Lodging Magazine interviewed me for an article on podcasting for the hospitality industry:
Read it here or see below. There was not a permanent link to the article, so I have also included the text below:
The New 'Cast
Podcast marketing brings hotel companies to travelers' desktops
by Anne Taulane
These days, technology is advancing at such a rate that by the time you finish this article, it’s possible a new application, platform, or media was launched to help companies to reach consumers more easily, more precisely, and hopefully, more economically. In the early 21st century, blogs emerged as a the hip, new way to connect with Internet users. Little more than an online diary, blog popularity advanced to the point that every one from basement movie critics to political pundits to CEOs were routinely expressing their thoughts on the web.
But as quickly as they caught fire, blogs have recently been replaced as the marketing tool du jour by the podcast. Essentially a means of distributing video or audio files via the Internet, podcasts began to gain momentum in 2004 due to their ease in production and distribution. (A year later, the New Oxford American Dictionary declared “podcasting” the 2005 Word of the Year.) Born from the marriage of the words “iPod” and “broadcast,” podcasts contain anything from a narrative discussion to a music playlist and can be delivered automatically to a subscriber through syndication feeds such as RSS and Atom. And even more attractive, podcasts can be downloaded to an individual’s iPod/MP3 player, making the podcaster’s message a portable one.
Looking to build a deeper connection with guests—especially when they aren’t at the property—and to align themselves with this popular technology, hotel companies have begun to jump on the podcast wagon. Already in the last year, hotel companies including Accor and Hotel Indigo have launched their own podcasts.
“A year ago, when I tried to get some interest in it, the interest wasn’t there,” says Mike Wylie, president of Dallas-based Standing Dog, an interactive marketing and media firm for the hotel and hospitality industry. “Now it’s absolutely there—they’re really embracing it and wanting to do it, but they’re wanting to take the right steps and do it right.”
Posting a podcast can seem like an easy addition to a web site, but the medium requires time, thought, and creativity to ensure it’s both successful and a seamless part of the brand or property image—as with any marketing tool. While a user can erase a bad podcast with a few clicks of a mouse, it’s much harder for a hotel company to erase the bad impression it may leave.
iPod, Therefore I am
Walk through the streets of any major U.S. city, and you’ll begin to think every American has an iPod. According to the recent studies, that assumption is not too far off. In 2005, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 22 million Americans 18 and older own an a digital music device like an iPod. Moreover, Forrester Research predicts that podcast usage will grow steadily, estimating 12.3 million U.S. households downloading them by 2010. And Diffusion Group says the number will be even higher, predicting the audience will jump to 56 million by the end of the decade.
The medium’s growth, in part, can be attributed to Apple’s iTunes, which added 3,000 podcasts to its menu last year. Big media companies such as ABC News, ESPN, and National Public Radio legitimized the e-tool by incorporating podcasts into their sites. It’s no shock that the television industry has some of the most downloaded podcasts. Fans routinely tune in after an episode for a podcast that takes them inside and behind the scenes. Devotees of the serial drama “Lost,” for example, tune into the creators’ podcast after each episode for inside clues to the show’s mysteries. Regardless of their purpose, podcasts not only help keep a program or company fresh in the user’s mind, but also forge a more intimate connection with them.
While hotel companies may not want to offer a behind-the-scenes glance to guests, they can still use podcasts to build a stronger connection with them. According to Wylie, hotels can tap into podcasting in two ways: by creating a podcast to promote the product or enhance the brand, and by advertising or sponsoring another entity’s.
Wylie’s first client to adopt podcasts was hotelbook.com, a third-party site for independent hotels, which opted to create both its own podcasts and to sponsor a podcast. Hotelbook’s most recent podcast focused on Octoberfest events, and closes with hotel suggestions found on the site. The online company also sponsors an amateur traveling podcast by Chris Christensen, placing a 10-second spot at the beginning and then a 30-second spot at the end.
“It’s just another way to reach an audience we felt like was a good target for hotelbook,” he explains. “Hotelbook is really new brand, so it was another way to reach, what I call, the iPod generation.”
