Transcript Marketing Communication

Chapter 9
Communicating the offer
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Understand the primary role of marketing
communication in communicating the hospitality offer
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Explain the marketing communication process
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Evaluate each element of the hospitality
communication mix
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Understand the role of offline and online promotion
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Plan a marketing communication campaign
Communicating the offer known as:
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Promotion, the promotional mix, communication, the communication mix,
customer communication or marketing communication
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The public thinks – wrongly – it is only advertising and selling
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Providing pre-encounter marketing mix meets target market needs,
communicating offer should raise awareness, influence expectations and
ultimately increase sales and profits
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Sometimes companies think that marketing communication campaigns can
compensate for deficiencies in other elements of the marketing mix
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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
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The Internet has enabled organizations to perform both marketing
communication and distribution activities online
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In the past, companies tried to control what was said about their
products/brands by dominating communication channels
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Today, companies realize message control is impossible to achieve
 sophisticated contemporary consumers/customers
 ability to access information from multiple sources including online
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Customer communications: bilateral or multilateral dialogue using faceto-face, phone, email, text, webform, blogs, discussion forums,
comparison travel shopping websites and social network communities
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Online communications described as:
 business-to-customer and business-to-consumer communication
(b2c)
 customers-to-companies (c2b)
 consumer-to-consumer (c2c)
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Companies no longer control product, brand and corporate messaging,
and this creates challenges in promoting or protecting a product
To 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
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
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Sender = hospitality organization communicating with target audience
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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
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Noise = communications from other sources (people and organizations)
competing for the target audience’s attention and interfering with the
sender’s message
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Message = content that sender wants to communicate to the target
audience
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Media = various communication channels that senders can use to
communicate with target audiences
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Feedback = audience tells the sender whether communication objectives
have been achieved
See Figure 9.1
Figure 9.1 The communication process
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
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Message 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
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Messages received using our senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and
touch
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Message format – actual design of website, advertisement, brochure,
press release, sales promotion, PR activity and sales visits
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Creativity essential in message formatting to stand out from competing
messages
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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 ecommerce functionality so that potential buyers are able to book
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Print advertisements and brochure format includes size, shape, layout,
copy and illustrations
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Publicity needs a gimmick or storyline that creates interest
Personal communication refers to people who are directly
communicating to each other:
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face-to-face in a meeting
telephone or via PC/video-conferencing
email, text, web collaboration, fax or mail
Advantages to personal communication:
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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
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Non-personal communication channels include all online and
offline print, broadcast and display tools
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Non-personal communication channels cannot personalize
interaction, and so is not guaranteed to capture the attention and
respond to concerns of the target audience
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Design and production of mediated communications need
specialist suppliers, such as design companies, advertising
agencies, print companies and PR agencies
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Agencies offer creative expertise in copywriting, graphics,
photography, radio, television and online advertising
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Agencies provide advice and professional services in delivering
marketing communication campaigns
Figure 9.2 The hospitality communication mix
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Quality and design communications material reflect/project desired brand
positioning to target audiences
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The colour, photographs, graphic design, style of copywriting and quality of
materials used influences consumers’ perception of hospitality brand
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Online and offline marketing collateral need to complement each other to
project consistent brand position
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Intranet technology enables hospitality chains to deliver brand-consistent
marketing communications across all units
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Brand manual and brand standards provided via intranet digital format,
standardized sizes/layouts for logos, brand identities, adverts, print
material and signage
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Online database of marketing assets: photographs, marketing campaigns
and press releases, support current marketing activity (online brand
library)
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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 material for individual hospitality units includes:
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stationery
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brochures, tariff and price lists
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menus and wine lists
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conference brochures
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wedding brochures
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function menus
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promotional material for the sales team
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in-room information (hotel facilities and in-room service menus)
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special product brochures
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special price promotional flyers
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newsletters
Print material produced for branded chains includes:
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corporate directory listing all branded units in the country, region or world
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corporate leisure breaks brochure
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corporate conference brochure
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group business brochure targeting tour operators
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corporate sales teams’ sales support material
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corporate newsletters
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loyalty club leaflets, application forms
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special promotions
Figure 9.4 Langan’s Brasserie menu
Figure 9.4 Continued
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Sales includes telesales team and face-to-face contact by sales
team
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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
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Personal selling is the most expensive form of marketing
communication
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Major hotel companies employ extensive worldwide face-to-face
sales teams and telesales support
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Small hospitality companies do not employ salespeople, but the
outward-looking owner/manager can perform this role
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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
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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)
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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
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Primary role sales promotion and point-of-sale material is to stimulate
short-term or immediate sales
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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)
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Effective sales promotions are designed in advance
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Many sales promotions are bundled products at attractive prices, with
more value for customer
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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
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Aim of PR is to generate positive publicity in media; ‘free’ publicity, because
space and time are not bought
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Effort, creativity and networking required to generate media coverage is not
cheap
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PR profession (structured career pathway, formal examinations)
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Major hospitality corporations employ PR managers in head offices
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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
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PR needs activities, events, ‘human interest stories’ that generate brand
awareness and raise brand image
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Success measured by print column inches and air time minutes, but sales
generated by PR are difficult to measure
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Sponsorship used with PR to obtain publicity
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Major component in financing sports, arts, cultural activities and events
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Football teams, tennis stars, golf tournaments, music festivals, art
exhibitions, literary events, etc., depend on other organizations for financial
support
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Hospitality companies provide financial donations or complimentary
services such as accommodation in sponsorship arrangement for publicity
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Sponsored activities promote the name of sponsor on clothes, equipment,
posters and vehicles during the event
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Sponsorship is the focus of a marketing communications campaign
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Key customers invited to sponsored event as VIPs
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Cost of sponsorship linked to media coverage generated
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Direct marketing (DM) is direct-to-consumer communication direct mail,
door drops, SMS (text messaging), email promotions
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DM informs and persuades customers to respond to offer
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DM in larger companies use loyalty club data for regular communications;
also popular with smaller hospitality businesses
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Leaflets, newsletters and seasonal greeting cards are cost effective and
help maintain customer relationships
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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
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Set objectives
Set budget
Define target audience
Agree marketing communication
strategies and tactics
Plan implementation
Measure results of the campaign
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
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
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Alternative strategies for managing sales via intermediaries
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Push strategy prioritizes intermediaries as the main target
audience
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Marketing communication activities focus on intermediaries who
expected to influence end-users buy brand
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Pull strategy prioritizes marketing communication activity to endusers
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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
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Effective measurement of results based on setting measurable marketing
communication objectives
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Marketing research measurements (brand awareness/image)
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companies employ market research agencies to establish current levels of
awareness and image before campaign starts
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provides benchmark setting a measurable objective
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during/after campaign, agency uses same research methods to establish changes
in levels of brand awareness and brand image
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Response measurement and ROI
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measurable behavioural response as measure of effectiveness
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calls to the contact centre, website visitors, coupon redemptions, competition
entries, bookings
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many people/processes involved in monitoring and reporting behavioural
response
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reservations department, or the telesales bureau, record number of bookings
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online promotions and bookings are easily monitored using appropriate
technology
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advertisements ask consumers to quote a code when calling for more information
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However, some campaigns stimulate lots of interest and few sales – so conversion
ratio of turning enquiries into bookings is critical
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Marketers are responsible for communicating the hospitality offer
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Most visible part of marketing
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Managing a communication campaign involves:
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agreeing available budget
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setting campaign objectives
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delivering a consistent message across all elements of campaign
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creativity increases effectiveness of campaign
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agencies provide professional, specialist marketing communication
services
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marketing communication activities should be measured and evaluated
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