Monthly Archives: August 2011

Crisis Communication

31 Wednesday Aug 2011

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Note: This is the third article in a three-part special on how public relations can affect the way you run a bed and breakfast.

Ivy Lee is considered the “Father of Public Relations”…a hefty title, considering that today public relations has become a multi-billion dollar industry spanning the globe. As the son of a Southern minister in the late 19th century, he certainly went on to provide a pivotal role in how crisis management is handled today.

It started out simply enough. Lee became a publicity manager for the Citizens’ Union in 1903 before climbing his way up a ladder of influence with rungs that included working at the Democratic Party Headquarters, heading a presidential candidate campaign against Theodore Roosevelt, and eventually landing himself the duty of reversing the negative image the aristocratic Rockefellers had made for themselves. In serving their corporate interests, Lee relinquished the philosophy of other American socialites that, “The people be damned” (originally popularized by fellow upper-crustman William H. Vanderbilt). Instead, Lee encouraged the Rockefellers to adopt a seemingly audacious and new idea: “the public be informed.” This paradigm shifted things dramatically. As Lee saw it, the truth should be revealed rather than hidden from the public because, sooner or later, they’d find out anyways. He went on to surmise that if the public doesn’t condone something a particular business or person is doing, that specific something must be changed, adapted, and brought into line with what the public wants.

And it’s true. Hundreds of case studies exist where specific businesses have embroiled themselves in disgraceful scandals. Those businesses which attempted to cover up such offenses were rarely, if ever, successful. Ultimately, such schemes brought nothing more than dismal failure to the organization. On the flip side, businesses that promptly and contritely acknowledged their blunders in a tactful manner usually were forgiven by the general populace.

The fact of the matter is, even the most conscientious business owner can unintentionally find himself in such a debacle. The important thing to remember in such a situation is that you must alleviate public outcry to the furthest extent possible. This is called crisis communication.

Your bed and breakfast’s most potent asset is its reputation. When this reputation is called into question, your first line of defense is crisis communication. From the biggest corporations down to the smallest family run mom-and-pop-shops, this act of averting a potentially lethal crisis is essential. So, how can one avoid such a disaster with regards to running a bed and breakfast?

There are several ways. For starters, remember that honesty is always the best policy. If you genuinely seek to provide a good experience to your guests and have no intention of doing anything deceitful, chances are you will be able to ward off most circumstances that warrant crisis communication. Yet, even the most sincere and well-intentioned innkeepers find themselves plagued with a PR predicament that requires maneuverable skills in sidestepping a potentially harmful result.

For example, say the reputation of your inn is compromised by a particularly boisterous guest who simply wants to tarnish your good standing within the bed and breakfast community. Or maybe the eggs you purchased from your local market are spoiled and you inadvertently serve them to your guests who then become ill. Perhaps you make an honest mistake with your finances and you suddenly come across as a criminal money launderer.

Such misfortunes, though not your fault, must still be admitted to. Sweeping these issues under the rug will only cause more controversy in the long run. If you receive negative feedback in online forums like TripAdvisor or Google Places, counteract it in a streamlined process. If a newspaper runs a less-than-flattering article, reply to it with a letter to the editor. In any such response, online or otherwise, reply with a well thought out, precise, and honest reaction. Acknowledge mistakes that have been made on your part. Don’t try to make up excuses – people by and large don’t buy them. Assure past and future guests that such mistakes have been speedily rectified and you will do everything within your own power to ensure they never happen again.

Stay connected with the audience. Never retreat. If it gets to the point that the news media get involved, make yourself accessible to them. Saying “no comment” is as good as admitting guilt. And if you aren’t willing to provide legitimate reactions, chances are reporters will get their information from less reliable sources.

In most instances though, the extent of damage done to your reputation will be through negative reviews. As mentioned earlier, acknowledge the negativity addressed rather than ignore it. Pacify the audience by assuring the individual harboring the negative views that you apologize for any inconveniences caused.

