Ms. Gendron

Social Media & PR

Creating Brand Relevancy Through Brand Bonding

By Mary Gendron, President, Middleton & Gendron, Inc.

When I started in this business almost three decades ago, marketing was still relatively new as a core discipline within the hospitality industry. Hotel companies had just recently added senior level marketing positions at the corporate level. Most individual hotels had a Director of Sales position only, and those with a Director of Sales & Marketing position were few and far between. Moreover, the person with that title tended to be heavily engaged in on-the-job learning since there typically was no predecessor to learn from and few, if any, available training programs tailored specifically to the hospitality specialty.

As industry competition heated up and the traveling public became more savvy about choosing where to stay, marketing became an increasing priority. It was no longer "if you build it, they will come", but rather "if you build it, will they come?"

From its beginnings to 2007, hospitality marketing has progressed and, arguably, has caught up to other industries, such as consumer package goods, that embraced the discipline much earlier. Today, it is at a level of sophistication that was unthinkable when the first Vice Presidents of Marketing accepted their new corporate positions within growing hospitality entities back in the 1970s.

Public relations, a vital component of hospitality marketing, has seen dramatic growth as well, both in approach and in practice. Thirty years ago, it was all about publicity - sometimes for publicity's sake. The phrase "there's no such thing as bad publicity" is an extreme example of this idea. The goal was primarily to create awareness and to inform. The word "branding" hadn't yet come into PR focus.

Today, while publicity remains at the heart of most hospitality public relations efforts -- whether on a corporate or unit level - it is approached in the context of a broader marketing initiative...and branding is key. For the sake of image, business building and efficiency, it is targeted to a specific audience and it seeks not just to inform, but to engage the prospect in a relationship - one that will have long-lasting benefit for both the constituent and the client.

Over the years, we found our public relations efforts becoming increasingly tied to our clients' overall marketing objectives. Publicity efforts, in particular, became aligned with clients' specific brand-building objectives. The PR conversation gradually took on a larger role, working hand-in-glove with (and in some cases, supplanting) traditional advertising as an effective tool for reaching constituencies of all kinds.

Eventually, we found it appropriate to re-brand Middleton & Gendron, replacing "Public Relations" with "Brand Communications" to more aptly describe our services. In that regard, we have not been alone, though our path to the decision was based on our own experience with our clients.

The move acknowledged our belief that our clients' success was increasingly depending upon their ability to build long term, profitable relationships with their customers. In our case, we refined a concept called "Brand Bonding" -- a disciplined, systematic approach to help them do this.

What is Brand Bonding?

Brand Bonding refers to the process we use to foster longstanding relationships between our clients and their various constituents. It is the process of building and delivering a set of expectations, creating positive brand experiences by telling the audience what to look for, remember and talk about.

At its foundation, we recognize that information is at the heart of every communication program. At the same time, we understand that unless information is embedded in a memorable idea, it will likely soon be forgotten or go entirely unnoticed. Moreover, Brand Bonding recognizes that there is no general audience for anything; it asks for an understanding of individual consumers on their terms, acknowledging that what people think matters much less than what they do.

As a result, we discipline ourselves to create idea-based marketing and public relations programs that put information in customized context to help constituents:

How is it done? By building ladders to behavior by seeking to create positive, relevant experience at all levels.

• Inform:
  At the basis of Brand Bonding, is the first step, to inform. Here is where we provide branded news with broad relevance across all constituents. It is where key message points are conveyed and, it is where many traditional PR efforts begin and stay. At this level, awareness is being created.

• Interest:
  The next level parses the key messages into niches, in order to capture the interest of specific constituents. It adds value to the messages by tailoring them to niche audiences, telling them why they should care. It allows the target audiences - or in our case, target media -- to sample the experience.

• Involve:
  Moving up the pyramid, Brand Bonding seeks to involve constituent media by giving them the chance to test drive the experience - i.e., make a visit to a property or destination. It encourages interaction between client and media, taking the process a step closer to developing a meaningful relationship between the two.

• Ignite:
  At the tip of the Impact Scale is ignition - it's the call to action that results in major feature-length coverage or a broadcast segment based on a journalist's personal experience...which in turn drives business to the client.

If accomplished successfully, the process fosters a long-term connection between client and constituent -a process that is repeated again and again across all market segments.

Avoiding a "one message fits all" approach, it seeks to speak to individual constituency interests, solve their problems and address their concerns while remaining true to a common platform - key messages about the brand.

The result of this approach is to give each audience a brand to believe in, not just a "product" to buy.

Building a Reputation, Not Simply an Image

In addition to helping a client build business, Brand Bonding seeks to enhance brand equity by infusing it with depth that defines the brand's character and values, dimension that develops the brand's personality, and detail the provides substance, specifics, reference points and, importantly, "ownable" language.

To be effective, Brand Bonding is executed in a competitive context which helps consumers choose the brand by providing ideas, information and incentives that are meaningful and differentiating.

As the industry continues to refine its approach to an increasingly sophisticated buyer, astute marketers will be challenged to get ever closer to its constituents. Those that do will reap the benefits in terms of increased business and more satisfying, long-term relationships with customers.

Mary Gendron is president of Middleton & Gendron, Inc. Brand Communications, a public relations and branding firm specializing in travel and hospitality for three decades. Prior to moving into public relations, Gendron was editor of Hotel & Motel Management magazine and engineered its redesign. Prior to that, she was part of Gralla Publications. Where she was instrumental in the launch of Meeting News magazine, and was the magazine's first managing editor. Her writing, as a journalist and on behalf of agency clients, has appeared in a wide range of media. Ms. Gendron can be contacted at 212-990-9065 or mgendron@mg-pr.com Extended Bio...

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