The Growing Importance of Mobile Marketing Strategies

Mobile marketing strategies have become increasingly important for the hospitality and travel industry over the past few years, and recent studies confirm that trend is set to continue. As worldwide mobile device usage has skyrocketed, mobile has moved into first place as consumers’ primary media resource. Consumers are now using their mobile devices for everything related to travel, from investigating travel destinations to shopping for vacations and booking hotels. Hoteliers and others in the travel industry are finding the effectiveness of mobile to reach their customers is rapidly overtaking other avenues of digital advertising; now hotels and other travel-related businesses must decide on the most effective way to leverage the success of mobile marketing strategies to grow their business.

Travel Mobile Marketing by the Numbers
There were an estimated 1.76 billion (that’s billion with a B) smartphone owners worldwide by the end of last year, and over 2 billion users are predicted by the end of 2015. 79% of Internet users used their smartphones to access the Internet in 2014, and that number is on track to exceed 83% by December of this year. Tablet ownership has also risen; half of the adults in the US now own a tablet. As mobile device use has increased, the growing importance of mobile marketing strategies for travel has become clear. A study of travel industry advertising trends released last year found that 22% of respondents had selected a travel destination using a tablet, and 35% did so via a smartphone;  more than half of all respondents (55%) had shopped for a vacation using mobile devices. Earlier studies revealed that mobile-travel conversion rates are extremely high, finding 43 percent of smartphone users and 48 percent of tablet users made a travel purchase using those devices.

Putting Hotel Mobile Marketing Strategies to Use
With the rapidly emerging dominance of mobile devices as a means to access the internet, hoteliers need to adopt mobile marketing strategies in order to succeed. There are a myriad of hotel mobile marketing strategies available; hotel owners will need to carefully consider the features of their particular property and the travelers they are trying to attract in order to decide which strategies are the best fit for their marketing needs. Many hotels are finding mobile marketing strategies to be significantly more successful than the digital marketing strategies for hotels that they have employed in the past. For instance, recent data shows that providing coupons and deals via the mobile web, apps, and MMS is vastly more effective than using email, as the mobile offer was redeemed 8-10 times more often than the one made using email.

Mobile Hotel Websites vs. Mobile Hotel Apps
Once you have a firm grasp of the effectiveness of mobile marketing strategies to reach travelers, the issue shifts to which mobile marketing method you should choose: mobile hotel website or mobile hotel app?  Actually, for the most effective mobile marketing, you should choose both. Each has its own strengths that serve different marketing needs. Every hotel should have a responsive hotel mobile website so consumers can easily find them when searching for hotel options. Your mobile website should be arranged so consumers can find all pertinent information quickly and easily, with a user-friendly booking engine so they can make their reservation directly from your site; and you can employ geo-location advertising services for the best response. Once visitors have discovered your hotel, they can download your mobile hotel app, which should provide a unique functionality that makes it inherently valuable. There are many services your hotel can offer through your mobile app, including hyper-local location technology, local information, direct hotel staff access, check-in/check-out functionality, reservations, special deals, and more.

For help implementing hotel mobile marketing strategies, you can always turn to the marketing experts at Travel Tech Strategies. Our professional hotel marketing team can provide you with expert responsive hotel web design, social media marketing services, and mobile hotel app designs that will build your hotel business and boost your booking rate.

Contact Travel Tech Strategies today at 954-779-2801 for effective hotel mobile marketing strategies and services that will build your hotel business and boost your booking rate!