For many businesses, marketing is relatively straightforward. A restaurant sells its food. A hotel sells rooms. A concert venue sells tickets.
But what happens when one destination offers all of those things and more?
Large resorts and entertainment destinations can appeal to dramatically different types of visitors. One guest may be planning a relaxing weekend away, another might be interested in a concert, and someone else may be looking primarily for restaurants, nightlife, gaming, or recreation.
Having something for everyone sounds like a marketer’s dream, but it creates a unique challenge. Trying to advertise everything simultaneously can leave customers unsure of what the brand actually represents.
The solution is not to narrow the offering. It is to organize the marketing around the people, occasions, and experiences that bring customers through the door.
Build One Brand With Multiple Entry Points
A destination does not necessarily need to choose one feature to define itself.
Instead, marketers can establish an overarching identity and allow individual experiences to act as different entry points into that brand.
Think about a large resort. Its primary brand might revolve around entertainment, escape, luxury, excitement, or convenience. Under that umbrella, individual campaigns can promote dining, accommodations, wellness, events, nightlife, and other attractions.
This allows businesses to speak directly to specific audiences without creating the impression that each part of the property is an unrelated operation.
The goal is consistency at the brand level and specificity at the campaign level.
Segment Customers by What Motivates the Visit
Someone searching for a spa weekend probably should not receive the same advertising as someone looking for tickets to a live show.
That sounds obvious, but businesses with broad offerings often fall into the trap of putting every amenity into every advertisement.
Audience segmentation gives marketers a better alternative.
Potential visitors can be grouped according to their interests and intent. A resort might separately target people searching for:
- weekend getaways
- restaurants and date-night ideas
- concerts and entertainment
- spa and wellness experiences
- gaming and nightlife
- shopping
- group celebrations
- special events
Each campaign can lead with the experience most relevant to that audience.
The broader destination becomes a secondary selling point. Someone may click because of a concert, for example, and only afterward discover that they can also book a room, make dinner reservations, or turn the event into an entire weekend.
Market Occasions Instead of Amenities
One of the easiest ways to make a large list of amenities feel cohesive is to stop marketing them individually.
Market the occasion instead.
“Restaurant, spa, hotel and entertainment” is a list.
“A weekend getaway without having to plan five different stops” is an experience.
This shift is important because consumers usually do not begin planning with a checklist of business departments. They begin with an objective.
They want somewhere to celebrate an anniversary. They want something fun to do Saturday night. They want a weekend away with friends. They want to attend a concert without immediately driving home afterward.
Marketing around these occasions allows several parts of a destination to support one message.
Turn One Visit Into Several Experiences
Multi-experience destinations also have an advantage that smaller, single-purpose businesses do not: a customer arriving for one reason can discover several others.
That creates significant cross-promotion opportunities.
A concert campaign can introduce visitors to nearby restaurants and overnight accommodations. Hotel communications can highlight entertainment taking place during a guest’s stay. A restaurant reservation confirmation could promote another activity elsewhere on the property.
This strategy can be particularly effective because the hardest part of customer acquisition has already happened. The person has decided to visit.
The next marketing challenge is showing them what else they can do while they are there.
Businesses should therefore treat the customer journey as something that continues after the initial booking or purchase.
Make Convenience Part of the Product
Variety is not only about having more things to do. It can also reduce friction for customers.
Consider the amount of planning involved in a traditional weekend getaway. A traveler may need to separately research a hotel, restaurants, entertainment, transportation, nightlife, and daytime activities.
A destination that puts several experiences together can market the convenience of having those options readily available.
That is part of what makes large resort destinations interesting from a marketing perspective.
For example, Viejas Casino & Resort in the San Diego area combines accommodations with dining, spa experiences, live entertainment, gaming, shopping, and other amenities. Different visitors can therefore arrive with completely different priorities while still spending their time within the broader Viejas experience.
From a marketing standpoint, that range creates multiple ways to attract a customer without requiring the entire audience to be interested in exactly the same thing.
Use Events to Introduce New Audiences to the Brand
Events are particularly valuable for multi-experience destinations because they can attract people who may never have considered visiting otherwise.
A concertgoer might have little previous interest in a particular resort. Once they arrive, however, they are exposed to its restaurants, accommodations, bars, spa, and other experiences.
That makes events both a revenue opportunity and a customer-acquisition channel.
Marketers should think beyond ticket sales and consider what happens before and after the event.
Could attendees receive a dining offer beforehand? Could an overnight package turn a show into a weekend getaway? Could visitors who attended one event be introduced to future events or experiences?
The event brings the customer in. Good cross-marketing gives them reasons to return.
Change the Message Throughout the Year
Another advantage of having multiple experiences is that marketing does not have to depend on one season or one type of customer.
Different offerings can take the lead at different times.
Warm-weather campaigns might emphasize pools, outdoor experiences, or weekend escapes. Entertainment marketing can revolve around the event calendar. Spa packages might receive more attention around holidays, anniversaries, or traditionally slower travel periods.
The destination remains the same, but the reason to visit changes.
This keeps marketing fresh without forcing the business to constantly reinvent its core brand.
Don’t Confuse Variety With a Lack of Focus
There is a major difference between offering many experiences and having unfocused marketing.
The businesses that manage this well do not shout every selling point at every potential customer.
They determine why a particular person might visit, lead with that reason, and then introduce everything else the destination can offer.
That is the real opportunity behind being a place with “something for everyone.”
The variety attracts different audiences. The brand connects those audiences together. And smart cross-promotion can turn a customer who came for one experience into someone who discovers several more.