As you come to understand and apply the finer aspects of handling crisis communication, what may initially appear to be a major obstacle can instead be scaled down to a minor hurdle. Hopefully, such crises never manifest themselves, but in the event they do, it’s best to prepare for them now to alleviate unrelenting frustration later.

Perfecting Your Press Release

25 Thursday Aug 2011

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Our last article dealt with public relations – an oft misrepresented, albeit entirely vital, aspect of marketing. Within the sphere of public relations itself are numerous branches, many of which are relevant to bed and breakfast properties.

Arguably, one of the most important of these branches is the press release. A press release is a term most everyone has heard. Yet, very few are familiar with it. Even less have proficient experience in writing a proper press release. Nonetheless, writing a professional, informative release can do wonders in increasing the business of your inn.

For starters, a press release is a written article announcing a piece of newsworthy information that is directed to the media, particularly newspapers, for use in their publications. “Press release” may be the most common term used for this type of news story, but it can also be referred to as a news release, media release, or press statement. Along similar lines is the less popular but still effective alternative: a video news release (VNR). This format clearly differs from a press release in that a VNR is a video segment that appears on a news channel as a featured story rather than in a newspaper. The perks of getting a press release picked up and published by the media are plentiful. For one, a press release is, in essence, free advertising. And since it’s being produced by a news organization, credibility to your product is ensured more swiftly than through your own advertising methods.

There’s no need to be a journalist to create an effective release of any sort. More than anything, persistence, patience, and a couple rough drafts are essential in producing a release of which you can be proud and the news media would be keen to include.

Before you even begin drafting the release, you first need to have something of significance to write about – something the public would be interested in learning. A newspaper’s purpose is to inform readers. Consequently, no newspaper will freely include a blasé press release in its pages. So rack your brain for something exceptional. Is your bed and breakfast a building of historic significance? Is an anniversary of its construction coming up anytime soon?

If you can’t come up with any smashing ideas, take matters into your own hands. Do something that will make your bed and breakfast newsworthy. Refurbish the inn. Change the protocol of how you run the inn (for example, decide to go green). Involve the bed and breakfast in community affairs that are out of the ordinary (perhaps you could consider extending a free weekend stay to an influential individual in the area).

Once you’ve got an idea, run with it! Begin constructing the press release. If there is one bit of advice that will give you the best shot at getting your release published, it’s this: think like a reporter! Easier said than done? Maybe…but it’s still valuable counsel and not as tricky as you might initially dread. First and foremost, remember that a press release is vastly different from an advertisement. Refrain from including biased phrases that flaunt the bed and breakfast. Virtually any newspaper’s main priority is to report objective news, so that should become your priority, as well. Read through an advertisement and then read through a news article. Distinguish the differences between the two; there will be many. Then sculpt your release to fit within the parameters of the news article.

Keep wording concise and sentences brief. Newspaper articles are designed to provide the most up-to-date and relevant information possible in a relatively condensed space. There is a metaphor commonly used in journalism knows as the “reverse pyramid.” Follow this. It is designed to place the most important information at the beginning of the article and trickling down to the less important as the article progresses.

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Aside from the press release itself, there are a few other elements that ought to be included to make your release appear professional. Be sure to incorporate the following:

Headline: the headline should grab the reader’s attention and prompt him to continue reading the body of the article

Dateline: the dateline includes the release date of the article as well as the origin city

Lead: this first paragraph of the article should include the who, what, where, when, and why of the article

Boilerplate: the article’s conclusion should include an “about” section pertaining to the property

Close: This is a simple “###” used to inform the reader the article is concluded

Contact Information: After the “close” include your contact information (name, address, phone number, email address, website, etc.)

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After you’ve created what you feel is a good enough press release, go through it again. And again. And again. Have someone else do the same. Journalists will not be impressed if they receive a release with typos or other flagrant errors. Make the article great – something that a newspaper will be hard-pressed to pass up. And by so doing, you will find you inn receiving a whole new level of recognition unobtainable through any other manner.

