Promotional Campaign Essay For Hilton Brisbane.

As the Marketing Manager for an existing Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) or for an existing hospitality enterprise of your choice, write a promotional campaign report addressed to the management team for approval of a conceptual idea and expenditure, with the following sections:

A relatively brief overview of your selected DMO or hospitality enterprise, presenting its main attributes such as size, turnover, visitation numbers, occupancy rates and similar data that contextualises the report.

Determine a suitable promotional campaign strategy for your chosen DMO or enterprise; provide a clear rationale based on academic sources for this choice of strategy. Preferably focus on one element of the promotion mix, and only briefly describe links to other potential elements of the promotion mix your campaign would be a part of.

Establish target market(s) for the specific promotional campaign you are developing; include rationale based on detailed market research, and academic literature for their selection.

Depending on where your DMO/enterprise is situated in its business cycle, determine the communication objective(s) of your promotional campaign.
Substantiate your claims with reliable data or arguments to prove this point.

Identify the competition – what regions' enterprises are predominantly competing for the same/similar target markets – back up this data with research and statistical data.

Outline what types of communication channels you suggest should be used for this campaign and the duration of your campaign. Be specific – give detailed examples so that your readers can grasp how this promotional campaign will be communicated.

Explain, with detailed rationale, how the results of the campaign will be measured. Establish suitable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can be tracked and used to prove the success of your promotional campaign.

Provide a brief, but realistic, budget for your promotional campaign. This requires you to do some external research to find out costs, for example, for printing posters and fliers, or how much advertisements cost in print, online or visual media sources – depending on the campaign you develop.

For each and every organization and its management team, it is very important to understand that marketing and promotion plays a significant role in its growth and success. Any company develops promotional campaign report to enhance its brand presence among customers. Considering the competition in global hospitality industry, the marketing manager of Hilton Brisbane is preparing a promotional campaign report. Hilton Brisbane will use this plan to encourage the people to use its hospitality services. This report is totally focused on the promotional campaign of Hilton Brisbane that includes promotional campaign strategy which the company will use for its targeted customers. Moreover, there is the discussion about the competitors of Hilton Brisbane Hotel in Australia. The suggestions are provided for the communication channels which this hospitality enterprise can use to communicate its brand message to customers. Furthermore, it includes some key performance indicators which this company will use to measure the effectiveness of this promotional campaign. At the end, a promotional budget is provided which includes all the costs and expenses incurred in marketing and promotion process.

Hilton Brisbane, a Brisbane icon is situated in the heart of city on Queen Street Mall. This hospitality enterprise is featured with the modern accommodation, newly renovated leisure facilities, award-winning dining and 2500 square meters of a space that is especially designed for events and meetings. The hotel showcases modern suites and rooms with the excellent Australian cuisine and fanciful amenities (Hilton Brisbane, 2018). It offers different types of rooms like deluxe, executive rooms and luxury suites which have been designed with every guest’s comfort in the mind. The hotel has built of 319 guest rooms with executive rooms and guest rooms. There is a business center and 19 meeting rooms. Hilton Brisbane is a part of a global brand of full service resorts and hotels. The worldwide revenues and profits of Hilton Group are increasing with the growth in the number of visitors in the city. As of 2017, the revenue of this group is $9.140 billion, in which Hilton Brisbane contributes significantly. Occupancy rate of the hotel is increasing year by year and it has reached to 75% in the year 2017 (Hilton Brisbane, 2018). In addition to accommodation services, Hilton Brisbane is providing various amenities like Wi-Fi, parking space, air conditioners, free internet, swimming pool, breakfast buffet, fitness center, tennis court etc. At Hilton Brisbane, the people can book the suite or executive room and they can enjoy unique executive lounge that features breakfast, drinks and refreshments during their stay.

Competitors analysis

Marketing and promotion is an important part of the company’s strategies. The term “promotion” defines the process of developing communication between companies and customers for forming positive attitudes about their products and services. Hilton brand has a dedicated and strong promotional and marketing team which assists its hotels to develop effective promotion strategies. Primarily, its promotion is done though internet (Andrews and Shimp, 2017). Hilton Brisbane can formulate and implement effective promotion strategies so that it can approach its customers.

