Why Relationship Marketing?

At the core of relationship marketing is exchange, that is profitable to parties involved in
the exchange. The concept of exchanges as it applies to relationship marketing can be viewed at from either a transaction cost analysis approach or a social media exchange approach.

Start with identifying the Social Media Exchange approach.

Relationship Marketing encourages Hotels to develop relationships with guests, peers, suppliers and partners, to maintain their loyalty to the business. To accomplish this goal, Hotels must maintain a high level of communication with these parties in order to understand what they want and need from the Relationship.

Not only does this mean that the Hotel can fulfill those wants and needs, but it also makes it obvious to every one involved that the Hotel cares about their relationship, thereby encouraging trust.

Relationship Marketing starts with building a quality network, and make sure you Serve Your Guests first.

It is important to develop strategic Listening Outposts. This well let identify your customers wants and needs at a early stage in the booking process.

Now be aware that the customer has not booked your Hotel at this point. So it is crucial to add a proper Response Strategy to follow up with any live feedback.

One of the most important elements of Social Media that help you develop a quality relationship with your customers is to implement some key Reputation Management strategies. You can correct misinformation, adress false information and follow up with concerns. And also celebrate the excitement of success stories.

Relationship Marketing Touch Point Services

The intentions of Touch Points Services and the resulting consequences for the Hotel brand management must be specifically analyzed and assessed. The contact points, which are relevant for the Hotels success, depend considerably on their products and services, and how well this is aligned with the Hotels targeted market segment.

Touch Point Services can be seen as a multi disciplinary strategic approach, which focuses on the optimization of the products and services performance (ROI) in a Social Network Setting.

This process goes through 5 different stages;

a) Develop / Change / Retire Strategy
b) Test Strategy
c) Optimize Touch Points Campaigns
d) Analyze Touch Points Metrics
e) Measure Touch Points Campaigns

Your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) will show if your Hotel is making successful progress from your Touch Point Campaigns.


Relationship Marketing creates Champion Advocates

Relationship Marketing fosters Champion Advocates from the new type of Social Media Marketing. Primarily this can be done through Networking and Collaborations. This opens for a new shift in Points Of Sale. And this again will require that Hotels put in place a Reputation Management System that focus on Conflict Management strategies like avoidance, accommodation, confrontations, conflicts, concerns, compromise and collaborations.

Here Hotels can utilize already know Social CRM systems to organize Champion Advocates in databases.

This new shift will require that Hotel develop leaders with strong emotional leadership skills.

Social Networking is traditionally know as P2P (People to People) networking. And people will do business with whom they know, like and trust. Trust is the foundation for Relationship Marketing.

Build a strong base of Champion Advocates, and start experience the wave of return customers.

Relationship Marketing Shifts

If your Hotel implement Social Media Relationship Marketing Strategies the right way you will turn your Fans (“Likes”), Friends, Followers and Network into paying guests.

Don’t get dragged into the hypes and believe every frog will turn into a prince when you kiss it. Then you are setting yourself up for trouble.

It is important to adress all concerns with everyone within your Hotel. Practice being inclusive rather then excluding.

Relationship Marketing Implementations

Building a world-class Hotel Brand, you need to ensure that all your online and offline activity is consistent and congruent.

Relationship Marketing starts with heart of the Hotel. Concerns like reputation, integrity, security and privacy is all topics where you want involvement for your employees.

Bring employees onboard to help your Hotel develop proper Social Media Guidelines and Strategies. Are you allowing your employees to represent your Hotel Brand in a Strategic way?

This is all about bringing out the strength of Touch Point Services. Follow here the same dynamic process as lined out in Relationship Marketing Touch Point Services.

Engage with your community right now and get them involved.

Next Chapter

The next chapter for the Hotel Family is to develop a strategic Relationship Marketing Team. Serve Your Guests first, then do business. You need know what is behind the ‘Friend’, ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’. How do you convert all the Social Network numbers into bookings? The answer is in building proper Relationship Marketing Strategies.

Drop Me a note if you want to learn more.

Enter your email below and click “Submit Now” to get Free email updates.

A little Hotel Love is in The Air.

Are you celebrating Valentine’s with that someone special?

Learn the secret trick to treat that someone special this year with a Hotel experience.

My friends at Hotels.com has done a great Valentines survey that will help you spice up your Hotel experience when you celebrate the day with your sweetheart.

Valentine’s Day is a great way for couples to make time to escape, and why not do so with a Hotel experience of Love.

In my article on Touch Points I mention that traditionally Hotels manage their Touch Points in different areas such as marketing, distribution, communication, customer service, public relations, investor relations or human resources.