Using Public Relations to Your Advantage

24 Wednesday Aug 2011

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The term public relations got off to a rocky start. Although it has traveled leaps and bounds since its inception, some still view public relations as little more than deceptive promotions using less-than-ethical means. Perhaps, at one point in time, there was some truth behind such rash assumptions. Now, however, PR is one of the most burgeoning industries in the corporate world. And for good reason. As the art of public relations becomes more mainstream and accepted, it is held on a higher pedestal than ever before. As people become ever savvier and more demanding, so does public relations. Time and time again, positive public relations have proven to be instrumental in changing a company’s image. Celebrities, athletes, and politicians all rely on PR specialists to ensure their popularity amongst the masses. This trend is filtering down to smaller associations, as well. Now, it seems any company wanting to succeed and stay afloat in the tumultuous sea of competitive business has to clamor onto the PR lifeboat.

But does a bed and breakfast really need to get involved? Surely an establishment so small could never benefit from such efforts – a skeptic would make such claims. However, with an ever-increasing globe of marketing and advertising infiltrating every facet of our everyday lives, not understanding the finer nuances of public relations could ultimately prove disastrous.

For starters, let’s define what exactly constitutes public relations, as it’s a relatively new and unfamiliar term to many. Wiping the negative scrutiny aside, public relations is the trajectory of enhancing and maintaining a particular image for virtually anything or anyone seeking public affirmation. This is done through a variety of conduits ranging from social media engagement (a healthy flow of information regularly passed along through Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) to crisis communication (defending and protecting an organization’s reputation from the circulation of negative press).

While a PR specialist would inevitably handle the image of a multinational corporation differently than that of a bed and breakfast, there are still similarities that must be acknowledged and considered.

First and foremost, a bed and breakfast needs business. How are you going to get guests to stay at your inn? How are you going to get these guests to become repeat guests? How are you going to get repeat guests to recommend your property to others? If you’ve thought through any of these questions before, you are already involving yourself in the wide, wide world of public relations. A PR specialist would ask himself these same questions. He’d then research the questions and go on to create a functional plan designed to masterfully answer them. He would execute the plan in a logical manner. And if he’s any good, he will reap the rewards. This cycle of public relations is an exciting one. It’s different every time. There’s no set structure. Each case is different; hence the implementation of a useful plan will undoubtedly be different, as well.

You, as a bed and breakfast owner indisputably wear many hats and juggle many tasks. You’ve got to be able to cook up a sumptuous breakfast, interact cordially with a wide range of people, be a designer, an entrepreneur, a craftsman, and a fixer-upper. Now you can add “PR specialist” to that list. Since you probably aren’t going to go out and hire a corporate PR firm to handle the public relations details of your property, the role of a competent PR specialist comes to rest with you, as well. Don’t let that deter you, though! There are a lot of simple ways of significantly increasing the perception of your property to the public.

Ask yourself the following questions and think through them meticulously. Then, create your own plan to better your inn’s perceived image.

  1. What is one thing I want people to know about my inn?
  2. What channels of communication are available to me to inform people about this “one thing”?
  3. What types of individuals do I want to portray this information to?
  4. How can I tailor this message to suit my target audience?

From there, design a campaign specifically geared towards answering these questions. This will involve a lot of research. Research, research, research. By the end of your examinations you may start believing that PR no longer stands for “public relations” but rather “painful research.” This examination is what will be of the most worth in the long run.

After you’ve done your research, go and carry out your campaign. Pitch a press release (stay tuned for next week’s article on writing press releases) to garner media coverage (newspapers, TV, websites, specialized magazines, travel trade publications, editorials, etc.). Meet with editors either in person or over the phone. Plan follow-up meetings. This is one occasion in which persistence will truly pay off.

Once your efforts are realized, the public will begin to take notice of the strong endorsement your bed and breakfast is receiving and you, in turn, will find more opportunities and business awaiting you than ever before.

