Bright Light Marketing

Room For Improvement in Profits

As ever in the tourism industry there are some who are saying that 2011 will be a great year for UK Tourism as consumers continue the trend of the Staycation especially for the all important main summer holiday. While others are saying that trading conditions will be tough particularly in the first quarter as the VAT increase takes affect and people reduce their spending post Christmas. In running a business it is hard to know what to believe and even Robert Peston of BBC fame does not have a crystal ball. The reality is that we can see the potential trends and that is useful to know but it doesn’t actually predict what it means for your Hotel. So what do you do? How do you get people to stay with you this year and people to eat in your restaurant and more importantly how do you pay the bills and make a profit at the end of the year?

Well the worst thing you can do is do nothing and hope that people will know who you are and therefore come to stay. If you want people to know about your hotel you need to communicate with them. Bright Light Marketing are experts in marketing hotels and hope that this newsletter will show how we can bring additional business to your hotel in 2011 and show you how our client the Tontine Hotel has used marketing to achieve superb results.

The Tontine Hotel – “Everything an active break should be.”

The Tontine Hotel – “Everything an active break should be.”

The Tontine Hotel is 200 years old and has 36 bedrooms at its High Street in Peebles location. Bright Light Marketing has been working with the hotel for the past 4 years and in that time the Tontine has increased its profit year on year even in the extremely difficult trading conditions of the last two years.

How has it done this? Well it has set itself up in the market as the place to eat and stay in Peebles and has communicated this to its main two customer groupings. Locals who come in to eat and drink and visitors who stay at the Hotel. This has been done by having a well designed brand identity and strapline with key messages and using this in all communications with customers from the website to material within the hotel. The Tontine have on going seasonal campaigns to market to both Locals and Visitors. Locals are targeted via adverts in the local magazine Peebles Life which are changed on a monthly basis so that one month the message is selling afternoon teas at the Tontine and the next is selling Cocktails as well as using in house promotions and also Social Media to target the local market. The visitor market is communicated to via regular e-newsletters and direct mail as well as raising awareness of the Tontine to new customers by Press and PR and Social Media via Facebook and Twitter.

Is it not expensive? The Tontine would not be able to employ a part time marketing assistant at the same price as it costs them to work with Bright Light Marketing and for that they get the expertise of a team of three marketing specialists with over 60 years of marketing expertise between them. Yes the Tontine has to invest in paying for the marketing but this is done within an agreed annual budget which adheres to the rule of spending 4 or 5 % on marketing. And most importantly, for that investment the Tontine can expect that for each &it spends to get & of additional business back.

And does it work? Well the testimonial from the Tontine speaks for itself and so do the results. The Tontine has increased its profits year on year since working with Bright Light Marketing and has done so when many hotels have been struggling to stay afloat so the results really speak for themselves.

“Bright Light Marketing have certainly brought us new business and allowed us to target new customers.”
Gordon Innes, Tontine Hotel

So what does this mean for your business in 2011? Well you can sit back and wait to see which predictions are right and wait for people to find you? Or you can do what the Tontine has done and let them know why your Hotel is the place to be this year.

If you would like to know more about how Bright Light Marketing can get your Hotel noticed subscribe on our website for our monthly e-newsletter which is full of useful marketing advice and case studies or email us on info@brightlightmarketing.co.uk or just give us a call to discuss your marketing requirements on 01750 505051.

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