Communications Insights
Strategic perspectives on PR, brand communications, and industry trends from Lollied's founder and communications strategist Lolli Johns.
Stay informed about evolving communications strategies, industry best practices, and market insights that help organizations strengthen their brand presence and audience engagement.
Featured Articles:
What Makes Strategic Communications Consultants Effective
Why AI Won't Replace Strategic Communications (But Will Transform It)
Aspen Hospitality PR: Why Local Expertise Defines Communications Success
Published October 2025
Aspen hospitality PR requires understanding dynamics that don’t exist in most destinations. Audience sophistication, seasonal timing, and an intensely competitive landscape shape a market that generic hospitality strategies rarely address effectively. Success here depends on recognizing what makes Aspen distinctive and translating that knowledge into communications that resonate with both guests and media across hotels, restaurants, retail, and cultural organizations.
Audience Sophistication Changes Everything
Aspen attracts travelers who have experienced luxury hospitality around the world. They have stayed at iconic European resorts, Asian retreats, and leading urban properties. They know true service quality, design excellence, and authentic experience. That means generic luxury language falls flat. Phrases like “world-class service” or “unparalleled experience” don’t impress audiences who have encountered world-class properties everywhere. What works is specificity. What makes your approach to hospitality distinct from what guests experience elsewhere? How does your property respond to the mountain environment in meaningful ways? What expertise does your team bring that guests can’t find at comparable destinations? Sophisticated audiences value detail over aspiration. They want to understand what you truly offer and why it matters, not how elegantly you describe yourself.
Seasonal Cycles Shape Strategy
Most destinations have busy and slow periods. Aspen has multiple distinct seasons, each with its own audiences, expectations, and storylines. Winter centers on skiing and winter sports. Summer emphasizes outdoor recreation, cultural events, and mountain access. Shoulder seasons draw different travelers altogether. Effective communications account for these cycles in timing, messaging, and media strategy. Winter coverage must be developed in late summer and early fall, while summer positioning begins in early spring. Shoulder season opportunities require understanding which audiences appreciate those quieter periods and why. The brands that maintain steady coverage build year-round communications programs. They nurture media relationships when the town is quieter, knowing that is when editors plan upcoming features.
Local and National Media Both Matter
National coverage drives traveler awareness, but local media establish essential credibility. Stories in the Aspen Times, Aspen Daily News, and regional Colorado outlets signal that you are part of the local landscape. National editors frequently scan those publications before committing their own editorial space. Local relationships also sustain reputation, community connection, and even recruiting, which are crucial factors in Aspen’s tight-knit market. The strongest visibility strategies invest in both local and national relationships simultaneously rather than choosing between them.
Competition Demands Clear Differentiation
Aspen’s hospitality landscape is exceptional. Every property, restaurant, and retailer competes for attention from an audience accustomed to excellence. Location alone is not a differentiator when everyone shares the same postcard backdrop. The businesses that stand out define and articulate what makes them distinct within Aspen itself. That differentiation might come from sourcing relationships, design philosophy, curation perspective, or a service ethos rooted in real expertise rather than marketing language. Clear positioning, grounded in truth, is what earns coverage.
Why Aspen Experience Matters
Understanding these dynamics takes time and presence in the market. Seasonal timing, audience expectations, and the interplay of local and national media all influence how communications succeed here. Consultants who apply strategies from other destinations often overlook these nuances. Generic luxury narratives may work elsewhere but miss the realities of Aspen’s audience and competitive field. Working with someone who understands both strategic communications and the Aspen environment ensures your positioning, timing, and outreach align with how this market actually operates.
Building Long-Term Communications Success
Enduring hospitality visibility comes from pairing local market fluency with strategic communications expertise. It means knowing which stories resonate with local and national media, when to launch them, and how to sustain presence through every season. The brands that generate consistent coverage treat communications as relationship building, not one-off promotion. They invest in editorial relationships year-round, understand the needs of local and national outlets, and articulate what sets them apart with clarity and authenticity. True success in Aspen hospitality PR is built over time through insight, relationships, and strategy grounded in both local understanding and global perspective.
What Makes Strategic Communications Consultants Effective
Published July 2025
Organizations today have many options when selecting communications partners. Strategic communications consultants and boutique agencies offer distinct advantages that complement the communications landscape alongside traditional large agencies.
The Strategic Communications Approach
Senior-Level Expertise Strategic communications consultants provide direct access to experienced strategic thinking on every project. This senior-level involvement ensures communications strategies align closely with business objectives and receive the attention they deserve.
Editorial Perspective An editorial background brings publishing-quality standards to brand communications, crafting narratives that resonate with target audiences. This approach focuses on authentic storytelling rather than generic messaging.
Responsive Strategy Development Business markets move quickly, especially in destination communities where seasonal timing and local events create specific opportunities. Strategic communications consultants can adjust strategies and refine messaging to capitalize on market dynamics.
Modern Tools, Strategic Foundation
The integration of modern research and content development tools allows strategic communications consultants to deliver comprehensive services while maintaining personalized attention and strategic focus. Technology supports human expertise and enhances the collaborative approach that drives meaningful results.
Geographic Insight Based in Aspen with networks spanning major markets, we understand both regional market dynamics and broader audience expectations. This combination of local insight and national perspective serves organizations seeking authentic positioning in competitive markets.
