Bringing Hotel Marketing to Mobile

These days our mobile devices seem to overwhelmingly be our main source of communication, so what better way for marketers to effectively deliver a message than through the mobile channel? The mobile future is now present: 91% of Americans own and use a mobile device, presenting almost limitless opportunities for marketing and sales in virtually any industry. Is your hotel missing out on going mobile?

Most hotels have embraced the online channel as a sales and marketing vehicle and a number of chains have already developed stand-alone mobile apps that allow guests to book stays and manage their loyalty programs, but this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the marketing potential of mobile. Advances in mobile technology have given marketers the ability to pinpoint a user's exact location using location-based mobile marketing. This is an exciting development that promises many possibilities for marketers to engage consumers with real-time and relevant offers, while drastically increasing their sales.
Below is a copy of my recent article in Hotel Business Review article, which looked at mobile strategies, tactics and technology that are best suited for hotels and companies working in the travel and hospitality industries.

Time to Bring Hotel Marketing to Mobile

Is your hotel missing one of the most engaging marketing opportunities of the last few decades? If it's ignoring the mobile channel, the answer is an emphatic yes.

As anyone who's walked along a city street, ridden on public transportation or killed time at an airport gate can attest, mobile devices are taking over the world.

According to market research company Gartner, sales of smartphones climbed almost 50% in just one year from the first quarter of 2009. Gartner also predicts that the total number of smartphones in use will exceed 1.8 billion in 2013, surpassing PC usage (we'll leave tablets for another time). In other words, more people will be interacting with their mobile devices for just about everything than through their computers - entertainment, shopping, education, banking, even payments. Want proof? This article was written on my contactless payment-enabled Blackberry, edited on my WiFi-enabled iPad and submitted from my laptop. I rely on my mobile device first and foremost, and chances are so do many of your hotel guests.

But mobile marketing isn't only about smartphones: 91% of Americans own and use a mobile device, presenting almost limitless opportunities for hotel marketers.

Two Years is a Lifetime in Technology

2013 is only two years away; for those who've been relying mostly or exclusively on the internet or even more traditional media to get their message across, the mobile future is coming. In fact, it's already here.
Most hotels have embraced the online channel as a sales and marketing vehicle but now, it's time for the industry to embrace the next great channel for marketing and sales: mobile.

A number of chains have already developed stand-alone, mobile apps that allow guests to book stays and manage their loyalty programs, but this is only the tip of a very large iceberg in terms of marketing potential. For example, advances in mobile technology have given marketers the ability to pinpoint a user's exact location, using location-based mobile marketing. This is an exciting development that promises many possibilities for marketers to engage consumers with real-time and relevant offers, and drastically increase their mobile marketing ROI.

Mobile Marketing is About Engagement Too: Finding a Strategy that Fits Mobile marketing is as much about increasing guests' engagement with the hotel brand - in order to make them feel comfortable making a booking decision - as it is about opening new markets and expanding marketing reach. Both are important, and both are accelerated with the right mobile marketing strategy.

So which mobile strategies, tactics and technologies are best for your hotel?

Different properties - and different hotel chains - employ different mobile strategies. Some hotels are content to have a simple mobile web presence: a mobile-optimized website with booking capabilities, not far removed from their main websites. And for certain kinds of hotels, particularly unaffiliated, standalone properties or isolated boutiques, this can be an effective strategy.

Other properties engage in a more comprehensive mobile marketing strategy. The InterContinental Hotel Group recently unveiled a mobile trivia game that links into their loyalty program, giving participants both an incentive to play and a goal to achieve. The IHG game takes advantage of one of the most significant aspects of the mobile channel: its ability to engage consumers and increase interaction both between consumer and brand and between consumers. When it comes to mobile, the social aspect to the game is nearly as important as the game itself.

Other hotels have branded smartphone apps to compliment their mobile websites. Some may even engage in SMS marketing, sending direct text messages to guests or potential guests that have signed up to receive them. Other properties participate in one or more of the growing number of location-aware social media platforms, like certain W and Omni hotels on SCVNGR . There are very few limits on the engagement that can be created by mobile marketing.

But to many, the array of mobile marketing options currently available can be confusing. Here are four ways to 'go mobile' effectively:

Make Friends with Mobile

The future of mobile marketing is inextricably tied with the mobile web. In the world of mobile advertising and marketing, the reign of the native smartphone app is waning, and the age of the mobile browser is beginning. This means that building a mobile site, or at least, a mobile-friendly site, should be the first and best step toward creating an effective mobile marketing strategy for any hotel brand. Mobile websites are specifically optimized for viewing and interacting on a mobile device. Mobile-friendly websites use coding to make display resolution viewable on any device . Both serve the purpose of establishing a mobile web presence, and both provide hotels with a platform from which to launch mobile marketing initiatives.

The Right App

Mobile apps are the current hot ticket item in mobile marketing. The Apple App Store has more than 300,000 apps available for download, while Google's Andriod app store has 100,000. Thirty-five percent of US adults have at least one app on their phone (52% of users are 18-29) . Mobile apps provide a user-friendly experience that the hotel marketer can customize to suit their needs. For hotels, apps that feature booking ability, location finders, and other information relevant to travelers are the most effective and offer the greatest ROI on your marketing dollar.

Consider Location-Based Mobile Marketing

With the amount of public space in the typical hotel and the ubiquity of mobile devices among guests, location-based marketing makes perfect sense (and dollars and cents) for hotel operations. Put simply, location-based marketing uses a person's physical location to trigger a mobile message (based, of course, on the user having given permission to the hotel to receive them). Messaging can include a discount offer, offers for in-room dining, spa-services or other revenue-generating opportunities.

Integrate Loyalty into Your Mobile Program

As evidenced by the IHG mobile game, integration of a mobile marketing strategy into an existing loyalty program can be quite lucrative, both in terms of loyalty program enrollment and loyalty unit accrual. Every chance a hotel has to engage its guests with its loyalty program should be seized upon, particularly in terms of mobile marketing. Recent research has shown, for instance, that program members increasingly prefer rewards in the digital sphere, such as music, eBooks, digital content and rich media - all of which can be accessed immediate and instantly on a mobile device. Why not engage with a guest this way? Allowing them to track their stays, points and bonus opportunities just the start; redemption opportunities can be made via mobile for products that can actually be used in that device, and used instantly. Stay a night, earn some points, redeem for the latest eBook or album... and put that album on repeat during the trip back to the airport.

This is another example of what a powerful marketing tool the mobile channel presents, one that is both low-cost and highly effective in engaging guests, providing something relevant and of value.
And speaking of engaging, mobile marketing has constantly been touted as the next great wave in consumer engagement. For hotels, that wave is here.

Ride the Mobile Wave

To get started, a hotel must assess its mobile needs, based on its audience, size, and management structure, and then attack the mobile channel in the most effective ways possible. There are many examples of how mobile marketing can work, and work beautifully. Smartphone capabilities provide fertile ground for any hotel marketer and properties, in particular, have the advantage of being able to target very specific demographics at very specific places and times to attract potential customers for a stay, and to keep them coming back.

Certainly, every hotel should be accessible through the mobile web. Other hotels may find an app strategy preferable, while others may see value in a location-based marketing campaign within the property itself. Whatever tactics or strategy a hotel considers, however, it's critical for hotels to integrate mobile marketing into their overall marketing mix and to get started immediately.

No hotel should miss out on "going mobile." Today, there's simply no excuse not to be marketing your property through the highly-effective, personal, always-on medium of mobile.

http://www.hotelexecutive.com/business_review/2463/time-to-bring-hotel-marketing-to-mobile