One of the major promotional mix strategies that Hilton Brisbane will use is advertising. The hotel can use different types of advertising to promote its hospitality services to the potential customers. There are various elements of promotion mix like sales promotion, public relations, advertising, personal selling, sponsorships and direct mails. Hilton Brisbane will market its services by using the most effective tool of promotion mix i.e. advertising. Under this, this enterprise will use both print and media advertising. It will enable the customers to get the information about the services offered by it. Through advertising, the hotel can communicate its service patterns, style and available discounted offers (Hackley and Hackley, 2017).

There are different modes of advertising i.e. print media, online media and broadcasting media. In order to promote its services, Hilton Brisbane Hotel will use all types of media. Under print media, the organization will give advertisement in newspapers and magazines. The hotel magazine is very comprehensive picture of the offers and services which are offered by any hotel. It will give advertisement in both national and international newspapers (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). Nowadays, most of the people are actively using social media and online sites to connect with the people all over the world. Considering this trend, this hotel can create the pages on social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter etc. In addition to this, commercial ads on Television are also an effective way to advertise products and services. By using this promotional mix technique, Hilton Brisbane can approach a large customer base in Australia and all over the world. More so, website of company can also be used frequently in promoting the hospitality services provided by hotel. Under this promotional campaign, the hotel will use other promotional strategies like sales promotion, loyalty programs, events and sponsorships. Sales promotion can be linked with the advertisement strategy as it can communicate its discounted offers through different modes of advertisement strategy. Thus, by using above promotional strategy Hilton Brisbane can communicate its promotion campaign message to its potential customers (Bakker, 2014).

Communication channels for Hilton Brisbane

When Hilton Brisbane will be planning and implementing this new promotional campaign, it will focus on targeting a specific group of customers. Currently, this hotel is serving a high end market with its excellent hospitality services depicting higher status and therefore expensive. By conducting a research, it can be stated that now company will focus on the millennial customers. According to Adamson (2016), nowadays there is an increase in the number of millennial customers who are tech savvy and very particular about the hospitality services (Adamson, 2016).

Heyes and Aluri (2018) stated that millennial have comparatively lower level of customer engagement and satisfaction over other customer segments. The research stated that only 15% of millennial customers are part of its hotel loyalty program. Considering this trend, it is very important for Hilton Brisbane to use effective promotional techniques for building better relationships with these customers (Heyes and Aluri, 2018). It can offer them personalized services that they are seeking for. Under geographic segmentation, the organization will practice this promotional campaign in the regions with strong economies like America, China, Europe and Middle East. Looking at the interests and expectations of these customers, Hilton Brisbane can target them with the lower priced hotel brand that can offer craft beer and bright colors. Thus, this hotel can target the millennial customers for this promotional campaign who are travelling to Australian cities for the purpose of education, business, leisure and vacation (Kirkham, 2017).

Currently, Hilton Brisbane Hotel is situated on the growth stage of the life cycle as it is growing with increasing number of customers and visitors. According to Doha, Das and Pagell (2013), growth stage occurs when the products and services of a company have survived its launching stage and it is started to be remarked in the industry. The research states that Hilton Brisbane is a well-established hotel in Australia that is significantly noticed by the visitors arriving in Brisbane and other Australian states (Doha, Das and Pagell, 2013). This hotel is focusing on increasing its profitability and market share over other hospitality players in the region. Being on this business cycle stage, the hotel will determine its communication objectives for the perspective promotional campaign. These objectives are stated below:

• Through this, Hilton Brisbane purposes to cover most of the Australian visitors with its hospitality services.
• To create awareness among millennial customers about its upgraded hotel and hospitality services.
• To increase in its sales by 15% by emphasizing on the feedback and reviews received from the guests and make the changes accordingly.
• To enhance its brand image as a cost effective hotel brand among millennial customers.

The objective of Hilton Brisbane Hotel is very specific. It is for attracting the millennial customers so that it can increase its client base. The promotional mix strategy used by the hotel is very specific i.e. advertising. By using this, it will be able to reach to the above mentioned customer segment.

Key performance indicators for the promotional campaign

The above objectives are measurable as they can be measured by looking at the customer satisfaction level, number of customer increased, occupancy rates at hotels, booking frequency, guest repeat intention etc.

For a giant like Hilton Brisbane, there is nothing that cannot be attained. Under this promotional campaign, the hotel will formulate and implement effective marketing strategies. It can attract more customers by displaying its services in enticing way and providing discounted offers (Ryan, 2015).

