for newsletter emails. And there is other menu at the right for hotel different areas including restaurant, cafe and gym with images and brief description about Novotel, so customer knows whatamenities are available. The website as a whole is good but it’s better to improve it and make it more attractivecomparing to other hotels websites. It’s not very personal and it would be better if we added an owner photo with a brief description about him and some of photos of the staff. The font is very big and the header is taking big spacewhich gives a feeling that the page is crowded. According to Novotel 2016 brand presentation, Novotel website has received 21 million visits, 551,433 bookings have been made and 1.5 million have subscribed for Novotel newsletter. ("Novotel Brand Presentation") Email marketing Novotel customers can sign-up for a new account and to receive a newsletter from the hotel. To customize the emails, the users select their favorite preferences like their favorite floor, smoking or non-smoking and even their favorite city. The newsletter covers all Accor hotels around the world and its sending mails regularly. SEM Novotel has google business account and when you search for it Google revealsa brief description about the hotel with its address and the phone number. There are images of the hotel at the top including a 360deg image for hotel entrance and room which is great and attractive to our customers. Also there is a link to our website and a map for the direction. Below there are reviews from Google+ users about their experience in Novotel and the best thing is that customers can make a booking from the same space without a need to visit the website. The ads is good and showing all needed information. Figure 5 Novotel Google Ad (Novotel, 2016) Figure 4 Novotel website (Novotel, 2016)9 | P a g e Mobile app Accor Hotels Group has a mobile app which covers all their branches around the world including Novotel Dammam. In our branch page there is high quality images of hotel rooms and facilities, a link to TripAdvisor reviews about Novotel, a call button to contact the hotel and a map to find the location. At the bottom there is a detailed description about the hotel and the minimum booking price. The app is very good and there is a lot of information on it though we prefer if Novotel Dammam has its own application. Social media Novotel current social media presence is seen across three platforms, Facebook, Google + and Twitter. Facebook:Novotel Facebook page was created in October 2014, and has 2177 likes and 91 people talked about the hotel. There a call now button for a direct phone line, and below to it there is a map for hotel location, reviews from Facebook users and the popular hours of chick in. Posts are mostly invitation to visit the hotel and enjoy the facilities like wedding hall, restaurant SPA and Ramadan Iftar, and it’s supported by pictures. The page is not very active and the number of posts is little. The interaction between Facebook users and page admin is not much. There are 414 reviews by Facebook users but the page admin didn’t interact with these comments. Twitter: The second key social media channel for Novotelis Twitter. The page is not active since 2013. Total number of followers is 186 and the number of tweets is 20. Most tweets were from posts on Facebook but there is no likes or share for these posts. TripAdvisor Trip Advisor is currently a vital and well established channel for Novotel, and the hotel is ranked Number 4 out of 26 of their competitors. This highlights a key strength for Novotel in terms of their online presence and presents a rich opportunity to engage with existing customers as well as attract new guests. There are 185 reviews from TripAdvisor users,most of them have been replied to by the general manager of Novotel Dammam. Hotels and travelling website: Novotel has invested in hotels and travelling websites and app like booking.com, expedia.com and trivago.com. Customers can see reviews in all this platforms and make reservation. Also there is a link leading to Novotel website. Figure 6 Novotel TripAdvisor page (TripAdvisor, 2016) Figure 7 Example of review (TripAdvisor, 2016)10 | P a g e 5.ANALYSING TOP 3 COMPETITORS(External analysis) Novotel hotel has a lot of competitors, their 3 topare selected toanalyse their marketing resources, and they are:Park Inn hotel Al Khobar, Golden Tulip Corniche, and Ramada Dammam Hotel. 