How can Hotels benefit from mobile marketing?

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Application of mobile marketing in hotels
Benefits of mobile marketing to hotels
Limitations of mobile marketing
Developing an effective mobile marketing in hotels
Conclusions
Reference List

Introduction

The following essay is concerned with the examination of how hotels can benefit from mobile marketing.The essay also examines the imitation of mobile marketing in hotels, how to develop an effective mobile marketing and the conclusions therefrom.

In today’s world, mobile banking is the most widely used mode of communication with regards to business and marketing fields.However, it is important to first determine what a mobile is before determining the its benefits in hotel.

A mobile phone can be simply put to refer to an electronic device that allows people to communicate orally or in writing. Many people have been using mobile gadgets in the entire world Mobile gadgets have been used by many people to communicate through sending messages and talking.

Mobile devices usage has been on increase over the last few years and they have been used to advertise products as well as services. For instance, Short Messaging Service which is commonly known as SMS have facilitated advertising for products as well as services.

It is estimated that about 105 billion SMS are sent everyday in the entire globe and thus the increased use of the SMS has facilitated a new marketing channel known as mobile marketing. Other modes of mobile marketing are mobile internet as well a the multi-media messaging which is commonly known as MMS.

Mobile marketing has enabled direct communication between the hotel management and their consumers so as to obtain feedback and this indeed have contributed to their success.

Technological advancements have thefore changed the marketing context in that businesses have applied the use of mobile phones so as to get in touch with their consumers (Marsden, 2006, 31). Mobile marketing entails the use of interactive wireless devices so as to serve the consumers in a timely and effective manner and thus provide value for their money.

There are various companies that uses mobile marketing around the world number of people who are using mobile marketing is growing following the industry’s expansion. Also, there are various companies that are involved in operating in wireless technology and each company plays an important role as far as the mobile marketing is concerned.

The players range from the network operators to content as well ring-tone aggregators. The main players with regards to mobile marketing includes following; the phone user i.e. final user of the services i.e. the phone users forms the roots as far as mobile marketing is concerned.

Then there are the network operators who are concerned with controlling the network operations. The access providers are also key players as far as mobile marketing is concerned. they are involved in offering an organization an opportunity top make use of the available technologies such as WAP,GPRS.e.t.c.

There players with regards to mobile phone industry includes the application developers, corporate companies e.g. hotels, content aggregators among others (Kizilok, 2009, 6-8).

Application of mobile marketing in hotels

The hotel industry has been using the mobile marketing over the last few years in an effort to streamline their operations. Most guests that use the hotels’ services as well as the facilities have cell phones and this makes it easier for the hotels to apply this mode of marketing.

The hotel managers on their part have come up with strategies aimed at, making the mobile marketing a reality by bringing the clients closer. This is a modern way in which the managers can keep close contacts with the clients who seeks for a place where they can hang about.

However, there are several means through which the managers can carry out mobile marketing in their hotels. One way is to come up with a mobile website that enables guests to locate the hotel more easily.

With this regard, the manager should ensure that the website is loaded with all the information relating to the lodge so as to provide adequate information to travelers seeking a place to live.

The manager can also implement a cell phone client relationship management that will help to engage the customers and to ensure that a close relationship is maintained between the organization and the clients.

This can be done through sending of pre arrival SMS or notifying the clients about the region where they are bound to visit (Weir, 2010, 67).

Benefits of mobile marketing to hotels

The following are the main benefits that the hotels can gain from mobile marketing; Mobile marketing enables the hotels to create brand awareness. Mobile marketing enables shared conversations between the customers and the hotel owners.

This two-way communication enables the hotels to communicate brands to their customers. Mobile marketing provides a platform where the consumers can search and also research about the hotel’s brands. The mobile marketing thus acts as a tool that enables the hotels to express themselves in the market.

For instance, a person who seeks to have a hotel booking for certain period of time can visit the hotel’s website and thus have a tip on the brands that are available and once he or she is pleased with the hotel’s brand, he or she can decide to book the hotel room by using a mobile phone.

The person in his or her booking procedure can either use his or her cell phone number or email address upon which an email or an SMS will be sent to him or her so as to confirm the reservation. In this, the mobile marketing enables the hotel to market themselves to a lager number of people who uses mobile phones daily.

