27 Sep Is Marketing Dead?

The Harvard Business Review recently published a blogpost by Alexander Jutkowitz, entitled “Marketing is Dead and Loyalty Killed It” The article features how Apple has incredibly loyal customers.

But is marketing really dead? How marketing & loyalty relate to an owner/operator/marketer of a Hotel or Resort in 2015? No, the D.O.S. and D.O.M. are still important positions – of course.

However, certainly loyalty programs have become important marketing tools in many facets of products which we use daily. Virtually every consumer brand engages in some form of loyalty program. From the simplest ‘punch cards’ at a coffee house, to more sophisticated programs such as Aeroplan miles.

Brands such as: Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt all have Loyalty programs which are a key strategy to attracting and retaining their most valuable customers. These are expensive brands to become affiliated with. Take a look at the 2014 US franchise fees (click on image to make larger) courtesy HVS:

The Harvard Business Review article references Apple’s loyalty in respect to selling 74.5 million iPhones last quarter.  Astonishing. Certainly Apple has loyal fans. I’m one of them. But not every company can be ‘Apple’. Apple is a one-of-a-kind company. The exception, not the rule, as far as what most companies can achieve.

Most midsize Independent Hotels & Resorts simply don’t have the resources & scale to develop their own internal loyalty rewards systems. Find out if you qualify for exclusivity in your region, class, category.