‘This is your captain speaking, prepare for landing’ - a short sentence which usually packs a positive punch. It’s no secret that the majority of us are yearning for it - the feeling of stepping off of a plane, ready for adventure, with warm winds in your hair.
However, rather than an exotic breeze, current travellers from certain locations arriving in the UK are being hit with the cold, harsh reality of a mandatory quarantine for up to 10 days, for which they have to foot the bill.
Upon landing in England, travellers from countries on the aptly named ‘red list’ are ushered off to hotel rooms for 10 nights by security guards accompanying them whilst outside - all to the tune of £1,750 per passenger travelling alone, to cover transport, tests, food and accommodation at a mid market hotel.
Whilst some hotels may be thankful for the income, (in whatever form it appears) as Helen Edwards explores for Marketing Week, these negative experiences could cause some serious damage to a hotel’s brand health. As Edwards discusses, marketing teams should always be considering the long-term brand health and perception. Whilst the thought of bad health around a brand would make the usual marketing team shudder, teams for these ‘quarantine hotels’ will be especially concerned about the perception of their brand. After all, how do you mitigate the not-so-positive thoughts guests may have after having to quarantine at your establishment?
Of course, with this example, it’s the ‘quarantine hotels’ which are under the microscope, but brand health is a topic which should be high on the agenda for all brands.
Over the course of the pandemic, recruitment brands in particular have played perhaps a more vital role than ever, in helping clients to to cope with new demands because of COVID-19, placing candidates who have perhaps been made redundant, and supporting their own employees through various initiatives. Still, there are those that may have fallen slightly behind for a number of reasons, and their brand health has suffered as a result.
Defined by Deloitte as the measurement of how brands are perceived by consumers (in terms of ‘quality and delight’), brand health is the centrepiece of how your customers view your business. It is vital to the performance of your organisation, and brands should be prioritising the health and perception of their brands as the impacts of how they faced the pandemic take shape.
For example, when it comes to recruitment brands, those who assisted organisations and candidates in need at the right time will no doubt have a better reputation in the market, whilst those who neglected to prioritise the wellbeing of their teams may face a more negative reaction.
Whatever your own thoughts are on your brand’s health, it’s always a good time for a checkup - but where do you start in creating a healthy brand?
Every organisation we deal with has a brand behind it - even the most utilitarian of organisations do - because brands are built from emotion.
Brands are created by telling a story - the tale (no matter how inspiring) of your organisation, the motivations and history behind a business. And in 2021, storytelling is key if you want to stand out. Think about it - unless you’re offering time travel, human levitation, or the ability to converse with cats (fluently), your clients could get a similar service elsewhere. So, the way to stand out is by bringing them on the journey of your brand.
And if your operations don’t live up to the values, promises and ideas portrayed by your brand, the clients and candidates of today will see straight through it. So, to check what story your brand is telling, use social listening tools and monitor reactions to see what people are saying about you. After all, it’s a common fact that word of mouth is one of the strongest ways to get your message out into the market. So, you need to do everything in your power to create a positive story behind your brand.
And if the story you’re seeing is more a horror tale? You know you need to take it back to basics. Consider revisiting exercises internally that will help you to uncover your brand’s purpose and mission to build a better story from the ground up.
It may sound simple, but it’s a fact some recruitment businesses overlook. Your brand won’t be strong if your investment is low or non-committal.
Investing little in your marketing output and expecting the best results (such as a lengthy list of qualified leads) would be much like paying for an Uber and expecting a private limousine to whisk you away. It just isn’t going to happen - sorry, not sorry.
Senior leadership teams and managing directors must be committed to making a strong investment that’s data-driven - so, look where you’ve historically seen great results and consider taking a look at market trends and insights to make your decisions.
Gone are the days of a ‘Dear Sir’, or ‘Dear Madam’. Believe us, we still see it. No matter your approach to marketing, it needs to be personalised for your audience. The consumer of 2021 is wise - they probably know that the emails from you landing in their inbox haven’t been hand-written by each salesperson. Still, personalisation can go a long way.
And it doesn’t have to just stop at a ‘Hi [FIRSTNAME]’ merge field. Using Marketing Automation Platforms allows you to track user journeys and their engagement to create an approach that is tailored to their needs and wants, depending on the content that has resonated with them, and equally importantly, depending on that which hasn’t resonated with them.
All in all, your brand health is much like an organisation’s operations - vital to success, easy to let slip, and dangerous if not handled with care. Still unsure on your own brand’s health and how you can leverage it? Let us help. Reach out to our MD, Jo Lee, to see how we can help you to create a strong brand position that packs almost as much as a positive punch as hearing the wheels of a plane hit the runway during your summer holidays.