BRAND CAPTION- A NEW MARKETING BUZZ

A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product (like a film), or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product. Some taglines are successful enough to warrant inclusion in popular culture.

Having an attractive tagline comes under brand promotion. Brand promotion is a strategy that is commonly used in marketing in order to increase customer loyalty, awareness of products, and sales. Instead of focusing on a specific product or products, a company instead tries to focus on the promotion of its brand. This strategy has been proven to be very effective in marketing, and many companies currently employ it. Typically, companies rely on repetition in advertising in order to familiarize customers with the brand. Brand promotion also leads to increases in sales in many cases.

The Authors on doing the research found out thats all the five star properties have some specific tag line which explains and promotes the brand. For eg the biggest hotels chain in India have the following tag line or single line brand caption

“Nobody gives you India, Like we do.”

ITC Welcomgroup Luxury Collection

 “Filling the earth with light and warmth of hospitality.”

Hilton International Hotels

 “Taj Holidays…It Stays With You.”

“Engage, energize, relax! Experience the new signature in hospitality” .Vivanta by Taj

Taj Hotels, Resorts and  Palaces

 “At Trident ..You are Sure."

Trident

 “Relish, Relax and Rejuvenate this season with our bespoke experience.”

Four Seasons International

If employees are happy , then the guest will be happy :- Motivational strategies

 The authors found out from the response to this question that 56% of the managers used non-monetary incentives while 22% preferred non-monetary rewards for executives who reached their targets.

However they also found out that the managers are aware that the job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees.

When people think of honouring employees for jobs well done, they may typically think of monetary rewards. However, these may be neither necessary nor the best type of reward. Once offered, cash bonuses can come to be expected and quickly forgotten, especially if they are the only recognition employees receive.

By contrast, frequent, positive feedback provided within an enjoyable, team-oriented environment makes a tremendous difference in employees’ sense of being valued and, as a result, their commitment to your company. With or without financial rewards, these cultural aspects of the workplace could be the smartest investment in the staff and business.

Praising employees for achieving their goals is important in maintaining an enjoyable work environment. Management can show their appreciation with positive feedback; however, if they go a bit beyond verbal praise, they can enhance employees’ motivation without spending a lot of money.

With these good intentions, there are still potential drawbacks. For example, improvements in performance may be temporary, rather than long term. In addition, employees could lose their intrinsic motivation: they can become motivated solely for gaining a tangible prize, especially if it’s a substantial monetary reward, rather than for experiencing the satisfaction of accomplishment. These challenges can be avoided by maintaining a positive, motivating atmosphere.

Certainly, monetary incentives and rewards could be part of your employee-recognition program. However, it is critical that these incentives not be the only or primary strategy for motivating and retaining employees.

On the surface, financial incentives may seem to be the most meaningful forms of motivation for employees. However, the short-term benefits may be far outweighed by long-term disadvantages, which could turn your costly financial incentives into serious deterrents to employees’ productivity. As a result, your company’s profitability could suffer, and you may be faced with further costs of replacing employees who leave for more satisfying work environments.

Similarly, if cash bonuses are presented on a schedule, such as around the holidays, they probably come to be expected. This reaction could be avoided if bonuses are given randomly, when you have extra money to share with employees. However, before deciding to present cash bonuses, determine if that money could be better used to expand your business. Express to employees how their contributions resulted in the extra cash flow, and rally them up for investing that money into exciting new possibilities for themselves and the organization.

Brouchure's or standard presentations?

Using brochure holders are a great idea as they offer the opportunity to show off your services to the customers you are advertising to, but still have them sitting up nice and neat. For those who are not interested, they can walk right by. No one has to hand them anything as the holder will carry the information and be available for those who want it.
Many businesses use this to show off their business information. It is very convenient to use as the container can be easily placed on a desk or a welcoming area of a business. It can be on a wall or in a lobby. These containers will show off the information that the business wants the customer to know about, without taking attention away from the information itself.

