Here is proof that - if you want to - you can do creative advertising for anything.

Somebody spent real money to run this thing in the New York Times Magazine.

God only knows why.

  

If nothing else, it's an incredibly stupid headline. Whatever else this horribly-named company does, they seem to have hired a high-school sophomore to do their advertising.

"Thanks for coming. See you next time we have a sale."

We all know Groupon. You buy a coupon for something-or-other at a deep discount.

There’s a lot wrong with that arrangement. Like that the merchant usually takes a bath, having to provide a full value something-or-other at a loss so Groupon can get a cut. The hope, of course, is that the user will be so thrilled with the something-or-other that they will become a full-price customer for life.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. After all, why pay full price when you know there's another coupon around the corner?

That's what grinds us most about things like Groupon. They condition consumers to look for and wait for that next bargain rate. Which is to say, no matter how good the something-or-other you provide is, the consumer is being taught to bounce from discount to discount. Not to be a loyal customer going forward.

Which brings us to specials, promotions, packages, hotels and resorts.

Specials and promotions are a critical part of any hotel's marketing mix. We just don’t think an overreliance on them is the best thing for long-term rate growth. We think Brand loyalty is better than having potential guests window-shop for price. (Certainly that's what OTA listings lead with.) Branded searches have higher conversion rates. And branded searches are driven by desire, not price.

You want people to come to your property because they want to stay at your property, not because it's cheaper than one down the street. We're always excited when we can drive clients' website traffic for reasons other than price. There's a summer campaign doing that right now, in fact.

See below.



So with budget season coming up, maybe it makes sense to plan for some benefits-oriented marketing. Maybe take a look at your Brand and ask yourself if it creates desire for your hotel or resort.

If you’re selling a benefit (and creating desire), price becomes less of an issue, but if you’re selling on price, then price becomes more of an issue. Actually, the only issue.

One of these two scenarios is, of course, better than the other.

Bob Hoffman has something to say

Bob Hoffman's "Ad Contrarian" is a favorite of ours. He's a great writer, blunt, sometimes a bit vulgar and almost always right.  Here's his latest - "A Certain Type of Imbecile."