Intel's Andy Grove had a lot to say about how to react to downturns and setbacks. Here are just a few of his insights and maxims:

1. The first rule is that economic downturns always end.
2. Some companies emerge from recessions stronger than before.
3. You can't save your way out of a recession.
4. The future favors the optimist.

Milestone, Inc. has dozens of hospitality clients, so we decided to put together some recommendations for where to invest time and focus during the crisis and here we share them with the rest of the industry.

We group the recommendations in three segments:

1. Site Content, Site Technical, and Tracking
2. Offer Strategy
3. Distribution and Amplification

Site Content and Site Technical

1. Update your FAQs to address the issues
Address the questions your staff has been getting on the phone on your site and in your customer care knowledgebase. Update the answers every few days as needed to signal staff and customers that management is on top of and closely managing its response to the crisis.
 
2. Make sure your marketing stack maximizes traffic and conversion
Your CMS should help your team and site perform, and it should automatically enhance your ability to improve speed, mobile experience, and local SEO performance and maximize ecommerce results.
 
3. Focus on relative metrics, like share of voice
Adjust your key metrics to outperform your competition in share of voice and occupancy rates. Andy Grove was not a Milestone customer, but more than 5 hotel chains we work with invested as he suggested in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and maintained more business and experienced outsize growth in the recovery.

Offer Strategy

Distribution and Amplification

1. Pause paid campaigns in some affected locations
Pause paid campaigns and shift spending from countries with travel and flight bans to countries that do not have those bans. Shift your marketing focus to the driving radius from the property. This will require clean data that includes mailing address. CRM platforms, like Salesforce, can help target contacts within a specified distance from a location.
 
2. Invest in database records and ongoing database hygiene
The current crisis makes it plain why database maintenance is so critical. Acquiring names and permission to communicate to them is always a best practice, but having the database ready when needed to react to an evolving challenge like this will enable you to reach out with the updated bundles and offers.
 
3. Use the email channel for distribution
Send short engaging emails. Use an optimistic tone without seeming naïve about the challenge. Speed and being first in your market with a new idea is key. Test subject lines and CTAs to keep learning on what works best in the current climate. Be sure to comply with CAN SPAM Act, GDPR, and CCPA.
 
Andy Grove would appreciate the innovative thinking and the effort of investing ideas and technology in the face of challenges and the optimism to come through the challenge stronger.

About Milestone Inc.
Milestone provides digital marketing platforms and services to enhance the online presence for businesses and drive revenue.
 
Deployed on over 6000 websites across multiple verticals, our CMS offers specific features designed especially for hotels, hospitality providers, and restaurants.

• Milestone CMS provides a platform that is proven to generate more small group leads
• The Milestone CMS is built from the ground up with search engine optimization features that drive more direct revenue and leads to your website
• See immediate increases in traffic, leads, and revenue because our all-in-one CMS optimizes site configuration for you, while lowering additional costs because of so many built-in capabilities, such as technical SEO