Thanks to Scott Ginsberg and others, I've been impressed with the value of having a few core ideas to 'champion' in everything I do.
Here's the five themes that will be infused into my work in 2011:
Theme: Marketing within constraints
Very few of us have hours to spend surfing Facebook or Twitter, so I'll be constantly looking at ways to get around time and resource constraints and still use the social web effectively.
Theme: Spending time on human connections, not data collection
I'm becoming an increasingly vocal advocate of social media reputation software that collects online mentions and data, freeing you up to spend time on the things that matter – personal relationships.
Theme: Customer service as the new marketing
Word of mouth is playing an increasingly important role in travel decisions, and investing in delivering an extraordinary experience is the single most effective way to promote today.
Theme: A broader use of social intelligence
Applications can be made for everything from pricing & revenue management to strategic investment decisions. We need to start seeing social media as more than just a peripheral activity and spend more time integrating it with the rest of our business operations.
Theme: Enterprise 2.0 and Social CRM
I hate buzzwords, but this is simply all about integrating new and emerging technologies with your organization. It's a really big topic, but I'm doing some work with Jacob Morgan and others to explore how this can work within the context of hospitality.
Some big topics in this area are looking at how to gather insights from the social web to provide more personalized experiences to your guests….and also how to use social media as not just an external communications channel, but as a way to better communicate within your organization.
Stories and case studies are the best way to learn
I'll share lessons on the points above through stories as often as I can. Like you, I get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of marketing articles out there. Jason Falls shared something I think will become increasingly true as social technologies mature:
The ‘gurus' will fade away while the practitioners excel.It's all about getting stuff done. I learn the most from stories of people putting theories in action and to the test. And these case studies are what I'm planning to share with you.
As you know, this blog is a collaboration with you – our "Shakers" – so let Katie & I know of any story ideas you have for any of the above topics.
Thanks!
www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/my-themes About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry.
www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com