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 Hotel Market Segmentation & Hotel Customer Segments Writing and Implementing a Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is your action plan to fill the guest rooms, F&B outlets, meeting space, etc. of your property. Although a standard marketing plan focuses on the four Ps (Product, Promotion, Price and Place), it often overlooks customer retention and key partnerships. Focus on each of these elements in order to garner a strategic competitive edge in your marketplace. 1) Product - Your property's
services For every hotel, the basic product offered is the same service - use of a
bed for a night. Beyond this similarity, there are endless ways to differentiate your service. Services can include entertainment
(i.e., in-room cable, on-premises nightclub), food (i.e., chocolates on a pillow to a five-star restaurant), communication
(i.e., free local calls, wireless internet), and health (i.e., a pool, fitness center, spa). Consider whether unusual services
will be a draw for your customers or if you are better off providing the tried and true. Whatever you choose, present the
information clearly and in just enough detail so that readers understand the level and type of service provided. 2) Promotion - How to get the word out Promotion is how you make your people aware of your hotel and its unique value proposition and convert them into
guests. The promotional tools you use depends entirely on the customers you seek. Rather than thinking about how other hotels
seek customers, think from the customer's point of view. How do your desired customers seek hotels? Make sure yours can be
found where they are looking, whether this is in travel books, magazines, websites, or elsewhere. Remember that the most powerful
type of advertising is the kind that money cannot buy - press. Consider whether a public relations strategy can help make
this happen. 3) Price - The right rates for your
property Your marketing plan must show where you want your pricing to fall within the
market's range. The choice of price ties directly to your hotel's profitability, but also to the brand you are trying to build
in the minds of customers. If you bill your hotel as extremely upscale, but price it in the middle of the pack, customers
may not believe your assertions that you are the next Ritz-Carlton. Pricing is about finding the right price to both represent
what your hotel is and to cover costs, leaving room for profit. 4) Place - Where customers and your
services meet Place is more than the choice of location for your hotel property. "Place"
in this context means distribution, and this is the choice of how customers will book guest rooms and receive other services
you provide. This can be through websites, OTAs, or a dedicated sales staff, each of which have their own cost and benefit
tradeoffs. Distribution of services continues inside your property and involves your entire staff along with the means to
communicate with your guests (i.e., phone systems, front office , even doorknob signs). 5) Customer Retention Most of
the cost of providing service to a customer is in getting them to book for the first time. To keep a customer returning should
be significantly cheaper than getting a new one so explain your retention strategy. For example, loyalty programs, such as
Wyndham Rewards, provide incentives for repeat visits and customer relationship management (CRM) regarding the preferences
and activity of individual guests to make returning more enjoyable for them. 6) Partnerships Finally, consider how you will work with your hotel's neighbors, local government, and other stakeholders to build
business. There may be potential for you to either get guests from or send guests to many local businesses, improving the
visit and overall experience for those guests. Consider mentioning a few key partnerships that will pay off because of their
importance to both parties. Don't stretch yourself too think by proposing to partner with every business on your street. Describe
any successful legwork you have done to inquire about the possibility of making those partnerships a reality.   A Successful Marketing Plan The best way to ensure that something will be successful is to plan it out first. The same is true with marketing campaigns. A solid and comprehensive marketing plan should always be created before you ever send your marketing campaign to the market. Here is a 6-step approach to constructing a fool-proof marketing plan. 1. Segment your market. If your product or service appeals to a lot of different types of consumers, then one marketing campaign will not work for everyone who purchases your products or services. Markets can be segmented according to demographics, psychographics, geographics, behavioral/usage, and consumer benefit. It is up to you to decide which method is most appropriate for your market. Keep in mind that you can combine segmentation approaches if it makes sense for your product. 2. Select a target market. After you have segmented your market, you must choose a particular segment as your target market. A target market is the specific group of customers toward which you direct your marketing efforts. Bear in mind that the smaller and more definite your target market, the easier it will be to tailor your marketing campaign. 3. Develop a consumer buying decision process model. Understanding the behavior and decision-making process of your consumers is integral in molding your marketing campaign. Knowing the steps that consumers go through before they purchase your product will help you determine what you should do to comfort them and encourage their decision to buy. 4. Create a marketing mix. The marketing mix is the foundation to your marketing plan. The four aspects of your marketing mix are product, price, promotion, and place (4 P's). Product, obviously, is what you are going to sell. Price is how much you are going to sell it for. Promotion is how you are going to advertise and promote your product. And place is how and where you are going to distribute your product to consumers. 5. Determine a positioning strategy. A positioning strategy is how you want your product to be viewed by consumers relative to your competition. This is important so you can figure out how to customize your marketing campaign. For example, if your positioning strategy is "a fast and cheap alternative," then running a luxurious ad campaign will not accurately reflect your product. 6. Predict changes in environmental forces. Environmental forces are anything that can impact your product's future success. The six main types of environmental forces are economic, natural, competitive, socio-cultural, political/legal, and technological. All of these forces can effect the success of your product and marketing campaign, so it is important to plan for them. These are the six main components to a thorough marketing plan. After composing all the aspects of a marketing plan, you should know exactly how to compile an effective marketing campaign. |
