Many brands are making use of the rising use of mobile phones to help them with their marketing strategy. One industry, in particular, is the hotel industry. Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important in the hospitality industry, and it is looking likely that this trend is set to continue in the coming years. The mobile has moved into place as a primary media resource, and hotel brands are finding this to be a very effective way to communicate their message to their customers.

Playmobi has created an interactive page which allows you to witness mobile usage in real time, showing just how often people are using their mobile devices. If hotels don't harness this effective marketing tool, they could be missing the opportunity of increasing their bookings and brand visibility. Let's take a look at how they can use mobile marketing to their advantage:

Local SEO - Once someone knows which area they want to stay in, it is likely that they will conduct a google search to try and find local hotels. It is very likely that they will conduct this search on a mobile device seeing as over half of mobile searches take place on the phone. It is therefore important that your hotel has strong local SEO so that it will show up in mobile results. Google treats local searches very differently to a regular search, and often search results will also provide a hotel search map.

Social Media - Thanks to the creation of apps, the majority of people will access their social media account through their mobile. 2.3 billion people all around the world use social media, and 1.9 billion of these do this via their mobile. It is therefore very important for a hotel to be very present on these platforms, where potential customers are in the mood to be inspired. This can be done in several ways including providing customer support, sharing images and experiences and great travel content.

Travel Content - Hotels can capture a potential customer's attention by creating some interesting travel content, drawing attention to that specific hotel. Providing consistent content will also help to increase SEO and direct people to a hotel's website. A great way of producing this content is to build a regular blog that can help an individual plan their trip, provide inspiration and much more. Hotels should offer their customers content that is both relevant and informative, and that is also optimised for mobile use.

Mobile Friendly Email Marketing - Most people will check their email on their mobile rather than on their desktop computer. In fact, 65% of emails get opened on a mobile device; therefore it is imperative that all emails are optimised to be opened on a mobile phone. Some of the biggest hotel brands now steer clear of spammy emails, instead favoring personalized, permission-based emails, with positive results to show for it. Email marketing can build guest loyalty, increase direct bookings and encourage brand engagement. Plus, with the benefit of having the ability to automate emails, it is the ideal tool for busy hoteliers.

Karthik Reddy
playmobi.co.uk