A Whiskey Tale

Excellent video, and we created a video of our hotel in Glasgow: www.kelvingrove-hotel.co.uk, wich we think is rather good!

I love it! Stories are the lifeblood of your brand. Its what gives you your edge. Yea its intangible, but they are so powerful! People latch on to stories, for the same reason they buy houses with "character". Yes you still have to be distinctive, you still have to be competitive, and you still have to market that story, but the story gives your band life, and shows the emotion behind why you do what you do...

There are two things - and only two things - that people value and buy. This has been true from the beginning of time: 1) Solutions 2) Good Feelings What happens in the buzzing and booming confusion of the marketplace, is the reliance upon the fiction that it is only the solutions that matter. The good feelings are seen as just coming from the fact of the solutions being real. But while the solutions are the facts, the good feelings are the emotional involvement. The facts get you considered, but the emotions of how you feel when you use it or choose it are where loyalty come from and live. In this difficult market, every day GMs and senior executives focus on the short term ecomonics to the exclusion of those "soft" and "emotional" considerations that are seen as too far removed from making the cash register ring tomorrow. But when you discount instead of adding value, it is the future of your brand you are sacrificing for pennies in the register today. That is a false choice. This video tells the emotional tale of the Walkers, and their admonition to "Keep Walking" shows that even more than when times are good, you need to keep focusing on your story and developing your emotional story, because that is where your future revenue will be coming from. Thanks for a great link - and warning about the "random acts of marketing" - great piece.

"The message" remains only the first part of the story for any potential success........delivery of the promise, where it is desired by a guest, is where you win the customer, and if interest in that has been curtailed or 'savings' have been made that alter that possibility, and it is not experienced, regardless of the medium, the message, and future business, will be lost.

"Random Acts of Marketing" That should be the title of this post Scott! I love it. But you know what - it's not the current economic crisis that's causing this. Far to many hoteliers practice RAoM in good times and bad. As you so aptly put it - "Many in the industry have focused only on that which is directly in front of them, without regard for their actions’ long-term consequences." Their MO remains the same regardless of what is happening in the economy.

Nicely stated Scott. There's also that sense of panic that the hoteliers might be missing out; that the marketing grass is greener on Twitter.

I couldnt agree more!! I just had a conversation with some executives regarding the extreme overall ADR decline in our market recently. Desperate times call for desperate measures but perhaps the times would not be so desperate if we hadn’t taken to such desperate measures.

Great post! This is one thing that many companies struggle with in these times, not only in the hotel industry. Your brand is your core. Stick to it no matter what situation is thrown your way.