A-Boards

Generally A-boards are used because you cannot get permission for a more permanent sign. Often you are placing them on public property and the local authority will try and have them removed. It’s all a bit of a game but as long as you stick to the ‘rules’ these boards can be a useful part of your sales promotion. They are great for price promotions, such as special lunch or dinner menus. Again the quality of the board is key. If they are broken/faded or badly written they do you no favours, conveying a couldn’t care less attitude to your service.

Be careful about using the whole rainbow of colour options on chalkboards. Find or train someone to write the sign well or contact a specialist signwriter.

Use as few words as you can, since passers-by only have a few seconds to take in the information. I like the boards that have a panel on them that you can change, so you can promote, for example, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea in succession. Of course it then becomes an operational issue to ensure that the right promotion is showing at the right time.

Posters

Posters are a great way to promote your in-house facilities. You may also have the opportunity to display a poster promoting an element of your business at a remote location, say in a shop or at a reservation office. Use as few words as possible, so long as you get the message across. Start at the top (where people start reading) with something to grab attention (not your hotel name, which probably need not be included at all if it is a poster designed to be put up in the hotel itself!).

Don’t promote features: use a benefit instead but keep it short. A poster has to be readable in about three seconds, so hone the copy and delete any words that don’t work very hard. Analyse each word and see if it can be left out. Pictures work well, but ensure the words and the pictures deliver the same message. Look for positions where people are not occupied doing something else. Put the poster at eye level and make sure it is well lit. If there is a place where guests have to wait (say at an elevator) use some spare space for a poster.

In-House Promotion

It is dangerous to assume that every visitor to your hotel, whether as a guest or restaurant customer, knows everything that you offer. If you are primarily a pub or restaurant with rooms, ask ten customers about your bedrooms: it is unlikely that all ten will know that you have them. Do all your guests know that you serve afternoon tea between three and five pm?

I would not advocate that you produce a piece of promotional material for every service you provide. Very soon a bedroom can look like a paper store, with lots of scruffy tent cards cluttering the writing area. However, if you don’t tell people what services you provide, how will they ever take advantage of them?

In-room guest information can also be used effectively. Try to sell the benefits and remove all those negatives that creep into the instructions. For example, turn ‘We don’t accept etc…’ into ‘We are delighted to accept…’. Why not create guest information that is tailored to your different guest segments? Weekday business travellers need different information from weekend leisure guests. Maybe you can print out something bespoke and hand it to each guest on arrival along with a welcome drink. This way you can also take into account guests from other countries and produce information in their language.