The communication objectives of Hilton Brisbane are related to the company’s future goals and objectives. These objectives will support the organization to approach its overall vision and mission statement.

For successful implementation of this campaign, Hilton Brisbane will establish a timeframe of 6 months and make efforts to attain these objectives. It will create a marketing team which will work together to achieve objectives.

There are various competitors in the region and other nearby regions which pose competitive pressure on Hilton Brisbane. This hotel is located at Elizabeth Street in Brisbane where there are various well-established hotels which are offering their accommodation services by targeting millennial customers (Silver, 2017). The below-given graph reflects the growth of hotel and hospitality industry in Australian states including Brisbane.

                                                                                   Figure 1: Average Daily Rate of Hotels in Australian Cities

                                                                                                     (Source: Tourism Australia, 2018)

The major competitors are such as Brisbane Marriott Hotel, Melbourne Marriott Hotel, Treasury Casino and Hotel, Meriton Suites Adelaide Street, Stamford Plaza etc. It indicates that degree of competition is very high for Hilton Brisbane as the marketing efforts of other organizations are making efforts to attract millennial customers. Among them, Brsibane Marriott is the biggest competitor of this hotel that offers the view of both rive and skyline. It is situated on a location that is an easy walk from the Central Station. It is the major reason that people prefer to stay at this enterprise. The above hospitality brands are fighting to gain competitive advantage by focusing on millennial customers (Tourism Australia, 2018). The hotels are making critical efforts to upgrade their services and technologies so that they can attract millennial guests towards their hospitality services. Thus, Hilton Brisbane will implement its promotional strategies by focusing on the competition in the region.

Targeted customer segment

After determining the above-mentioned things, it is suggested to Hilton Brisbane that it should use effective communication channels to deliver its promotional and brand message to potential customers (Blakeman, 2018). In order to approach the customers, this hotel will use different types of communication channels like verbal, non-verbal and written. These will work as delivery vehicles for hotel’s brand and promotion message.

In order to communicate the promotional message to potential customers, Hilton Brisbane should use verbal communication channels. The hotel needs establish direct contact with millennial customers through this channel. Through its services and customer support service, the hotel will have talk to the guests about their issues and complaints. Oral communication is also an effective communication channel that should be used by Hilton Brisbane. Some of the examples are like face to face communication, telephonic communication, word of mouth marketing, events etc. These are the ways through which this hotel can communicate its service message to the customers. By conducting events, it can connect with the customers directly and promote its hotel services. It can affect the customer purchasing decision and perception in a positive manner. Public relation is an effective communication channel that can help this hotel to establish relationship with the customers (Ma, et al, 2016).

In addition to verbal communication channels, Hilton Brisbane should use non-verbal and written channels. This type includes a variety of methods for communicating promotion message. These tools may include visual elements like advertisement in newspaper, television and other media. Under this type, the major examples of communication channels are such as billboards, magazines, journals, newspapers and postal services (Pacheco and Rahman, 2015). Additionally, the marketing team of this hotel can communicate its brand message through internet sources like website, blogs, social media sites, online display ads and e-mail marketing. As the company is targeting millennial customers so it should make focus on this type of communication channels.

The company will set a timeframe of 6 months for this promotional campaign. This campaign will assist the Hilton Brisbane to determine its brand positioning. By using these communication channels, this hospitality enterprise will be able to develop an enhanced brand image all over the world (Sedaghat, Sedaghat and Moakher, 2012).

Key performance indicator is an effective measure which showcases the effectiveness and efficiency of any organization. There are several key performance indicators that allow a business to measure the performance and effectiveness of its implemented strategies and processes (Bergeron, 2017). Each and every organization uses these indicators to measure the success of promotional activities. Here, Hilton Brisbane is planning to implement promotional campaign to increase its customer base. So, some key performance indicators will be used to analyze its performance. These indicators are discussed below:

Promotional budget

In order to analyze the success of above promotional campaign, marketing team of Hilton Brisbane will evaluate its occupancy rate at hotel rooms. It is simplest way to measure the performance. The occupancy at hotel will showcase whether their promotional campaign had positive impact on customer’s buying decision (Patiar and Mia, 2015). The hotel can measure this as the % of available rooms occupied over a particular period.

