The Ultimate Guide to Thought Leadership Strategy for Hotels

Ever heard of thought leadership strategy for hotels? You might have come across this term in my previous blog on trending marketing strategies for 2022. 

What I said there was just an overview of it. In this blog, I will  be covering all the aspects associated with thought leadership marketing and tips to become a ‘thought leader’.

What is Thought Leadership?

When leaders or experts from the industry share their valuable opinions with the world, which proves useful to people, it is called thought leadership. 

For example, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, is a thought leader. Because the kind of views he gives on technology becomes a source of inspiration for many aspiring tech entrepreneurs. 

It’s not just technology, but other industries like travel, hospitality, aviation, food, etc. also invest in this segment. Talking about the hospitality industry also has famous thought leaders. Some of them are,

• Bill Marriott Jr (CEO of Marriott Group of Hotels)
• Ratan Tata (Owner of Tata Group – Taj Hotels)
• Ian Schrager (Co-founder of Studio 54 NightClub)
• Anthony Melchiorri (Host of Hotels Impossible)
• Edward Mady (Manager at The Beverly Hills Hotel)
• Puneet Chhatwal (CEO of Indian Hotels Company Ltd)

What are the Benefits of Using Thought Leadership Strategy in Hotels?

The hospitality industry is revolutionizing rapidly. With hotels around the world adopting new technologies, sustainable measures, trending marketing strategies, and whatnot, there’s a need for thought leaders to guide them. 

For example, Marriott is the 1st hotel to implement flywheel marketing to increase its guest satisfaction level and improve operations. Obviously, you would take a cue from it and try to instigate it at your property too. But, how did you know about it?

Through blogs, articles, social media platforms, or interviews. And where did those come from? Of course, Mr. Bill Marriott, when shared his opinion on flywheel marketing and the result of implementing it.

Moreover, the concept of thought leadership marketing works well on guests too. 

Suppose you have shared an opinion on any trend in the hospitality industry and how you’ve embraced it at your property. Now, guests who would read your opinion piece will be enticed to visit your hotel. (https://midwaymoving.com/) This means that apart from increasing your followers and readership, you are also bringing some bookings to your property.

I could sense the next question popping into your mind – How do I become a thought leader?

Read ahead to know it.

How to Become a Thought Leader?

Becoming a thought leader isn’t rocket science. You just need to play your cards right. Let me share with you my story. 

I am also trying to become a thought leader too. Reason being you are reading this blog and would definitely be taking some cues from it to become one. Moreover, I often receive requests on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to address certain issues through my blogs. 

Although I am not as famous as the other hospitality leaders, I do have a great audience (you, of course). And as it is rightly said,

One may walk over the highest mountain, but one step at a time

John Wanamaker

You can start by taking the 1st step and gradually grow into becoming one of the prominent thought leaders in the world. So, without wasting any time, let’s get straight to those steps.

1. Find the right audience

The first thing you need to do while deploying a thought leadership marketing strategy for hotels is finding the right audience. 

As a hotelier, your audience would be people associated with the hospitality and travel domain. They could be travelers, hospitality professionals, hotel management students, frequent flyers, etc. So while creating your content, check that it adds value to your readers’ life. 

2. Choose the best platforms

Once you have selected your target audiences, it’s time to determine the platform to reach out to them. The best idea would be working with organisations that allow guest posts. 

It’s quite simple. You just need to reach out to them and ask if they can publish your article on their portal. However, don’t forget to check if they give due credits or not. Because, if you don’t get the recognition for your content, the entire effort goes down the drain.

Alternatively, you can share the link on your profile and across other platforms. But, I would recommend going for ones that give you due credit. 

Another best option is ‒ Medium. It’s an open platform that encourages undiscovered voices to share their opinion on various topics. 

As you start becoming popular, you can invest in having your own website. It becomes easier for your readers and followers to bookmark it and get notified every time you post a new update. It works well if you are more into content writing. 

In case you want to deliver it visually, I would recommend using YouTube. 

3. Pick the correct niche

Now that you’ve your audience and platform ready, pick the niche. See, while opting for a thought leadership marketing strategy for hotels, it’s important to choose the right topic. 

You can write blogs or create videos related to various segments of the hospitality industry. It could be guest satisfaction, hotel marketing strategies, issues faced by the hospitality industry, and so on. Don’t go off the track from your niche. 

