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Post COVID-19, a well-planned marketing strategy is imperative for the success of your hospitality property.
I will share tips to help you succeed.
Welcome to another edition of Hospitality Property School.
I am your instructor, Gerry MacPherson.
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If you have been listening to the Hospitality Property School Podcasts since the beginning and have been following some of the steps and recommendations, I know you have been seeing improvements in your property’s operation.
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Maybe you have not implemented all the changes yet and that is all right, many of these changes might feel dramatic so one step is fine. But it is important to stay the course and look at these suggestions and your property as a work in progress.
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As I had mentioned, today we are going to be talking about developing your marketing strategy. When it comes to most businesses, this topic is huge.
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I just don’t mean all the information available, but the importance of marketing your property correctly.
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If you are not getting heads in your beds consistently, then your marketing battle is going to be consistently uphill.
What is the point of a marketing strategy?
The point of marketing strategy is to generate business, and without one there is a good chance your business will wander.
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Think of it this way.
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You’re in a new city and you have to find a specific address. You do not have GPS or even a map. Yes, you might eventually find your address but will probably waste a lot of time and effort on the way.
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Another way to look at it is to think of the last time you bought a bookshelf from Ikea or the updated financial program for your computer.
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Did they come with step-by-step instructions?
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Think of your marketing strategy as step-by-step instructions for your company’s success.
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You have to have a written document laying out your game plan easy enough for most to follow.
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Imagine the mess if you or someone else was responsible for your marketing and some reason had to give up that responsibility. If a new person took over and did not have the plan, your plan, they would have to start from scratch.
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A huge waste of time and money.
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Your marketing strategy should be designed yearly, but that could be difficult if you’re in the middle of a day-to-day hospitality property operation. I recommend you take the time to step away from your business to work on it.
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After a few years, designing your marketing strategy becomes reviewing your marketing strategy; enhancing the platforms that are working, deleting the ones that are not, and researching the new exciting trends coming down the road.
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What are the benefits of having a marketing strategy?
A good marketing strategy get you noticed and should help you stand out from your competitors.
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A marketing strategy gives your employees something to be united behind. Companies sometimes underestimate the impact a “marketing strategy” has on their people.
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I have mentioned before it is important to make your employees part of the team, feel like owners, so you want them to engage and be excited about your marketing strategy. Employees don’t have to understand the financial projections but can get excited about a well-written and well-thought-out marketing strategy.
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Once developed, it is a good idea to release an abridged version of your marketing strategy to all your employees. If this is done with excitement, your employees will appreciate being involved and working to make your marketing strategy a success.
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I’ve heard some owners say that it is very difficult to plan a marketing strategy because things are consistently changing, it’s a waste of time. I’m here to tell you that if you don’t plan, you’re doomed; an imprecise marketing strategy is far better than no strategy at all.
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Are these make sense so far?
Let me know in the comments.
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Demographic questions
Guest demographic questions are an important aspect of any survey. These questions are designed to help you determine what factors may influence a respondent’s answers, interests, and opinions.
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Make sure you’re clear about the different types of questions. Here are some demographic questions to consider for your consumer market research survey:
- What is your age?
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- What is your gender?
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- What is your household size?
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- What is your household income?
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- What is your profession?
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- What is your education level?
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- Where do you live?
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These might look like very basic questions but they will give you the structure of your clientele and possible target market for you to consider.
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Psychographic questions
Psychographic questions are designed to give you more of an insight into your customers. You may want to ask about their interests, hobbies, opinions or anything else that will help you learn more about them.
Psychographics questions would be about:
- Personality
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- Values
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- Attitudes
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- Interests
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- Lifestyles
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Actually, with these questions, you want to go a little deeper. You want to know what companies your target guests like or recognize; for example:
- Restaurants
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- Clothing
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- Hotels
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In the next series of questions, you would customize the blanks to fit your property’s needs.
Buying Pattern Questions
- Do you ever purchase _______?
If so, who in your household makes the buying decision?
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- Where do you go when you are looking for _______?
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- How often do you purchase _______?
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- How long does it take you to make a buying decision?
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- What is your typical budget for _______?
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- How far would you travel to make the purchase?
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Benefit Questions
- What features do you look for when you purchase _______?
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- What specific benefits do you look for in _______?
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- What problems motivate you to purchase _______?
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- What needs are you trying to meet when you purchase _______?
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- How do you hope _______will make your life better?
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These questions can provide a jumping point for your target customer research efforts. Using the information you gather from your demographic and psychographic research will help you get a deeper connection with your target market and it won’t be long before you’ll have guests saying about your property…
“This is exactly what I like”.
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If you are a member of the Hospitality Property School Group, as a bonus, I am going to talk about nine steps to a strategic marketing plan.
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In conclusion
A good marketing plan outlines realistic marketing goals, strategies and actions based on sound information and research about your hospitality property and your community. But the plan is only as good as your commitment to implementing it, dedicating sufficient resources to the endeavour, involving your staff and communicating openly with them.
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The marketing plan should not merely be written, reviewed and put away on a shelf, instead, your hospitality property marketing plan should be an evolving blueprint that guides your efforts and monitors your success.
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We cover more on marketing in “The Guide to Owning & Operating a Hospitality Property – Successfully” book & course. You find more information at KeystoneHPD.com
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Do you have a market strategy plan in place for your property?
Let me know in the comments.
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You will have access to this episode for the next six weeks and then it’s locked in the vault for Hospitality Property School Group members only.
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To see all the other valuable material you’d have access to as a member of the Hospitality Property School Group, check out the short video in the episode post-show notes.
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In the next episode, I will talk about the most popular episodes of 2021.
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That’s it for today’s episode,
Until next time, have a fun day.
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Are you getting your weekly INNsider Tips? You can find the link in the show notes.
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⇒ TO READ OR LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE ON KEYSTONE HOSPITALITY PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT:
https://keystonehpd.com/how-to-develop-your-marketing-strategy-increase-bookings-272
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Post COVID-19 Action Plan
KeystoneHPD.com/PostCovid19ActionPlan
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Get Your INNsider Tips
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Join one of your private groups
https://keystonehpd.com/private-groups
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