Ep. 08: How to supercharge your storytelling, with Amy Ogden.
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I’ll never forget April 2, 2008. I’m going way back. A friend from college texted me and said, “Holy cow. I just read about you on Page Six.” “You’re in the New York freggin’ Post.” I was traveling with my dad at the time, and we were staying in some forgettable big box hotel. But I remember that moment. It was my Carrie Bradshaw moment, except I was wearing boxers and a t-shirt from a summer theater production of Fiddler. But you know, details. It was storytelling, supercharged.
My YA novel appeared on Page Six of the NY Post. It was such a great teaser, and it’s been a good reminder to keep my storytelling interesting, even as I moved from fiction writing to travel and hospitality. I still look back on it when I need a boost.
We all know the adage, if bleeds it leads in the newsroom, but which stories truly move the needle in hospitality?
Before I introduce today’s guest, I want to share my experience with PR as a marketing director and consultant to hotels and resorts. I’ve worked with PR agencies for hotels that run the gamut in terms of their size, their scope, and their stories. I’ve participated in press trips as a marketing director and as a travel blogger, and still, there’s so much about PR that eludes me.
PR isn’t just about glossy magazines anymore, it’s digital too—social media strategy is now part of PR, influencer marketing is part of PR—and it all comes back to storytelling.
But when so many hotels and destinations are tightening their belts, what happens? For hotels working toward recovery in the weeks and months ahead, or smaller hospitality businesses like restaurants and wineries, what are the cornerstones of PR that can be applied to their businesses? How can they supercharge their storytelling?
I don’t know about you, but I want to learn some PR secrets on this episode. How can we, as hospitality people, create experiences that are more than memorable—they’re noteworthy?
I have so many questions, and I’ve connected with one of the smartest people in the business of hospitality PR, Amy Ogden.
Aside from having a great name and arguably the cutest puppy in Manhattan, Amy is the SVP Brand Development at J Public Relations, the PR team behind some of the most iconic hotels around the world—from the historic Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, to the modern marvel, Jumierah Hotels & Resorts in Dubai.
In her role at J PR, Amy leads new business development in New York, California, and London.
Amy’s taken the TEDx stage in her talk “Sufficiency is Sexy, The Rest is House Money” and has also given her talk, “How to meet a human in the wild,” to companies seeking to improve their corporate culture. In the wake of COVID-19, Amy used her newfound time to start a non-profit, We Travel Forward, to support hospitality brands, and Fuel The Frontline, to provide meals and care packages to frontline works.
Amy joined me to discuss hospitality PR, how to craft memorable moments and stories, how to measure success and amplify impact, and how to supercharge your storytelling.
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I really loved speaking with Amy, my key takeaways were:
Your story starts in the house. It starts with your team, and it doesn’t need to be grandiose, it just needs to be authentic. Even though we’re pulling back the curtain and actually sharing our cleaning procedures, we can still make magic through storytelling.
We should think about social media as an extension of our PR strategy that positions us as the “front desk” for our future customers. Social media is a space to be honest, make real connections, and spark conversations, not just in your own feed, but also on the periphery. The key to great engagement might be as simple as engaging with your guests wherever they are.
This is where you’ve got some homework. Empower your employees to keep doing hospitality, and make personal connections with guests—like the front desk worker at the W Atlanta, or the bartender at Blueberry Farms. These human connections are still what it’s all about. That hasn’t changed. There’s still so much we can do.
Most of all, in my talk with Amy, I’m just left feeling like travel holds so much more weight now. We talk about our last trip like it was a lifetime ago, even if it was only a few months ago. Maybe we’ve all lived a lifetime since then.
As Amy put it, when something is taken from us, we appreciate it much more. Travel has always been transformative, but it’s become more meaningful than ever. It’s like vacation’s playing hard to get, right now. It’s the one that got away.
We may still have the means to travel, but we can’t. Amy talked about the great equalizer, the billionaire needing a roll of toilet paper just as much as the rest of us.
Slowly, hotels will recalibrate and reopen. Travel experiences and hospitality will be invaluable when this is all over. In a way, it’s an incredible position to be in, as a hotel or a restaurant, welcoming people back in for the first time.
It’s up to you to rethink how to share and supercharge your storytelling, but I’ll give you a hint: you’ve got to do more than reassure your guests that a cleaning protocol is in place, you’ve got to share how guests can experience the things they love, in a new way.
If you’re looking for tips on how to rebuild your marketing plan in a post-pandemic world, tune in to episode 7, next. As always, keep sharing your stories.