Not only does this allow the business or event to tell the community about their services or what they have planned, it also provides a place for the customer to read about it and then asks questions, without feeling that something is being pushed on them. Having people from the business or event present to answer questions makes is even nicer.
Really good information will have coloured pictures that will demonstrate the message that the business or event is trying to provide and will draw the customer to it. This provides an avenue for the customer's curiosity to get to them and ask all the questions they like to the available people. If one is starting up a new business venture, one probably have a  lot of questions in the mind.
How do I reach my target customers?
How should I communicate my sales message to them?
Would they be influenced by it?
Will I be able to create a place for my brand in the market?
Would I be able to face the challenges from my competitors?
The short answer to all the above questions is simple : Use presentations.  .
Video presentation is the latest and most- cost-effective marketing tool. It can help you reach out to your target audience easily and quickly.
A presentation can be used to give detailed information about your product or service. It can inform customers about the unique features of your product in an interesting and persuasive manner.

For instance, use of interactive slides, images, background music, and other advanced media tools help to grab the attention of your target audience. .
Another reason presentations are preferred aver brochures and booklets is that people usually do not bother to read brochures or pamphlets that are distributed to them.
Most of the times they are binned and do not yield any returns for the company.
Presentations used during trade shows, exhibitions, and other such customer touch points ensure that your marketing message is retained by the intended audience.
Presentations can be used to gain an upper hand over your competitors by. Presenting your brand in such a manner that it blocks’ your competitor’s benefits.
For that, it is advisable to carry out a thorough market research. This would help you know the extent of competition in the market and prepare your video presentation accordingly.

Having indicated the positives and the negatives of both the promotional tools, the authors found out through the questionnaire that a majority of executives believe that standard presentations of hotels are more beneficial

Revising a Marketing plan for Hotels.

A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line.
The Marketing Plan is generally undertaken for one of the following reasons:

•    Needed as part of the yearly planning process within the marketing functional area.

•    Needed for a specialized strategy to introduce something new, such as new product planning, entering new markets, or trying a new strategy to fix an existing problem.

•    Is a component within an overall business plan, such as a new business proposal to the financial community?

On researching the marketing management of luxury hotels in Mumbai the authors found out that every organization takes into consideration several points in revising a marketing plan. Ultimately, a marketing plan is about results, about making your business better. after interviewing the Head of sales and Marketing of various five start hotels in Mumbai the authors came to a conclusion that a marketing plan is revised if any of the following 

1.Forecast of the new financial year: according to Ms. Radhika, Assistant Sales Manager of ITC Maratha a marketing plan will be revised if the organisation is setting a higher target for the next financial and the current plan will not be enough to achieve the target. She added that before revising the marketing plan the organisation will also consider the last year performance and the environmental changes or changes in the market or market situation.

According to Mr Siddesh Phadnis, Asst Sales Manager, Trident Bandra Kurla Complex,a marketing plan has to be revised or reviewed if there is a new inventory or competition in the market. he added that if an organisation is planning to expand or increase its room inventory they should consider the current market plan that is carried out by the hotel and improve it further according to the current potential.

 Mr Nabeel Pabolo, Sales Manager at Four Seasons Hotel pointed out that the marketing plan is revised and has to be reviewed depending on the economic stability, budgets for the current financial year, Property expansion plan, global dynamics, inflation, government stability and so on.

The authors found out there are several many factors which have to be considered before revising a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line.

Setting Targets For Hotel Sales Executives.

Specified amount of sales that a management sets for achieving or exceeding within a specified timeframe, and allocates required resources is called Sales Targets. Targets should be set to give a clear indication of what kind of performance is expected, and incentives should be provided to encourage sales staff to meet and exceed those expectations.

 The Authors found out that the targets are divided into mainly three categories namely:

Targets for New clients – This is the main role of sales people, to bring in new clients who have never previously experienced the brand or service of the hotel.

Targets for Existing Clients – It’s likely that there are product or service enhancements that you can sell to existing Clients, known as up-selling. Up-selling is the key to success for any industry and it is the most profitable tool.

 Targets for Past clients – Previous customers should not be considered lost forever. Set targets to encourage sales people to pursue past customers.

 Most of the luxury hotels in Mumbai set targets for the clients according to the territory that they look after. It also gives the proximity of the executives to the hotel. The targets will be higher for those executives who are closer to the hotel and vice versa. Certain other hotels set their target according to the experience and potential of the executives. Target set also depend on the city where the hotels is located. One of the most important points to be noted before setting the targets for a sales executive is to identify the sales or business of the last year. The authors found out that certain hotel also look into the upcoming events and celebrations in the region before fixing the sales target. The sales and marketing heads do also consider the past trends and future competition.