It is an effective method due to they fact that it is confidential. The person who wishes to make the hotel bookings is able to receive an SMS in his or her phone about the hotel brands and the same is thus made in private.

The mobile enables the clients to gather more information about the hotel and this is important since they can orded for a reservation (Prenzel, 2010, 40).

Mobile marketing enables the hotels to change the brand image. Mobile marketing plays an important role of changing the guest’s perception concerning the hotel brand. With this regards, mobile marketing enables the clients to respond immediately with regards to the company’s reputation.

The instant feedback information that is obtained from clients enables a hotel firm to act in accordance with the wishes of the clients since failure to do so will make them lose the clients. Mobile marketing provides a room for reciprocal communication process between the clients and the hotel management.

This is important since it helps to cerate long lasting relationships. The manner in which a company communicates with its clients has the effect of influencing the perceptions that the clients have regarding the company’s services. Mobile marketing ensures that the message content is accurate, timely and also useful for the clients.

Mobile marketing ensures that there is quick feedback and this is crucial as far as the company’s image is concerned since the needs of the consumers are met as and when necessary (Mathieson, 2010, 45).

Mobile marketing ensures that the clients get only relevant messages. The SMS for instance is a useful tool of ensuring that the consumers don’t get irrelevant information.

In hotels, the information that is conveyed using mobile phones is usually precise and material and this ensures that the clients are not easily bored by long massages that have little meaning.

The mobile marketing is also characterized with some entertainment aspects. The clients usually get involved and this is vital since it helps to capture the attention of the client. Short messaging services helps to involve clients and this adds value for them (Greenberg, 2009, 72).

Mobile marketing enables personalization in that it targets the end user of the information. The cell phones are usually characterized by the ability to bear the client’s assigned identity. This is crucial as it enables the hotel firms to customize their client’s information messages and in turn to enhance the services as well as facilities in future period.

Personalization enables a firm to locate its clients and this is important since the specific individual needs are well met. This personalization helps to bring about interactivity. Mobile marketing allows the hotel management team to receive immediate feedback from clients and this enhances the interactivity (Manzitti, E, et.al.2008, 14).

Mobile marketing enables hotels to promote their sales. Sales promotion entails the marketing activities that are intended to increase the sales volumes as well as the effectiveness of the sellers. Sales promotion plays a key role as far as the marketing plan of a hotel is concerned.

Mobile marketing in hotels can be used to promote sales as it enhances brand equity.The hotels can use mobile marketing in promoting the sales so as to provide the consumers with an incentive to enjoy the hotel services( Pagani, 2005, 43).

Mobile marketing with regards to sales promotion in hotels can be useful in such aspects as stressing the price advantages, bargains as well as special offers. The mobile marketing can be used in hotel sales promotion so as to help to build the loyalty.

Through promotion, the clients are encouraged to use the hotel facilities more often. The mobile marketing is advantageous as far as the sales promotion in hotels is concerned due to the fact that it fosters sales. The usage of mobile marketing in hotels’ sales promotion is important since it can enhance quicker as well as greater sales.

The main advantages as a result of the use of mobile marketing in hotel’s sales promotion are that it helps to increase the short term sales as well as long term market share and also it generates the business needs or arrears.

Hotel managers can use mobile marketing in promoting their sales by applying the following i.e. the mobile phones can be customized in that they provides a special ring tone throughout an on- pack promotion campaigns,SMS alerts that create favorable news about the company and its products e.t.c.

Mobile marketing is thus an important tool as far as hotel’s sales promotion is concerned as it focuses on the guests’ needs and expectations. It helps to obtain information concerning the customers’ expectations as well as the needs with regards to the hotel’s services as well as the resources.

The SMS has indeed played a key with regards to the mobile marketing in hotels due to the fact that they are accessed right away.SMS unlike email messages can be opened with ease and also they are more confidential. Mobile marketing can increase the sales volume in hotels and should be encouraged.

The Mobile Guest CRM plays a vital role of ensuring that the guest’s mobile phone numbers are collected so as to improve the manner in which the hotel’s staff interacts with the clients and to help create more sales through reservations (Wagner, 2007, 81).

Mobile marketing enables hotels to build customer base. The act of keeping in touch with the current client base is often expensive in the modern world due to the increasing advertisement costs. The mobile marketing acts to increase the customer base and to maximize the return on investment.

