Episode Summary
Episode Nine: Marketing — Practical, Measurable, And Not Just Pretty
In Episode 9 of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, Leon and Loren run a practical, no-nonsense primer on hospitality marketing — the kind that turns work into revenue rather than vanity metrics. Rather than lofty brand theory, the conversation breaks marketing into an operational framework: Pre (how you attract customers), During (the customer experience and frontline sales), and Post (retention, review management and re-engagement). The aim is simple: make marketing mechanical, measurable and owned by the whole business — not just an agency or the “marketing person.”
Loren and Leon walk the listeners through the four core areas that matter during the pre-customer stage — identity, Google Business/SEO, website & UX, and database/EDM strategy — and explain how small practical changes (correct Google categories, an obvious menu, auto-opt-in marketing) can produce immediate, tangible results. They also unpack the connective tissue between content, digital performance and ops: content is only valuable if it converts and the ops side (the team on the floor, booking flow, product delivery) is primed to deliver on the promise.
The episode finishes with concrete, easy wins (audit your Google listing, fix your menu UX, consolidate review feedback, check your reservation flow and tidy your social profiles) and a reminder that marketing in hospitality is iterative — a series of “one-percenters” that compound. Leon and Loren promise to dig deeper across future episodes; for now, this is a practical roadmap for owner-operators who need usable marketing, not more theory.
Topics Covered:
Marketing as a system, not a vibe – Treating marketing as practical, mechanical work across three stages (Pre / During / Post) rather than just “content.”
The boring basics that move the needle – Identity clarity, Google Business optimisation, clean menu/UX, and database capture aka the unsexy work that drives bookings.
Content with commercial purpose – Creating channel-specific content that leads to measurable actions (bookings, clicks, sign-ups), not vanity metrics.
Front-of-house as the marketing engine – Equipping floor teams with clear language, mission, and tools. Every interaction builds the brand and drives revenue.
Feedback loops that improve product – Aggregating reviews, spotting recurring themes, closing the loop with ops, and turning complaints into upgrades.
And the 5 key takeaways?
1. Think in three stages: Pre → During → Post.
Marketing isn’t one thing — it’s everything that happens before a guest arrives, while they’re in the venue, and after they leave. Audit each stage and own the touchpoints.
“If you map Pre, During and Post, you already start to see where the gaps live.”
2. Fix the fundamentals first — identity, Google, UX, CRM.
Clear identity, an optimised Google Business listing, an obvious menu/booking UX and simple CRM opt-ins are low-effort, high-impact wins you can do today.
“Do the boring basics well — it’s the one-percenters that stack up into real revenue.”
3. Your floor team are your best marketers.
Every person on shift is a salesperson and brand ambassador — consistent mission docs and frontline training turn service into word-of-mouth.
“Every person talking to a customer is doing marketing — the floor is your most powerful channel.”
4. Content must convert — vanity metrics don’t pay the bills.
Content is only valuable when it drives measurable actions (bookings, clicks, database growth). Tailor creative to channel and track conversion, not just likes.
“Spending money on content without tracking conversion is just pretty noise.”
5. Use feedback as product intelligence, not public drama.
Aggregate reviews, spot recurring themes, feed fixes back into ops — appoint a gatekeeper to turn feedback into action rather than public fights.
“Don’t screenshot a one-star and post it — look for patterns, fix the problem, and keep the conversation calm.”
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Credits
The PAX Hospitality Podcast is produced by PAX and Craate Creative. Support for this podcast comes from Square and Brunswick Design and Innovation. Our music is produced by Patricia Heath and Mattias Westergren.