With Social Media you add Networking, Listen, Predict, Engage and Convert.

Why does these elements make ROI so complicated for Hotels?

Traditional ROI vs. Social Media ROI

Traditional ROI is often based on the Return Of Investment we can measure and follow through the traditional Touch Point channels.

Social Media ROI is equivalent with Return Of Influence. In this new market sphere customers do business with who they know, like and trust.

Many Hotels find themselves in the – Reaction stage. They expect Traditional ROI using ‘old-school’ marketing strategies, and if it don’t work they conclude Social Media is a hype.

Now it is no doubt that ‘old-school’ marketing strategies still is important, and will continue to be important for Hotels in the future. It’s not like Social Media suddenly pulled the plug of traditional Hotel Marketing.

Return Of Influence just indicates that we open our doors, and embrace empowerment of our peers and network.

We are not talking about going Hole Hog and embracing everyone in your network, we are neither talking about giving away total control. Mission Impossible is still just a movie title.

All we are talking about is utilizing Touch Points to create an excellent experience for everyone touched by the Hotels service and products. And show that you really care about them as your customer.

Many Hotels has today started to realize that need to adapt some form of Social Media Strategies. These Hotels has moved into the – Realisation stage.

Here we see many Hotels do all the ‘right’ things. But there is a missing link.

Social Media is not like a survey or GSI (Guest Satisfaction Index) scores, where you get a response and follow up within the Hotel.

You will have to follow up on leads, responses and suggestions from your guests.

Customers today have very short attention spans, and it want take much to persuade the customer to make a booking with a different Hotel if you don’t follow up.

If you follow these important principles customers will know, like and trust your Hotel. And then it is much higher likelihood of earning their business.

Now remember with follow up it don’t stop with just earning their business, you want them to become return guests. And from there you want to find creative ways to identify Champion Advocates for your Hotel.

Results of Social Media ROI

Now we are all moving into the new Relationship stage.

Awareness – Networking, Listen and Ask

There are many Hotels that do a brilliant job with Social Media. It is ok to model strategies that works well for others, and adapt these strategies to fit your Hotel.

Do your homework and take time to research your competition, existing and new market segments. Learn where your customers hang out. Then dress up and participate.

You can uncover a lot of ground with listening to your Social Networks. Start ask open-ended questions to your Network. ‘What do you think about…’, ‘ How do you feel..’, ‘What will it take..’ etc.

Interest – Predict and Segmentation

You will soon start getting thousands of friends and followers, likes, subscribers, pins, tags etc. But they are not what we will normally define as our traditional targeted market segment.

This is where you now have different types of targeted market segments. Customers is now embracing story telling, they share an idea or just a good story that appeal to them. People love to share information that will add value to how they want their ideal experience of any given situation to appear.

If that situation happens to be an Hotel Experience, make sure you give them the Touch Point nidbits that they can share with their friends and network.

Obviously it is ok to add in Objectives that will focus on market trends, goals and growth. We want Social Media to be a business tool not just a lot of noise. If you let noise be the driver of your Strategy you might end up experience a Kodak Moment.

Conversion – Engage and Convert

By now you have an idea of how your Social Network looks like. Many within the Social Media sphere has focused a lot on growing their followers, friends or likes.

The real power of your Social Network is not in your first degree of followers, friends or likes but it is second and third degree. It is like throw a big stone in the water; your first degree is like a big splash in the water, your second degree is the waves created from the splash and your third degree is what happens when the water arrives ashore.

So growth of your Social Network is not all about the numbers, it more to identify Champion Advocates with a strong network. Then find unique ways to engage with them.

Google Analytic and Social Mention is two great Free tools that let measure Social Engagement.

Social Engagement focus a lot on giving a lot of value to your customer, and then find unique ways to make yourselves receivable.

Champion Advocates – Rewards

Now when it comes to the end of the day for your Hotel what really counts is RevPar, ADR and Occupancy.

Social Media does absolutely not provide you with any magic wand. If you believe so then you will spend a lot of time in the Reaction stage.

You need to take strategic action steps to identify your Hotel Social Network Champion Advocates. And should reward them for their involvement and appreciation of your Hotel Brand.

Now remember I am telling you to take strategic action steps. Rewarding your Champion Advocates for their support is important. This can be done with showing simple but very effective recognitions.

Eventually you would built up enough trust so you also can pull of an effective Twitter campaign similar to Four Seasons together with your Champion Advocates.

Achieving successful Social Media ROI is a ongoing process. Adapt and change when needed, most of all have fun with the process.

What is the most challenging aspect of Social Media your Hotel experience? and what have you done to meet this challenge?

Enter your email below and click “Submit Now” to get Free email updates.