Building a brand is about making an investment, and moreover, a long-term strategic one. The hotel industry has evolved from the era of service products into an age of brand competition, where an increasing number of hotels recognize the power of brand communication. But merely understanding this is far from enough; they must also identify the right positioning, adopt the right methods, and steadfastly engage in brand marketing.
However, the current environment has changed significantly compared to the past, especially today as new media continue to emerge. The brand marketing strategies of the hotel industry also need to adapt—moving away from the traditional mindset of only dealing with conventional media. It's essential to grasp the combined power of communication under the new media ecosystem while also understanding the differences in communication patterns between traditional and new media. In terms of brand marketing, we can see that international branded hotels are more active than domestic ones, a point highlighted in the January hotel executive appointments report released by the迈点 Tourism Research Institute. Therefore, for domestic hotels, greater attention should be paid to the power of new media. They can also assess their brand competitiveness by monitoring brand indexes.
The Necessity of Brand Marketing in the New Media Era
Nowadays, with the explosive growth of various media and the increasingly segmented audience, consumers' media consumption habits have fundamentally changed. More and more consumers are gradually breaking free from their reliance on traditional mass media, especially since internet users are predominantly younger individuals who prefer convenient and fast new media. According to statistics, by the end of December 2011, China had 513 million internet users. Two major domestic microblogging platforms, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, successively announced that their user bases had surpassed 100 million. Surveys by companies such as Nielsen also show that 22% of daily internet time is spent on social media, and social media users outnumber email users by 24%.
Additionally, as the post-80s generation becomes the main consumer force and smartphones gradually replace traditional mobile phones, online shopping and digital activities are booming. By aligning quarterly brand promotion campaigns with the nature of different media and their dissemination characteristics, targeted delivery and resource integration are bound to yield significant value leaps. Luo Qin, COO of Best Eastern, Xianzhi Network, and 迈点 Network, stated that the trend of new media brand marketing is destined to become a massive wave. Leveraging social media for brand marketing has become inevitable for hotels, and hotel operators must gain multi-channel insights into new media brand marketing strategies, flexibly applying them based on their hotel’s specific context.
Case Studies of Brand Marketing in the New Media Era
In 2011, Holiday Inn produced a short film titled "Hello Holiday" performed at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, serving as a powerful brand promotion. Its Greater China CEO, Keith Barr, stated that InterContinental employed innovative brand marketing approaches to enhance brand image and awareness, thereby expanding its appeal among target consumers, strengthening the Holiday Inn brand effect, and solidifying its core values. Beyond creative short films, popular microblogs are also favored by hotels. In addition to budget hotel chains like 7 Days Inn and GreenTree Inn registering as groups, international hotel management groups such as Ramada Wuxi, The Ritz-Carlton Beijing (Marriott), and W Hong Kong (Starwood) have also launched online operations.
We now live in an era of vibrant media. How to effectively disseminate hotel information amid the continuous emergence of new media and rapidly evolving communication methods, in order to better enhance brand awareness and reputation, has become key. Sending messages, promoting via short films, attracting followers on microblogs, interacting on official websites, and managing website reviews are all proactive methods that can be adopted. In short, hotels need to skillfully utilize these new media and develop a marketing model suited to their own brand, deepening brand image among consumers and improving customer loyalty.