Five Marketing Mindset Lessons Everyone Can Use

Real-World Lessons from Hospitality for a More Purposeful Connection

Everyone should have a marketing mindset. Even if marketing isn’t your primary role, everyone should have a marketing mindset. Whether you’re running a business, managing a team, or launching your career, the ability to communicate clearly, connect meaningfully, and act with purpose is more critical than ever. How can we all become more conscious marketers?

Leora Halpern Lanz with her new book!

I recently wrote Developing Your Marketing Mindset: Real-World Lessons from Hospitality to help us shift the way we think—not just about marketing, but about how we lead, connect, and make people feel. The book is rooted in the idea that marketing isn’t about pushing products; it’s about creating meaningful connections. It’s about being a conscious marketer.

Hospitality, as an industry, has long understood that our real job is to make people feel good. Therefore, we have the responsibility to lead the way in showing how experiences, services, and communications can connect more deeply, especially through the lenses of wellness, sustainability, and community.

The book shares dozens of short, real-world marketing case studies of projects tackled in my classes by my amazing students. Their ideas, developed for real businesses, offer practical, creative, and strategic lessons that apply across industries. Whether you’re in tech, healthcare, education, or hospitality, these lessons can help you think more intentionally, act with purpose, and lead with heart.

Here are five of the many takeaways from the book. Consider how you can start applying them to your job today:

1. Marketing Isn’t About Selling. It’s About Connecting.

Think less about promotion, more about purpose. Whether you're a front-line manager or a department head, the goal isn’t just to “get the word out.” It’s to make people feel seen, valued, and understood. A marketing mindset means asking: What does my audience need? How can I genuinely meet that need? So try this: Next time you share an update, proposal, or announcement—internally or externally—frame it around your audience’s perspective. Lead with relevance, not just information. How can this message be framed within the context of community or wellness of that person, or sustainability of that community and place?

2. Purpose is the New Differentiator.

People don’t just choose products; they choose brands that align with their values. According to NielsenIQ, products with clear sustainability claims grow sales five times faster than those without. McKinsey reports that more than half of consumers are willing to pay more for offerings that support their wellbeing. Purpose builds trust—and trust drives results. So, look at how your team or company already supports wellness, sustainability, or community. Then ask: Are we communicating this clearly and consistently? If not, start there.

3. Internal Communication Is Just as Important as External Marketing.

Employees are your first audience and your strongest brand ambassadors. If your team doesn’t know what you stand for, they can’t amplify it. And if they don’t understand why something matters, they won’t deliver it authentically. Start from the inside out. Be sure to share the “why” behind new initiatives -- not just the “what.” Use team meetings or even casual check-ins as moments to reinforce your mission, not just your metrics.

4. Focus Beats Flash.

You don’t need to do everything. You need to do the right things well. In the book, one student team was overwhelmed by a hotel’s complex rebrand. But when they zoomed in on enhancing the gym experience for wellness travelers, their ideas clicked. Focus brought clarity and better strategy. When feeling stuck or scattered, return to the core question: What matters most to the people I serve? Build from that.

5. Remember the Hospitality. Use It Everywhere.

Hospitality isn’t just a department. It isn’t just an industry. It’s a mindset. When you anticipate needs, personalize touchpoints, and lead with care, you create better relationships with customers, colleagues, and communities. That’s what real marketing does. And it’s something every one of us can practice, regardless of role. Find one way to be more intentionally hospitable this week. Maybe it’s how you welcome a new hire, respond to an email, or wrap up a client call. Demonstrate your hospitality through your marketing and connection with target audiences. Small moments build big connection.

Marketing isn’t just what we say, it’s how we show up. It’s how we make people feel. With the right mindset, anyone can communicate with more purpose, lead with more empathy, and build stronger, more meaningful connections.

I also invite all hertelier readers, to email me for a bonus free chapter of the book, Marketing with Meaning, to see how authentic communication of wellness, sustainability, and community to connect with audiences aren’t just good values; they’re smart business. When you do good, inform and educate the good, profit will come. 

“Marketing Mindset” is available September 15, 2025 on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats.

Leora Halpern Lanz, ISHC has been a respected voice and trusted advisor in hospitality throughout her career. Prior to her current role as Associate Professor of the Practice at Boston University's School of Hospitality Administration, she held executive positions in hospitality marketing and communications with the Greater Boston CVB,  ITT Sheraton Hotels of New York, HVS, and her own advisory LHL Communications. Leora has earned numerous awards and accolades including Top 100 Powerful Leaders in Hospitality and Top Influential Hospitality Educators by the International Hospitality Institute, and was named one of the Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in hospitality marketing by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI).