How to successfully market your hotel, travel agency or any other business (part 2)
By Oleg K. Temple, April 2011.
Part II of III - The lifecycle of a meme
Isaac Newton's third law affirms: “action is equal and opposite to reaction”, so it is with a marketing campaign – the larger your goal, the harder it is to tip the scales from concept to prospect at takeoff and then keep the campaign flying. You may wonder, how does this apply to the hotel industry – “as a manager of a mid-sized guesthouse snugly situated in the tranquil English countryside, what do I care for memes?” The answer is simple: advertising is about getting the right kind of attention for your hotel or any other business, i.e. to attract guests or customers and retain them as regulars. Even if you design the most exclusive hotel or guesthouse with state of the art conference facilities, luxury restaurants and top-notch amenities, without promotion your hotel would shrivel and fail – this applies the same way for luxury hotels located in New York, Chicago, Berlin and anywhere else in the world, just as it does for budget hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts and the like.
The difference that the internet and in particular social media has brought is that now SMEs can market themselves at a fraction of the cost, with the predominant part of the investment being time, i.e. anyone can strike the creative spark idea spark idea that will start as a susurrus and then suddenly become amplified and intensified into a squall taking the internet by storm. In the previous part of this article, we examined the recent hoax that rocked Twitter, this time around, we will look closer at the vectors of change and how memes of such vast magnitude are born and replicate.
There is a saying that every person is a walking book, in today’s world it is also true that every person is a walking meme. We all have epic ideas, but how can one harness this raw talent and instigate spontaneous conversion? How to channel the energy of your creative spark so effectively that it results in a media inferno? The business of promotion is fluid – trends rise and fall and only those who can adapt to assimilate the upgrades survive the merciless onslaught of new media and technologies. Instead of being overwhelmed by the tsunami of change that regularly engulfs the industry, learn how to tap into its power and ride the wave! The phrase ‘think fast’ has never rung truer. As promised, let’s delve deeper and examine in detail each of the agents that contribute to the success of any social campaign:
Catalysts of Change:
1. Triggermen: "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts." Purportedly, economists refer to the "idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the 'work' will be done by 20 percent of the participants as the ‘80/20 Principle’." This is also commonly known as "The Law of the Few". These key individuals may be classified as follows:
a. Connector or disseminator: he ‘links us up with the world ... he is blessed with a special gift for bringing the world together. Born of his truly extraordinary knack for socializing’. Typically connectors preside over social networks that exceed one hundred people. For our case-in-point that would be @tweetmeme, whose network included well over 60 thousand followers.
b. Maven this is the technology and information savant or "person we rely upon to connect us with new information." He garners vast stockpiles of knowledge, especially in regard to the marketplace, and is not averse to sharing his knowledge. As shown in part one of this article @forumn00b utilized his keen tech savvy to create an incredibly credible and intricate story scenario.
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c. Salesman or "persuader": irresistible charisma and deft negotiation skills are his mojo. He possesses a beguiling ability to project his enthusiasm onto his audience and elicit their consent, succour and allegiance to his cause. With the Maven’s know how and the Connector’s horde of hungry ears and eyes, the Salesman is the detonator needed to spark a chain reaction that can sweep the world in a matter of hours. Often, like in the hoax described, crowds with their self-hypnotizing hive mind whip themselves into frenzy – the same type of irrational stupidity that causes mass-hysteria. In other words, in the current equation the Twitter users sold the spurious fable to themselves and each other by tweeting without thinking – giving a whole new stratum to the term ‘birdbrain’. |
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2. The Power of Context: Human behaviour is largely governed by the environment and societal norms. The author notes: "Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur." Thus, harsh penalties and "zero-tolerance" policies aimed at small-time crimes such as fare-beating, public indecency and vandalism have the power to tip the scales reversing the rise of more serious crimes.
This landslide phenomenon was particularly apparent in New York city during the 1980s, when crime rates had risen to nightmarish levels of violence and then suddenly skidded to a halt and began to subside until by the end of the decade, subway incidences had tumbled by 75% for no obvious reason. The menacing bubble had reached a peak, critical mass – a tipping point and had imploded. However, the “Big Apple” hadn’t had a "population transplant and no one went onto the streets to teach every would-be delinquent right from wrong." So what triggered the drastic change? The author expounds that an epidemic of any sort begins at a tipping point, like an avalanche.
The author claims that the phenomenal crime plunge was brought on by neither Mayor Rudy Giuliani's hard-line tourniquet on violent crime nor the advancements in prisons and police procedures, but rather as a direct derivative of the “The Broken Windows Theory." This hypothesis goes thus: crime is an inescapable precipitation or result of chaos and disorder. Hence, if tiny symptoms of chaos such as graffiti or a broken window are not duly set aright, people assume that no one cares or that no one is in charge. Once this mindset takes hold, a chain-reaction commences, as adjacent windows follow suit and agents of anarchy run amok. Once the underground becomes inundated and the next level of critical mass is reached, the tsunami of violence spills into the streets resulting in a perpetually rising crime eager if all factors remain constant.
Parallel to maintaining the reins on violent crime, Giuliani launched an attack on small quality of life crimes raising penalties for seemingly innocuous, insignificant misdemeanours such as fare-dodging or the squeegee “toll” at the traffic lights to apparently ridiculous levels, including confinement, community service and heavy fines. Hence, logically, by plugging the “leak”, going back to the basics and fixing the broken windows and teaching the small-time hooligans memorable lessons, NYC police was able to regain control on the situation by effectively removing the bottom layer, the very foundation of the pyramid of disorder bringing the entire structure down.
3. The Stickiness Factor, the punch-line of the message, i.e. what renders it worthy of note and worth. The payload of the message is what will initially ignite the passion fuse of the 3 key instigators who will in turn cause the message to become a self-replicating sensation.
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Thus, these three agents come together to rule over the life-cycle of any meme or so-called viral marketing campaign. Obviously, whether you represent a hotel, restaurant or car rental company, you want to get travellers and potential clients talking and thinking about your service or products, however, we advise you not to forego long-term, reverberating acclaim in lieu of short-term publicity. A loyal, regular client is always worth far more than an impulse buyer and the way to secure regular customers is by garnering their trust and respect through responsible promotion and exceeding their expectations as opposed to just piquing their curiosity. |
In the final chapter of this article, I will review effective marketing strategies for several specific industries including hotels, real estate and consulting, as well as take a look at the DOs and DON’Ts of media and advertising. Check back soon!
In the meantime: stay successful, Tweet responsibly and verify before you testify!
End of Part II of III
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