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The key to a successful hotel launch and unprecedented growth is an innovative digital marketing strategy – just ask the team at The Daffodil Hotel & Spa.

Launched in July 2012 as a concept brand new to The Lake District, The Daffodil has firmly cemented itself as one of the area’s most desirable places to stay.  Offering ‘city chic in the heart of the countryside’ complete with 78 rooms & suites, a luxurious Spa, contemporary restaurant and stylish terrace on the shores of Grasmere water – The Daffodil is a bolthole designed to attract modern city slickers looking for that slice of escapism.

An independent and family owned hotel, The Daffodil has continued to go from strength to strength, establishing a foothold in a competitive market by attracting a younger audience than the typical Lake District visitor with its strong marketing focus on brand building, digital marketing strategy and audience growth.

Led by Head of Marketing, Laura Donnelly, the team at The Daffodil have designed and delivered innovative multi-channel marketing campaigns over the last 6 years attracting guests in their thousands, putting the hotel well and truly on the map.

Central to success at The Daffodil, has been positioning marketing strategy at the forefront of business growth.

Laura Donnelly says “A huge amount of freedom and support from the owners here at The Daffodil has allowed us to push forward with a digital strategy combined with a marketing led approach to revenue management that has really accelerated our audience and revenue growth.  In addition, we design and deliver almost all of our marketing strategy in-house which gives us a huge amount of control on the development of our brand, the tone of our messaging and the way we want to build long term relationships with our guests.  Above all, we are able to instil our sociable, passionate, authentic and indulgent brand values in everything we do, to really bring The Daffodil experience to life across all of our marketing platforms.”

The Daffodil marketing team have delivered several campaigns that have demonstrated the power of a multi-channel focus with a personal touch to really engage and interact with their audience.  The ‘Daffodil at Home Campaign’ that saw 1000 boxes packed with Daffodil luxuries delivered to the homes of lucky recipients during the hotel’s 7-month closure due to flood damage, was a key example of engaging an audience to drive advanced bookings ahead of the hotel’s re-opening. During the closure, the team also delivered a full re-launch plan that included a brand refresh, new website, marketing materials, stand out photography and a whole host of activity which ensured the hotel recovered revenue levels of the previous year within a month of re-opening.

The Daffodil’s re-launch plan didn’t go unnoticed in the industry and picked up 4 top marketing awards from The Drum, the UK Social Media Communications Awards and the Northern Marketing Awards in 2016.

In 2017, the team then won a national award for ‘Email Campaign of The Year’ from Adestra before collecting a Northern Marketing Award for ‘Best In-house Team’ at the end of 2018.

On winning the team’s 7^th award, Laura commented “We are delighted to bring a Northern Marketing Award back home to Cumbria, it’s fantastic for us to have our marketing strategy and campaigns recognised alongside some of the North’s most innovative brands.

Winning the ‘Best In-house Team’ award is a particularly special one for us and receiving such recognition within the industry we are so passionate about makes us incredibly proud.”

The Daffodil continues to go from strength to strength with a growing audience of ‘fans’ and guests enjoying the ‘contemporary in the country’ Lake District experience the hotel offers.

To find out about The Daffodil Hotel & Spa and read more about the team’s award-winning marketing campaigns, take a look at The Daffodil’s blog at daffodilhotel.co.uk.