Have you ever walked through a noisy city and a beating drum or lively music captures your attention? You stop for a moment to enjoy a street performance and you end up sharing this story with others.
Like being in that city, travelers these days are inundated by noise. The abundance of promotional emails, social media ads and commercials makes it harder than ever to garner attention. Just as that beating drum pulled you in, a clearly defined brand that delivers a unique and meaningful experience will get guests talking and help your hotel rise above the noise. You can spend time and money creating a great marketing campaign, but without that brand foundation, marketing efforts alone will struggle to break through.
Great Experiences Stem From a Strong Brand Foundation
Amazing customer experiences are not random. They happen because a thoughtfully defined brand strategy informs all aspects of the experience — from the tone you take in messaging to the values you represent in every interaction.
Creating a strong brand starts with a sound positioning strategy that clearly defines your target audience. You must deeply understand what’s important to them and design your experience to not only address their rational needs, but also create an emotional connection by fulfilling their needs in ways that no others can. This is your brand promise.
Once this cornerstone is established, it requires collaboration and consistent brand representation across departments — in operations, marketing, sales, human resources, IT and even extending to third-party partnerships to bring the customer experience to life. When everything supports your brand positioning and works in concert, customers can feel it and they will tell others. Your marketing is made stronger when customers help spread your message.
Customers Give Brands Credit When It All Comes Together
There’s much we can learn about customer experience from brands outside of hospitality. For example, people want high-quality, fashionable prescription glasses without breaking the bank. Warby Parker offers seamless experiences that make it easy and fun for shoppers to find the perfect pair. The Warby Parker brand stands for style, affordability and ease, and the company fulfills that brand promise by ensuring customer-facing and behind-the-scenes employees deliver on this promise at every step of the customer journey. It’s no surprise Warby Parker consistently garners 5-star reviews with a Net Promoter Score in the 80s and 90s.
Ace Hardware has more than 5,800 locally owned stores and every store represents the customer-friendly brand promise of being helpful every day. Rather than stocking everything you could imagine, Ace seeks to understand and stock what local customers need. And employees are clearly identifiable with their signature red vests, making it easy for customers to get the help they need and feel important in the process. It’s no wonder that Ace Hardware has earned JD Power’s highest ranking for customer service for 16 of the last 17 years.
Turning back to hospitality, TripAdvisor, has more than one billion reviews on its platform. Research by Phocuswright indicates that 83% of customers say reviews help them pick the right hotel and 80% read at least six to 12 reviews before booking. If eight out of 10 people are choosing a hotel based on what others are saying about their experience, clearly delivering consistent, memorable experiences is a powerful marketing tool.
Thoughtful, well-defined experiences that pay off your brand promise encourage guests to share positive stories online, organically growing your brand reputation and maximizing your marketing dollars.
Employees Are an Important Part of Your Marketing Efforts
Just as with Warby Parker and Ace Hardware, every one of your team members plays a crucial role in delivering the brand promise across the customer journey, bringing to life your brand’s values in their day-to-day work.
Empower and train your team to understand your brand offering so that they become its most authentic and enthusiastic advocates. Illustrate through specific examples how their individual contributions can create a positive and engaging experience that connects in meaningful ways that earn high praise from customers. When employees connect with the purpose behind the brand, that essence shines through whether it’s in how they greet a guest, clean a room, or manage a guest issue. Importantly, take the time to recognize and reward employees to demonstrate your appreciation to them for delivering on your brand promise.
Start Beating Your Drum
Your brand experience reflects an ongoing commitment to delivering on your guests’ rational and emotional needs every day. Done right, this effort will put your brand center stage in guests’ minds and lead to positive reviews that amplify your marketing message to the world.
Just like with the street performers who deliver captivating experiences, your total brand experience is the drumbeat that can be heard above all else.
Karen McSteen is principal of consulting firm brandMatters and a member of the International Society of Hotel Consultants.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.