5.1 Park inn Hotel Al Khobar: Opened on March 15, 2009, park inn hotel is one of modern hotel in al-Khobar city. This convenient Saudi Arabia hotel boasts a perfect location for busy travellers. It’s featuring 148 guest rooms, including suites and Business Friendly rooms. The hotel also provides three flexible meeting rooms and a ballroom, perfect for business meetings and special events. Park inn hotel is marketing itself in the internet through different channels like website and social media. ("Visit Hotel Site") Website: The site design is unique and colourful with the logo of park inn at the top left. At the middle of the page there is a big picture of the hotel building, and below of it customers can select the dates and make booking. Hotel location is clear at the top and there is a list of options for photos, video and more information about the hotel. If you scroll down you will find detailed description about the hotel and the available offers, a link leading to TripAdvisor if customers are looking for reviews and links for park inn pages in social media like Facebook and Pinterest. The website is clear and welcoming and the colourful design is attractive for customers. Social media: Facebook: Park inn page on Facebook has 2417 likes and almost 200 photos were uploaded. The page is providing direction of the hotel and phone number. The page admin are creating events regularly about activities arranged in the hotel like FIFA matches, Ramadan Iftar or Italian nights to attract customers. The page is very active and posts weekly and the admin replies to customer queries. Also the page display some reviews from Tripadvisor with link to Tripadvisor website. ("Park Inn By Radisson Al Khobar - TripAdvisor Reviews | Facebook") Figure 8 (Park Inn, 2016)11 | P a g e Twitter: Park inn twitter page was created in November 2011, the page has 497 followers and 1026 tweets. The page tweeted 78 photos and videos of the hotel, hotel staff and some customer’s reviews from other websites like booking.com. Also they are retweeting news from other local pages about events in Al-Khobar. ("Park Inn Al Khobar (@Parkinnalkhobar) | Twitter") TripAdvisor In TripAdvisor, Park inn page has 272 reviews. All reviews was replied by park inn general manager. The page represent images of the hotel, its location, phone number and link to the website, and customers can make booking from it. ("Park Inn By Radisson Al Khobar (Saudi Arabia) - UPDATED 2016 Hotel Reviews - Tripadvisor") Google + Park inn has a page in Google +. It was active until 2014 and has 17 followers but currently there is no new posts on it. ("Park Inn By Radisson Al Khobar - Google+") Instagram Park inn Instagram page is very active and has good number of followers. It has 867 followers and 210 posts. The page is posting daily photos about staff, serving foods and other facilities, and they reply to customer followers queries. ("Park Inn By Radisson Al Khobar (@Parkinnkhobar) • Instagram Photos And Videos") Youtube Park inn Khobar has a channel on YouTube; the channel uploaded one video about the hotel. The video has 301 views. Also the park inn main page in YouTube is uploading videos about their branch worldwide including Khobar branch.("Al Khobar Park Inn, 2016") SEM Park inn has invested with google. When customer search the ads appears at the right. Its showing photos of the hotel, map for the location, hotel description and the phone number. Customer can view some reviews about park inn from google users and a booking can be made from the same ad. Also park inn has invested in some hotels website like booking.com, trivago and experdia.com. Each of these page give the least room price of the hotel, location and customers can make reservation direct form there. 5.2 Golden tulip Corniche Dammam Golden Tulip Dammam is designed for both business and leisure travel, it is ideally situated in AzZuhurneighbour, one of the city's most popular locales. This 4-star hotel attracts numerous travellers each year. It has 59 rooms with a restaurant along and facilities like an indoor pool, children's pool, and a health club and it offers a free in-room Wi-Fi. All 59 rooms are air-conditioned rooms feature minibars, coffee makers, and free bottled water.12 | P a g e Website Golden Tulip website is designed of white and dark violet color with a hotel room image in the middle. At the top there is a book now for a customer to make booking and below there is a menu to navigate the website and get more info about hotel rooms and facilities. At the right there are TripAdvisor link leading to customers reviews, hotel address and contact number. Down the page there is a detailed description about the hotel, an option to signup and subscribe for a newsletter and the available special offer. The site is simple and the colors are comfortable and give a warm feeling. SEM Golden Tulip has invested in google ads. The ads appear at the right. It’s showing a photo of the hotel, map for the location and phone numbers. Customers can make a book form the same ad and also can check reviews posted by google users Social media: Facebook:The page in Facebook is very active. It has 5302 likes and 2557 made a check in and put a reviews about the hotel. The posts are weekly for photos and events organized in the hotel. The page also provide the hotel address and phone number. And there are some reviews from TripAdvisor with a link to it.("Golden Tulip Dammam Corniche Hotel - Tripadvisor Reviews | Facebook") Twitter: Golden tulip page in twitter has 48 followers and it’s very active. The page is tweeting weekly about offers and events planned in the hotel. They are replying to customer’s queries and invite them to the hotel. 5. 