Content Matters
Before companies start recording, they should look at their goal in creating a podcast. “The first thing I’d say is you don’t want to do a commercial, that’s not going to be effective,” Wylie says. “Define your objectives. Is it to enhance your brand image? Is it to develop a deeper relationship with your customers? Is it reaching out to bring in new customers?
“It may even get more granular at a property level,” he adds. “Are you wanting to talk about a new property out there or create some simple destination content?”
Wylie suggests hotel companies consider themes such as walking tours, destination guides, hotel history, a spa guide, messages from the general manager, or insider tips if the property is near an attraction such as Disney World.
Hotel Indigo, the new lifestyle brand from InterContinental Hotel Group, launched its first podcast, a music compilation to reflect the seasons, this summer. “What we realized was that podcasts were a fairly new technology, especially music podcasts,” says Gayle Jett, director of brand marketing for Hotel Indigo. “We know that our target audience for Hotel Indigo is very technology savvy, and they also are looking for unique experiences, so we thought that this was a really great way to connect emotionally with our target customer and do it in a more unique way.
It just seemed like it was a good fit based on who we are as a brand and who our guests are,” she adds.
Hotel Indigo worked with its music provider, Rock River Music, to create the product because of the complexities of creating a music podcast, which include contacting the artists’ label, securing the rights to distribute the music, and building the podcast file and associated video images. Thanks to RSS feed, once it is launched, each seasonal podcasts is updated to subscribers’ computers, but the brand follows up with an e-mail as a back-up measure.
Jett notes Hotel Indigo has several goals in launching its podcast. “One is it’s just truly enjoyable and we are trying to inspire them when they are not staying in the hotel,” she explains. “Clearly when they are in the hotel, we have 100 percent opportunity to make them feel welcome and make that emotional connection that is so important. When they are outside of the hotel, we thought this was a way to keep ourselves top of mind by having the music.”
Hotel Indigo’s podcast—especially its music format—also reinforces the brand identity. “If you think about music,” Jett explains, “music is an artist’s interpretation of something they were inspired by. There’s a story, generally, behind every song or every performance. And that aligns nicely with Hotel Indigo. Hotel Indigo has a story to tell, and it’s a great story.”
Podcasts for Dummies
Creating a podcast could be a marketing score for a hotel company—if it’s done right. “You want it to sound professional,” Wylie says. “A year ago you could have gotten away with it a little bit, but now with the technology catching up, it needs to sound professional. You need to be really clear about what you want to say and what you want to put on there.”
David Lopez, general manager of Hotel Mela, a new boutique property in New York City, agrees. “I think if anybody does podcasts, do the best possible job you can. Because otherwise it won’t work,” he says. “If you are going to do it weekly, make sure you put the stuff up weekly. Make sure the information is getting out there. Believe it or not, there are tons of people doing RSS and podcasting, and so if you are going to do it, then you really should do it well.
Opened this fall, Hotel Mela sits near Times Square and attracts both business and leisure travelers. Even before it opened, the property began posting podcasts ranging from construction updates to walking tours of the city, and Lopez says they hope to add video podcasting in the future. “It would almost be like reality hotel,” he says. “Wouldn’t it be great if a guest that did leave was able to see stuff after they left, keeping an ongoing relationship with the hotel through the web site based on these podcasts? Maybe it’s an event. Maybe it’s fashion week.”
Once a person subscribes to a podcast, syndication feeds such as RSS can take care of delivering new programs to a user. But alerting the public to your program, requires some work on the podcaster’s end. One easy way to promote a podcast is by posting it on sites such as iTunes or podcastalley.com. Wylie suggests finding a provider that specializes in getting casts listed on these sites. Hotel Mela’s guests, on the other hand, are directed to the web site to check out the podcast before their visit when they call the reservation line.
And since it’s considered web content, a side benefit of podcasting is search engine optimization. “The search engines love content,” Wylie says. “When we do a new podcast, we put it on our blog, and provide the full script of the podcast.”
Lastly, hotel companies should monitor podcast trends. iPods without video screens are already considered old school, and many podcasts now include a video component. And Starwood has jumped on the video wagon, uploading its Preferred Guest promo to YouTube, a popular video web site.
So, If technology has taught us anything, it’s that even the iPod could go the way of the 8-track.
