Key Elements in Maintaining Brand Voice in the Hotel Industry

Content efforts must be uniform across all of marketing channels — starting with the website, all the way to ads, social media and beyond. Automating marketing efforts is plausible, but first it needs human intervention. Every brand must deliver a compelling brand image with the help of a well-structured strategy.

Maintaining a consistent brand voice in every marketing campaign for hotels is important. Below you can find the elements that constitute the voice of a brand.

Authenticity

Know your customer and once you establish a brand identity, maintain it. If your hotel aims to provide the service for as low a price as possible, then focus on highlighting this. Conversely, if you are a boutique hotel then sell the customer experience to make an emotional connection with your audience. The customer is at the centre of your strategy. How and what you communicate will depend on your customers and their expectations.

When developing an authentic voice think about:

• Who are your ideal guests? What makes them stay at your hotel?
• What type of communication style would attract guests? Think of adjectives you would use to describe the hotel.
• How do you position your hotel? Is your service designed to create an experience for the guest or provide value?
• How you position offers and promotions — hotels that always have multiple offers on the home page are going to be perceived as more of a commodity than a destination (which may be the right strategy, but you need to own it).

Consistency

Generally, the first platform for your content will be your website and it represents the foundation for all other marketing campaigns. When people click on your ads and land on your website, they should immediately feel like they are in the right place. Make sure that all your marketing efforts have an aligned brand voice and strategy, whether it’s your SEO, Facebook and Instagram ads, paid search, or email marketing.

If you’re a premium hotel that focuses on delivering experiences, a simple ad or email campaign that creates an image of luxury with impressive visuals. If you’re a hotel that caters to the bargain shopper, make sure your ads send a clear value-added proposition to prospective customers.

Freshness

Seasonality in the hotel industry means that adjustment may be needed throughout the year. In the off-season when demand dries up, you need to adapt your content strategy to appeal to an audience that is going to choose you over the competition. Maybe your hotel is located near a popular venue that hosts a yearly festival. Adapt your content strategy to target the audience that will be attending the festival.

This type of adjustment to your content strategy together with a clear brand voice at the core of your hotel’s identity will provide content that is relevant and fresh all around the year.

Visuals

Visuals are just as important as the text on a page. Visuals ensure a compelling delivery of your message in an easy and appealing format. This is especially true for hotels, since most of the times customer decisions are impacted by imagery.

For premium hotels, visuals need to create an emotion — empty architectural shots won’t do the trick. If you have an audience that values price, show them what they will get by choosing you. These are the strategies that separate poor marketing from well-performing marketing.