Inside Marriott’s money-making content program

Challenge:

Today, Marriott has one of the most sophisticated content marketing programs around the globe. But several years ago, Marriott was producing a lot of content without a strategy that tied everything together.

When Marriott partnered with Contently, the brand had their sights set on tying content directly to revenue.

Solution:

“Contently helped streamline the process onto one platform,” said Marc Graser, global director of content + creative. “We could submit and accept pitches for stories, find talented writers to hire, and manage the editing and overall production process in a more efficient manner. Once Marriott Traveler took off, we started enlisting other brands within the Marriott portfolio to also use Contently as a way to further streamline the editorial process.”

Through Contently’s platform, Marriott’s team of seven full-time employees had a centralized place to communicate, track progress, approve work, and most importantly, analyze each project’s reach.

“We can track how every article performs,” Graser said. “We know how many hotel rooms are visited from posts, how many room nights were booked, and how much money was generated as a result. We also know how much money is generated from our email newsletters from hotel bookings, and we know the demographics of who is looking at all of our content at all times. Everything should be trackable.”

Marriott Bonvoy Traveler covers 86 places around the globe, from Boston to Amsterdam to Seoul. One of the hardest parts about creating local content is finding skilled contributors who know their way around an area. Sourcing creators from Contently’s talent network helped Marriott cover so many different countries while maintaining its credibility and expertise.