The Importance of Seasonality within your Marketing
Winter is coming.
No, this isn’t a reference to the words of House Stark*. This should be the mantra of any hotel marketer worth their salt.
But why should it be? Well, that’s because the winter offering of a hotel is often very different to that of the summer. If you’re blessed with an (unheated) outdoor pool, should you really be talking about lounging around the poolside in your November newsletter?
Whilst harking back to warmer times might seem like a welcome distraction during the colder months, the simple fact is that potential guests aren’t envisioning a dip in icy waters, or lying on a frozen towel. They’re picturing winter snug; think roaring fires and mulled wine. This is what your marketing needs to focus on.
For our hotel clients, we always advocate the seasonal approach, with a lot of foresight needed. It’s not unknown for us to race out there and brave inclement weather to ensure we have some photography and video footage of hotels following heavy snowfall. A dusting of the white stuff can transform hotel grounds into a magical winter wonderland that’s sure to entice visitors regardless as to whether it snows when they actually arrive for their stay.
More often than not, the impact of this imagery is felt the following year, when you can plan your seasonal marketing around the stunning winter video or photography that you’ve managed to capture following opportune snowfall the previous year.
You can, of course, have some immediate impact if you turn to social media. The beauty of a prominent social presence is that people can appreciate a frozen snow-scape almost as soon as it occurs. Reactionary social posts are an important part of any social offering, and certainly feed into the overall picture. But, ideally, you want to be planning most of your social in advance, which leaves you time to leap on impromptu opportunities as they come around, or not worry if they don’t.
Something that probably isn’t impromptu is Christmas. No doubt your hotel is fittingly festooned with decorations during the festive season, and this is something you should be capturing in your marketing. A video that takes in your 15ft Christmas tree in the hotel lobby and your fairy light bedecked bannisters is sure to reassure potential guests looking to book a suitably Christmassy break for the following year that they’re heading to the right place.
It’s worth noting though, that seasonal doesn’t necessarily just refer to the seasons themselves. Prominent holidays or annual events should also be seized upon.
Our head office is located about 15 minutes’ drive from Cheltenham, and a huge occasion for any Cheltonian is the Cheltenham Festival, where almost 70,000 spectators a day descend upon the town during race week. While it might be a nightmare for our daily commute, hoteliers in the vicinity (and indeed for quite some distance) should have the dates firmly marked in their marketing calendar.
It provides the perfect opportunity to provide racing themed packages or events that will entice the punters. For example, Kings Head hotel in Cirencester hosts an annual Cheltenham festival preview evening in early March, where some key figures in National Hunt racing impart expert knowledge and tips on what to expect for the forthcoming festival. This is a great draw for the hotel and a prominent marketing tool.
Our PR team promote the event in relevant publications; local press, racing press and more, while our social team use it to fuel content on various platforms. We then send our video team along to film it, which we can use to showcase it for the next year, while also using ‘social snippets’ to appeal to a racing audience in the lead up to the festival.
This helps to ensure that the Kings Head is front and foremost in mind when potential racegoers are looking to book race week accommodation.
All marketers should take a holistic view. If you haven’t done so already, then now is the time to plan for the year ahead. Work out what’s different for each month, and allocate activity accordingly.
June, July and August is the time to focus on sunshine, cocktails and pool time. Do you plan on shouting about a package that takes all of this in? Put it in the calendar, and get the package and subsequent marketing activity prepared in advance. One hotel client is always blessed with a prominent annual bloom of lavender, so to mark it, they host a pop up outdoor restaurant deemed ‘100 days in Provence’ which pays homage to the Mediterranean atmosphere evinced by its lavender garlanded open-air pool.
The spring can be perfect for nearby woodland walks that take in a carpet of bluebells. If this aspect is a focus, then supplement it with a seasonal menu that centres on locally foraged ingredients. Emphasise your spring offering and appeal to a forward-thinking audience.
Earlier, I mentioned talking about lounging around the pool in November being a no, no. That may well be, but it’s certainly worth talking about your Spring offering in January and February. If you’re looking to entice advance bookings for March, April, May, then that’s the time to strike.
The secret to seasonal marketing is forward planning. You need to spot the opportunities in advance if you’re to properly seize upon them. Doing so though, can work wonders. Hotels are perfectly placed to embody the seasons. With the majority of guests looking for escapism as part of their break, what better way to tap into that mind-set then to highlight your seasonal offering? Guests will no doubt have a picture of what they expect from staying with you at any given time of year. It’s up to you to paint it.
*OK, it is.