In hotels, mobile marketing plays an important role of assigning the exact segmented targets so as to facilitate the campaigns and in turn increase the customer’s base.

Hotels can therefore benefit in expanding their client’s base by using the mobile marketing in that mobile marketing instant and easy i.e. the messages are delivered within short duration of time and hence creating an upbeat touch-point.

The mobile marketing is usually easy to operate implying that guests can manage the whole process on their own right from the start to the end (Chralesworth, 2009, 8-11).

Hotels can gain from using mobile marketing due to the fact that it is effective and also cheap. Usually; the clients find it a bit cheaper to distribute the messages by using their phones as compared to postage.

The SMS rates are usually cheap implying that the clients can send as many messages as possible so as to have adequate information regarding the hotel’s services as well as facilities. This is vital as it helps to maintain customer loyalty.

Once customers are fed with adequate and right information about the hotel, they tend to gain much confidence and hence increasing their loyalty. Many clients usually keep their cell phones at their pockets or in places where they can be able to access them instantly implying that they receives a message within seconds.

This is crucial since it enables the hotels to convey messages to their prospective guests instantly. Mobile marketing is also effective in that unlike e-marketing, the clients don’t need to have a computer that is connected to internet in order to access the messages.

The clients access the messages by just pushing a button in their phones. The hotel management are thus guaranteed that most of the information that they sends reaches the consumers in due time. Delivery is thus guaranteed by the fact that people refrains from changing their cell phone numbers time and again.

The instant communication as a result of mobile marketing ensures that the hotels are able to receive feedback from the guests concerning the hotels’ facilities and services and thus make some improvements where necessary. It is quick for the hotel firms to send a message and they can promote their services as well as facilities by using a few characters.

For instance, 100 characters only are adequate in promoting anything concerning the hotel. The mobile marketing ensures that information reaches the targeted audience only and therefore providing an opportunity for personalizing and tailoring the brand messages to various audiences (Steinbock, 2007, 4-8).

Mobile marketing enhances mobile’s viral marketing in hotels. Viral marketing entails the marketing practices that use the already existing social network tools such as word of mouth e.t.c. order to increase the brand awareness.

This mode of mobile marketing is vital as far as the hotel industry is concerned. It provides an environment upon which people passes on marketing information unto others. The hotel industry is thus able to take full advantage of the viral marketing in conveying information to a large number of people.

Usually, many people believes that personal messages from close friends as well as relatives are more credible a compared to messages from an advertising company. Also, those people who obtain original messages from persons who are well known to them are usually very active in distributing the message to others.

This is important as far as hotels are concerned since a large number of people get to know more about the company’s brand. Viral marketing makes use of word of mouth and therefore it is a cheap method of creating awareness (Giordano, 2005, 73).

Mobile marketing enhances the competitive advantage as far as the hotel firms are concerned. This is as a result of their ability to share information relating to their clients in real time.Outside, the office, the managers are capable of obtaining the client’s information and this allows decisions to be made in amore effective and quicker manner.

For instance, the manager can provide advice to his or her employees on how they should carry out their duties so as to enhance service delivery while outside the office by using the mobile phones.

The company is able to keep in touch with key clients through calls and thus ensuring and this is important since the company is able to gather relevant information about the needs as well as the expectations of the clients (Koivukoski, 2005, 25).

Mobile marketing is also an efficient mode of marketing with regards to the hotel industry in that the management can send digital photos as well as video images to the clients’ cell phones (Crouch, 2003, 78).

The hospitality industry is usually designed in such a way that it provides the clients with an ease and convenient environment. Therefore, the mobile technology which brings about enhancement of service delivery is usually encouraged b the clients (Arnord,.et.al. 2010, 8).

Mobile marketing is important as far as the hospitality industry is concerned as it provides the hotel guests with a means through which they can enquire about their travel appointments.

The GPS is an important tool that enables the management to locate the client’s locations. The GPS acts as an important means through which the guests can know about the whereabouts of their colleagues (Harris, 2007, 55).

Mobile marketing is usually measurable implying that it provides the clients with a high value The Short Message Services can be traced implying that a company is able to trace the campaign costs. Therefore a hospitality firm like a hotel can be abetting p receives the clients’ responses and thus changes its strategy once the need arises.

