While we don’t want to be mentioning the ‘R’ word too hastily, there’s a lot to be learned from brands that maintain their ‘marketing as normal’ through a recession, and emerge the other side fighting.
And while many UK consumers are watching their spending right now – with energy bills through the roof, food costs rising and the prices at the fuel pumps causing us to count every mile, now seems a pretty pertinent time to remind ourselves of the importance of marketing through tough economic times.
Why should you continue to maintain your marketing presence through a recession?
The simple answer is, memorability. Humans are forgetful creatures and ones that if a habit is broken, it can easily be forgotten. How many times have you caught yourself saying to friends and loved ones ‘Remember when we used to do such and such?’ and now consider how many of those places you used to visit are still there… We’re sure there are a few that have long since closed their doors.
By drip-feeding marketing messaging to your consumers, you are maintaining that ‘front of mind’ presence that also reinforces a certain sense of reliability through difficult times, which will make them more inclined to work with you to celebrate the good.
How should I best market my hotel or meetings and events venue through an economic crisis?
While the temptation is there to reduce your marketing spend, and indeed this may still apply, it pays to scrutinise exactly where your efforts are being spent and whether the ROI for your venue is there.
Here are a few of our top tips…
1) Talk your audience’s language
Customers of hotels and meetings and events venues can often feel conflicted when it comes to venue hire during challenging times. Often their expectations are high but their budgets simply won’t stretch to the occasion of their dreams or an overnight stay becomes a real treat. This is where convincing them that smaller, more intimate celebrations are WAAAAY cooler than having a guest list half-filled with extended family members they’ve never even heard of, never mind met is a definite win! It’s a time where those ‘added extras’ or ‘complimentary upgrades’ can tip them over the edge to say ‘oh go on then’. It’s a time where you can provide the solutions to their problems and empower your audience to take action, rather than dwelling on the problems themselves.
2) Scrutinise your media spend
It’s in times of hardship that it pays to stay on the ball when it comes to where your money is being spent, and indeed how effective your marketing really is. Often media sales teams will promise a readership of x,ooo, but has that readership turned up any leads? If neither the publication or yourselves can qualify this, then maybe it’s time to allocate the spend elsewhere? Similarly, analysing your online marketing efforts should be undertaken with equal scrutiny.
3) Make your marketing collateral work harder
The marketing industry can be rife with the notion that once an image has been used, it has been seen and therefore can’t be used again. Which, when we refer back to the very reason it’s important to maintain marketing through a recession, makes this notion a complete nonsense.
Repeated exposure to imagery and messaging helps reinforce your brand presence. And while we’re not suggesting banging out the same tune on an unturned piano, clever use of imagery and language can enable the same message and visuals to be reinvented and re-used time and time again.
4) Invest in social proof
There’s a lot to be said from gaining industry recognition as well as being a familiar face in local, regional and national circles. With this in mind, establishing and maintaining a presence at networking events and award ceremonies can be key to establishing a loyalty towards your venue.
Local, regional and national awards entries can also be a great springboard to achieving acknowledgement from your audience. Even without the prestigious accolade of ‘award winner’, as a finalist there’s an abundance of marketing and PR fodder to make your venue the talk of the town.
How can your Venue View virtual tour aid the cost-effectiveness of your marketing efforts?
High quality professional photos
For anyone familiar with a Venue View virtual tour, you’ll appreciate that the package is far more than just the 3d virtual tour itself. With a number of still photographs, 360 images and short videos included within the package, not only do you have the virtual tour itself to share with your audience across your social media channels, but a whole portfolio of high quality, impactful professional photos that can be cropped, resized, zoomed in on and repurposed for use on both online and offline marketing channels.
Cost-effective and time-efficient access to your venue
Customers can and will often travel significant distances to make in-person venue visits and in times of financial difficulty, the costs can really rack up – for both your potential customer in terms of the fuel and time involved in making these journeys and for your business in terms of staffing and preparation.
A Venue View virtual tour enables your potential customer the opportunity to avoid those costly first visits to scope out your venue, instead only visiting in person, once they’ve qualified your venue’s suitability by taking a walkthrough your 3D virtual tour. By which time an in-person visit is usually a mere formality.
A visual aid to market every aspect of your venue
Want to talk venue specifics in your marketing content? Refer to the unique start points within your virtual tour and utilise your virtual tour in your online communication as you would the physical space in-person. ‘Fancy taking your first dance in our main event space?’ or ‘This way to one of our more intimate spaces…’ are just a couple of ideas…
A valuable tool for phone or online sales
When you receive a telephone or email enquiry where customers ask for specific details about your venue space(s), there’s often only so much that words can really say. But given the opportunity to send them a link to your virtual tour by email and show the customer what you’re talking about within a 3D digital replica of your venue, not only do you achieve instant clarity, but often greater engagement in your venue too.
Providing a different perspective
Aerial and indoor drone videography can add some instant dynamism to your marketing content that can really set your newsfeed content apart from your competition. Providing a totally fresh and unique perspective of your venue, a fly-over through your grounds or fly through of your event spaces can be the decision-maker that inspires them to say ‘I do’.
