Finding the Soul of Your Hospitality Brand to Create Long-Term Value
Insights
Finding the Soul of Your Hospitality Brand to Create Long-Term Value
Sideways
Capturing Your Brand's Soul
Sideways has a process for defining the intangible — that special something in your brand that creates value for your customer beyond just the property walls. It’s the soul of your brand, and once it’s discovered, there’s no stopping it from creating long-term value.
Capturing a brand's soul — that magnetic quality every hospitality brand aspires to embody — is an art. Its very elusiveness is part of the allure. Your essence should speak for itself, drawing people in rather than promoting outwardly.
But magnetism doesn’t just happen on its own. To achieve “soul,” you need to know your brand’s purpose.
Sideways excels at uncovering and articulating the core "why" that imbues a brand with undeniable allure. From that bedrock of purpose, we shape tangible expressions that embody the authentic spirit of the brand, allowing its intangible essence to shine through organically.
Here’s how to get to the core of your brand’s essence.
1. Start With Your Vision for Your Brand’s Future
In order to find the soul of your brand, think about what you want your brand’s future to look like. How do you define its success? Once you understand where you want your brand to be, you can create a map that gets you there.
For our clients struggling to articulate their identity, we conduct a Future Picture workshop. It won’t be the first time you’ve tried to describe your ideal future, but it will likely be the first time you articulate that vision in its entirety. It’s an opportunity to surface your inner thinking — those creative ideas that only seem to happen when you’re away from your desk.
It’s also a moment of discovery. There may be areas of your branding that you hadn’t yet considered, touchpoints or operations that our team can pinpoint to make your vision a reality. Anything is possible.
2. Identify Where That Vision Fits Into the Marketplace
Finding your niche in the marketplace requires an understanding of what the market is missing. You likely have some intuition about what needs you can potentially satisfy for your customers. However, you may need support:
— Identifying the specific “white space” where your brand can thrive
— Understanding your customer’s desires and values
— Observing and articulating your own values
— Fine-tuning your brand expression to reflect where the culture is and where it’s going
— Assembling talented teams to execute your brand strategy
The soul of your brand may look slightly different than you envisioned, but hopefully, it’s because your branding solution has the talent and operational know-how to evoke your brand in ways you didn’t imagine possible.
You can measure up against quantifiably bigger hospitality brands
On paper, it may seem like you have a disadvantage against larger hotels or other luxury travel experiences. If that’s the case, take heart. You just haven’t uncovered your unique asset yet. What might be a “defect” to one guest is an asset to another.
Every property is different, and what appears at first to be a “quirk” or a challenge about your physical space is actually just an opportunity to define your brand — not confine it.
3. Cultivate a Deeper Connection with Your Customers
You can establish a connection that feels authentic to your customers when you know them beyond superficial demographics. The key is understanding the unique needs and desires of your target audience and then designing a hospitality experience that speaks directly to those priorities.
When Sideways first partnered with Freehand Hotels a decade ago, we recognized that their target millennial demographic was eager to experience the world as independent adults. They craved extraordinary travel experiences and meaningful connections with others. Our proposed design allowed guests to easily connect with fellow travelers in both physical and digital shared spaces.
The Freehand branding was intentionally more akin to a vibrant hostel than a sterile hotel. In addition to the found-object aesthetic of the shared physical spaces, we created an opt-in booking feature that enabled guests to connect with one another before and during their stay.
By creating ample opportunities for guests to bond with each other and forge unforgettable memories, we were able to foster a deep, emotional connection between the travelers and the Freehand brand. This aligned perfectly with the millennial mindset of seeking immersive, social travel experiences rather than a generic hotel stay.
4. Remember That You Don’t Necessarily Need a Major Digital Presence to Create Value
When it comes to branding for luxury hotels, a state-of-the-art website can only get you so far. Yes, digital presence is important, but more important is your brand’s consistency. Your sense of purpose, and the way you incorporate it throughout the guest’s experience is paramount. Once you uncover your purpose as a brand, you can determine how to manifest it in touch points throughout your experience, both physical and digital.
Want to find the soul of your brand? Let’s connect.