A firm for instance can engage in Short Messaging Services premium-rated campaigns where it can be able to monitor the advertising costs. This allows the manager to intervene once the advertising costs exceed the budgeted costs.

The application of the Short Messaging Services premium–rates is advantageous since a firm can be able to make additional income. A hotel organization can therefore provide such information services as investment, consumption e.t.c. which in turn benefits the clients.

The firm can also sell such products as the ringbones and the wallpapers in an effort to gain additional revenue (Fling, 2009, 54).

Mobile marketing enables a firm to explore new markets in an intelligent manner due t the fact that the cell phone messages are capable of crossing all the demographics and locations (Okonknw, 2009, 20).

Mobile marketing is important as far as mobilize marketing n hotels is concerned since it enables the firm to retain its customers. It is important for the hospitality firms to retain its customers.

The Short Messaging Services plays an integral role of maintaining the clients since it ensures that there is someone who attends to the clients in a 24 hour basis. Therefore, the client’s complaints are handled in a timely manner and hence greater client’s retention (Aktas, 2010, 178).

Also, mobile marketing as far as hotel firms are concerned since it involves the clients to interrelate directly through a Short Messaging Service polls so as to determine their opinion regarding the company (Berney, 2011, 57).

Limitations of mobile marketing

The following are the main disadvantages of mobile marketing; Mobile marketing is associated with the problem of irritating people.

Sometimes,the advertisements as a result of mobile phones are very confusing and distracting and this has they effect of changing the client’s attitudes towards the hotel. The clients can thus react negatively and thus seek the competitors’ services and facilities (Guzijan, 2009, 37).

The other limitation with regards to mobile marketing is the attitude towards confidentiality. Customers’ confidentiality is always an important issue as far as hotel industry is concerned. The high numbers of commercial transactions that are associated with internet have increased the consumer’s awareness about their privacy.

Most clients do not trust mobile phones as far as their privacy is concerned. They are thus susceptible as to whether it is safe to reveal their confidential details via the phones. Initially, cell phones were deemed to connect businesses around the globe but they have nowadays been used for private households.

The cell phones have thus lost their identity implying that the clients have been very sensitive once they receive text messages from people or companies in which they are not familiar to (Krum, 2010, 7).

Mobile phone as a tool of advertising the hospitality products have the effect of locking out old people from accessing the hotel services and facilities. Generally, the youths are the most users of cell phone.

Consquently,the, the large number of the hospitality products users are the old people and this implies that the old consumers who don’t use mobile phones don’t get to know about the mobile ads.

Mobile marketing has the effect of treating the clients like computers users. In this regards, the company cannot expect the clients to download huge company profiles. Thus the clients are attracted by large volumes of data which limits their choices.

Also, the advertising agencies usually ignore the limitations that are associated with cell phones. This is very frustrating on the part of the clients since most cell phones have smaller screens as opposed to Pc.Also,the lack of a mouse makes the clients a bit uncomfortable since scrolling the phone is indeed no fun.

Poeple cant print the information they have accessed in their phones since there is no printer. The bandwidths are usually restricted entailing that the pages as well as the images are kept small. Mobile pone megabytes are usually expensive and this hinders most people from using the mobile marketing (Salter, & Micjheal, 2006, 31).

Developing an effective mobile marketing in hotels

It is important for the management to consider developing an effective mobile marketing in the hotels. The management should thus ensure the following; the mobile adverts are entertaining so as to add more value to the clients.

Also, the management should ensure that there are success factors that facilitate viral marketing. In essence, viral marketing requires that the information provide real value unto the consumers (Haig, 2002, 17).

Conclusions

Mobile phones usually play a key role as far as hotel firms are concerned. They have changed the manner in which hotels carry out their operations. This is so because they have enhanced efficiency and have also allowed hotels to have a wide client’s base.

As a result, the mobile technology have enabled the hotel industry to create more revenue and also change in accordance with the customers’ wishes.Indeed cell phones have a very strong impact as far as the hotel industry is concerned.

It is also believed that the growth of mobile marketing will surpass that of the electronic marketing. With regards to limitations of mobile marketing, the management should come up with an effective manner of countering the limitations. This includes such measure as guaranteeing the consumers that their privacy is maintained e.t.c.

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