Marketing Review - Spring 2008 - (Page 42)

Selected by Their Peers as Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales & Marketing SPEROS A. BATISTATOS President & CEO LAKE COUNTY CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU Hammond, IN ROBERT BOULOGNE Chief Operating Officer ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS Dallas, Texas uct’s appeal and the way your distribution clients feel about doing business with you,” Carver explains. “A brand isn’t merely an icon or image, but rather the entire thinking and feeling that an existing or potential customer associates with that business,” says Hampton. “Brands should incorporate the sensations that someone associates with the product or service: visuals, sounds, smells, and tastes.” “Ah, brands make the world go round,” exclaims Rach. “But those brands that gain mythic status, that have instant recognition, that allow the company to charge a premium—those few and far between companies— their brand is etched into the very fabric of their being. The values, philosophy, the very essence of the brand lives in the employees not on letterhead or in a logo.” Caryn Kboudi, vice president, corporate communications, Omni Hotels states, “It always comes back to meaningful brand differentiation. If your brand does not offer a unique and compelling product or service to its customers, then a great marketing campaign will only have a short term impact with no real sustainability. The authentic core promise of the brand must be about how we engage and interact with our various customers. Marketing is really just the invitation to try something out. The experience brings them back.” Speros A. Batistatos, FCDME, president and chief executive officer, Lake County (IN) Convention and Visitors Bureau, believes that visitors will seek out destinations and brands that respond to their highly individualized needs. Brands will do well because independents need affiliation, offers David Green, chairman of the board, David Green Organization. “In the luxury market, it is about getting the services elements right, delivering unforgettable experiences, being very niche driven, and answering who you are in the world.” Tyre warns that, “The enemy of building successful programs is departmentalization. Great brands operate like great teams. The strategies are simple and everyone both understands they have an impact on their success and have a role in where they best play.” JOEL CARVER Senior Vice President of Sales VIZERGY (FORMERLY SECURE-RES) Jacksonville, Florida The Online Space With the Web consuming the most carefully considered and most lucrative place in the marketing plan, the online space is critical to success. Those who wholeheartedly embrace it will find unprecedented acts of engagement and interaction. Therein lies exiting opportunities to target, personalize, and communicate with consumers as never before. Hampton notes: “Internet service providers, search engines, and others have been profiling users for an extended period, and can distinctly characterize each individual’s interests, preferences, and behaviors online so that messages can be directed to those identified with the greatest propensity to buy a particular product or service. Embracing these new resources will dramatically enhance a marketer’s power in generating desired responses.” “Every day since the advent of the Internet, we as a society have moved closer to individualized marketing,” explains Carver. “Niche Web sites, social media sites, and targeted, customized marketing solutions allow us to bring our product or service not only to the marketplace, but to the individual. For reviews and publication, the exact opposite is true, the customers now have the ability to publish, review, and rate our products and services from the comfort of their hotel room, while they are still in the middle of the experience.” Providing significant benefits to both organizations and customers, Garfield says the Internet gives companies a cost effective tool for marketing through CMR initiatives, and offers customers the ultimate flexibility to research, shop, and buy on their own terms, 24-7. Gaffney states: “Our overall strategy is to continue to identify and prioritize researchdriven online enhancements for all of our consumer-facing websites that will increase customer loyalty, their experience, and ultimately revenue. From an online media perspective, our goal is to continue to optimize on our learnings, from market specific creative to frequency capping to behavior targeted messaging and overall publisher placements, to ultimately increase our return on spend.” Addressing the exciting social media piece of the online space, Gaffney says: “It’s the opportunity for us to have a conversation with our customers and build that experience for them and with them. The challenge is finding the right balance for both the customer experience and the brand…it’s knowing which enhancements will ultimately give us the highest return and give the customer the best experience.” “The Internet and social marketing has evolved into a ‘global conversation’ between like-minded people and customers,” offers HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • SPRING 2008 42

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing Review - Spring 2008

HSMAI Marketing Review - Spring 2008 Contents COLUMN: The Online Marketer COLUMN: Success Stories COLUMN: Guest Column Ten Trends Now Shaping the Future of Hospitality Turning the 2008 Consumer Tax Rebates into Hospitality and Travel Sales 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality and Travel Sales and Marketing The Lure of Lore: Connecting with Customers Through a Unique Brand Story A Careful Balancing Act A Meaningful Relationship: How Technology Affects the Connection Between Hospitality Marketers and Meeting Planners SPECIAL SECTION: The 2007 HSMAI Adrian Awards Building Five Star Imagery

Marketing Review - Spring 2008

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