I read a very interesting blog post earlier this week on Digital Relevance which talked about the importance of a consistent brand image between both a company’s website and their email marketing pieces and it inspired me to explore the issue further. Many companies don’t realize the importance of consistency so they spend a lot of time and money on making their website reflect the company’s brand image, but then completely ignore their email marketing. Big mistake!
For all marketers out there – and this applies to everyone, whether in the hospitality, catering, manufacturing or even technology industries – your mantra (when it comes to branding) should be: repetition, repetition, repetition.
As many marketers know, it takes multiple interactions with a brand before a consumer starts to remember and develop a feeling – either negative or positive – about a company and brand. If a company is not consistent with their brand image, not only can it cause conflicts in a consumers’ mind as to what the brand image of a company actually is, it decreases the effectiveness of a company’s branding efforts, and therefore, decreases the effectiveness of a company’s marketing efforts.
So in the spirit of embracing consistency and brand repetition, here are some very important rules for web and email marketers to embrace:
- The details matter – Text fonts, colors, sizes, paragraph spacing, imaging, etc. These are all much more important than a lot of marketers give them credit for. These little details are the things that combine to create your company’s brand image, whether online or in an email, so if they aren’t consistently there (or not there), then you risk diluting your brand image and losing out on the valuable consumer recognition factor of your branding.
- Common messaging – All marketing messages – whether delivered in print, on your website or in your email marketing messages – should offer consistent messaging. If on your website, you claim that your property offers “5 star service at a 3 star price”, your email marketing campaign shouldn’t state that you are simply a three-star property. If your email marketing illustrates the beautiful scenery at your property, your website should reinforce that message, offering an even more detailed look at the spectacular scenic experience offered. Remember, to make a message stick into a potential customer’s brain, it must be repeated multiple times so if you are changing your message with each new marketing piece, you are losing out on the penetration that can be achieved with consistent, ongoing messaging.
- R-E-S-P-E-C-T – As a business in the hospitality industry which prides itself on delivering good customer service, it is important that your email marketing reflects this respect for your potential customers as well. Since for many potential customers, your email marketing campaign is the first point of contact between your property and them, this is your chance to make a great first impression. Always be respectful of customers’ privacy and don’t send too many messages.
Most importantly, only send messages to people who want to receive them. In case someone changes their mind about receiving your messages, always include an unsubscribe link and if they do request to be removed, ALWAYS remove them. There is nothing worse than continually receiving messages you deem to be spam, even after you’ve requested to be removed from their list.
- Provide them with info that they will want to receive – The content of your marketing messages is very important as well. Even if you have most beautifully designed and branded email, if your content is boring or too salesy, it won’t leave a good impression to potential customers reading it. Offer information that will be of use to your potential customers; by doing so, you’ll be making your messages must-read material and you’ll increase the number of reads, your click-throughs, your ROI and improve consumers’ impressions of your brand and your company.
Of course, there are a million-and-one branding rules, but in my opinion, these four are the must-do’s for every company who aspires to make their brand a household name.
As always if you have any questions or need more information about how to effectively brand your company across both your website and email marketing, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time – jlr@travelinkd.com.
Jennifer Rodrigues, Visibility Development Manager with ThinkInk and TravelInk’d, is a seasoned public relations professional with a passion for the hospitality industry, which is expressed in her role at ThinkInk’s travel division, TravelInk’d. At TravelInk’d, she is responsible for developing cost-effective and creative public relations and marketing strategies for clients in the travel and tourism, hospitality, airline, lodging, cruise and meeting/event sectors. For more information on TravelInk’d, please visit www.travelinkd.com or contact Jennifer at jlr@travelinkd.com.