Explore the building blocks, best practices and benefits of digital branding.
SCHILLER PARK, Illinois – Digital branding is transforming the way hotels engage with their customers and generate additional revenue. It’s a smart, seamless solution that every hotel investor should be thinking about to drive incremental revenue for their property.
By harnessing the power of digital signage, venues can offer their event clients dynamic and engaging promotional opportunities.
Based on Encore's available case studies, the average hotel earns an incremental $130,000 in annual revenue from implementing digital branding with Encore.
Mike Stengel
This article showcases what hoteliers need to know to leverage this tool’s full potential. It delves into what digital branding entails and the different merits of the various types available as well as providing a compelling case study to illustrate its benefits.
What is digital branding?
Digital branding refers to the use of digital signage to promote brands, events or information within a hotel setting. This can include logos, schedules, social media content or promotional videos displayed on large LED walls or other digital displays.
It’s a new service offered by companies like Encore, which installs and manages LED walls for their partnership venues. Customizable and versatile, this innovative business driver gives event planners more scope to create an immersive brand experience, as well as providing a sense of arrival to wow attendees.
Types of digital branding
The different types of digital branding can help hotels maximize their revenue potential. Here are some of the key options:
Digital door signs
• Displays showing the upcoming events in specific meeting spaces.
Reader boards
• Larger displays used for wayfinding, directory information and flight details.
LED walls
• Large-scale installed LED walls that offer high visibility for branding.
Encore provides the infrastructure and support needed to sell screen time on these displays, allowing hotels to present custom content tailored to their clients’ needs.
Look for a one-stop-shop partner for digital branding
First and foremost, make sure your partner has the expertise, resources and experience to optimize your digital branding offer.
For example, Encore gives hotel clients in-house sales support with a single point of contact, as well as the support of onsite technicians. In addition, you and your customers will have design assistance on a suite of digital signage and AV solutions including an above-property support team to ensure seamless digital signage and branding services with support across 20 hardware and software solutions.
In 2024, the team supported 7,000 partners with an average response time of six minutes and a 94.8% partner satisfaction score.
One of the standout features of the Encore digital branding service is the in-house Creative Content Studio, which makes it easy to create custom content for customers. The team offers a variety of services including logo animations, video production, template creation, and motion graphics.
Case study: Upper upperscale gains
To illustrate the impact of digital branding, let's look at a real-world example of incremental revenue driven by digital branding at an upper upscale hotel.
In 2023, a luxury property in San Diego had total digital branding revenue of $257,497, a growth of 14.4% over 2022 revenue results.
The digital branding services provided exceptional value to both customers and the Encore team. The lobby video wall, with its positioning in an area of high foot traffic, offered great visibility and branding opportunities. Customers appreciated the ability to customize the venue to their brand, while Encore leveraged digital branding to close business deals and bundle additional services.
Digital branding is transforming the way hotels engage with their customers and generate additional revenue.
Mike Stengel
Getting in front of clients early in the sales process was crucial. Digital branding was discussed in the first introduction, and visuals were showcased during site visits. This proactive approach helped win clients’ business and positioned Encore as the sole provider for production, AV and branding services.
The hotel continues to see increased branding revenue year-over-year thanks to experience in selling the service, early client engagement, onsite support for creative and on-the-fly changes, and in using digital branding as a tool to close deals.
Based on Encore's available case studies, the average hotel earns an incremental $130,000 in annual revenue from implementing digital branding with Encore.
Implementation
Digital branding specifically refers to content sold on large LED walls. LED walls, reader boards and door signs are owned by the venue post-installation, while Encore provides training for onsite teams on technical usage. Annual licensing fees apply for the software.
Digital branding offers hotels a unique and lucrative way to engage with their clients and enhance their events. By understanding the different types of digital signage and leveraging the support of companies like Encore, hotels can tap into a new revenue stream and provide added value to their customers. The success stories demonstrate the tangible benefits and potential of digital branding in today’s competitive market.
Mike Stengel is senior vice president, strategic partnerships & venue relations, at Encore.
The views and opinions expressed in this content do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel Investment Today by Northstar or Northstar Travel Group and its affiliated companies.