How to Maximize Your In-Hotel Marketing
Many marketing and advertising initiatives that companies take part in are focused on gaining new customers. When advertising campaigns are designed for the external audience, we are often forgetting to market to those audiences that already are doing business with us. These are the customers that are in your businesses right now. Whether it be a customer’s first time visiting your establishment, or maybe it is a longtime customer that visits you weekly, customers are paying attention to what’s around them while in your establishment. Shouldn’t you continuously be marketing to them while they are in your business? You already have a willing audience.
Think about it. Do your customer’s know all you have to offer if you aren’t telling them? From the table top marketing pieces on your restaurant table promoting your gift card special, to the 2 for 1 offers on door clings at your local gym, these are just two ways a business can market to their consumers while they are in their business. In today’s blog post we are going to focus on a particular industry, the hotel industry, and how the in-hotel accessories most hotels have can be further marketing their business.
My favorite way to market and advertise a hotel in a guest’s room is with the guest directory. A guest directory, when done well, is an effective marketing tool for a business. An attractively designed guest directory has a good chance of being picked up and opened up to see what’s inside. Knowing this make sure your hotel directory is not only including your wi-fi passwords and TV channel guides, but also including the extras and amenities of your hotel. Consider even offering an incentive for reading the directory such as 10% off in your hotel gift shop.
What’s great about a guest directory, is even though it is a sales and marketing tool for the hotel, with the information contained in it customers are more than likely not feeling advertised to. A guest directory will help guests feel like a more informed customer of the hotel.
A branded piece that can protect your desk and table surfaces, but can also provide an opportunity for marketing in your conference rooms, are desk blotters. Conference rooms tend to have nice table surfaces that you don’t want to damage, and even if it is ok to write on, often the surfaces are hard to do so. This is where you bring in the desk blotter. Desk blotters can come in numerous styles, sizes and colors, and also can be branded with your logo and hotel name. Why is this branding important? Consider that some of the conference attendees may not be staying at your hotel, or may not even know about your hotel brand. A nice branded piece will convey a positive image to a consumer, and help build a positive perception of your hotel. If your marketing is done right, next time when they are looking for a place to stay, they will remember their experience with your hotel and you may have an opportunity to earn their business!
In the above post we only mentioned two of the ways that you can use your hotel accessories to effectively market your hotel. Remember getting customers in the door is the hard part. Now that they are in the door, why not let them know all you can do for them. Use in-hotel marketing to maximize your brand exposure!
