In today’s fragmented media landscape, the role of the marketing & communications manager at any hotel is more challenging than ever. At Swissôtel Sydney, a deluxe five-star hotel located in the heart of the city, it means ensuring that any promotion delivers a return on investment, partnering with like-minded organisations and coordinating with other parts of the business.

Promoting a property locally, regionally or globally is really important for any hotel company. Even if a hotel is part of an established chain, it is vital for staff at individual hotels to focus on building their property brand.  EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta talks to Lauren Kekwick, marketing & communications manager at Swissôtel Sydney about how she goes about raising awareness via digital platforms. A big part of this, she says, means coordinating with other departments like distribution and revenue management for marketing initiatives like daily deals, promotions and so on.

EFT: What are the major challenges you face as a marketing and communications manager?

LK: Sydney is a vibrant and dynamic tourist destination that attracts not only locals but also interstate and international guests. So it is always important to have knowledge of new hotels, bars and restaurants, how they are positioning themselves within the market, how they are promoting themselves and to whom.

The most important thing is to have a point of difference, for example, our newly renovated Crossroads Bar is being promoted as the re-introduction of the classic hotel lobby bar. Once you find this unique selling point you need to ensure all your marketing activities reflect this to ensure awareness and recognition is created.

EFT: How do you allocate resources and plan campaigns for a property located in one particular city?

LK: Planning is the key to this. The first thing we do is sit down as a team and reflect on the year that has been. Looking back at past promotions, how they were executed, what the ROI was and what could have been done better in an integral part of this process. A comprehensive plan is then put together outlining what activities will be implemented and the associated costs involved.

We use an advertising planning and buying agency to assist in securing great advertising rates and a lot of time is spent sourcing competitive quotes to ensure we receive the best value for money.

Throughout the year we complete a post analysis on each activity completed to obtain the ROI and any future learning’s we can use for the next activity. A marketing plan is something that needs to be looked at regularly and adapted to suit accordingly.

EFT: Tell me about some of the campaigns that have worked for you?

LK: Recently we completed our annual Swiss Food Festival, which was in its third year. To ensure recognition we used the same ‘hero’ image as the previous years and just updated the marketing material slightly. A range of promotional activities took place from the creation and distribution of a press release, online and print advertising, electronic direct mail to the hotel’s database, social media updates, promotional flyers and posters as well as obtaining sponsorship for the event. Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts donated five nights’ accommodation in Switzerland with flights donated by Swiss International Air Lines. Having the support of like-minded companies for events such as this is invaluable.

EFT: How do you ensure visibility for your property locally and globally via digital platforms?

LK: You cannot ignore digital platforms. It is a way to reach your local and global target audiences. Things such as third-party online website listings are fantastic and we are in the middle of an online advertising campaign promoting our new bar and restaurant. Swissôtel has such a strong brand presence on a global level and is fantastic to do joint promotions with our sister properties. This not only strengthens the brand but also gives our hotel a presence in a market that they might not usually have access to.

EFT: How do you stay on top of the latest trends?

LK: Signing up to (and making the time to read) newsletters, reading the papers, looking at Twitter or Facebook on a daily basis. I try to go to a new bar or restaurant each week and also spend time in our competitors’ properties so I can take notice of what they are doing and where they are doing it. Our job is to know what is going on not only in our city and our industry but also the country and world we live in. Industry briefings are always a great source of information, but so is something like Mumbrella (a website which covers everything under Australia's media and marketing and entertainment umbrella) where you get daily updates of what is going on in the world of marketing and communications.

EFT: To what extent has social media and mobile changed your responsibilities?

LK: Absolutely!  They are both fantastic tools for companies but as with all marketing channels you need to have a strategy. There is no point just being on Facebook or Twitter and not being active, but there is a fine line between being informative and just being a pain. QR codes are brilliant! If you are going to use them, however, you need to make sure that where you are sending your customers is somewhere of interest. Most importantly, you need to send them to something that is functional. There is nothing worse than a company who has gone to the effort of using a QR code that sends you to a website that is not made for mobile or worse the link doesn’t work at all.

EFT: How do you coordinate with other departments like distribution and revenue management for marketing initiatives like daily deals, promotions and so on?

LK: I work very closely with all departments in the hotel especially with operations and revenue management. Often we as marketing people think of amazing ideas. However if you don’t have open lines of communication with other departments you may not realise that it might not work operationally or that you are creating a deal in a busy period of the hotel when it is not needed. Having weekly marketing meetings with food & beverage and attending the revenue meeting is a great way of opening these channels of communication and working together as a team for a common goal.