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Building a First Principles Marketing Strategy

When building a marketing strategy, most entrepreneurs just look at their revenue from the last year and dedicate a percentage of that to go into the marketing budget. Too often, it’s just sprayed over multiple channels to see what sticks. The better option is to build a first principles marketing strategy. 

What is a First Principles Marketing Strategy?

For the uninitiated, first principles thinking is simply a way to approach complicated problems. Specifically, you break them down into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up. 

With that being said, a first principles marketing strategy would set aside the Facebook versus Google ads debate and first answer, ‘What is the goal of marketing?’

If you ask us, the goal should be to generate leads that have a high chance of turning into clients or customers. This (naturally) begs the question – who has a high chance of becoming a client of yours?

The answer depends on the problem you help people solve.

The Truth Behind Your Brand

Whether you’re selling legal services or coffeemakers, you are helping people solve a problem. 

  • Divorce attorneys help people move on to the next chapter of their life. 
  • Coffeemaker manufacturers help people get their day started on the right foot. 

Before you can determine how to find people that have a high chance of becoming a client, you have to define what problem they need help solving. 

This is the defining factor that should be at the core of your marketing strategy. Defining the problem answers why people come to you in the first place. 

The reasons vary significantly, but a few examples:

For B2B businesses:

You help them save time 

You help them increase their revenue 

You help them reduce risk

Oftentimes, you can market your business to show how it does all three – whether you’re selling IT, bookkeeping, marketing services, sales consulting, legal advice, et cetera – you should be helping them save time, increase their revenue and reduce their risk. 

For B2C businesses: 

You solve an emergency (plumbers, roofers)

You make them happy (luxury brands)

You provide an experience (restaurants, hotels)

Once you single out all the problems you help your prospects with, the next step is to figure out their mindset when they are ready to buy. 

Getting Discovered at the Right Time

If someone has a plumbing emergency, they’re going to Google ‘plumber near me’ and call each one until they find one that can come fix it. If they call you and you do a good job, they’ll remember and call you next time right away (and tell their friends and family about you). Being discoverable when they need you is key. 

Similarly, if you are something a little more esoteric (say a sex therapist or a divorce attorney), people are more likely to be researching their problems for a while before they call. Having a more robust website with an extensive blog that answers the questions your clients ask you when they’re Googling to find answers to their problems in the middle of the night is likely a better approach than plastering social media with ads (where their spouse could see them interacting with a divorce attorney). 

Once you determine the problem you help prospects with and why they want you to help them, your marketing strategy will be built on a powerful foundation. 

Want to hash it out? Drop us a line. 

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How Hotels Should Use Social Media to Their Advantage

We all know that social media is a powerful tool when it comes to marketing your brand and driving engagement. Companies can seemingly blow-up overnight just by having a strong social media game. 

For hotels, it can be intimidating to carve a path within the social media realm – especially as a new property or as a property looking to upgrade its current online presence. 

While it can seem like many hotels have become a premier destination simply as a result of a few well-positioned photos plastered on Instagram or videos on Tik Tok, we can assure you that is not, in fact, the case. As in all things with social media, nothing is ever quite what it seems. 

The Evolving World of Social Media

Between Facebook crashes, Twitter bashes, and Tik Tok Mashes – social media is ever-evolving. It is easy to see how businesses and brands are quick to want to jump on the latest and greatest trends and feel immense pressure to be everywhere all the time. 

One of the most important messages we tell all our clients, no matter their industry, is that when it comes to social media – it’s a savant’s game. Marketing your hotel on social media should not be approached in the vein of Jackson Pollack to a blank canvas. But rather more Martin Scorsese to film: it’s going to be a long, arduous process with an exorbitant amount of takes but greatness is guaranteed. 

Pick Your Battles & Choose Wisely

Select a few (or less) social platforms that make the most sense for your brand. Today, Instagram is a top choice for hotels as it is a more aesthetically-driven platform with engagement that rises when content is heavier (read: longer posts do well on IG). Twitter is a fan-favorite for brands willing to get a little more edgy with their tone and engage with guests and the world at large. Tik Tok is a way to show your more playful side, highlight guest videos, and tease all sorts of great experiences. 

Transparency is All

We really hope you read that headline in the voice of Uhtred Ragnarson from The Last Kingdom (IFKYK). In our offices, we work with a number of hotels and brands within the hospitality industry. We abide by what we call “The Hospitality Rule.” Which is to say – we understand just how delicate it can be to market your property and business in the hospitality sector. Words matter. Response time is key. Transparency is vital.

