Welcome to this week’s newsletter, where I share the latest hospitality news and trends.
In this week’s Hospitality Highlights Newsletter
- Instagram Launches Broadcast Channels
- WhatsApp Adds New Measures to Protect Users from Spam Calls
- Twitter’s New ‘Highlights’ Tab is Now Available to Twitter Blue Subscribers
- Hospitality Trends: Unveiling the Harsh Reality of Over-tourism
- The Future of Travel: 10 Concepts That Will Change the Way We Experience the World
- Pizza Hut Heads Underground for ‘Ninja Turtles’ Movie Tie-up
- Pinterest introduces Premiere Spotlight and Travel Catalogues
- Could Generative AI Make Google Maps a Full Travel App?
- #AskDawnGribble What should I include in a marketing audit
- Trend Watch: Travel Influencers
- Trend Watch: Travel Subscriptions
☕ Grab a coffee, and let’s dive in
Hospitality Highlights
Instagram Launches Broadcast Channels
Instagram has recently introduced broadcast channels, an exciting new feature that lets creators connect with their followers at scale in real time.
With this feature, creators can share sneak peeks of upcoming content, conduct expert interviews, and share candid moments via voice notes.
The feature includes additional tools such as question prompts, dedicated channel tabs, and controls that allow creators to set their channels’ expiration dates and times.
Collaborators can also be invited to participate in broadcast channels. This feature is an important opportunity for hotels, restaurants, and the hospitality industry to engage with their followers and provide them with behind-the-scenes moments. It allows them to crowdsource feedback and keep their followers up-to-date with the latest updates.
WhatsApp Adds New Measures to Protect Users from Spam Calls
WhatsApp is rolling out two new privacy tools to protect users from spam calls and to enhance its reputation around protection.
The new update includes an option to silence unknown callers in the app, giving users more control over their incoming WhatsApp calls, and a privacy checkup feature to guide users through important privacy settings.
The new features will provide more capacity for WhatsApp users to manage their personal experience and reinforce its position as a trusted messaging app.
Hotels, restaurants, and the hospitality industry can take advantage of this opportunity by using WhatsApp for customer service and communication, ensuring privacy and protection.
Twitter’s New ‘Highlights’ Tab is Now Available to Twitter Blue Subscribers
Twitter has rolled out a new tweet highlights tab for Twitter Blue subscribers, which allows paying users to showcase their best tweets via a dedicated feed on their Twitter profile.
Twitter Blue users can now add any of their tweets to their Highlights tab, listing them among any other Highlight tweets in the feed, which will only appear on their profile once they’ve added their first Highlight.
This new feature could be a good way for brands in the hospitality industry to showcase their products, customer endorsements, and reviews and highlight their best content to win over potential customers and followers.
Hospitality Trends: Unveiling the Harsh Reality of Over-tourism
The tourism industry may return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, but over-tourism remains a significant issue.
Overcrowding, higher taxes, and protests are some of the negative impacts of over-tourism. The hospitality industry can combat this problem by promoting local businesses, implementing sustainable tourism practices, and utilising social media to encourage responsible and sustainable travel.
The Future of Travel: 10 Concepts That Will Change the Way We Experience the World
The future of travel looks increasingly exciting, with numerous concepts that will change how we experience the world.
Biometric identification is becoming the technology of choice at airports worldwide, cutting processing time for typical airport procedures by half. Devices like SmartTags and AirTags keep track of luggage, and digital bag tags containing RFID transmitters will soon replace conventional paper tags.
Augmented reality can add another layer of intrigue to travel experiences, and eco-conscious hotels pave the way for more sustainable travel. Real-time translation is growing more sophisticated by the day, and we’re well on our way to exploring space with a flurry of space tourism initiatives available now – or very soon – to the most affluent explorers.
The hospitality industry can benefit from these advancements by staying updated with the latest trends and technologies, investing in staff training, and collaborating with technology providers to offer personalised experiences to guests.
Pizza Hut Heads Underground for ‘Ninja Turtles’ Movie Tie-up
Pizza Hut is partnering with the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise in the run-up to the Aug. 2 release of “Mutant Mayhem,” the seventh theatrical film featuring the characters.
The campaign spans TV, digital, social, experiential and in-restaurant elements. Pizza Hut created speciality movie-themed pizza boxes and tested “Underground Deliveries” in New York City subway stations for select customers who texted a turtle emoji to a hotline.
Pizza Hut will also feature in the movie itself. The campaign is aimed at both new and old fans of the franchise.
Pinterest introduces Premiere Spotlight and Travel Catalogues
Nearly 70 million Pinners worldwide engage with travel content on the platform each month. In response, Pinterest has launched two new advertising solutions, Premiere Spotlight and Travel Catalogues.
Premiere Spotlight is a high-impact awareness ad solution allowing advertisers to reach audiences at scale with video ads in places like the search page. This feature lets brands reserve their placement for product launches and own the screen, taking up approximately 50% of a mobile device’s screen on Pinterest’s first search page.
Travel Catalogues builds on Pinterest’s product catalogue technology, allowing travel brands to upload their travel products to the platform easily.
Premiere Spotlight is available in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, and Australia, while Travel Catalogues will be available later this summer.
ICYMI
- Hospitality Marketing Hub – Full Library of Resources
- Quality Content Checklist for Social Media, Articles and Newsletters
- August Hospitality Dates & Campaign Ideas
- Hospitality Customer Experience Trends Webinar
- The Psychology of Food Presentation
- Instagram Strategy for Hospitality: The Platform
- Diwali Marketing Ideas
- Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas
- July Hospitality Dates & Campaign Ideas
#AskDawnGribble
Each week, I answer your question and provide expert tips and advice to help you stay ahead of your competition.
