Chapter 9

Communicating the offer

Lecture objectives Understand the primary role of marketing

communication in communicating the hospitality offer

Explain the marketing communication process

Evaluate each element of the hospitality communication mix

Understand the role of offline and online promotion

Plan a marketing communication campaign

IntroductionCommunicating the offer known as:

Promotion, the promotional mix, communication, the communication mix, customer communication or marketing communication

The public thinks – wrongly – it is only advertising and selling

Providing pre-encounter marketing mix meets target market needs, communicating offer should raise awareness, influence expectations and ultimately increase sales and profits

Sometimes companies think that marketing communication campaigns can compensate for deficiencies in other elements of the marketing mix

But if the offer does not satisfy customers, marketing communications is a waste of resources leading to problems with unhappy customers and negative word-of-mouth

The Internet has enabled organizations to perform both marketing communication and distribution activities online

Contemporary communications In the past, companies tried to control what was said about their

products/brands by dominating communication channels

Today, companies realize message control is impossible to achieve sophisticated contemporary consumers/customers ability to access information from multiple sources including online

Customer communications: bilateral or multilateral dialogue using face-to-face, phone, email, text, webform, blogs, discussion forums, comparison travel shopping websites and social network communities

Online communications described as: business-to-customer and business-to-consumer communication

(b2c) customers-to-companies (c2b) consumer-to-consumer (c2c)

Companies no longer control product, brand and corporate messaging, and this creates challenges in promoting or protecting a product

Three communication strategiesTo inform

Customers must be aware of marketing offers Need to build brand awareness and product knowledge Awareness of key brands researched Communication objectives raise brand awareness

To persuade Brand-aware consumers still need to be persuaded to buy the

company’s hospitality product Consumers have choice and many competitors to chose from Hospitality marketers need to persuade target audiences to buy their

product instead of the competitors’ offer Marketers stimulate buyer behaviour and offer incentives to book

To build relationships with target audiences Generating repeat and referral sales is crucial Hospitality companies use a combination of online and offline

communications with customers (e.g. loyalty club members) Customer databases hold customer information ICT systems generate automated marketing communications Customer relationship management (CRM) and campaign

management

Target audience

Starting point for communications activity to establish who the target audience is:

In hospitality, the target audience is: end-users intermediaries key people in DMU (decision-making unit)

Different target audiences: have different characteristics have different information needs are exposed to different media, therefore different communication

channels and messaging strategies are used to reach each audience

Marketing communication process

Sender = hospitality organization communicating with target audience Target audience (receiver) = end-users, influencers, decision-makers,

gatekeepers or intermediaries

Target audience is precisely defined to ensure marketing communication reaches the right people cost effectively

Noise = communications from other sources (people and organizations) competing for the target audience’s attention and interfering with the sender’s message

Message = content that sender wants to communicate to the target audience

Media = various communication channels that senders can use to communicate with target audiences

Feedback = audience tells the sender whether communication objectives have been achieved

See Figure 9.1

Figure 9.1 The communication process

AIDA

Framework (AIDA) ensure that messaging decisions move audiences towards purchase

AIDA: Attention – the message should grab the target audience’s attention Interest – the message should arouse the target audience’s interest Desire – the message should stimulate desire so that the target audience

wants to experience the product Action – the message should encourage the target audience actually to take

action now, such as call a reservation number, click on a website or make a booking

Message contentMessage content depends on campaign objectives, target audience characteristics, and knowledge of hospitality product

Three types of message:

Rational messages appeal to target audience’s practical mindset effective in markets where end-user has tangible requirements (business

markets) provides factual answers to reassure target audience

Emotional messages explicitly designed to arouse consumers’ passions/interest effective in dining out and leisure markets

Moral messages linked to consumers’ belief and value systems moral message is spiritual or ethical religious organizations’ dedicated hospitality facilities for fellow believers some hotels/restaurants promote their environmental or ethical beliefs

Message format Messages received using our senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and

touch

Message format – actual design of website, advertisement, brochure, press release, sales promotion, PR activity and sales visits

Creativity essential in message formatting to stand out from competing messages

Website format includes page layout, text, visuals, embedded audio or video files, links to external sites, opportunities for interactivity and visitor engagement; crucially, ease of navigation and simple-to-use e-commerce functionality so that potential buyers are able to book

Print advertisements and brochure format includes size, shape, layout, copy and illustrations

Publicity needs a gimmick or storyline that creates interest

Personalcommunication channels

Personal communication refers to people who are directly communicating to each other:

face-to-face in a meeting telephone or via PC/video-conferencing email, text, web collaboration, fax or mail