3 Ramada hotel Dammam Situated in Dammam’s core, this hotel is just a few kilometres away from the Corniche as well as the King Fahd International Airport. The hotel features 138 beautifully appointed guest rooms, many of which include plasma screen, closet, and internet access. The hotel has a Turkish bath, an outdoor pool, and an international-cuisine restaurant. Customers can enjoy a meal at one of the hotel's dining establishments, which include 2 restaurants and a café. Other recreational amenities include a health club, an outdoor pool and a spa tub. Figure 23 Golden Tulip website Figure 10 Golden Tulip Google Ad (Golden Tulip, 2016)13 | P a g e Website Ramada website is kind of old comparing to other competitors sites. At the right middle there is an image of the hotel building but it’s not clear and below to it there’s a detailed description about the hotel. At the top there is a book now option and a deals button for the available offers. The site also is providing hotel location and phone number. At the left there is a menu to navigate the website, it includes photos, amenities and reviews. Also the website is linked with TripAdvisor reviews. SEM Ramada is part of google ads. The ad is showing hotel building, map and phone number. Beside that there are some reviews from other customers and book a room option for booking a room. Also Ramada has invested in other websites like booking.com, yamsafer.com and agoda.com. All provide reviews and rating of the website, beside an option to make a booking from the same site. Social media TripAdvisor: In TripAdvisor page, there are 81 reviews, most of them replied to by the manager at Ramada Hotel.("Ramada Dammam Hotel, 2016) YouTube: Ramada Dammam has a channel in YouTube. The channel has 23 videos with number of viewers between 40-20. The channel is uploading videos about rooms and suits, Ramadan Iftar, and their staff. ("Ramada Dammam, 2016) Facebook:Ramada page on Facebook has 843 likes and almost with 2800 chick in. The page is providing direction of the hotel and phone number. The page is not very active and posts once or twice posts monthly withonly 35 photos uploaded. Theinteraction between Facebook users and page posts is poor. Twitte: The page has almost 700 followers and posting once or twice per months. The page was created in December 2015 and total number of tweets is 35. The engagement with customers are very poor and their posts barely has one like 5.4AREAS TO IMPROVE (SWOT analysis) A SWOT analysis is made to summarise the internal strength and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats that are presented above Figure 24 (Ramada , 2016) Figure 25 (Ramada, 2016)14 | P a g e Strengths:  Number 4 in Tripadvisor  Facebook page with regular posts and good number of likes  Customized newsletter sent regularly to subscribers  Invested in SEM and other travelling website like booking.com and Trivago  Customers can make booking from different channels like SEM and Weaknesses  Social media platforms are weak  Weak engaging with customers  website design is not attractive Opportunities  reach more customers by using the right platforms and invest in the right places  growing popularity of mobile technology and social media Threats  competitors catching up and attract more customers  weak engaging with customers might drive them away Based on the SWOT analysis and the goals,Market Penetration Strategies will be used, the focus will be on improving the existing market and the existing resources. 6.Overall Marketing strategy: According to Kolter, “The marketing strategy is the way in which the marketing function organises its activities to achieve a profitable growth in sales at a marketing mix level” (Kotler, 2012) Now the analysis have been set, this section of the report will summarise how these objectives will be achieved. 6.1 Novotel Brand aim and target: Novotel aims to give their customers whatever they need, whenever they need it. At Novotel, everyone is free to live as they want,as a family or solo,on vacation or for work. Novotel offers a unique approach to hospitality, one that is built on simplicity, elegance and that is loved the world over. According to (Novotel, 2016) brand presentation, 52% of audience are business travellers Seminars and individuals, while 48% are leisure travellers Families and couples. ("Novotel Brand Presentation")15 | P a g e 6.2 Key channels: In order to achieve our goals, 2 channels will be improved: 1. Social media platforms: Facebook and twitter. 2. Google ads 6.3 Social Media: Travel and the associated experiences have become one of the most popular subjects for Social media as reviews, travel comments, travel videos and photos which are shared through social networks. Travellers will increasingly turnonline for advice; recommendations and contacts provided by their fellow travellers and social network contacts- both via sites such as Trip Advisor and general social networks- and may simply search Twitter to see what people are saying about a particular destination or Hotel. Facebook: Research shows that Facebook photos represent 89% of a brands’ most engaging posts (Marketing Charts, 2012); whether a small mom and pop operation or a multi-billion dollar corporation with locations around the globe, Facebook is a gateway for you to connect with past, present, and future guests. Novotel Facebook page need to be enriched with more posts and activities mainly to keep our existing followers and reach new. To achieve that we will do the following: 1. Check what the best time for posting status and photos. This will be achieved by making posts several times a day and know the best time we receive likes and comments. Besides, it will help to know which content is attracting more people. 