How Should Hotels Market Green Initiatives?

“Going Green” has become standard practice in a high percentage of hotels and other hospitality facilities. It’s the right thing to do. But it can also create the positive public relations and opinion of your brand that you are looking for. It’s a win-win. 

But marketing your green initiatives can be tricky.  You have to market them smart, without sounding like you are bragging, but also without sounding like everyone else trying to accomplish the same thing – boosting meetings and individual travel business. Inbound marketing (i.e. creating compelling content that helps the consumer) can go a long way in avoiding self-promotion.

So how do you get started? Use the following trends to help promote your green initiatives:

Personalization
It must go beyond the marketing campaign. Promoting your green initiatives is one thing, but make it part of the goals as well. The more “real” you are, the more “real” they will be – authenticity is key. Avoid over self-promotion, talking about what you are doing and how it is helping – tell a story. The story should be simple to read and easy to understand for the general public; citing your specific location, and providing examples of how the local community is affected (in a positive way) by what you do. We recently shared a news release about our partnership with Clean The World; that interviewed the Executive Director, as an example. It promoted the partnership, but also how their organization changes the industry, and the communities we live in. Focus on the people.

Information
We all want to know why we should go green, and how our actions will impact the planet. You can provide it to them, in the context of a stay at your property, whether for the individual traveler, or the group. But you have to be careful to avoid being accused of greenwashing; which is when through marketing, people are manipulated into thinking your property is more sustainable than it actually is. This is where the quality of your content comes in. Providing quality content will paint a clearer picture for the impact of sustainability actions.

Interaction
What better way than through social media? It is a fantastic way to get people on board, involved, and aware. They can also help market your initiatives – by sharing your content with their friends and followers, they are spreading the word for you – without adding more time to your marketing schedule. 

Just make sure that the content you are sharing on the various platforms is worthy – images, appropriate headers, links to videos, hashtags, etc. should all be included. 

Your facilities’ marketing campaigns should focus on quality content at all times. The demand for information, and you providing it, ensures that the public is informed, and you are being transparent. Consider your marketing plans carefully for 2017 – and make it the best year yet!