Advantages to personal communication:

personal interaction – by directly talking with customers and influencers; opportunity for dialogue so customer can ask questions about the brands and products

company can find out more about specific customer needs and wants

Non-personalcommunication channels

Non-personal communication channels include all online and offline print, broadcast and display tools

Non-personal communication channels cannot personalize interaction, and so is not guaranteed to capture the attention and respond to concerns of the target audience

Design and production of mediated communications need specialist suppliers, such as design companies, advertising agencies, print companies and PR agencies

Agencies offer creative expertise in copywriting, graphics, photography, radio, television and online advertising

Agencies provide advice and professional services in delivering marketing communication campaigns

Figure 9.2 The hospitality communication mix

Projecting brand image Quality and design communications material reflect/project desired brand

positioning to target audiences

The colour, photographs, graphic design, style of copywriting and quality of materials used influences consumers’ perception of hospitality brand

Online and offline marketing collateral need to complement each other to project consistent brand position

Intranet technology enables hospitality chains to deliver brand-consistent marketing communications across all units

Brand manual and brand standards provided via intranet digital format, standardized sizes/layouts for logos, brand identities, adverts, print material and signage

Online database of marketing assets: photographs, marketing campaigns and press releases, support current marketing activity (online brand library)

Unit planning a marketing communications campaign accesses the Intranet, customizes promotional material, inputs menus, prices, dates, contact details

Figure 9.3 Guest preference form

Print materialPrint material for individual hospitality units includes:

stationery brochures, tariff and price lists menus and wine lists conference brochures wedding brochures function menus promotional material for the sales team in-room information (hotel facilities and in-room service menus) special product brochures special price promotional flyers newsletters

Print material produced for branded chains includes: corporate directory listing all branded units in the country, region or world corporate leisure breaks brochure corporate conference brochure group business brochure targeting tour operators corporate sales teams’ sales support material corporate newsletters loyalty club leaflets, application forms special promotions

Figure 9.4 Langan’s Brasserie menu

Figure 9.4 Continued

Sales force

Sales includes telesales team and face-to-face contact by sales team

Employing salespeople is expensive, costs include: salary, commission and bonuses; travel and accommodation costs; professional presentation equipment; mobile/laptop to demonstrate products, locations, prices; and administrative support

Personal selling is the most expensive form of marketing communication

Major hotel companies employ extensive worldwide face-to-face sales teams and telesales support

Small hospitality companies do not employ salespeople, but the outward-looking owner/manager can perform this role

Advertising Advertising is any paid-for mass communication in the media, owned by third

parties Advertising reaches wide audiences, but ratio readers, listeners, viewers who

are potential customers is relatively small Therefore, advertising is relatively expensive, and difficult to measure its

effectiveness Company controls message content, message format and message source There are legal, voluntary and social constraints that advertisers need to

recognize Most hospitality advertising is aimed at consumer and business markets

The following media is used in advertising campaigns: online media newspapers, magazines, tourist board publications, guide books broadcast media (radio, cinema and television) outdoor media (billboards and posters) ambient media (buses, taxis, over-ground and underground trains, gas

and petrol stations)

Media selection depends on campaign’s marketing communication objectives, the audience, the medium delivers, and the available budget

Figure 9.5 Magazine advert targeting the family market

Sales promotion and point-of-sale

Primary role sales promotion and point-of-sale material is to stimulate short-term or immediate sales

Hospitality organizations use POS for: new product launches (to attract trial purchase) during low and shoulder periods (to boost demand) customer contact points (to promote in-house offers)

Effective sales promotions are designed in advance

Many sales promotions are bundled products at attractive prices, with more value for customer

Design and pricing of packaged sales promotions must be: carefully targeted competitive (competitors will plan their own sales promotion) costed – both the level of the discount and the promotional costs creative! for a fixed time period only

Figure 9.6 Point-of-sale collateral

Public relations (PR) Aim of PR is to generate positive publicity in media; ‘free’ publicity, because

space and time are not bought

Effort, creativity and networking required to generate media coverage is not cheap

PR profession (structured career pathway, formal examinations)

Major hospitality corporations employ PR managers in head offices

Corporate PR role includes: managing publicity aimed at financial stakeholders and political bodies crisis management (e.g. when a case of food poisoning is reported in the

media) promoting corporate image and specific brands

PR needs activities, events, ‘human interest stories’ that generate brand awareness and raise brand image

Success measured by print column inches and air time minutes, but sales generated by PR are difficult to measure

Sponsorship Sponsorship used with PR to obtain publicity

Major component in financing sports, arts, cultural activities and events

Football teams, tennis stars, golf tournaments, music festivals, art exhibitions, literary events, etc., depend on other organizations for financial support

Hospitality companies provide financial donations or complimentary services such as accommodation in sponsorship arrangement for publicity

