How do prominent brands such as Nike, Apple and Coca-Cola do it?
These brands have become an institution within themselves and are well-known the world over.
The truth is that these success stories did not happen overnight.
Time, consistency, attention-to-detail, research and strategy went into creating the perfect brand.
What you should be asking as a hotel owner is:
‘How do I create a recognizable brand that will bring my institution the success it deserves?’
Here are 6 simple steps to creating the ultimate hotel branding:
How To Create Successful Hotel Branding
1. Establish Who You Are
Do you run an independent hotel, offering affordable accommodation in a centralized location?
Do you offer simple accommodation such as holiday home rentals or a full-scale, luxurious experience?
Ask yourself: what does my property offer and how do I want to portray it?
Once you have established your vision, you can move forward with creating hotel branding which truly reflects your vision.
2. Identify Your Key Audience
Who are you trying to target?
One of the most important things about establishing your key audience is understanding where they source their information.
This is important in understanding how to reach them.
A great way to source this information by asking in feedback forms, testimonials, and check-in or check-out forms.
Include questions such as:
- What travel material do you read?
- Are you on social media – what do you use more, Facebook or Twitter?
- Do you read the newspaper – if so, which is your favorite?
- How did you find our hotel: online, word-of-mouth, newspaper etc.
Additionally, do some research on how guests are using your website and interact with you on social media.
3. What Are the Key Messages You Want to Convey?
You need to figure out exactly what you want to say to your audience, and the best way to get your point across.
It’s important the all members throughout your business understand what your key messages are.
This way your message is always being accurately communicated.
Think about it: if the staff doesn’t understand the key messages behind your brand, how can they truly represent your brand?
Be as specific as possible and deliver a clear, concise and strong message throughout all elements of your branding.
4. Establish Your Branding Elements
In this process, you will be illustrating your key messages to your audience through visual means.
Key items to consider include:
Colors
Color says so much about who are as a business.
Do some research on the psychology of color and what will resonate best with the key messages you aim to deliver.
Typography
The typography you choose to use in your logo and throughout your marketing materials is highly important.
Ultimately, your font determines the ‘voice’ in which the text elements of your branding is read.
Images
This may one of the most effective ways of translating your brand and key messages.
You need to choose images which suit your audience and will appeal to them most.
Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are incredible tools for gauging what inspires guests and travelers the most.
5. Implement Your Branding Successfully
Hotel branding needs to be ubiquitous throughout your business.
It needs to appear on your website, across all social media platforms, on uniforms, on hotel decor and more.
A great way to translate and re-enforce your brand’s message is by compiling a brand guide which should include:
- A detailed description of what your brand aims to represent
- The audience your brand is aimed at
- The key messages which need to be delivered by your brand
- Branding guidelines i.e. colors, fonts, slogans etc.
6. Ensure the Entire Team is On-Board
Once your branding guidelines have been created, it’s important to call a team meeting and discuss additions and changes.
Your hotel marketing team should also meet to discuss and review these changes in detail, to ensure the overall success of your brand.
Having a full team meeting will also allow you to review suggestions and answer questions on branding elements.
This way everyone is on the same page and your brand can be translated clearly!
Create a Successful and Recognizable Brand
Following these steps will help to establish your hotel branding and clearly translate who you are as a business.
Remember, you don’t necessarily need to start from scratch with your brand.
If you already have the basics of your branding outlined, you can use the above tips to hone and perfect the ideal brand!