Ms. Lutz

Social Media & PR

Why Marketing and PR Budgets Are No Longer Optional as We Recover From the Downturn

By Didi Lutz, President, Didi Lutz PR

We’re coming to the close of 2010, and we have explored the downward economic trends and how they continue to impact the hotel industry. In the beginning of the year, we talked about the importance of investing in Marketing and Public Relations, since these areas are key in order to build up a property’s message and enhance its brand.

Of course, many businesses continue to scale back, and have even eliminated PR and Marketing efforts entirely. In most cases, that decision turned out to be unwise. In a Social Media, SEO-era, your hotel’s name must be out on the Internet. Period. Whether through Social Media Marketing, or a healthy blend of PR and traditional marketing, hotels must have their message clear and communicated. Gone are the days of the website alone doing the work for you. Guests now anticipate hotels to be active on Facebook, engaging on Twitter, and listed on Foursquare. Hotel online reputation is one of the reasons why PR and Marketing are no longer budgets that are considered “optional.”

A very clear example of the importance of having a steady and strategic PR presence is reflected on the tragic situation at the Gulf of Mexico and the oil spill. While we will not explore the reasons why the oil spill was so disastrous, the takeaway from that crisis is that you must have a good PR team in place, because your message must be clear ahead of time. Preparation and clarity in goals help an organization thrive and grow in the right direction. This makes sense for hotels who are looking to grow in the midst (and hopefully tail end) of this economic downturn.

PR and Marketing need not be endless budgets, but they need to be there. So as you plan your 2011 budgets for the year, consider the following:

• As a hotelier, what are your plans for the property?

Are you rebranding, are you introducing new amenities or loyalty programs? Are you making changes that may affect your target market? Be specific in what you are looking to achieve in the short term (6-18 months) and in the long term (2-5 years).

• Prioritize your efforts and be realistic with your marketing dollars

Like any marketing effort, PR works best as part of an integrated communications approach. Decide how much you can allocate and stick with the budget.

• Choose the right people

Whether in-house or an outsourced professional, choose wisely. Take your time and interview to find the right match. It’s often an instinct, but with PR, it’s important that the person handling your messaging gets you and the hotel’s goals. Be clear when you communicate those goals and be sure that the person facilitating the PR process understands the strengths and weaknesses not only of the hotel itself, but the economic impact on the industry as a whole. For instance, you don’t have to be quoted in a story that talks about how much occupancy has decreased in the past two years at your property. I don’t believe that any PR is good PR, so be strategic.

• Set realistic expectations

In 2011, we don’t anticipate a huge amount of PR dollars to be spent on existing properties due to the economy, but we do expect a healthy amount to be spent because properties who have survived are becoming competitive again. Therefore, have a clear set of expectations coming out of a well-thought out PR plan. Hold check-in meetings and keep the feedback loop open. Talk to your PR people and take in their advice, they have their finger on the pulse of the media, so they know what’s being reported on. Listen to them and tweak your PR plan if you see trends are shifting.

• Be aware of your online reputation, and manage it

With social media expanding and evolving continuously, it’s important to be flexible. Sometimes, you may have to rewrite the message, or you might have to address something right away on Facebook, or a comment on the blog, or even a bad review on TripAdvisor. Stay alert and run searches on your property to see what’s being said. Managing your online reputation is key to enhancing your brand and keeping up with your online presence.

• Evaluate your strategy often during the year

After the first six months in the year, sit down and evaluate the PR process. Does anything need to change? How close are you to achieving certain goals? These are questions to ask your PR people to ensure that the messaging and pitching to the media is properly streamlined.

• Measurability

As with any project, Marketing and PR have to be evaluated. While it’s not possible to guarantee coverage in editorial, efforts must still be accounted for.

There are a lot of challenges PR people are going through right now, so I wanted to spend a little time explaining to hoteliers what this means. As you build out your PR and Marketing strategies keep in mind, that the pillars of the publishing industry have basically collapsed in the past two years, and are only now being rebuilt. We still don’t know what publishing will look like 3-5 years from now. What we do know is that the print article you were able to secure back in 2007 is not going to happen as easily anymore. With media shifting, and tons of writers laid off or writing for online outlets exclusively, the value of print has deteriorated in lieu of an SEO rich text that leads to website visits.

The past 18 months have indicated that print placements are no longer the holy grail in PR. Smart placements, loaded with links and good copy, along with frequent mentions in social media are gaining by far much more ground in PR value. Hotels should capitalize on this trend in 2011, instead of wasting too much of their PR person’s time just to get a small sidebar in a top publication. The key will be frequency and strategy in the distribution of the message, along with the quality of the message itself.

Investing in marketing and PR is no longer optional, it’s the key to staying competitive and on the cutting edge of digital communication within the industry.

Shake off the cobwebs and let’s look forward to a productive year for hotel PR and marketing initiatives!

Didi Lutz is an internationally acclaimed hospitality public relations professional specializing in boutique hotels, luxury travel, destination and tourism communications. Prior to starting her own business in February 2005, Ms. Lutz was the Director of Communications for the Hotel Commonwealth, a 150-room luxury property in Boston. Within the first year of the Hotel Commonwealth's opening, she established the media relationship that led to worldwide recognition for the property as one of Ten Best New Business Hotels by Forbes.com. Ms. Lutz can be contacted at 561-628-7422 or didi.lutz@gmail.com Extended Bio...

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