So you’re walking down the boardwalk.

And you find yourself at the salt water taffy stand.

What was it that got you there? Or, more accurately, what combination of things? The signage? The aroma as you got closer? Someone you saw with a box? Maybe an ad or a poster? Something somebody said?

This is what journey maps and full-path attribution are all about. The journey map is that walk down the boardwalk and full-path attribution is the combination of signage, scents and ads that created your desire for some taffy. Which is to say, it wasn't necessarily just the last thing you saw.

Here’s how that applies to marketing your hotel or resort:

It’s almost never as simple as “See ad. Book room.” or “Search Google. Book room.” It just isn’t. There are a lot of things that influence a consumer’s decision to buy. Not just the last thing they clicked before they did. So if you make the effort to identify your targets' journey map and understand your full-path opportunities to influence them along the way, you can make better use of your marketing dollars.

What do they see and when? And what do you want them to do next? What combination of things got them to actually make a reservation?

If you think about it, it’s really not all that different from selling salt water taffy.