Did you think this was about your personal goal? That would be not so healthy right? Well, is it healthy to see so many companies and brands coming out to say that their footprint, their output, production, revenue, number of hotels, etc. will be doubled by the year 2020? What is it with all these bold statements like: “Our strategy is to double in size by the year 2020”.
STRATEGIC GOALS
This copy/paste strategy chasing the competition is driven by the conglomeratisation (I think I just made up this word..) within industries like airlines, fashion, car and hotel brands. It’s interesting that these large companies are buying and creating brands so frequently that the customer has a hard time catching up. Marriott today has over 35 brands, Wyndham and Accor are closely following. No wonder the customer is confused and the likes of Booking.com are successful.
I understand the need for these multi-brand companies to grow and grow. They need to catch the eyeballs of the online consumer, deliver new brands to investors, build huge loyalty databases…however it starts to look very much like ‘dog eat dog’ out there. Is the winner the largest and boldest in the end? I wonder.
CUSTOMER FIRST..?
A strategic goal should always be hard to copy, be unique and needs to stand out. Otherwise it’s just another tactical goal. Many brands have great slogans, but what do they really mean? Just a few: “To create a better life for the people”, “To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground”, “We work hard every day to make […] the world’s most successful service brand”.
I get it, these are interesting slogans for marketing and to rally the troops. Yet I challenge brands to go out and publish equally bold statements in their strategic goals which include customer-centric targets. I just made up a few:
“Our strategy is to have the industry’s best customer satisfaction scores by 2020” or..
“Our strategy is to have zero wait time at our customer service centres by 2020” or..
“Our strategy is to have every guest recommend to their friends to stay in our hotels by 2020”.
HARD
Yes, this is indeed harder to do. It also includes a public promise to customers, guests. Maybe I am unrealistic. But think about it, today’s and especially tomorrow’s customer is looking for something different in a sea of sameness, in a forrest of different brands. I’d love to hear from you.
What are you doing to stand out…?