Sponsored activities promote the name of sponsor on clothes, equipment, posters and vehicles during the event

Sponsorship is the focus of a marketing communications campaign

Key customers invited to sponsored event as VIPs

Cost of sponsorship linked to media coverage generated

Direct marketing Direct marketing (DM) is direct-to-consumer communication direct mail,

door drops, SMS (text messaging), email promotions

DM informs and persuades customers to respond to offer

DM in larger companies use loyalty club data for regular communications; also popular with smaller hospitality businesses

Leaflets, newsletters and seasonal greeting cards are cost effective and help maintain customer relationships

DM is powerful marketing communication tool: company has complete control of the message, medium and timing of

its delivery customers and prospective customers are precisely targeted message easily personalized removes intermediaries and commissions impact of the DM campaign has immediate results costs and return from a DM campaign can be measured

Planning marketingcommunication campaigns

1. Set objectives2. Set budget3. Define target audience4. Agree marketing communication

strategies and tactics5. Plan implementation6. Measure results of the campaign

Marketing communication budgets

Affordable small hospitality operators make promotional decisions on what is

affordable owners respond to media offers, make judgments on ‘gut instinct’

Percentage of sales many hospitality businesses set marketing budgets as a percentage of

last year’s or next year’s sales ‘norm’ for marketing costs depends on hospitality sector problem that communication budget is not linked to business needs

Marketing communication budgets (continued)

Competitive parity major hospitality brands fight for market share significant marketing communication activity aware of competitors communication campaigns competitive parity budget concept based on spending a similar amount

of money on marketing communication activity as competitors if competitor tries to increase share of voice (SOV) by increasing

budget, then competitors match increase in spending to maintain their SOV

Objective and task objective and task approach adopts systematic method by setting

objectives and agreeing the marketing communications tasks needed to deliver those objectives

costs are calculated on communication activities marketing communication budget agreed too complex for smaller companies preferred method of larger organizations

Push and pull strategies Alternative strategies for managing sales via intermediaries

Push strategy prioritizes intermediaries as the main target audience

Marketing communication activities focus on intermediaries who expected to influence end-users buy brand

Pull strategy prioritizes marketing communication activity to end-users

Aims to make brand customer’s first choice by direct decision, or when discussing requirements with intermediary

See Figure 9.7

Figure 9.7 Push and pull strategies

Measuring the results Effective measurement of results based on setting measurable marketing

communication objectives

Marketing research measurements (brand awareness/image) companies employ market research agencies to establish current levels of

awareness and image before campaign starts provides benchmark setting a measurable objective during/after campaign, agency uses same research methods to establish changes

in levels of brand awareness and brand image

Response measurement and ROI measurable behavioural response as measure of effectiveness calls to the contact centre, website visitors, coupon redemptions, competition

entries, bookings many people/processes involved in monitoring and reporting behavioural

response reservations department, or the telesales bureau, record number of bookings online promotions and bookings are easily monitored using appropriate

technology advertisements ask consumers to quote a code when calling for more information

However, some campaigns stimulate lots of interest and few sales – so conversion ratio of turning enquiries into bookings is critical

Conclusion

Marketers are responsible for communicating the hospitality offer

Most visible part of marketing

Managing a communication campaign involves:

agreeing available budget

setting campaign objectives

delivering a consistent message across all elements of campaign

creativity increases effectiveness of campaign

agencies provide professional, specialist marketing communication services

marketing communication activities should be measured and evaluated

References and further reading Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., Johnston, K. and Mayer, R. (2006). Internet

Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. Lander, N. (2009). ‘Beware the Small Print’. Financial Times, April 25/26, Arts and

Weekend, p. 4. McCabe, S. (2009). Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality:

Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Butterworth-Heinemann. Morgan, N. and Pritchard, A. (2000). Advertising in Tourism and Leisure. Butterworth-

Heinemann. Reich, A. Z. (1997). Marketing Management for the Hospitality Industry. John Wiley Shoard, C. (2007). ‘I have a lot of curiosity’. Financial Times, June 23/24, Life and Arts,

p. 3. Smith, P. R. (1995). Marketing Communication: An Integrated Approach. Kogan Page TRI HotStats. (2010). TRI Hospitality Consulting. London: TRI. Wai-sum Siu, W.-S. and Fung, M.-Y. (1998). ‘Hotel advertisements in China: a content

analysis’. Journal of Professional Services Marketing (now published as: Services Marketing Quarterly), 17 (2), pp. 99–108.

Yeshin, T. (1998). Integrated Marketing Communications. Butterworth-Heinemann. Zeithaml, V. A. and Bitner, M. J. (2003). Services Marketing (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.