2. Make offer to our hotel visitors to receive a free coupon for our cafe if they like our page in Facebook. 3. We will make posts about our special offers and discounts 4. Post photos from our hotel like new Eid decoration in our lobby or Ramadan Iftar and all the activities with it. Also post about our Planet 21 Gold program like healthy food served in our restaurant and energy saving light bulbs 5. We will make posts about events and activities that take place nearby so our guests can enjoy during their free time. 6. Share our customer reviews about our hotel and reply to them to show others how much our hotel is adored. Also we will ask our customers about their opinions in our social media pages to get feedback from them Figure 26 social media rule in hotels marketing ("The Social Media Mandate For The Hotel Industry, 2016")16 | P a g e Twitter:Twitter has emerged as an important marketing and guest service tool for hotels worldwide.Over 300-million people use Twitter on a monthly basis, using hashtags and mentions to converse in real-time. Thus, it’s important to use Twitter for customer relations, not just marketing, as it allows you to listen to and engage meaningfully with existing and potential guests.("7 Top Twitter Tips For Hoteliers | Social Media For Hotels, 2016") Hotels can use Twitter for proactive customer service. This strategy involves listening to travel issues of people in the area, complaints about competitors, and reacting accordingly. Proactive customer service presents massive opportunity for hotels to gain loyal new customers.(Huang, 2015) Novotel twitter page is not active since 2013 and its time to refresh through the following: 1. We will use twitter is proactive customer service and react immediately to all our customer queries and conflict. 2. In our tweets we will use hashtags like Eid, Dammam and any ongoing events to reach more audience 3. Make offers and discount and give promo code to customers who are tweeting about our hotel 4. Tweet about events going on nearby. Provide our guests with quick and easy information as well as links to these events. 5. Retweet our customer’s post whether it’s about our hotel or any events going on or anything relevant. This will make our customers feel acknowledged and special to us. Also we will respond to tweets about our hotel and thank our guest for the positive feedback. 6.4Google ads Search engines are among the most popular online planning sources for travellers, particularly among leisure travellers Leisure Travelers Search engines 60%, Business Travelers Search engines 55%. (The Traveler’s, 2014) In order to improve our investment in search engines, we will implant the following: 1. In the images appear when customers searching for our hotel we will a add in interactive tour for our hotel, to give the searcher and inside look into the hotel interior 2. We will bid to gain a position in the top 4 Ads when searchers search for “hotels in Dammam” 3. We will localize the keyword for search by using Arabic word for searchers who search with Arabic language to cover more audience. 4. We will refresh our website content regularly to keep sync with google SEO 7. Improvement Plan – Specific Actions FACEBOOK PAGE:17 | P a g e Novotel Facebook page need to be enriched with more posts and activities mainly to keep our existing followers and reach new. To achieve that we will do the following: Check what the best time for posting status and photos. This will be achieved by making posts several times a day and know the best time we receive likes and comments. Besides, it will help to know which content is attracting more people. Make offer to our hotel visitors to receive a free coupon for our cafe if they like our page in Facebook. We will make posts about our special offers and discounts Post photos from our hotel like new Eid decoration in our lobby or Ramadan Iftar and all the activities with it. Also post about our Planet 21 Gold program like healthy food served in our restaurant and energy saving light bulbs TWITTER: Novotel twitter page is not active since 2013 and its time to refresh through the following: 6. We will use twitter is proactive customer service and react immediately to all our customer queries and conflict. 7. In our tweets we will use hashtags like Eid, Dammam and any ongoing events to reach more audience 8. Make offers and discount and give promo code to customers who are tweeting about our hotel 9. Tweet about events going on nearby. Provide our guests with quick and easy information as well as links to these events. 