When it comes to social media, being aware of the implications and complications of messaging and responding to disgruntled guests is imperative. Not responding in a timely and effective manner on social (even for just a comment) has been shown to reduce brand advocacy by up to 50%. Bonkers.

Hotels & resorts should use social media to build a community of like-minded people that will love the property and tell all their friends about it (and it doesn’t hurt if they have some help posting from the property to their feeds). 

If you are looking for a team to manage your social media presence for your property or business, get in touch today.  

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Should Hotels Even Bother with Blogging? Yes!

Here’s the thing: the digital age we live in makes it easier than ever to search for the information you need and want. More than likely, a potential guest will visit your website before their trip at least once and will also likely book online as well. 

(Fun fact: we even know a few Gen Z’s who have never actually dialed out from their cell phones.)

As more and more travelers are looking for fast and easy information, a hotel’s website should be able to tick all the boxes of a guest looking to plan a vacation of a lifetime. The last thing guests want is to call the hotel to get an answer to a simple question – especially one that could have been readily available at their fingertips. 

That is why blogging is so essential. When it comes to hotels, we want homepages to be clean, enticing affairs with low content. We want to feel the experience jumping off the screen. 

Once we’re hooked on the goods – consumers, as internet savants, then dive deep into a given site to learn more about the hotel, the area to which they’re traveling, and look for advice on things to do. That is where a quality blog steps in: to provide guests with bountiful insider information in one easy-to-find location.  A robust blog can convey the tone, feel, and overall experience of the property.

The Added Benefits of Blogging:

In case you needed more reasons to convince you that your hotel property should have a well-run blog page, here’s a couple key things to consider:

  • It Boosts Your SEO Rankings: Each new blog post serves as a new page on your website. Each new page, especially those providing valuable information to readers and Google users, gets you brownie points from search engines (okay, Google). Those brownie points add up to put your hotel higher than the rest on searches. 
  • It Engages Guests: Nowadays, it’s all about experience and engagement. If your site is just a placeholder, what does that say about the experience guests will have once they book? Give them a taste, welcome them to the experience of a lifetime, through engaging content. Keep them on your site – and keep them coming back for more. With a great blog presence, your site can act like a lifestyle experience rather than just another room to book. 
  • It Helps Share News: You’ve got updates, news, cool new food items on the menu. Share it on social but also on your blog. Gone are the days of traditional PR – today, most brands and businesses are leveraging their own blog as a place to share newsworthy updates to readers, guests, partners and more. 

Have questions about getting started on your blog or looking for an experienced team of writers and marketers to do the heavy lifting for you? Get in touch with our team today! 

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Hotel Marketing In a Post-Pandemic World

For hotels and hospitality, trying to beat back the epic whiplash that has been the Covid Pandemic this past 19 months has been one for the books. 

Guests want to travel. Guests cannot travel. Countries have opened borders, countries have closed borders. Travelers need a covid test. Travelers need a vaccine. 

One word: chaos. 

So, as a hotel or a business in the hospitality arena – how do you focus on growth and driving bookings in the face of all the back-and-forth?

It’s simple really: you focus on the experience. We are all in desperate need of a vacation, or three. Guests are ready to go and primed for the pump, as they say. It’s not a question of are people ready to travel, it’s a question of “where to first?”

While the digital world has made of-the-moment marketing that much easier and more accessible, it is imperative to break through some of the white noise and make your property stand out. Guests need to go from “this property is on my list” to “I’ve just booked a trip!”

It’s All About Allure

A picture is worth a thousand words. As a content marketing company, that means quite a bit. If you haven’t updated your image bank during the pandemic, now is the time. Snap some Gram-worthy shots of food, rooms, and the overall experience of your property. Be sure to get photos that both capture the lifestyle and feel of the hotel as well as some standard lay-flats, and product shots. One key note: don’t use the same models in each photo – you want to extend the life of the photography and having a number of models at one shoot is a great way to do that. 

The photos should be used across mediums: blog posts, website portfolio, social media channels, and of course, email marketing. 

Create Enticing Promotions

When building promotions for your hotel, try and get creative today. Most hotels will also be offering promotions (stay 3 nights, 4 night free; credits at the restaurant or spa, etc). While all promotions are fun, it captures the attention better when your promotions are playful and unique. Create something that will entice guests not only to book with you but also to share in the joy of this great promotion you’ve created. Capture the tone and feel of your space and go wild. 

Don’t Go Too Deep into the New

A lot of times, when we are hungry for growth – we tend to throw a fair amount of ideas at the walls and see what sticks. The same is true for hotel and hospitality marketing. Trust us when we say: avoid this at all costs. Focus on key avenues that you want to pursue and see them through. Don’t waste time, energy and money trying to find out-of-the-box ways to drum bookings. 

