The importance of perception in your brand

Good brands are always related to positive emotions. They sell an experience, a dream.

Focus on why people should choose you. You cannot change your location but you can work on your unique selling points. When it comes to hotels my ideas are very clear, you can’t neglect the ties with the local community, products, culture and history.

And as it is all about perception what about contributing to the environment with actions to protect the environment, not only in your local area but overall.

Hilton has been one of the first brands to take a very nice initiative and recycle soap.

But there are many more than can be done by cleaning beaches, and streets, you can join forces with specific associations or simply organise a care day with your team.

Of course, don’t fake to have principles that you don’t have, just ask yourself what you want to be known for.

 

Sketch a plan

State your mission, vision and slogan

The reason why so many companies fail, not only hotels, is because of boundless ambition. No one dreams to be the number 2 in the market or the number 10. Hard work has always brought its results, don’t look for shortcuts, be consistent.

 

State your values

I see more and more brands who state 4, or 5 values maybe just because it is a common practice but those words and concepts sometimes are not even values and they are not coherent among them. It is not surprising how these brands are losing important parts of their market shares.

This part will become fundamental in the phase of recruiting and staff retention.

Your staff is implicitly your representative and your ambassador even when they mistreat your customers! These are the people that you have chosen to represent you, maybe trained. They talk about you even when they are talking about something else!

If they are not aligned with your vision, your mission and your values, this is not the time to sack them. Before blaming them, ask yourself what you have transmitted of the 3 above elements if any.

 

Naming

Be concise. Don’t force too much information in your name. Be different but do not be pedant!

 

Logo

Be consistent. There are many interesting and published studies on this subject. I have found this pic online that can provide you with some good hints.

 

Comp Set study

You can’t ignore them. Learn from them, learn from their success and their failures. Just don’t copy them, that would be useless.

 

Define your target persona

Fundamental. Shooting in the pile is not really a strategy. Every company has a market. Focus on who you are and who might be interested in what you offer.

 

define roles and task

Don’t hire professionals to tell them what to do or ask them the impossible. Your action plan should always be achievable. Aiming for the stars is not a way to motivate people, on the contrary, your staff will understand that you are not intellectually honest or they won’t take you seriously. Do they have the tools to accomplish what you propose to do?

 

Costs

You don’t need to spend a fortune. Most of your actions will bring their fruits in the long term and consider that many actions are free of charge. Your employees and your customers will do that for you if you maintain your promises.

Deadlines

This is the famous T of the SMART principle: Time-bound.

Press Releases

To be done and updated with the progression of your product.

 

Website

I will never stress it enough, this is your business card! Don’t neglect it. Especially for hotels, this is a crucial selling and marketing tool. It is sadly and systematically neglected by many, too many properties. It is not only a matter of resources. Sometimes also branded hotels display typos and obsolete information on their websites.