4 things you should look out for in the best marketing agency for your hospitality products and services

Finding the right marketing agency to market your hospitality company is one of the key ingredients you’ll need to create a recipe for success in a highly competitive market.

Before making your decision, take time to narrow your list of options down by looking at each agency’s portfolio and by assessing their proposal in terms of their capabilities and areas of specialisation. Once you’ve narrowed your list down to a few options, you may want to consider these four aspects.

Knowledge of the trends driving the industry

As is the case with many sectors which have been underpinned by a few basic principles for a number of decades, the hospitality industry finds itself in a position of constant flux. This is partially due to changing consumer demands and appetites for hospitality products and services, changes in the global economy and trends that are driven by rapid technological advancement.

When choosing a marketing agency for your hospitality company, you may want to sit down with their executive team and ask key questions around their knowledge of the industry. Specifically, you should be looking for the agency to demonstrate knowledge of the trends that are driving the industry.

For example, since the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic, consumers have become hyper-aware around issues of health and safety, which significantly changes the kind of marketing message you want to put out there as an industry player. Another key trend is the increasing efficacy of loyalty programmes – target audiences throughout the hospitality industry are looking for ways in which to add value to their travel experiences. This may mean that as a hospitality company, you need to develop a loyalty system that will encourage repeat purchases – an aspect that may very well become the mainstay of your business. Furthermore, with stress and anxiety levels being on the rise globally, customers are looking for ways to add a leisure aspect to their lives, which presents an opportunity for companies in the hospitality industry to market their unique offerings.

Knowledge of these kinds of trends and how the landscape is transitioning and shifting will set your marketing agency in good stead to craft marketing messages that speak directly to the needs and habits of the contemporary consumer.

Innovative thinking

When it comes to hospitality, the market is relatively saturated when compared to other sectors. What this means for marketers is that strategies and plans need to be refined and targeted in order to cut through the noisy marketing environment, particularly in the online space.

For this reason, when partnering with a marketing and advertising agency in Perth, ask them for their recommendations on how you can use emerging technologies and tools to set yourself apart in the market.

These may include optimising your marketing and advertising for voice search, or leveraging the effectiveness of personalisation in your online ads and email marketing campaigns. You could also consider using new technology like augmented reality or virtual reality to market your brand. These innovations may help you to gain a significant footing, especially in new and emerging markets.

The ability to leverage partnerships

One of the best ways you can get ahead in the hospitality sector is by establishing partnerships with other brands and companies. And as much as looking for these kinds of opportunities falls within the remit of a business development manager, your marketing agency should also be able to play an active role in helping you find and solidify the right partners for your brand.

This is where the best marketing agencies really shine by thinking proactively about ways they can market your business. You could for example, partner with an artisanal coffee brand and craft a marketing message that appeals to coffee connoisseurs or travellers who are looking to add an artisanal touch to their experience. You could also partner with a tourism agency that will offer your clients exclusive deals on guided tours. These kinds of partnerships require good marketing in order to produce real return on investment, so make sure you discuss some of these future prospects and ask your market agency to find ways in which to leverage these opportunities to your advantage.

A focus on word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing remains one of the most effective ways that hospitality products and services are bought and sold. As studies have shown, when the majority of consumers are making buying decisions, they refer to the advice and recommendations of family and friends as major deciding factors.

For brands, this means that maintaining an uncompromisingly high level of customer service is imperative. And for marketers, this presents an opportunity to use the contemporary version of word-of-mouth marketing to get a brand’s message across. This could mean using influencer marketing or obtaining brand endorsements from prominent public figures. It could mean building a review strategy or using user-generated content to raise awareness. When you’re looking for an agency partner, ask them about the best ways to use this kind of marketing in the most effective way possible.

If you’re on the lookout for a marketing agency for hospitality products and services, we would love the opportunity to show you what we can do.

Connect with us and we’ll take you through some of the work we’ve done and give you some suggestions on how we can help you use a targeted marketing strategy to reach your business objectives.