The Nuances of Newslettering

23 Tuesday Aug 2011

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Perhaps Mark Twain said it best when he concluded that, “The dullest pencil is better than the sharpest memory.” In theory, the written word far outlives what a mind is capable of recalling. As an innkeeper, you likely have an innumerable list of must-dos and gotta-remembers. Similarly, past patrons of your inn are in the same boat. With careers, family priorities, dentist appointments, and oil changes constantly piling atop one another, even the most sensible and sagacious individual can’t remember everything he is expected to.

What Mr. Twain is really alluding to is the fact of the matter that we really oughtn’t trust ourselves to rely solely on our own brain power to commit to memory all of these tasks, obligations, and dates. This rings as true for you as a bed and breakfast owner as for your clients. This is where you take matters into your own hands. In order to improve your marketing and branding strategies with past guests, create a newsletter.

A newsletter is a terrific tool in generating further publicity for your bed and breakfast without being overtly invasive and meddlesome.  Rather, it acts as a thoughtful addition to the hospitality and generosity guests experienced during their stay at your property. A newsletter allows you to not only maintain communication with past guests but promote your business, as well.

The trick is ensuring that your newsletter is noteworthy. There’s really no point in generating a newsletter so poorly produced that nobody ends up reading it. But with some creativity, basic writing skills, and fundamental computer design proficiency, you can construct a newsletter that people will genuinely look forward to receiving in their inboxes or mail boxes.

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Information:

A newsletter’s primary responsibility is to inform. Keep in mind that informative doesn’t mean repetitive, dull, or long-winded. In fact, it should be as engaging, insightful, and succinct as possible. Include material relevant to the topic of your newsletter. This is not a textbook. Don’t overwhelm yourself by feeling pressured into writing a college dissertation. Likewise, don’t overwhelm your readers by inserting lengthy, rambling articles.

Ideas for articles could include highlighting an area attraction, recipes for specialties served at the inn, a feature with tips on proper relaxation techniques, etc. Additionally, write about your inn. Inform guests of improvements to the bed and breakfast: redecorated bedrooms, new amenities, or that state-of-the-art kitchen that was just refurbished. Include “before and after” photos. Report on events in the area or at your inn that have recently taken place. Likewise, write a story on upcoming happenings.

Also, feel free to introduce readers to current specials you have running, as well as discount packages you might be offering for honeymooners, business travelers, or families.

Divide and Conquer:

Ensure that your newsletter is easy to follow by utilizing columns, headlines, and other divisions to separate articles, features, and editorials. Allow for plenty of white space in the newsletter. A common misconception is that the more content exists on a single page, the better. Check out the below illustrations. It’s quite clear that your eyes would much prefer to read through the second example.

Spokesman      

Search Microsoft Word to find one of dozens of newsletter templates that will help simplify this process for you.

Illustrations and Design:

Charts, graphs, illustrations, and photos are essential in creating a successful newsletter. People are drawn to images before text, so if you include a particularly eye-catching photo to complement an article, chances are much higher that the article will be read.

The design of the newsletter should never be flashy. Keep it simple, but not boring. It’s okay to have fun and make things a bit quirky, but stick to a theme (colors, fonts, layout, etc.). As a rule of thumb, stick to using no more than two or three fonts in the newsletter and be consistent with them. For instance, using a different font for each headline will ultimately just give the newsletter an overall cluttered, spastic appearance. Decorative, curlicue fonts might work for a heading but basic, easily legible fonts should be used for body text throughout the document.

Interaction:

An interactive newsletter is definitely preferred to one that doesn’t engage its readers. Try inserting a quiz, crossword puzzle, or Sudoku puzzle. Perhaps you might want to include a riddle. The first reader to respond with the correct answer to your riddle might win some sort of prize. There’s really no limit to what you can do in connecting with readers. Use your imagination and get creative!

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Once you have the document ready to go, what’s next? Before you send it out, give it a final, thorough look-through. Check for typos, grammatical errors, syntax mistakes, low-quality photos, and awkward design layout. After you’ve proof-read it, pass it on to somebody else. Oftentimes others will notice mistakes you tend to overlook yourself. Rectify anything that doesn’t seem spot on. Once you have the final version ready to go, you can choose to either send out a hard copy of the newsletter or an e-copy. The choice is entirely yours, but the hassle and cost of sending e-copies is considerably less and will still be read by the same people.