How do I conduct a marketing audit?
A marketing audit can reveal strengths and weaknesses in a marketing strategy, identify gaps and opportunities, and provide insights to refine and improve future marketing efforts.
Questions a Marketing Audit Can Answer
A marketing audit is a strategic tool that can provide valuable insights and answers to several critical questions about your marketing efforts.
It can help you understand the following:
- The effectiveness of your current marketing strategy.
- Whether you’re targeting the correct channels for your product or service.
- The strengths and weak points of your ongoing marketing efforts.
- Possible missed opportunities to reach your audience.
By answering these questions, a marketing audit can provide you with the necessary information to make informed decisions about your future marketing strategies, thereby maximising the return on your marketing investment.
The Optimal Auditor: An Impartial Third Party
Marketing audits are best performed by third parties, even though it may seem tempting to conduct them internally. There are several reasons for this:
- Unbiased Assessment: An external auditor can provide an objective and impartial assessment of your marketing efforts, free from any internal influences or preconceived notions.
- Experience and Expertise: A third-party auditor typically has a wealth of experience and knowledge in conducting marketing audits and can provide actionable insights based on their extensive background.
- Established Processes: Many service providers who conduct marketing audits have well-established processes that ensure a thorough and effective analysis.
By leveraging the expertise of a third-party auditor, you can ensure that your marketing audit is comprehensive, objective, and valuable.
Frequency of Marketing Audit: Periodic Assessment for Continuous Improvement
Marketing audits should be conducted periodically, annually, semi-annually, or quarterly, depending on your needs. However, the frequency depends on the nature and size of your business.
Regularly conducting marketing audits allows you to assess and adjust your marketing efforts to changing market conditions, customer preferences, and business goals. This proactive approach ensures that your marketing strategy remains effective and relevant, contributing to ongoing business growth.
The Breadth of a Marketing Audit: A Comprehensive Review
A marketing audit should cover all aspects of your marketing activities. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Marketing Strategy: A review of your overall marketing strategy, including your marketing goals, target audience, and key performance indicators.
- Marketing Channels: An assessment of the different marketing channels you’re using, such as social media, email marketing, content marketing, and paid advertising.
- Website Performance: Examining your website’s performance, including its design, user experience, and search engine optimisation.
- Content Analysis: A review of your content creation efforts, including your blog, newsletters, and other content pieces.
- Social Media Presence: Evaluate your social media presence across different platforms.
- Paid Online Advertising: An analysis of your paid online advertising efforts, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
- Offline Marketing: A review of your offline marketing activities, such as events, print advertising, or direct mail.
By covering all these areas in your marketing audit, you can get a holistic view of your marketing efforts and identify areas of strength and improvement.
The Marketing Audit Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
Preparation: Compile a Year-End Marketing Report
Before you can begin your audit, you should compile a comprehensive report of all your marketing activities from the previous year. This report should include details of your marketing strategy and goals, a record of all marketing channels used, performance records for each channel, and the amount of money spent on each marketing avenue.
Review: Assess Last Year’s Marketing Goals
Next, you need to evaluate how well you met your marketing goals from the previous year. Did you achieve your objectives? How challenging were they to achieve? And where did you fall short?
Analysis: Identify Successful and Unsuccessful Marketing Strategies
Here, you’re looking at which marketing strategies worked and which didn’t. You’ll need to look at macro (larger marketing campaigns) and micro (day-to-day marketing activities) levels. This involves analysing your marketing channels, content engagement, advertising click-through rates, and more.
Planning: Create An Action Plan for the Coming Year
Based on the insights from your audit, you can now create a detailed action plan for the coming year. This plan should include your updated mission statement, target audience, key performance indicators, and marketing budget. It should also outline your marketing strategies for the year, considering the findings from your audit.
Budgeting: Allocate Your Marketing Budget
The final step in your marketing audit involves allocating your marketing budget based on your new action plan. This involves determining how much money you’ll spend on each aspect of your marketing plan based on their performance in the previous year and projected performance in the coming year.
Marketing Audit Checklist
To help you conduct your marketing audit in a more organised and efficient manner, here’s a simplified checklist that you can follow:
- Draft a year-end marketing report.
- Review last year’s marketing goals.
- Determine which marketing strategies were successful and which weren’t.
- Create an action plan for the coming year.
- Allocate your marketing budget based on your new strategy and plans.
A marketing audit is a powerful tool that can help you maximise the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. You can identify strengths and weaknesses by conducting a thorough, objective analysis of your marketing activities, uncover improvement opportunities, and make informed decisions about your future marketing strategies.
Need help from an expert third party? I can conduct a comprehensive marketing audit to identify areas for improvement and provide tailored strategies to increase your revenue. Don’t let your competition get ahead of you!
Industry Trends Watch
Travel Influencers
As customers have become more discerning, they are less likely to be influenced by inauthentic influencers. Instead, they seek meaningful recommendations of where to eat, visit and stay.
Hotels and restaurants should focus on working with influencers whose values align with their brand and can effectively increase brand exposure, attract new customers, and ultimately boost revenue.
Travel Subscriptions
This trend is driven by the growing popularity of subscription and membership programs in the travel industry. This results from companies seeking new and innovative ways to attract and retain customers.
Travel companies offer subscribers recurrent discounts and perks instead of traditional loyalty programs tied to miles. Consumers benefit from the potential to save on nightly rates and the ability to travel to and stay in multiple locations.
Hotels and restaurants can capitalise on this trend by offering their own subscription services. By providing subscribers with exclusive discounts and perks, they can incentivise repeat business and build brand loyalty.
They can also partner with existing travel subscription services to offer deals and packages, reaching a wider audience.
As you can see from the number of searches, it’s early days for this trend, but certainly, one to watch!
