Ewom Marketing

This past week was very busy for me, attending not just the annual CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) Marketing Communication Lecture, but also on Friday I assisted at the Hotel Marketing 2009 Conference. The Hotel Marketing 2009 conference, as the name suggests focus mainly within the hotel/hospitality industry, however with guest speakers from Trip Advisor, and Superbreak both successful online companies, there was many useful topics and avenues discussed that could be applied to many industries. The 5th National Hotel Marketing Conference, took place at Heathrow on Friday 6th March and was attended by just fewer than 100 of the hotel industries top executives. The conferences theme was “riding the recession” and many presentations focused upon this. The day kicked off with a keynote speech with former head of the BBC Greg Dyke, throughout the day several workshops took place, one of the workshops that stood out to me was one conducted by Barbara Huddart, from the Glendale Consultancy & PR. The workshop hosted by Barbara looked at “Effective PR for Hotels” although much of what she presented could be applied to most companies and establishments, therefore I thought I’d give a rough overview of what was presented and add in my own thoughts.

Effective PR
Basically PR is a strategic management tool to tell a good story, which can help to add value, and raises the profile of a company. Furthermore in times of recessions, where banks are tough on small businesses PR and consumers are quick to assume that businesses are in trouble if they don’t hear about them, PR can help send out a positive image to your bank manager & customers if they read about you in the press. PR is also a powerful tool to help secure the best knowledgeable staff, it will also help to increase staff moral within your firm within these poor economic times.

Many people view PR as something that appears in newspaper publications but it doesn’t have to stop there. No doubt your marketing plan is integrated ensuring that your marketing is reaching its full potential, your PR campaign should also take this form to ensure its effectiveness. Therefore the following methods/channels should be considered for effective PR:

· Articles - (shows an expertise within your company)
· Newsletters
· Company sponsors – (do the companies you sponsor have their own newsletters/publications)
· Speaking engagement
· Online PR
· Interviews
· Trade show/exhibition – (via the press room consider using freebies related to the Press Release)
· Competitions/offers – (effective method of getting good media coverage, and saves on advertising cost)

The most effective PR usually involves a story, which is one of the following: Topical, Unusual, Surprising and Reactive. PR revolving around one of these is more likely to be read then others.

Types of newsworthy stories
Many newsworthy opportunities are available for companies to use as PR, here are just a small selection:

· Human interest stories,
· Staff Achievement ,
· Economy – (creating jobs),
· Celebrities/VIP visitors or users,
· Unusual happenings/ events,
· A rise in visitors or number of products sold.
· Strange, but true stories,
· Themes or Milestones,
· Charitable events or support,
· New Launches,
· Business development,
· Events & exhibitions – pre, during and post.
· Surveys,
· Awards/ Accolades.

The presenter spoke about how important it is to keep up to date with the latest trend to enable companies to use this to their advantage. PR which focuses on current trends or use “Buzz Words” are more likely to gain attention. This reiterates what I spoke about in one of my previous posts about using social networks to spot growing trends. A selection of the current “Buzz Words” can be found below:

Economy Credit crunch Carbon footprint Local
Good value Healthy Traditional Adventure
Experience Glamour British Cuddly
Warm Books Spring Cleaning

Tourism Boards can be an important channel of communication between you and the press. When press come to a certain area their first stop for information on the area is the Tourism Board therefore it is vital that those involved in the tourism sector especially, ensure that they send out their information to them. Consider creating a information pack that be issued to the press by Tourism Boards, include freebies! – free nights stay or free entry!

The internet is incredibly important and had a major impact on the success of PR, these statistics presented by Barbara reflect just how important.

· 98% of journalists use websites for information.
· 92%of journalists use websites to research articles.
· 78% of journalists use websites to find new sources.
· 73% of users use websites just to access PR.

Due to these large statistics company websites should be very press friendly, therefore it is recommended that ALL company websites contain a Press Room. The press room should contain everything required you think that the press will require and more. From the simply things, such as the key PR contacts within the company, to company facts, case studies, and stories, a great tool to develop is a media fact sheet, which will provide all the information the press could require. This could contain company facts and history, strange, but true stories, a timeline of events, however make sure your company USP is clear and can be identified from the start.

Remember pictures speak 1000 words and a simple photograph can breathe life into a story; therefore always send a photo along with a story. A photo containing a person also has more potential of being used by press. Also ensure if you have images online you make them high resolutions so that press can use them in printed format.

Finally it is important to stay ahead of the trends curve, for example the next Harry Potter film is released this year, therefore companies should be planning to see if there is an opportunity which they can capitalise on.