The reason I’m saying this is that if you address any issue that is out of your area of expertise, you might cause a goof-up. And misleading information can harm your reputation instead of building it. 

Also, try to talk about trending topics. It would fetch you better engagement, improve your reader/viewer count, and broaden your reach amongst audiences. 

4. Post your views on social media platforms

After you publish your thoughts, promote them on social media platforms. For example, whenever I publish a new blog, I ensure to promote it on my Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook page as a story.

In fact, I do update the link and screenshot of the blog as my WhatsApp status too. And trust me, it helped a lot.

Because of that, I had an increased user engagement, website visitor count, better page authority, and of course, some of the blogs being on top rank in Google’s search result. Don’t believe me? Here’s a screenshot for your reference.

5. Express your opinion through blogs

If you are a fan of writing long or short posts, blogs can work best for you. Plus, you can use them on your hotel’s website too.

Trust me, writing blogs is one of the best techniques to use in thought leadership marketing strategy for hotels. If you want to start for free, “Blogger” is the best platform to do so.

First of all, it is powered by Google, which means it is quite reliable. Secondly, its user interface is very simple. Hence, as a beginner, it’s the best tool for you.

6. Be a part of prominent events

Events are a vital part of the hospitality industry, and a chance to speak in them is a good way to be in the limelight. Also, it helps to boost your confidence through public speaking. 

Organised events, travel fairs, Ted talks are some of the best ways to try this. Apart from that, you can become a part of webinars and seminars as a keynote speaker. But, let me tell you, some of these events are on a paid basis. 

In case you aren’t able to get opportunities in any events, host one for yourself and send personalised invitations to guests. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time and amount on setting up events at your property, try virtual meetup.

Just create an event on Google calendar, and share the joining link via email to your audience. The interested ones will join directly. Also, keep a Q&A session for the end, to address any questions from the attendees.

7. Give a try on podcasts

Do you know that there are hospitality podcasts as well? Yes it’s true. 

In fact, I listen to a couple of them too. The boostly podcasts and Hospitality Mavericks are my favorite. They talk about current events, best practices for hotels, and talks from top hospitality leaders about achieving goals. 

Obviously, it gives me different ways to think and topics to write new blogs. You should follow such podcasts, and if possible try to participate and share your views.

 However, the bitter truth is that you’ve to be an established thought leader. But that doesn’t mean you cannot opt for podcasts. If you cannot participate, create one for yourself.

Start hosting your own podcasts on platforms like Anchor. Record interviews with top hoteliers (ask if they are comfortable with this), talk about trending topics, and upload these podcasts on different platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Google. 

8. Try to go for paid magazine features

Have you ever come across a hotelier’s interview in a magazine? Well, some of them are paid ones.

Basically, travel magazines have a feature column where they interview top hospitality professionals, or owners and managers of brand properties. It is either about their story on how they made this big, their views on any common issues faced by hotels, or their take on the future of the industry. 

The charges of the same depends on the popularity of the magazine. It is one of the uncommon steps that you can opt for while creating a thought leadership marketing plan for your hotel.

9. Don’t forget Quora

Quora is one of the underrated platforms. I feel that after Google, it is one of the best sources to find answers to your queries.

As a matter of fact, some of the famous world leaders like Barack Obama, Sundar Pichai, Hillary Clinton, and Mark Zuckerberg are quite active on Quora. They do answer a lot of relevant questions.

If you don’t have a profile on Quora, create one right now and start answering the questions related to your niche. Another add on benefit, it’s free of cost. 

In fact, I’m active on it. And you won’t believe some of my answers have fetched a good amount of views and upvotes.

10. Improve your reputation

While you are on the path to becoming a well-known thought leader and using your knowledge to guide people, there’s an unsaid rule you should follow. That is to manage and improve both your and the hotel’s reputation.

If you or your property has a bad reputation, creating a thought leadership marketing plan for your hotel won’t work. So, focus on improving that first. 

11. Strive to be the best

Well, I’m sure the points I’ve mentioned above work well for you. Once you start doing it, you will gradually become a prominent thought leader in the hospitality industry. 

However, let me warn you, the competition is tough. If you are expecting an overnight result, it won’t happen. 

Let’s say, a couple of years down the road, you reach the expected goal. Don’t stop. Because, the pace at which the world is growing, there are chances that someone better than you would always be there. 

Hence, it’s important that you should strive to be the best.

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