Meet the speaker: Dr Elvira Bolat of Bournemouth University

Dr Elvira Bolat is Associate Professor in Digital Marketing at Bournemouth University Business School, where she leads marketing programmes and accreditations and supervises doctoral research into digital behaviour and technology adoption.

Her session: The power of storytelling in digital marketing and branding. Her research looks at the human side of digital marketing: why people trust, follow and get pulled in by brands and influencers online, and what happens when that trust breaks down. Her published work covers trust repair after brand failures, shifting power between leaders and followers on social media, and problematic attachment to social platforms. It feeds into media commentary and public policy as well as academic journals.

At XP Hospitality Dorset she brings that wider lens to the psychology behind why some storytelling earns real trust and other content just adds to the noise, and what that means for independent operators building genuine connection with guests.

About Bournemouth University Business School: part of Bournemouth University, with a strong focus on tourism, hospitality and marketing research and teaching. Find Elvira on LinkedIn and the university at bournemouth.ac.uk.