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The Modern Era of Mobile Marketing Part II
We don’t need to tell you the floodgates have opened. Here’s how you can stay afloat and not end up without a paddle.
Monday, October 01, 2012
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On Friday we shared with you how mobile is changing how consumers book rooms. Now let’s drill down and see how that affects you at the local level. If you haven’t had a chance to read that one, check it here.
At the Property
At the property level, the issue is complicated in a different manner, because for the most part, mobile is being used within a few days around the stay. The booking window has shortened, so guests are only shopping and booking through mobile a day or two in advance, and then they are constantly on their devices during their stay looking for thing to do, getting directions or reading reviews of local business, and finally, the few days after they will continue to share their experience through social channels.
“On average, Americans spend 2.7 hours a day socializing on their mobile devices. Personally, I don’t know what I would do without my phone when I travel, because it’s become such an important piece of how we interact with each other – getting and giving directions, finding where to eat, everything!” says Loren Gray, director of e-commerce for Ocean Properties.
Amidst all the talk about how important mobile is, which, clearly, isn’t being diminished, it’s not taking away all the other platforms and channels through which you communicate with your guests traditionally. If anything, it enhances them.
“Success with mobile is more about working it into the mix than being a ‘silver bullet’ channel,” says Gray. “The days when something new comes in and dominates is gone; mobile is most influential right now, but it’s all about addition and integration. It’s so easy to look at the shiny new toy and forget all the other toys that you have.”
Going Local
Mobile is not a single entity, but a coordinated effort through all platforms and all channels. And that means integrating it into everything you do to communicate with your guest. In that way, it’s not much different than the challenge brands face, but just on a more localized level.
“For a hotel, you have to remember the importance of your local presence, and engage your guests while they stay with you,” says Gray. “A lot of people don’t want 50,000 decisions; they want the best of what they’re interested in. If you can provide that resource for them they’ll be appreciative.”
Be prepared to hear much more about location-based marketing as the conversation around mobile continues. However, contrary to what will continue to be popular belief, location-based marketing is neither new, nor is it an avenue only reached through a mobile device. It is about where the customer is at any given time, supporting Gray’s point.
“Location marketing is how we use those to different media channels to engage people,” says Asif Khan founder & president of the Location Based Marketing Association. “It’s not only about mobile, but also providing media to them in the places they are.”
Take, for example, mobile “check-ins,” which have been popularized through applications like FourSquare, and now Facebook, Twitter and Yelp, and doubtless many others. The stats around this phenomenon are intriguing, Khan notes, as a survey showed 57 percent of people don’t understand or don’t care about mobile check-ins; however, 35 percent like or love them. Only 8 percent of those surveyed specifically do not like this idea.
This suggests that there’s a lot of room to take advantage of the marketplace, to engage those who like the idea, and to win over those who are either ignorant or indifferent to the concept. After early experimentation, a lot of big brands, especially in retail, began pushing back on this wondering why they were giving away cheap deals through a start-up when they have a strong brand. Now, they’ve worked to tie the platform to their own programs, running them in tandem.
“If you have a physical footprint, do you know where your 100,000 fans are relative to your locations?” Khan asks. “Most people don’t track that.”
In other words, treating your “fans,” if you will, as one static consumer base fails to take into account the individual nuances different groups of your customer base.
“Investing in standalone social campaigns is the way to go,” Khan adds. “Fifteen million FourSquare users total is not big when you compare it to other media even when you break it down to a regional perspective.”
To put the theory in action, say you spend $1 million on a billboard. Khan suggests using 10 percent of that to invest in programs through business surrounding that billboard to engage with customers. Have them do something to react to the billboard, which serves the trifecta of first, gaining some measure of impressions on your billboard; involving the customer in a one-on-one interaction while giving them something they want; and finally, developing partnerships with other businesses. Win-win-win all around.
There’s too much focus on booking in the mobile travel space, and it’s leaving money on the table. While again, there’s not a perfect answer to the questions mobile presents, the takeaway today is that the mobile platform is more than a distribution channel.
“Don’t get overly focused on bells and whistles; it’s about execution,” says Bill Keen, director, product management, mobile solutions for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).
As mobile technology becomes more ubiquitous, hotels and brands that understand how to connect with their customers through this platform will ultimately see the results in their bookings – whether it’s through the channels the mobile supports, or through other traditional avenues that mobile simply enhances.
In considering all this, Gray made an illustrative point that hung in the air: “Would you rather lose your wallet or your smartphone?” Chuckle if you will, but if you guessed what consumers would choose, you’d probably choose the latter, and you’d probably be right. This is an important existential question defining the modern evolution to mobile technology.
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