Once again, Hotels Mag & Mr. Hartesvelt have come up with an interesting piece… this time in regards to “Random Acts of Marketing” and hotels PR people being a bit beleaguered in these times, and acting out accordingly. I, once again, had too long a blog response and note that the comments section isn’t always the best place for banter… or at least I have trouble posting there at times. In preparation of that, I linked the article above…. and put my own thoughts here just in case.
The best marketers are skeptics or operators that turned into marketers… because marketing has been a land of long lunches, little data, & arcane, questionable demonstrable results…. ALWAYS. When times are good, the greased cogs and gears tick forward inevitably… often unnoticed (for good or bad). In a down economy they just become a little more visible because of their obvious lack of connection or understanding of operations, budgets, etc. There are some STUNNING marketing firms out there (a little plug for BMC.. the guys are so incredibly together it is refreshing, and astonishing)… and most of those are the ones big enough to admit 1) we are undergoing some major changes, and 2) we have little to no idea what is happening for the time being. At least… if not hyperbolic relatively based in truth.
“New” marketers talk about getting back in synch, like the old system…. where, apparently, print media showed results.
Frankly.. I am not sure it ever did, and hopefully this new wave of social tools democratizing the guest experience will force the hand of marketing people to stop convincing their consumers that the brand is good…. and instead just focus on “gooding” the brand; making sure the hotel or entity is ethically orchestrating business in a way that will have consumers actively endorse their model and passively advocate it.
It isn’t about convincing people that a product is exceptional. It’s being exceptional and allowing people to recognize that. That doesn’t take place with marketing or PR… that takes place from within operations and management. Run a business well.. *then* hand it to marketers. They might begrudgingly thank you that you just made their job easier. More and more I see marketers admit with defeat that the message is no longer controllable…. and many don’t have a clue what’s going on.
But don’t worry marketer, most of the industry and business world is that way. That’s what happens when consumers gain control for the first time in history.
One Reply to “In Response to “A Whisky Tale” & “Random Acts of Hotel Marketing””