You’ve got this. Guests will come. If you need help executing your marketing or creating new property-specific strategies, give us a call today. 

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The Scary Realities of Social Media Marketing

Effective marketing is all about meeting your people where they’re at. Increasingly, that’s on social media sites like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. And while social is all the rage, it’s important to know just what you’re getting into before throwing all your eggs in one basket.

As you consider your marketing goals and opportunities for growing your small business, it’s important to be focused, strategic, and… realistic. Here are three social media realities you need to be aware of before investing time and money into your marketing campaigns.

3 Things You Need to Know About Social Media Marketing

  • It doesn’t drive a high ROI (for everyone) – Some people talk about social media marketing like its gold. They say if you just do a few simple things, you can strike it rich in no time. Not so much… Instead, the reality is that your social strategy may not result in a huge return on your investment, but does that mean you shouldn’t do it? Of course not!

There are several important reasons why your business should maintain an active social media presence. A big one in terms of cost is that it can be done relatively inexpensively. You don’t have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising to see results. Consistently posting content and engaging on your social channels is enough to demonstrate your credibility and offer useful information to followers (which will translate into results over time).

  • It will not solve all your marketing woes – Some people turn to social media for instant gratification. From news to entertainment, we can track what’s happening in real-time. The challenge with marketing, however, is that it’s not instant. It requires you to be steady and consistent for the long-haul.

Entering a social media channel with the hopes of it suddenly driving up your business 10-fold will leave you sorely disappointed. It takes time to build your followers and establish your reputation. The best way to speed along the process and grow your business is to use social media in conjunction with the other two components of the marketing trifecta – 1) blogs, 2) newsletters and 3) social.

  • It isn’t just a numbers game on followers – it’s engagement you’re after – Having hundreds or thousands of followers sure sounds appealing, but how many people do you “follow” that you could really care less about? Simply having followers isn’t worth much if they’re not engaging with your content, products, and services.

By actively engaging with your target clients (rather than trying to reach the millions of people on the Twitter-sphere), your marketing efforts will be much more effective and impactful.

Social media is an important marketing tool your business absolutely needs to be using – as long as your eyes are open to the realities of what the various platforms can offer. Which channel(s) you should use will depend on your line of business and where your will-be customers are most likely to linger.

For help getting your social media strategy off the ground or taking your business to the next level, get in touch with us at The Found Gen.

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Why LinkedIn is a Law Firm’s Best Kept Secret Weapon in Marketing

If you’re still using LinkedIn as simply a host for your online resume (or gasp, you’re not even on LinkedIn at all), you’re missing out on one of the most effective social media marketing platforms there is for law firms.

LinkedIn has more than 774 million members worldwide and is the go-to social media site for professionals. As a lawyer, its benefits are two-fold.

  1. It connects you to other law professionals, thereby enabling you to build out your network (hello, referrals!), and
  2. It’s a place where potential clients can learn more about you, your services, and your professional reputation.

While there are opportunities for paid advertising on LinkedIn, so much of what you can do to drum up new business and make new connections can be done on the platform without paying for expensive ad placements.

Need even more reasons for your law firm to go social on LinkedIn?

Here are 3 more reasons why you should be jumping on LinkedIn today:

  • For reputation management – Clients turn to law firms they can trust. With LinkedIn, you can establish your firm as an industry thought leader by actively posting on the site and engaging with peers and potential clients.
  • To expand your reach – With LinkedIn, the more actively you participate, the more useful the platform will be to you. And it doesn’t have to take over your life. A few strategic posts per week are enough to offer immediate benefits and begin growing your network. Moreover, LinkedIn offers opportunities for you and your law firm to make targeted connections by participating in relevant groups and associations.
  • To leverage your content – Potential clients are searching for solutions. Offer them answers through your content and social media posts. What’s more, if you’re already actively creating content for other marketing channels like blogs and newsletters (which you definitely should be doing) , you can stretch that content even further by sharing it on LinkedIn.

And a bonus reason: Content posted on LinkedIn is indexed by Google, so the more actively you engage and contribute relevant content, the better your SEO and Google ranking will be.

Like any marketing strategy, LinkedIn is not a silver bullet for growing your business, but it is an effective tool to add to your playbook and serve as a complement your other marketing initiatives.

If you’re ready to grow your law firm’s business on LinkedIn, we can help. Take the next step today by getting in touch with us at The Found Gen.