What is branding?
When a business has successfully branded itself it has gotten its customers to associate certain ideas and feelings with its name and logo. As Walter Landor, a top advertising executive, states, a brand promises its customers satisfaction and quality. At your Hotel, the goal is to have your guests associate the Hotel name and logo with your Mission Statement. For instance, the Beacon Hotel in South Beach’s is to have their guests associate the Beacon with 5 Diamond Customer Service. The Beacon brand promises quality accommodations served with a genuine smile and personalized attention.
Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality. — Walter Landor, advertising executiveBut how can you expect to make customers loyal to a brand employees don’t feel loyal to themselves? Branding, then, begins internally. When employees are loyal to the brand they work for, customers will be too. Internal branding starts with company leaders spreading the mission of the company to all employees and providing the right tools to carry out this mission. Leaders and employees must emphatically believe this mission and be consistent in using the right tools to accomplish the mission.
What tools are needed to accomplish the Beacon Hotel’s mission of 5 Diamond Customer Service? The first step is for employees to arm themselves with a positive attitude. You can’t provide personalized attention with a big smile if you don’t have the right attitude. Employees should be attentive to detail and consistent in their helpful, cooperative and friendly attitude. Consistency in this attitude, from managers to employees, will help you say in your words and actions to the guests that your Hotel is a symbol of quality and excellence.
Another important aspect of branding is image. You can’t deliver quality and excellence if you don’t take care of your image, not only of the hotel, but even the image of individual employees. What does this mean? Employees should have impeccable grooming and always conduct themselves in a way that reflects your hotel’s standards of excellence. Uniforms must always be presentable and name tags should always be worn. When you are your Hotel you are a brand evangelist, so carry yourself knowing you are part of a team of employees focused on delivering a promise of excellence.
