Sheryl Raineri of San Antonio, Texas writes:
“I operate Gold Star Professional Offices, an executive suite office center. We opened in spring last year and were forced out of our space due to renovation. Now we’re in a much nicer location and want to promote our temporary office set-up (we call it a “day office”) to business travelers via contacting hotels/motels/extended stay providers.
“Can your Hounds offer any advice on the best way to market our office center to hotels? My goal is to put our name or brochure in every room’s guest packet so if a business traveler finds they need an office setting to do business while they are here in San Antonio, they will call us! Suggestions?”
The opening page on your website doesn’t give the impression of “Gold Star” Executive. I would search some some hotel websites to get a better feel of what “Gold Star” looks like. Go to Marriott, Hilton, etc. Also, if you are going to allow your webmaster to link her email to your home page, you should make it smaller and at the very bottom of the page.
You could offer a reciprocal package to the hotels. If they allow you to include your brochure in the guest rooms, you will offer a monthly executive package for their VIP guests or Hotel Executives.
You might also approach the Catering/Convention Service departments in the hotels. If they host conventions or executive retreats, they would be the perfect source of referrals.
I wouldn’t just limit myself to random business travelers but would contact the San Antonio Film Commission http://www.sanantoniocvb.com/business/film_index.asp and let them know of your services. Production people need temporary offices when they are shooting movies, TV shows or commercials on location.
See if there is an association or group meeting of local hotel concierges or catering sales people. Speak at their meeting on the “Top 5 problems to avoid when referring an off-site meeting place”.
A new locally-owned hotel here in Georgia’s Golden Isles decided to name each of its 28 rooms after a famous local resident. They contracted me to write brief biographical profiles to be posted in every room.
Why not do something similar for each of your “day rooms?” San Antonio’s rich history and individualism could be highlighted in a way that will definitely set your business apart from competitors. It will also promote local tourism (and of course give local and national media a good reason to publicize your business).
Each room could feature not only an informative and upbeat bio sketch of an historical figure (or an excerpt from a book about that individual), but possibly some evocative decorative touches to enhance the ambiance. And if you have the wall space, ask your local papers for framable reprints of feature pieces on living local personalities who exemplify the same spirit as that room’s historical figure.
And of course, the bios could also be assembled into a booklet. Sell them for a nominal fee–or use them as a promotional piece to send to prospective clients of yours.
My idea would be to make sure that you are listed at the airport as services available for the business traveler. Also, I would recommend to attend any and all of the Chambers located in the SA area. This would give your materials to those that may have clients or customers that would need services such as yours.
These types of services are really needed for those that travel and SA is such a huge but small city that unless you have your brochures literally everywhere, people might not hear about you.
Good luck to you.
If you’re looking to reach business travelers, why not catch them before they arrive in your city…or while they’re on the way. You might pitch a story to one of the in-flight magazines (particularly ones that fly to San Antonio). One angle could be something about how local companies are making life easier for business travelers — with services such as yours. Or maybe a “how we came to the rescue” scenario for a client who was in a bind until you helped them out. You might also see what kind of advertising rates you can negotiate (but don’t try and do it with the editorial staff!). Call the media department. Their ads might be more affordable than you think.
I’d also craft a pitch to the San Antonio Business Journal. Local business people would probably be happy to know about the services you provide. Business travelers who regularly travel to San Antonio probably also read this trade pub.
As for targeting hotels, I’d check first to see which already offer similar services to yours. Those that do might be willing to send overflow business to you..but they probably wouldn’t be too eager to put your marketing material in their rooms. Smaller hotels or motels that don’t offer business services are the ones you can contact to offer your services to their clients.
Good luck! This sounds like a fun project.
First, Sheryl will want to contact area hotels and speak with management about displaying table tents that promote Gold Star Professional Offices on desks in each room (she may have to go to hotels’ corporate offices for permission for local properties). After establishing those relationships, post those hotels, with links to their sites, on her business site. When working with hotel management, ask if they’ll post her business on their site when promoting their hotels. I think it would be a great asset for business travelers who look for a service-oriented place to stay.
From a publicity standpoint, this will be a good opportunity to invite reporters to Gold Star to show its great access and conveniences.