Appeal to emotions , grounded in rationale
What we ’ re seeing in the marketplace is a lot of hotels starting at the wrong point . They ’ re starting with the branding , they have a logo , the colour palette , the name and off they go !
They ’ re missing the important upfront piece , understanding how you rationalise your brand ’ s position in the marketplace and how that informs the emotional pull of your brand .
If you don ’ t have these well-defined , then your branding is unlikely to be effective .
So where do I start ?
Begin by questioning ; how are we different ?
The key to determining the answer to that question is having a deep understanding of your guest . Find out who they are and what is behind their needs and wants . Developing customer personas helps you profile your audience ( s ) and work out how you might market to them . Give them faces – Caroline the room booker , Martin the corporate traveller , the Blythe family – for example .
David Gardner , Managing Partner at 80 DAYS , says : “ When someone sees your brand , your website , they really need to feel like it was created especially for them . And that can only happen when you truly understand who they are , how you reach them and how you position yourselves to draw them in .”
Detailed personas can help you work towards defining your market position . If you ’ re single-minded and you ’ re very clear about who and what you are , you ’ ll stand-out in the marketplace . If there ’ s a truth behind it , if it ’ s aligned with what you ’ re selling , then you ’ re going to own that space and people will know you for that .
The opposite ; trying to be all things to all people , means that you ’ ll end up blending in , saying the same things to everybody . By trying too hard , you ’ re actually making yourself invisible . Or worse , you ’ ll fall behind your competition .
“ I think a lot of brands struggle with staying relevant ,” says Luxury Scotland CEO Dorothy Welsh .
“ The market moves so quickly , and consumer behaviours and expectations are constantly changing and the worry is always that you ' ll get left behind . Especially so during this past year . I really believe it ’ s now more important than ever to have an agile and flexible brand that can meet evolving consumer demand .”
Achieve that crystal clear positioning and you ’ ll have the ‘ DNA ’ to inform absolutely everything about your brand and apply a continuity and consistency to your marketing activity .
Jonathan Walker , Managing Director , Kaleidoscope Collection , agrees : “ Our brand voice is across everything ; our website , all of our marketing , social media and PR , including all our suppliers and partners . We question everything now – does it reflect our positioning ? Even our uniforms , menu styles – it all has to reflect our brand DNA .”
Does investment in your brand pay off ?
Absolutely . Evolving your positioning can help you attract new markets , new demographics and provide clarity and steer on how you should approach your marketing activity .
Investment in product , coupled with a brand repositioning led to significant results for the Kaleidoscope Collection .
“ The ADR uplift has been huge , the biggest I ’ ve ever known in any hotel I ’ ve ever worked with , for both hotels actually ,” enthuses Walker .
“ The step change in performance at The Bird especially is amazing , we ’ ve gone from around £ 110 a night to £ 190 .”
So , why should you be brave with your brand in 2022 ?
Being brave is actually the safest , wisest , thing to do . By comprehensively understanding your positioning and brand , you will know exactly where you sit relative to your competitors and perhaps most importantly , how to take the advantage .
About the author Mark Forrester is Chairman at 80 DAYS – a full service creative and digital marketing agency that specialises in hospitality .
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