44NL Year 1 Creativity assignment

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Hotel Trade Fair - can you convince visitors and beat the competition?

In your market, you are not the only player. You need to know who would want to stay at your hotel and you also need to know who your true competitors are – the ‘Comp set’. Hotels will often compare their performance against Com Set hotels, in order to find ways to make their own offering more competitive). So now it’s time to pay extra attention as to how your hotel positions in the market and the way you would promote, sell and distribute it.

A very important Trade Fair is coming up. Ms. Jill Jandal has strongly suggested that Emerald Forest be present and participate fully at this event. This is not only a good opportunity to present your hotel to press, industry - think: travel agents and planners - and potential guests; it’s also the place where you can closely observe your competitors’ commercial efforts and improve on your competitive advantage.

Trade fairs have a long history of onsite presence; examples of important events include ITB Berlin, WTM in London or the Dutch Tourism Expo. With Covid19 mostly behind us, face-to-face networking and industry live-events are back in combination with integrated social media platforms as part of digital marketing: a hybrid approach. Social media has not been fully capitalized by the Bergmans so far. The original hotel has a limited social media profile whereas Christina, Jill and other staff members are active on their 'private' accounts. Clearly, these inconsistencies, the lack of proper digital marketing and adequate social media footprint could be seen as a great opportunity.

Situation

Check recent developments and how Emerald Forest Hotel has been doing so far. Don’t just copy that or upgrade it: you have after all developed your own strategy. So be sure the way you plan to integrate and use social media matches your strategy. Social media are used for:

• communication with your clients
• 'eavesdropping' on your clients
• checking the competitors
• digital marketing
• reviews as a separate thing
• ... etc.

All these qualities can be used to set up an ultimate campaign performance on the Trade Fair.

Goal

Your Team File Year 0 preparation and strategic choices are ready in plenty of time before the Trade Fair. Beware that you also have to reflect on the Trade Fair and observe your competitors, do a competitor analysis, as this is part of your decisions in year two. This assignment is not just about generating some mindless marketing and sales blurb! It might be a good idea to divide the tasks - all the while making sure your deliverables are going to be coherent!

Deliver an improved plan using social media, with concrete choices. In the end this should contribute to better marketing communication, and it should also bring a measurable result. Create the ultimate campaign to beat the competition!

Task, deliverable

In year 0, in certain choices were made. One of them your Facebook business page as well as a 2nd Social media channel. Check once again what your measurable goals are and aim for an even better result.

• Create at least five posts on both accounts, supporting your strategy.
• Be creative in the type of posts, the target audiences and the content you upload (beware of IP!)
• Try to get a decent number of followers or reads, views or comments on these posts.
• Upgrade the information on your social media, do so in cell D47, 'Extra information for your coach'

• Prepare a 3-minute video, promoting your hotel and offering an invitation to react online. This video will be a running-video shown at the Hotel Trade Fair.

Be sure that social media accounts are public as you include their links on the tab ‘Preparation’ in your Team File.
At least two members of your team should be present and attending your booth during the entire Trade Fair. The ‘booth’ will be your main promotional tool, a running-video video and an open chat-box for online participants must be noticeable and available. Industry representatives, your fellow students, coaches, and other staff members will visit you and discuss your concept and strategy.

Assessed elements

• Is the link to the strategy clear?
• Are the posts online, original and effective?
• Is the explanation clear and measurable?
• Do the posts and the video support each other?

Handing in your assignment

Hand in your posts and video by uploading them in the right folder in the Capstone Course in LMS and MS teams.

• Be sure that your posts and video are also made public
• Be sure anyone with a link can access posts and video without any login (!)
• Add a written description of the way you have chosen to present your hotel and how this aims to improve your marketing efforts.

Additional information

• Social media
• Website
• Competition
• IP
• Social media now in use by Emerald Forest Hotel

Hospitality Marketing Trends

• socialhospitality.com/2021
• social-media-content-trends-for-2020-infographic
• 7-hospitality-trends-in-2022-marketers-need-to-know
• 3-ways-to-keep-social-media-visitors-hooked-on-your-website
• Tips to Market your Business Effectively at Trade Shows
• hospitality-marketing

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Emerald Forest Hotel offering an emerald hotel experience! | Run your own hotel in this management simulation.