When is your marketing campaign the most ineffective use of time, money, and resources for your hotel?

When your message only contains your value proposition, check the analytics of your last email campaign for instance.

How many opens did you get?  What percentage of your emails were unopened?  What was your response rate?  Did you see any click-throughs?

If the answers were low, high, none, and no, keep reading.

The secret to a successful marketing is much more than just your value proposition

The secret to a successful marketing campaign is driven by a message that will solve your customer's problems.

Go back and read your last email blast and ask yourself what problems did your message solve?

Did you solve problems by telling prospective customers about your recent multi-million dollar renovation, a special discount on AV or that secluded Japanese soaking tub on a private balcony?

Those are value propositions and not problem solvers.

The message that your marketing campaign should convey must be in harmony with the thinking of your prospective customers. This means that you need to have enough understanding of your customers in order to determine their needs, worries, problems, and desires.

If you want to attract and engage prospective customers and lead them down the sales funnel, you need to focus on them and their problems.

The more your message helps to solve your customers problems, the more apt they are to respond to your message and move that much closer to a conversion.

So what problems are your customers struggling with?

Tomorrow morning might be the perfect time to pick up the phone and ask them.  If you don't have the time to make that call then consider sending out a survey that will uncover more opportunities where you can identify what problems confront them (and ones that you can solve).

If your hotel has a blog, take a look at the search engine keywords that may help to uncover some clues.

If your hotel has a Twitter account, type in relevant keywords and look for comments or read articles from links provided that can help point you in the right direction.

You do read your TripAdvisor reviews don't you?  What do guest reviews say about your hotel and what problems of theirs did your hotel solve?

Follow this link to find out other ways to use Social Media for customer research.

Here are some problems that customers may encounter on a business trip or while attending a meeting.  Does your hotel provide a solution to any of these problems?

• Does your hotel's reservation team provide the type of professional service and accuracy that customers expect and deserve?
• Does your hotel front desk staff excel in providing check-in and check-out in a friendly, timely, courteous, and accurate fashion?
• Does your Conference Services team stand up and deliver in all aspects of their duties?
• Does your hotel staff consistently demonstrate that they are willing to do whatever it takes to exceed your customer's expectations?
• What do your former customers say about your hotel and do you share their testimonials with prospective customers?
• Is your in-house AV provider the best in the business?
• Does your hotel provide complimentary WiFi and is it readily accessible?
• Does your Business Center provide more than just a copy and fax machine?
• Does your hotel provide a complimentary shuttle service to/from airport/hotel and other areas within close proximity to your hotel?
• Does your hotel offer complimentary and secured parking?

Do you need help crafting a marketing message that will solve your customer's problems? Send me an email and let's discuss!

Tom Costello is a business owner, consultant, and author whose career encompasses more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality and travel industries that includes startups, strategic business planning, P&L management, branding, sales, marketing, social media, e-reputation management, technology development, channel distribution, vendor and third-party relations. As the Principal of Groups International, a meetings and events management company, Tom drives the strategic growth of the company in the areas of sales, marketing, brand image, social media, and vendor relations.

"Tom Costello
iGroupAdvisors, +1.832.721.4288

www.igroupadvisors.com