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| Creating a well-defined identity with a limited ad budget. Dear Melinda: Is it possible to have a strong brand identity for our hotel when we don’t spend all that much on advertising? Starbucks built one of the world’s great brands with virtually no advertising. Running ads will help to build brand awareness but it’s not the be-all and end-all of branding. Your hotel or chain logo is absolutely part of it, but branding is the sum total of all the images a consumer has of your property; all their experiences with you, all their feelings about you. It’s the intangible asset that helps to differentiate you from the hotel down the street. How someone feels about you is what drives brand loyalty. That’s why general hotel operations are as critical to brand building as your marketing department. In the hospitality business, smiles build brands as surely as slogans and taglines. And while you may not have a big ad budget, you can still build brand presence with a program of marketing materials that presents your hotel in a compelling and consistent fashion. This is what I call the uniform expression of your brand essence. It’s about decoding your hotel’s DNA and assembling a carefully designed identity program that captures who you are and helps to bring the world to your doorstep. It’s weaving all the strands of your personality into a focused program with a unique look and feel. It’s where your ad in the Yellow Pages resembles your CRM postcards, which remind people of the home page on your website, which meeting planners feel is similar in look and feel to your sales folio, which has all kinds of brochures, fact sheets and letters that work together to create a distinct, well-defined brand personality for your hotel or chain. No, it’s not as simple as just plopping your logo on everything. It’s about rallying around a focused brand strategy and making your hotel’s unique characteristics come alive in a way that will always be recognized as yours. Call me anytime. 407.694.5210 |
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