The authors found it very surprising to have found out that even logistic opportunities end up being one of the major parameter in setting the target for the sales executives. For example, if a new flight service is started from an international destination to India, it can increase the potential customers which can also help in increasing the sales of our organization and hence it is also considered while setting the targets for the sales executives.

 Some luxury properties set their targets for the sales executive according to the portfolios. Their prime look out is into the presence of competition and corporate.

The authors found out that several ways or methods are used in setting the target for the sales of the sales executives. Each of these methods is equally relevant and helps in understand the market from a wider perspective so as to set an apt target for the sales executives.

How do hotels decide on their clients and guest??

A hotel’s most important aspect is its clientele and the clientele of any hotel varies on a number of factors. Location of the hotel, is one of the major factors that contributes to the type of guests a hotel will attract.

Hotel clients can be broadly classified into into broad categories namely

·        Tourist

·         Corporate house

·         Transient

In addition to the above the hotel may also cater to airlines staff, government officials and beaurocrats.

Our research took us to hotels where a wide range of clientele was being catered to. On one hand there were some hotels that were strictly business hotels catering to corporate houses, while some were a mix of different client groups.

Corporate houses prefer to give their business to those hotels that are situated close by to their office and also offer a fair deal and cheap rates.

These hotels tend to get a lot of corporate guests of companies that are arranged to be accommodated at these hotels. Some examples of hotels that cater to a major proportion of business guests are Trident, Bandra Kurla Complex, Courtyard by Marriott etc.

Hotels like ITC grand Maratha, Leela, Hilton and Hyatt regency are situated very close to the airport and are a hub for transient guests. They also attract clientele from airline crews.

When we talk of tourists, hotels that are located in prime tourist destinations like Goa, Delhi, Shimla etc prove to do maximum business.

Advertising tools for Hotels

Advertising has gone a long way of converging business processes and management styles to attract a multitude of customers and create a link of patronizing clients. As for end users, quality comes first on-hand and how it will compensate in spending their hard-earned money. To recompense that, hoteliers, restaurant owners and other hospitality inclined business institutions create a multitude amount of advertisement in a form of huge billboards, catchy banners and posters or even resort in using well-known personalities to endorse their products and services. Foremost, the idea of maintaining an excellent customer service to new guests as well as to its regular customers or clients of a particular restaurant or hotel has been given a big importance.

With the hospitality industry growing and hotels competing with each other, more and more hotels look for ways and means to market their hotel in the best way possible to attract guests.

Marketing of hotels has to be innovative and the methods used should be less complicating and easily accessible.

Websites

Internet is the most economical value packed, marketing tool, and the most effective tool ever devised. The internet has been able to market hotels that are relatively new to the global market. A web-site that is designed or created for the hotel, allows the customer or the client to read and view all information needed about the hotel. By providing a range of home-pages, the customer could be directed to different aspects of the hotel, such as rates and current promotions, sales packages and on-line booking facilities. The information on the web-site should be clear, and accurate, so that the prospective client will not be misled. With this virtual marketing tool, sales could be closed effectively and efficiently, thus saving the company thousands of dollars each month.

Customized packages, paying attention to the needs and wants of the customer, thus making the customer satisfied is another way to market your hotel. The personal attention given makes the customer feel important. It will not take much time to attend to such matters, but the result will be rewarding.

Guidance and expertise should be sought from expert and veteran hoteliers, as their input and knowledge regarding the industry is immeasurable, and this could be put to good use.

Print media

Brochures and travel magazines and papers are a sure way to market your hotel. As potential customers browse these magazines and papers on a daily and weekly basis, advertising your hotel with a package that is affordable will attract the attention of the customer.

Other tools

Inviting tour operators to stay in the hotel as guests is another idea that should be thought of. With the tour operators being solely in charge of groups that visit, the money spent in showing them what the hotel has to offer pays its dividends. Unless they experience what the hotel could offer the guest, they will not be able to promote such hotel to their guests.

As we use technology to attract business, we should not forget the fact that hospitality is a relationship business. Studies have shown that the old school method of providing personal attention to the client face to face, responding to their queries and providing adequate information, pays off better.

Once you have found the message to be conveyed, it is important to choose which medium is going to give you the most for your money. The following are the major media, with some more expensive than others. The one that's right for you depends entirely on your business.

