The cutthroat competitive hotel industry requires hospitality service providers to get more creative with their advertising and marketing strategies.
Due to the high number of players in the market, it is necessary for companies to stand out amidst the competition. In recent years, a large set of new and traditional players have emerged with brilliant marketing campaigns angling for attention from their target audience.
Unique best practices in hotel marketing
Below, you will find a list of just a few of the brilliant marketing campaigns developed in the past two years that set a new standard for how marketing should be correctly done.
Using films to deliver the brand experience
Video tends to engage an audience at much higher level than any other type of content. As a great multimedia medium that is so appealing to the customers, video has been heavily used by the hotels across the industry to achieve the desired effect on the customers.
The Marriott experience
The movie Two Bellmen was filmed at the JW Marriott in LA last year and in many ways changed the game for the brand's visibility, gaining more than 5 million YouTube views. The same thing can be said about several other films they have produced encouraging travelers and young generations to visit and enjoy the Marriott experience.
The Shangri-La destination
Shangri-La created a short movie as an indispensable part of their Christmas campaign titled 'A World of Christmas Warmth,' featuring a beautiful story of a Christmas star traveling to the Earth in 15-second episodes, with every episode showing a new Shangri-La destination.
Using hashtags for staying on the radar of the consumers
Staying on people's radars means getting their attention, which today means integrating messages on social media. Hotel marketers have leveraged hashtag trends to accomplish exactly this. Examples include:
- - Loews Hotels: #TravelForReal campaign (showcasing on-location guests having experiences)
- - Fairmont: #FairmontMoments campaign (highlighting stories form guests)
- - JW Marriott: #TravelBrilliantly (a crowd-sourcing campaign)
Making loud and clear statements on podcasts
Hotels should not give up the opportunities presented by emerging media formats such as podcasts, which are growing in popularity especially with younger demographics. If implemented correctly, storytelling in the audio formats can hook potential visitors.
This was recently exemplified by InterContinental Hotels and their campaign ‘Stories of the InterContinental Life.’ The podcast series was set in three different destinations around the world, exploring guest experiences and the rich imagery of international travel.
Turning users into brand advocates by leveraging user-generated campaigns
There is no marketing force greater than the force of word-of-mouth marketing. This has become a major part of travel marketing. The examples below show how to best implement this strategy:
Loews Hotels and Resorts launched a campaign in the year 2015 with the tagline 'Because nobody tells our story better than you do.' The idea behind the campaign was simple: use guest photos on-site and Instagram-style posts to allow real customers to describe their experiences. Honest, real, and relatable, the campaign trended under the hashtag #travelforreal, with pictures of the guests on a microsite. Simple, yet, brilliant!
Conclusion
In the present world of chaos and rapid decisions, it’s simply a must to stand out and to make a difference. Brands must constantly adapt their marketing strategies to beat out the pack and bolster branding by the use of totally new media tools. Brand engagement campaigns implemented on the digital platforms are considered the best practice available in the hospitality sector. Prioritizing customer experience is both cost-efficient and effective way to conquer the customers’ hearts. So, the chances are it will only grow in popularity.
