There is no denying that exceptional guest
experience is a key area of focus in the luxury hotel
market. In this day of personalized service, business
owners are expected to do everything possible to
maximize the experience of those who visit their
properties and this can only be done by paying close
attention to practices that can be severely diluting it. level that employees can relate to). Unless the
people who work for you can understand the values,
and authentically live and breathe them every day,
you are wasting your corporate brand investment.
As a result, your increasing marketing budgets
will kill your brand due to the apparent lack of
authenticity of your brand claims.
Marketing spends are increasing and companies
are feeling the pressure to raise brand awareness
in a way that allows for them to stand out from
their competitors. Much of this is done with clever
advertising, digital media marketing, and social
media engagement. Today’s consumer is looking
for more than luxury accommodations: they are
focused on having a full-scale high-level experience
provided by a brand they respect and can count
on to have a consistent level of service and value
system as well as a ‘personality’ that is in line with
their own. This all begins with the perception being
created through savvy advertising methods. Typically Marketing and Brand Directors are not as
focused on people behaviors and the impact they
have on the brand as they should be. This tends to
be the responsibility of the HR and/or Learning &
Development departments with little interaction
with marketing. However, in order to reach the true
marketing and brand objectives, would it not make
sense to integrate people behaviors into your brand
strategy at an early stage?
There are a number of sophisticated marketing
methods available to today’s businesses and a strong
trend of brands focusing on strong values and
themes such as integrity, trust, caring, green, social
responsibility, innovation and family-orientated, to
name but a few. Team this with the increasing brand
reach, and it is no wonder that guests (and all of the
stakeholders) have forgivably high expectations of
the experience they will get from their interactions
with every level of your company. They rightfully
expect to receive that level of care and interest in
them that is so heavily advertised, therefore when
it’s not there, there is a very high height to fall
from. This, in turn, damages your brand.
This is where your marketing spend and brand
awareness may actually be sabotaging the desired
guest experience to a level that gets talked about
and shared more than you would like it to be. A
sinkhole could be opening up that is devouring
client loyalty and great customer experience,
potentially losing your company $millions in brand
investment.
Make no mistake: this sinkhole is going to expand
if companies don’t wake up to the critical need to
provide employees with the brand engagement
and behavioral training required to ensure that
they interpret and internalize for themselves,
authentically, the meaning behind the values you
have created. Perhaps there is a need for a deeper
appreciation of your corporate messaging (on a
Employee engagement is a critical area needing
focus right now – employees need to feel valued for
what they bring, respected for what they do, feel
like they are an active part of the overall corporate
objectives and proud to work for the company. This
doesn’t just happen – a culture needs to be created
that encourages and supports this. Increased
employee engagement will come from providing
the right training and coaching that addresses and
nurtures their personal development, in alignment
with corporate brand messaging.
We are at a point in our business environment,
where we need to re-align the corporate culture
with that demanded by our clients and customers
if we are to stand out, create loyalty and get widely
talked about for the right reasons.
It’s time to align people brand and behaviors with
your corporate brand in a way that sticks.
About the author
Lesley Everett is an international professional speaker and
specialist on personal branding and the personality of
the corporate brand. She has presented her Walking TALL
Methodology in 26 countries across 5 continents to many
global organizations. She is the published author of 3 books -
latest being Corporate Brand Personality (Kogan Page, 2016)
and is a regular media commentator on brand image. Lesley
is the founder of Walking TALL International, with offices in
US, UK and Hong Kong. www.lesleyeverett.com
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