Hotel Brand Communication: Leveraging Social Media to Reach Clients - Research Paper

Introduction

Brand communication is essential to any organization no matter the size; therefore, it applies to hotel enterprises. It is crucial because it creates an emotional attachment from customers to the branch. However, it is not as difficult as it seems to reach out to clients because of the rise of social media, meaning that customers are closer to the business more than ever. If the brand communication is right, then the customers can also participate in pushing the brand as they become co-creators (Andrei et al., 2017). It is because the users generate the majority of the content on social media platforms. Brand communication strategies are, therefore, crucial to hotel enterprises from the perspective of digital marketing.

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Marketing strategies are brand communication strategies but with a less fancy name. The two have many aspects in common, but brand communication ensures that feedback from the user is analyzed after speaking to them (Culache, 2015). Brand communication strategies are crucial as it helps understand where the hotel enterprises stand in the market and its client base. It is essential to understand the client base as they are vital in the improvement of products and services, as one cannot judge themselves adequately (Arya et al., 2018). Apart from development, they are also influential in adding more products and services that are related to the already existing ones to attract even more clients. Also, brand communication strategies can be optimized by checking the results of each of them. In general, brand communication strategy is the proper presentation in the correct medium, creating an appropriate message, and understanding the audience (Anees-ur-Rehman et al., 2018).

Statement Of Problem

Traditional marketing strategies have been replaced by brand communication strategies that use digital marketing. Social media has taken over most marketing strategies because its reach is so high, and companies from all industries are getting results. Therefore, hotel enterprises can utilize brand communication strategies to get the best out of the business while growing its reach in a competitive market.

Research Questions

• How do you build a brand communications strategy?
• What are the brand communication strategies?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of brand communication strategies?

Research Objectives

• The research aims to show how to build a compelling brand communications strategy.
• The study shows some of the effective brand communications strategy from a digital perspective.
• The research reveals the advantages and disadvantages of brand communication strategies.

Literature Review

Building A Brand Communication Strategy

The first step is building a brand communication strategy is understanding the personas of the clients. It is to ensure that the right information is being passed and that the target audience is correct. Buyer personas can be uniform or can vary depending on factors like gender, age groups, or culture (Dicky & Mansoor, 2020). When the buyer personas are understood, passing a message becomes smooth with the right tone. The second step is to understand the hotel enterprises’ selling point. It is understanding the information that is going to be present to the message passed to the target audience (Kusumasondjaja, 2018). It is different from just marketing the product but identifying key points that will set the company in a good position against the competitors. The unique selling point is essential during message delivery to the target audience.

The third step is to create a personality that is important in the demonstration for the target audience during brand communication. The target needs to connect to the brand; therefore, a human side is required to build that emotional attachment (Jokela, 2019). The personality is used consistently to ensure that the hotel enterprise retains the customer base. The fourth step is to establish a marketing mix, which are the touching points that are used in marketing. It can be as many as six, and they can use different media depending on their effectiveness (Jing & Jiao, 2018). The last step is to create a metrics strategy. It is collecting data that is useful to analyze and understand the target audience (Ross, 2017).

Brand Communication Strategies

Brand communication strategies for hotel enterprises from a digital perspective include using social media, email marketing, and using web content. Social media is arguably the most effective brand communication strategy in the world and works for almost any business when implemented correctly (Srivastava, 2016). Social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It is, however, essential to choose the best platform depending on what the target audience is comfortable with (Voorveld, 2019).

Email marketing is not as popular as social media but is also useful and one of the best. It involves the creation of promotional emails and newsletters to engage the clients on the available products and services. It can also include questionnaires, polls, and surveys occasionally to get feedback from the target audience (Sun lee & Lee, 2016). The final strategy is the use of web content, which can never get old, as it was one of the first strategies to exist on the digital marketing perspective. It involves the creation of material that viewers can read and comment on, making it easy for them to understand what you are offering, and at the same time, you get feedback (Wang et al., 2016).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Brand Communication Strategies

Brand communication strategies create brand awareness and a unique identity for a company, and it makes it easy for clients to recognize your product and services. A client must identify the product or service at first sight because of the emotional attachment to the product (Wang, 2018. Another advantage is that brand communication strategies create consistency for the company in a competitive market. As long as the client regularly sees the product and is aware of the service, they are most likely to choose it over others in the market. It creates a loyal following to the hotel enterprise, which is crucial to generate sustainable revenue. However, the image or brand must be positive about maintaining consistency (Özsaçmaci & Dursun, 2020). Customer loyalty is an advantage to the hotel enterprise as the customer base acts as referees, therefore attracting more clients.

When creating a brand, the target is to be number one; however, it is crucial to avoid the brand becoming generic and monotonous. It can be a result of more accessible products and services in the market; therefore, choosing an effective strategy is essential. Another disadvantage of the brand communication strategy is that adverse events can affect the brand image in the long term (Özsaçmaci & Dursun, 2020). A brand image can also offer a challenge when trying to expand the brand to new ventures.

Significance of The Study

Many companies do not implement brand communication strategies effectively. The study shows the process of creating one, as rushing into marketing without following the basics can spell failure. The research also shows how digital marketing offers multiple platforms like social media, email marketing, and web content as brand communication strategies.

Research Methodology

The study utilizes meta-analysis, which is a form of qualitative research methodology. It is the analysis of peer-reviewed journals from different scholars to get information on brand communication strategies from a digital perspective. It is a useful methodology as peer-reviewed articles are easily accessible on the internet, making it easy to compile the information.

References

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Arya, V., Sethi, D., & Verma, H. (2018). Are emojis fascinating brand value more than textual language? Mediating role of brand communication to SNS and brand attachment. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 23(4), 648-670. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccij-03-2018-0036

Culache, O. (2015). Shifting from channels and codes to modes: A reconceptualization of brand communication via multimodality. New Semiotics. Between Tradition and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.24308/iass-2014-079

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