First Impressions

16 Tuesday Aug 2011

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Like it or not, first impressions are generally the most important kinds of impressions we can make on another person. While I’m a far cry from a neuropsychologist, I do know that first impressions leave some kind of irreplaceable imprint on the brain. Does that mean first impressions are fair? Perhaps not. But do they exist nonetheless? Absolutely. First impressions stick with most of us as we go about our daily routines. The brain is hardwired to make immediate assumptions about virtually everything our existential selves come in contact with. But where do such first impressions actually commence?

In the case of a guest staying at a guesthouse, my initial inclination was to contend that first impressions are initiated the moment said guest walks through the doors of the inn. But as the wheels of my brain started turning, I clevered up a bit. . . maybe it started the moment they pull into the driveway. However, upon reevaluation, I realized that wasn’t the case either. The first impression begins the moment a potential guest learns of your bed and breakfast. This can happen through word-of-mouth, online research, travel review, or advertisements. The trick is to ensure that this first impression leaves a positive impact, regardless of the source of information.

So, how might one go about ensuring such a feat? For starters: take matters into your own hands as often as possible.

A sturdy, solid, well-maintained, and sharply-designed website is one of your strongest allies. For the technophobes out there, do not fret. Although technology is constantly and consistently expanding, it’s actually becoming more and more user friendly in the process. Whereas in the olden days of website design a working knowledge of the complicated tenets of HTML and CSS was imperative in creating even the most simplistic webpage, nowadays nearly anybody is capable of creating a visually stunning, informative, and enticing website. With useful online tools like www.weebly.com and www.wordpress.com, your bed and breakfast can have a full-fledged useful website in minutes.

While technology is an important tool, you still can’t discount the value of a good-ol’-fashioned brochure. Designing a brochure may be a cinch for some, while others might view it as a tedious chore. If you fit into the latter category, don’t be afraid to enlist help. There are plenty of people out there who genuinely enjoy this type of thing and harbor natural talents for creativity and ingenuity. If you’re one of those types, great. If you aren’t, chances are you know somebody who is. Make certain before you submit the final brochure to the printer that you have read and reread the final draft for grammatical and syntax errors, low-quality or pixilated pictures, and anything else that could be potentially detrimental to the overall quality of the brochure.

Regardless of how you interact with guests before they arrive, remember to keep it courteous, professional, diplomatic, and not overbearing. Phone conversations should be cheerful and welcoming. Guests should hang up with an eagerness to see that the property matches the hospitality you exhibit over the phone with them. Should you miss a call from a guest, be sure to return it as promptly as reasonably possible. Some guests prefer emailing interaction. Respect that choice. Don’t inundate their email inbox with unnecessary emails, but do send them a friendly reminder email about their upcoming stay. Certain online reservation companies like www.reservationnexus.com do this for you, making your job that much easier with an auto notification email that is sent out about three days before the guests’ arrival. It typically includes other practical information about getting to the inn; as well as activities, dining, and shopping options available in the area.

Lastly, the moments leading up to a guest’s arrival are crucial because as soon as the guests arrive they will indubitably size up the property and sees if it matches the descriptions they’ve read about online and in brochures. Therefore, it’s absolutely imperative to make sure that this expectation is not only met but exceeded. Before the guest arrives, do a quick run-through to confirm everything is in its rightful place—the bedspreads are smoothed, the pillows fluffed, the air-conditioning going during the summer, the fireplace blissfully crackling during the winter, etc. If you really want to go all out, strategically plan to have a fresh batch of cookies baking in the oven to serenade the air with a sugary, homey aroma. Also, give yourself a spot of time to freshen up. You don’t want to meet the guests looking like an anxious, disheveled wreck.

No doubt there is much in life that is uncertain and uncontrollable. Consequently, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities that are within your power and utilize them to your advantage. Follow these simple but potent tricks and your guests’ first impressions will definitely be for the better.

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