10. Retweet our customer’s post whether it’s about our hotel or any events going on or anything relevant. This will make our customers feel acknowledged and special to us. Also we will respond to tweets about our hotel and thank our guest for the positive feedback. GOOGLE ADS: In order to improve our investment in search engines, we will implant the following: 5. In the images appear when customers searching for our hotel we will a add in interactive tour for our hotel, to give the searcher and inside look into the hotel interior 6. We will bid to gain a position in the top 4 Ads when searchers search for “hotels in Dammam” 7. We will localize the keyword for search by using Arabic word for searchers who search with Arabic language to cover more audience. 8. We will refresh our website content regularly to keep sync with google SEO 7.1 Expected effect of the planned improvement  Increase sales via social referral18 | P a g e  Providing valuable information to enhance people’s trips to Novotel.  Provide valuable tourist information for people visiting Dammam City.  Interact with guests at all stages of their experience in Novotel.  By locating the most successful posts on social media, reduce time spent on posts that don’t engage.  Use targeted and specific AdWords campaign to convert more traffic. 7.2Potential Calendar The table below shows an overview of the timescale for the implementation of the digital marketing plan. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 January plan for Facebook posting content Check what the best time for posting and start posting photos and offers February Plan for twitter posts and hangtags that will be used Assign employee for responding to customer services in twitter Start tweeting and posting Plan for Google ads March Localize the search keywords to be in Arabic Make offer to our hotel visitors to receive a free coupon for our cafe if they like our page in Facebook Scheduled posts automatically broadcast to selected social channels April Engage with our customers in Facebook and answer their queries Spy on our competitors online channels Bid for top one position in Google search May Refresh our website content and update the new offers Ask for our customer opinions about our Facebook and twitter page June add in interactive tour for our hotel in our Google ad Measure the overall performance of the campaign Plan further improvements 4.5 KPI Chaffey (2012) defines KPI’s as “measures that are used to evaluate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes.” The following sections will outline what KPIs could be set to measure the effectiveness of our campaign.19 | P a g e Revenue increase KPIs KPI Objective Target Booking online More customers make online booking through our different online channels Increase online booking by 25% Social media KPIs To measure engagement through Social Media channels, we will use the following KPI’s. KPI Objective Target Facebook Likes Increase engagement on social media channels especially Facebook Increase Facebook likes by 10% Twitter Followers Increase online engagement and awareness of Novotel by gaining more followers Increase Twitter followers by 10% Pictures shared on social media (Facebook & twitter) Increase engagement with guests by sharing pictures on Facebook 50% more pictures of our hotel Social media Referrals Increase amount of referrals from the Novotel website to the social media pages. Increase by 60% Google ads KPI Objective Target Website traffic Increase visit to Novotel website Increase clicks on our Google to 300 visits/month Website traffic To see how the refreshed website content for the increased engagement with the audience Increase visit duration by 20% CPC (Cost Per Conversion) earnmore revenue and compare it to the cost Increase revenue from Ad by 40% Conclusion The aim of this report wat to create a marketing plan for Novotel hotel using digital channels. Our main goals was to increase the overall revenue, engage more with our customers and penetrate possible future customers. To achieve this goal we analysed our current online resources and 3 of our top competitors. Then based on the results and with consideration of our main goals we built a strategic plan. The plan was focused on improving our current resources with specific actions and a performance indicators were defined to be able to measure our plan effectiveness. The outcome of the study ended with developing completely new marketing strategies and plan that could help the hotel like to sustain and grow in this dynamic competitive world. At the end, we highly recommend continuous monitoring of our digital resources and to use new methods and techniques in order to guarantee the loyalty of our current customers and to reach new customers all around the world. Also i recommend to open new channels like Instagram and YouTube to increase our popularity and reach more peoples.20 | P a g e References Novotel Dammam Business Park (Saudi Arabia) - UPDATED 2016 Hotel Reviews - Tripadvisor". Tripadvisor.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 Oct. 2016. "NOVOTEL Business Park Dammam Mission". Novotel-bp.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 Oct. 2016. "What Is Digital Marketing?”Sas.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 Oct. 2016. Marino, Tony. "Internal Analysis: Your Competitive Advantage". International Business Strategies, Solutions, and Technologies. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 Oct. 2016. 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