When most hotel marketers think of public relations (PR), they think of one thing: pitching the media on a company’s rooms, amenities, packages, etc. But I’m here today to let you know that PR is more than just media relations….
Public relations for the hotel industry encompasses a vast, ever-expanding range of lifestyle PR efforts. From media relations, to FAM (familiarization) trips for media, to brand development and management and to crisis management, hotel marketers need to think outside the media relations box to ensure that their property is as visible as possible and that their reputation is positive and well-protected.
This article will examine two of these very important (and often underutilized) PR tactics that hotels should be implementing in their marketing strategy.
Brand management
Brand management is a “communication function in marketing that includes analysis and planning on how that brand is positioned in the market, which target public the brand is targeted at and maintaining a desired reputation of the brand.[i]” Brand management is an umbrella term that includes many different elements of a hotel marketer’s job description, including:
- Establishing a strong visual identity: This is a very important first step when launching a new hotel or brand because a strong visual identity will ensure that potential guests recognize and remember your company’s product or service. Brand recognition is the first step in developing brand loyalty, which will be especially important for hotels that are located in a very competitive tourism industry. To create a strong visual identity, it is important to be consistent with all visual elements of the brand across all mediums. Use a strong, visually appealing logo and keep all colors and fonts consistent across all of your marketing materials.
- Marketing and advertising: Many hotel marketers don’t realize the importance of brand management in all marketing and advertising activities. Marketing materials and advertisements are an important vehicle for delivering both your visual brand identity and communicating your company’s key messages.
- Media relations:The same goes for PR. Because PR is designed to create and maintain the relationship between a company and its key audience(s), consistency in messaging and tactics is also very important to maintaining a strong brand.
What brand management can accomplish for your hotel:
- Generate awareness: A consistent brand image creates understanding of your property’s offerings and “personality”, which will be appealing to potential guests.
- Reinforce values: Ensure your customers know what you have to offer them.
- Establishes market position: An effective, consistent brand will firmly enforce your property’s position in the destination in which you are located. It will establish you as a leader in the industry.
- Communicates identity: Brand management ensures that your hotel’s name, logo, messaging and design elements are aligned to create a recognizable identity for your hotel.
Without effective brand management, a hotel’s messaging can be diluted to the point that it is confusing or forgettable for potential guests. This could result in a decrease in sales or even a loss in consumer trust and reputation. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a strong, consistent brand can help a property to increase bookings and consumer brand loyalty drastically, which can yield significant increases in revenues.
Issues and Crisis Management
Today, it is not enough for hotels to react in the event of a crisis; instead, hotels must proactively create a robust, well thought-out plan to deal with unexpected problems/crises. Through crisis management planning, a property can be better prepared to handle unforeseen events that may cause serious damage to their reputation. Effectively handling a crisis will not only maintain stakeholder trust, but it is also likely to positively impact a property’s bottom line.
A crisis management plan requires advance preparation of safety and security initiatives, procedures that must be followed in the event of a crisis, selecting a media spokesperson with very strong media training experience and drafting key messages – all of which must be available at a moment’s notice when a problem arises. A hotel’s crisis management strategy should consider possible health and safety issues around food and drink, pest infestation, building damage, disease outbreaks, local environmental issues and guest security, among any other local and property-related issues that may apply.
As a whole, public relations activities will strengthen your hotel’s reputation and brand. Executing a good public relations campaign that includes effective brand and crisis management is imperative to a hotel’s success. As the scope of public relations continues to develop further, hoteliers must continue to adapt and take advantage of not just media relations as a PR tactic, but also brand and crisis management, which can have a tremendous impact on a property’s credibility and profitability over the long run.
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_management
About the author
Jennifer Nagy, President of jlnpr, is a seasoned public relations professional with a passion for the hospitality industry. At jlnpr, she works with companies to increase awareness of their property/product and get their story in front of the audiences that will have a direct impact on their bottom line. jlnpr works with international travel clients in the travel technology, hotel, airline, cruise and meeting/event industries.To find out more about brand and crisis management, please visit www.jlnpr.com or contact Jennifer at jenn@jlnpr.com.
