Why Marketing Consistency Matters for Hotels

Human beings love consistency. Consistency is as comforting as our routines: it is constant, remains the same and makes us feel secure. This idea is no different when applied to a hotel company’s marketing strategy. A consistent marketing presence is a key factor in building a stronger, longer-lasting connection and relationship with guests, because it helps them get to know you over time and trust that you are who you say you are, and that you can deliver what you say you can deliver.   Your brand is the touchpoint where everything comes together. It is the heart of your business and, much like a person’s own identity, it reveals who you are to guests. Whether someone takes a look at your Instagram account or lands on your website and scrolls through the pages for a minute or two, every part of your content and marketing should be consistent and reflect one another: this applies to imagery, tone, copywriting—in short, everything.

Breaking Down Barriers Between Your Marketing and Potential Guests This Year

There are several things to consider in 2022, and even more reasons why it is so important to keep monitoring and ensuring that your marketing activity remains consistent across the board. Changes and developments around cookie-free tracking, Apple’s privacy measures, and user-level tracking by Facebook and Google simply mean that more thought, care and strategy will be required to continue reaching the people you need to reach. The daunting pandemic we have experienced has also affected our attitude towards marketing and brands, as some of us have experienced shifting attention spans and pandemic fatigue. All of these external factors affect how we interact with brands and information, particularly amid the vast online landscape. If you consider the fact that attention spans may be shortening somewhat, it makes sense to ensure that all elements of your company’s brand consistently reflect one another, so that potential guests are not confused or left having to connect the dots. We are all consumers, and as consumers, did you know that many of us see thousands of advertisements every day? With an overwhelming majority of people using ad blockers, it is clear that we do not want to be bombarded with irrelevant content every hour. However, when we are targeted with an advertisement for something relevant—for example, a hotel getaway offer that meets our needs—it is crucial to hold our attention and ensure that our perception of that hotel is built consistently and positively through a cohesive brand presence. Consistency will help make you memorable and inspire trust. According to Forbes, consistent brands are worth 20% more than those with inconsistent messaging.

How Can You Ensure Your Marketing Remains Consistent?

Brand Guidelines

Your brand guidelines should encompass everything related to your brand: your tone of voice, colour palette, visual style, writing style, the platforms on which you want to communicate, your logo and other assets, as well as the format and frequency of communication. All key members of your team should have access to these guidelines and be familiar with their content. Every type of marketing message—for example, an offer, a landing page, a social media post or an email campaign—should be aligned in tone and visual style. These guidelines are therefore essential so that everyone involved knows how to communicate consistently. You should also decide how frequently you will publish each type of communication.

Content Calendar

Having a content calendar, as well as strong oversight of your marketing assets, will help streamline your activity and give you the breathing room to plan and organise things effectively. Once you have established your plans and gathered all marketing assets in one place, it will be easier to create at least the core elements of your activity—whether social media posts, email campaigns or other materials—and ensure that all of your content aligns seamlessly. This is also helpful because, if you can see the copy and visual layout of, for example, your offer landing page alongside your social media posts, you will be able to identify inconsistencies and ensure that all the right elements are aligned before anything goes live.

Visualise Your Target Guest to Deliver the Right Message

Consistent messaging goes hand in hand with accurate targeting. There is little value in being consistent with your message if that message is wasted on the wrong people. Taking another look at your target guests—perhaps by analysing your databases from the past two years—and ensuring that your content as a whole is designed to appeal to them will go a long way towards supporting the consistency you are trying to build. You can develop target guest profiles through research, surveys and interviews with a range of existing guests, prospects and others outside your contact database who may align with your target audience.

Cross-Channel Consistency Will Require Solid Investment

This year, it will also be crucial to recognise that consistent investment in your marketing campaigns will be by far the smartest route to take. Because we do not really know exactly what lies ahead, you will need to remain flexible with your budgets and account for potential changes that may need to be made throughout the year, depending on the ever-changing world in which we live. It is very important that, even during quieter periods when people are not travelling as much, you maintain a consistent marketing presence. Guests can still see you, still dream, and still search for their next holiday or upcoming trip.