Providing high level of guest satisfaction is one of the biggest objectives for any hospitality enterprise. With this campaign, Hilton Brisbane will make efforts to fulfill the needs and expectations of visitors. To measure their satisfaction level, this hotel will take their feedback and conduct survey. After taking the feedback, it will make the changes in the services accordingly (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, 2015).

Market share is also a critical indicator that can be measured by considering the sales of firm over a particular period. After the successful implementation of this promotional plan, Hilton Brisbane will take its market share into account so that can measure the hotel’s performance in comparison to other competitors. It will show the brand coverage and presence of Hilton in Australian hospitality industry.

Thus, by using above KPIs Hilton Brisbane will be able to track and prove the success of its promotional campaign.

For practicing the above promotional campaign plan in reality, the marketing manager of Hilton Brisbane will create a realistic budget that will include all the costs and expenses related to advertising and marketing activities. This organization will make investment on different types of media and other advertising methods (Smith, 2017). The hotel has decided that it will invest 114,000 on this promotional campaign. All the activities will be performed with the objective of attracting more and more guests and attaining competitive advantage over competing hotel brands. The budget Hilton Brisbane’s promotional budget is created below:

Conclusion

In the limelight of above report, it can be concluded that it is very important for any hospitality enterprise to implement an effective and successful promotional campaign. The above report states that Hilton Brisbane can use and implement effective strategies to develop its future customer base. For this, the organization is targeting millennial customers as they love to travel and stay for business and leisure purpose. The hotel can practice different communication channels to deliver the brand message to its potential customers.

References

Adamson, A. (2016) Hospitality Branding in the Age of the Millennial, Boston Hospitality Review, 4(3), 1-9.

Andrews, J.C. and Shimp, T.A., (2017) Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. Nelson Education.

Bakker, D. (2014) Vertical Brand Portfolio Management: Strategies for Integrated Brand Management Between Manufacturers and Retailers. UK: Springer.

Bergeron, B. P. (2017) Performance management in healthcare: from key performance indicators to balanced scorecard. Productivity Press.

Blakeman, R., (2018) Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.

Boella, M. and Goss-Turner, S., (2013) Human resource management in the hospitality industry: A guide to best practice. Routledge.

Doha, A. Das, A. and Pagell, M. (2013) The influence of product life cycle on the efficacy of purchasing practices. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 33 (4) 470-498.

Hackley, C. and Hackley, R.A., (2017) Advertising and promotion. Sage.

Heyes, A. and Aluri, A. (2018) How millennials perceive leisure luxury hotels in a sharing economy?, Research in Hospitality Management, 7:2, 75-79.

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Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Bilgihan, A., (2015) Customer loyalty: a review and future directions with a special focus on the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), pp.379-414.

Kirkham, C. (2017) Hilton targets millennials with low-price hotel brand offering bright colors and craft beer, Available from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hilton-targets-millennials-with-low-price-hotel-brand-offering-bright-colors-and-craft-beer-2017-07-06 [Accessed on 4 August 4, 2018].

Ma, E., Liu, Y., Li, J. and Chen, S., (2016) Anticipating Chinese tourists arrivals in Australia: A time series analysis. Tourism management perspectives, 17, pp.50-58.

Pacheco, B. G., and Rahman, A. (2015) Effects of sales promotion type and promotion depth on consumer perceptions: the moderating role of retailer reputation. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 25(1), 72-86.

Patiar, A. and Mia, L., (2015) Drivers of hotel departments' performance: evidence from Australia. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 14(3), pp.316-337.

Ryan, C. (2015) Trends in hospitality management research: a personal reflection. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 340-361.

Sedaghat, N., Sedaghat, M., and Moakher, A. K. (2012) The impact of promotional mix elements on brand equity. American Journal of Scientific Research, 43(1).

Silver, K. (2017) Six ways hotels are targeting the millennial market (and benefiting us all), Available from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/six-ways-hotels-are-targeting-the-millennial-market-and-benefiting-us-all/2017/06/29/244c0646-5852-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ec215520a8d1 [Accessed on 4 August 4, 2018].

Smith, M.N. (2016) Hilton Hotels are trying to attract millennials by giving them less furniture, Available from https://www.businessinsider.in/Hilton-Hotels-are-trying-to-attract-millennials-by-giving-them-less-furniture/articleshow/51317438.cms [Accessed on 4 August 4, 2018].

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