• Outdoor advertising/billboards: These reach more people for a dollar than any other media, but are limited to a picture and no more than eight words.
• Radio: Reaches the second most people for a dollar, but cannot be targeted geographically and can only be loosely demographically targeted. But if people will drive significant distances to buy your product, or if you're selling a "we come to you" service, this is likely your best bet.
• Cable television: Offers the impact of moving images as well as spoken words. Can easily be geographically targeted. But your ad will likely look homemade.
• Broadcast television: Big prestige. Big bucks. But able to target psychographic profiles. Buy specific shows; never buy a rotator.
• Newspapers: Reach customers who are in the market to buy today. Unfortunately, people not currently in the market for your product or service are less likely to notice your ad than if it had appeared in another media.
• Magazines: Expensive, but high-impact with tight targeting. Little waste. Weakness is infrequency of repetition.
• Direct mail: Highly targeted, all the way down to the level of the individual. But shockingly expensive to do right.
• Yellow Pages: Essentially a service directory for the customer who has not yet made up his or her mind. Very foolish for retail businesses.

Through our questionnaires we found out that most of the executives believe that the company website is by far the most beneficial advertising tool. They justified their choice by saying that the company has reached a level at which there is no need to market the basic products such as rooms using any other advertising tool than the company website which provides the potential viewer all the required information at a click of a button.

What is the preferred client approach?

Clients, no matter old or new are the source of the revenue that any organization generates. A company gives a lot of importance to the existing clients. This is beneficial in the sense that if one client is happy, then he would recommend an organization to another individual, so on and so forth, thus resulting in a snowball effect. Each organization has its own marketing strategy. Some believe in focusing on the existing clients, while some believe in finding new clients continuously.
However it cannot be said that either one of the above strategies would be completely beneficial. An organization usually divides it’s marketing effort into marketing and obtaining new clients and developing a strategy and get back in touch with former clients and to renew the business obtained from them and also maintaining the business with the existing clients. Not keeping in touch with former and existing clients is very short term thinking and is not strategic thinking.  However this does not imply that new clients should not be given importance. The new clients can prove to be the best source of business.

The goal is choosing the most effective way to introduce your consulting capabilities.
Considering the technological advancement, telephone, e-mail seem to be the most common.
The most common way to approach a prospective client is to simply pick up the phone and call. The goals of cold calling are to make a connection with a decision-maker, briefly introduce  the capabilities, and generate enough interest to schedule a personal meeting.
The goal of a direct mail campaign is to introduce the services to a client when one may or may not have a direct company contact. It is a more formal approach that involves sending several pieces of marketing collateral as part of the overall introductory mail campaign. Typically, it begins by sending a postcard to briefly highlight an organization’s service areas. The next mailing might be a more comprehensive brochure or folder that elaborates on the business and what you can do for customers. The final piece of collateral would then be a more personal letter of introduction to explain an organization’s capabilities in detail and ask for the opportunity to speak to the prospective client in person, or by phone. Sending e-mail is a less formal approach to targeting a client, but it can yield promising results. Usually, this method is used when one has either met the prospective client previously, but does not know them well, or when using a referral from another client or business associate. The objective is to keep the introduction brief and ask for a meeting or phone call.
Organization’s feel that when it comes to contacting new clients, it helps in being personalized. This gives an edge over the other methods. It evolves a sense of interest in  the prospective clients mind. Also this method is one which the client might prioritize over the others’. Most of the executives also prefer this method.

THE THESIS IS ON ITS WAY...

After the tough research on the topic the authors (my group) came to several many conclusions regarding the topic. we have finally made it into a consolidated journal for future reference and information for all those who want to know more about hotel marketing management.

"believe... there is always a better way"

Sales call... All abt it in the hotel industry!!

A sales call might prove to be the single most important way of generating corporate

business. Its is true that the process of the sales call is of prime importance and what

happens during the meeting actually decides the course of future business ties, what

strengthens them and assure the client of a good relationship is how the executive ends

the sales call.

On enquiring the authors found a number of ways in which the sales executives from

different hotels handle closing of a sales call. Business commitment being one of the

highest used methods. The sales executives give the client an attractive offer which may

lead to having a future relationship between the hotel and the company.

The authors also discovered that another very popular way of closing the sales call is

fixing another meeting with the prospective client to give him the assurance that the hotel

is very much keen on building a healthy business relationship with the client. Most sales

executives interviewed felt that an efficient and timely follow up after the first meeting

where client building is initiated is of great importance so that the client is made to feel

that the hotel is interested. A follow up by the executives also helps the executive in

knowing what the client has to feel about the deal offered by the hotel and whether or not

the potential client will become a patron.