The Value Proposition
Organizations choose strategic communications consultants for specialized expertise, personalized attention and measurable results that advance business objectives. Each approach, whether boutique consultant or established agency, offers unique strengths for different organizational needs and project requirements.
Ready to explore how strategic communications can strengthen your brand's market presence? Contact our team at hello@lollied.com
Why AI Won't Replace Strategic Communications (But Will Transform It)
Published July 2025
The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked intense debate across professional services industries, with many communications professionals wondering whether AI will replace traditional strategic communications consulting. The answer is both reassuring and transformative: AI will not replace strategic communications experts, but it will fundamentally change how effective practitioners work.
The Strategic Foundation Remains Human
Strategic communications consulting requires understanding business objectives, audience psychology, competitive dynamics, and cultural nuances that extend far beyond content generation. Successful brand strategy depends on human insight, relationship building, and the ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics that AI cannot replicate.
Public relations professionals who excel in executive communications understand that thought leadership development requires authentic personal narrative, genuine expertise, and strategic positioning that reflects real business experience. These elements demand human judgment, emotional intelligence, and the ability to adapt messaging based on subtle audience feedback.
Aspen-based communications consultants working with hospitality and travel brands know that successful destination marketing requires understanding local culture, seasonal business patterns, and the sophisticated expectations of discerning travelers. This market knowledge comes from lived experience, not algorithmic analysis.
Where AI Enhances Strategic Communications
Modern strategic communications consulting increasingly integrates artificial intelligence tools for research, competitive analysis, and content development. Google AI Essentials certified consultants understand that AI excels in data processing, trend identification, and initial content creation while human expertise guides strategy development and client relationship management.
Competitive landscape analysis benefits significantly from AI-powered research tools that can process vast amounts of market data, media coverage, and industry trends. Strategic communications consultants can leverage these insights to develop more comprehensive positioning strategies and identify market opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.
Content strategy and editorial calendar development becomes more efficient when AI tools assist with ideation and initial draft creation. However, successful implementation requires human oversight to ensure brand voice consistency, strategic alignment, and editorial quality that meets professional publishing standards.
The Evolution of Strategic Communications Services
Professional communications consultants are adapting their service offerings to include AI-enhanced strategy development, modern workflow optimization, and technology integration guidance. Organizations seeking strategic communications support increasingly value consultants who understand both traditional relationship-based approaches and modern technological capabilities.
Travel and hospitality communications strategies benefit from AI tools that can analyze traveler behavior patterns, seasonal trends, and media coverage across multiple markets. Strategic communications professionals use these insights to develop more targeted campaigns and identify optimal timing for destination marketing initiatives.
Media relations strategy continues to rely heavily on personal relationships, editorial judgment, and understanding of journalist preferences that cannot be automated. However, AI tools enhance media monitoring, trend identification, and initial outreach research that supports more effective relationship building.
Strategic Implementation for Organizations
Companies evaluating strategic communications support should look for consultants who demonstrate practical AI integration experience while maintaining focus on relationship building, strategic thinking, and measurable business outcomes. The most effective approach combines human expertise with technological enhancement rather than replacing strategic thinking with automated solutions.
Professional services firms, hospitality organizations, and cultural institutions benefit from working with communications consultants who understand industry-specific dynamics and can apply both traditional expertise and modern tools to achieve strategic objectives.
Organizations seeking executive communications development should prioritize consultants who focus on authentic personal brand development, genuine thought leadership, and strategic business positioning rather than those who rely primarily on AI-generated content approaches.
The Competitive Advantage of Strategic Integration
Communications consultants who successfully integrate AI tools while maintaining focus on strategic thinking, relationship building, and authentic storytelling create significant competitive advantages for their clients. This approach delivers enhanced efficiency without sacrificing the human insight and editorial quality that drives meaningful business results.
Successful strategic communications consulting requires understanding that AI serves as a research and development tool rather than a replacement for strategic expertise. The most effective practitioners leverage technology to enhance their core capabilities while maintaining focus on the relationship-based approach that sophisticated clients value.
Organizations working with AI-enhanced communications consultants typically see improved efficiency in research and content development processes while benefiting from the strategic thinking, industry knowledge, and relationship management capabilities that only human expertise provides.
The Future of Strategic Communications
The strategic communications industry will continue evolving as AI tools become more sophisticated and widely adopted. However, the fundamental requirements for successful communications consulting remain unchanged: strategic thinking, authentic relationship building, editorial excellence, and deep understanding of business objectives and audience dynamics.
Communications professionals who adapt their practices to include strategic AI integration while strengthening their core competencies in strategy development, relationship management, and authentic storytelling will create the most value for clients in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
The organizations that will benefit most from this evolution are those that partner with communications consultants who understand both the potential and limitations of artificial intelligence in strategic communications applications.
Conclusion
Strategic communications consulting will be transformed, not replaced, by artificial intelligence. The most successful practitioners will be those who integrate AI tools strategically while maintaining focus on the human elements that drive business results: strategic thinking, authentic relationship building, and deep understanding of organizational dynamics and audience psychology.
For organizations seeking strategic communications support, the key is finding consultants who demonstrate both technological sophistication and proven expertise in relationship-based communications strategies that achieve measurable business objectives.
Ready to explore how strategic communications can support your organization's growth objectives? Contact our team at hello@lollied.com to discuss your communications strategy needs.