As a reader of our blog, you know we can’t say enough about flexing a powerful brand. (Check out this post just for boutique hotels.) But your branding effort has to go deeper than just high visibility external branding—you need to think beyond your website, marketing communications and advertising campaign. So we’re sharing our top tips on how to make your hotel/resort employees brand ambassadors. Create The Culture A genuine affinity for what they’re advocating burns in the heart of every brand ambassador—so make sure you’re creating an environment and an ethos that nurtures individual fulfillment and pride in a job well done. Need inspiration? Take cues from Zappos and Trader Joe’s for successful corporate culture in action. Educate Employees Host official brand training sessions for your employees. By the completion of their training, your newly minted ambassadors should thoroughly understand your brand and be able to effectively communicate in its distinctive voice. Make sure you provide each trainee with a detailed brand style guide as a handy reference to refresh the lessons they learned, as needed. Talk The Talk That distinctive brand voice we speak to above? It’s not just lip service. Finely honed brand language and messaging must permeate every employee-guest interaction—from the greeting offered by your reservations team to the lifecycle email sent to them post-stay—and every single verbal and written communication that transpires in between. Live The Brand Your brand doesn’t only come to life through your employees’ words—it’s also revealed through their actions. When Dana conducts a full branding exercise for our clients, we develop a comprehensive collection of proprietary touchpoints (typically numbering over 100) that define what happens at any moment when a guest comes into direct contact with your brand along their customer journey. For a post-2020 world, we even conceived the concept of brand touchless points. Together, these touchpoints and touchless points can empower your employees to tangibly live, breathe and act on the brand. Share The Love Although most, if not all, of your staff members likely have their own Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok accounts, that doesn’t mean they’re ready to post on behalf of your property. So make sure you provide each employee with clearly written social media standards. These standards can be baked in to your brand training session so your ambassadors can stay on the right track…while staying on brand. Remember: You are the guardian of your brand, so it’s your responsibility to monitor posts that employees tag with your property to ensure adherence with all brand and social media guidelines to protect your reputation online. Get Creative Count us amongst the fans of Cori Copley, a very good girl and the beloved canine ambassador for the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. The lesson here? You can look beyond two-legged employees to take your property’s brand ambassador role in innovative new directions.
As you continue to explore how to make your hotel/resort employees brand ambassadors, your staff members aren’t your only indispensable resource. Contact Lynn Kaniper today at 609.466.9187 ext. 117 or lkaniper@danacommunications.com to learn more about what our team can do to support yours.