Nearly 10 percent of the sales executives feel that a positive end might be a great start to

a positive business relationship in the future with the client. They also believe that what

can really make or mar the reaction of the future client is the impression that the sales

executives leave on the clients. A subtle and impactful impression works wonders when it

comes to converting a prospective client to a patron.

The findings of the research show that sales executives need to build client relationships

and be their best while focusing majorly on the deal. While bargaining comes naturally

to any sales negotiations, it is of prime importance that both the client and the hotel reach

a conclusion that is easily manageable by both the parties. The sales executives manage

to attract their clients only after carefully and strategically offering the client suitable

products and services that are acceptable. It is of prime importance that a sales executive

is quite expressive. A great orator, who has the power and charm to subtly turn things

to his favour is one who succeeds. The executive must effectively communicate to his

client, both his product and his offer so that the client has no qualms or queries.

Of course no sales call would ever be complete without thanking the client for sparing his

valuable time and bringing the entire conversation to a close.

In addition to these basic requirements, the sales executives can also strive to deliver

excellence by recalling the minutes of the meeting, offering excellent product delivery

and of course sending the client a confirmation on the deal.

What exactly are hotel marketing strategies ? ?

Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered around the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. It is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena.

Markteing strategies in hospitality are the same as in any other industry. They also aim at improving the product ,establishing target markets, positioning , identifing the apt marketing mix and also allocating the resourses for the organisation . As every other marketing strategy is revised even hotel marketing strategies are revised.  After the research was carried out the authors found out that different hotels have different intervals in revising the marketing strategies. Since marketing strategies are long term strategies each of them will be used for a longer period of time.Revising the marketing startegies is not as simple as it looks .It is only carried out after braning storming sessions with the heads of both marketing and sales in a corporate level. A new strategy can be updated or added to all the other old strategies or those strategies which are not contributing to the profit should be revised or changed.

Certain companies follow those strategies that is decided by the corporates of the organisation where as other companies have marketing strategies set for individual units . The statistics on when the marketing strategies are revised hence changes from company to company. Out of the 10 heads of sales and marketing department interviewed, the authors found out that 56% of luxury hotels in mumbai  revise their strategies yearly, 22% revise their strategies half yearly and for the remaining 22% of hotels, the marketing strategy is established and revised by the corporates of the organisation. Some companies revise their marketing strategies as and when required and there is no exact interval in which it has to be revised.

and the research continues..

Well i must tell you people that the managers in Trident and Oberoi hotels are damn smart and damn helpful. Finally the research i am working on has gained some pace. Thanks to the Asst Sales Manager of Trident BKC. Well he helped us understand how the marketing plan and strategy works . How he himself get new clients and how his organisation keep the old. Pretty impressive i must say. anyways so the pace i was talking about is because "sid" thats what he asked us to call him, the Asst Sales Manager of Trident BKC just fixed 3 more appointments with the Sales Managers of  The Leela and Hyatt as well. I m pretty happy that the project or the research  finally has some credible information that we can use in our thesis . credible i must tell you because all the information came from the horses mouth.. The Sales Managers or Marketing Managers.
The only thing that i should work on now is  a detailed pattern and revamp the questionnaire in the most suitable manner so as to improve the information i can get from it..

The Research i am on

A Critical Review And Analysis of Marketing Management in the Luxury Hotels of Mumbai


Well i know it is kind of an interesting topic that we can be working on.I took this up,since i was very passionate about the dept Sales and Marketing . well and on the due course time i found out that its not an easy sail. My intension were pretty simple.All i wanted to find out was that how the marketing is done and how the department work as the most important revenue generating department in a hotel. 
As i mentioned earlier its not an easy sail as none of the organisation want to give out the details which they find is good enough to run marketing successfully . 
Except for some properties like  four seasons and Taj who willing supported us to go ahead with our project i was left with no option and no filled questionnaires . Well we just got an appointment with two more luxury brands namely ITC Grant Central and Trident Bkc to interview their managers and sales and marketing executives. May be its all the magic of IHM Mumbai as an Institute and now i really do understand why it is called the best institute of the country .Lets wait and see what today is going to unfold into......