An internal marketing technique, affiliate marketing calls for various websites joining hands to promote each other’s products and services. This boosts the revenues of all the participating sites. Affiliate marketing involves the payment of a commission or a reward by a website to another for the business referred to by the latter. While Search Engine Marketing, Web 2 and Search Media Optimization (SMO) have gained huge popularity, affiliate marketing is also being recognized as a cost effective method of boosting revenues.

Affiliate Marketing and the Techniques Used

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Isn’t it exciting to witness the rising effectiveness of social media as a great business promotion tool? Well, the world is tweeting, following, adding followers and building their brand image to laugh all the way to the banks, thanks to social media interactions.
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Nothing is predictable in any industry. Even the best known names in the hospitality industry cannot determine or predict how consumers will buy or make their choices. No doubt, online hotel marketing strategies will be very strong in creating a well-executed presence for every hotel in the virtual world.

Three effective tips to consider are:

• Analyze where you have spent your money for marketing and determine the returns you have received from your spend.
• Consider that meta and search that are important areas to spend on in years to come.
• Offer useful website tools such as currency converter to engage customers on your website.

Here is a checklist for you to consider if you plan to grow your hotel’s visibility through smart online marketing strategies.

What are Your Hotel’s Distribution Channels?

• Does your hotel associate itself with major credit card companies?

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Bean there…Done that…

At Starbucks, it is all about ‘you.’ Chanting the simple mantra of “people before products,” the company has been able to communicate that it cares about consumer experience. It gave them a platform to speak their minds. Once this was in place, all that had to be done was spotting what people really wanted. And, if an idea made sense, ‘Your Starbucks’ adopted it.

When it comes to e-marketing success stories, Starbucks has to be on the list. The company did not stick to existing sites for this… it created My Starbucks Idea. This platform asks the simple question “What’s your Starbucks idea?” and invites people to express what more the company could do for them. This became a channel for such a free flow of customer feedback that the company was able to get its market to do its marketing. Starbucks lovers began visiting this online community and posting their ideas. They could also see ideas posted by others, comment on them and vote for/against them. This wonderful forum, that was thrown open to people in March 2008, had generated over 70,000 ideas till its first anniversary.
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People who were keen to know about fashion trends always picked up the latest glossy to know about the ever-changing trends in the fashion industry. However, social media has changed this totally. When we talk about social media, the general reference is to websites or online platforms that enable the fashion industry to connect with their customers using the latest social networking technology.

Social Media and Fashion Industry

Through social media, it becomes possible for a fashion designer or a fashion company to generate publicity across online communities and websites. Social media makes it possible for fashion designers and fashion boutiques to generate interest about a brand. It finds ways in which a brand can be promoted more effectively to customers at a global level, that too with minimal cost.  

Social Media and Mirror Neuron
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The supermodels are missing from the ramp. Retailers are cutting back on buying. The guest lists have become shorter. Shows have got canceled. Recession has not spared the fashion industry. It is time to get creative… beyond designing. To reach out to their market, designers have added the Internet to the spring collection’09.

According to the figures provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau, the spending on online advertising in the United Kingdom rose by 21% in the 12 months ended June 2008. The significance of this rise is enhanced by the fact that the advertising industry as a whole declined during the same period. The ‘entertainment and media’ sector is one of the top three categories boosting this growth.
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The world of fashion is a mélange of colors, fabrics, textures, concepts, brilliant creativity and a million fabric swatches that designers base their ideas from. It’s not about brands, seasons or just runway shows. It’s about mirroring what you are from in life, donning a Creator’s robes to visualize beauty, transform whites into a million shades of multiplicity and detailing it with just about anything the earth can offer such as shells, stones, gems and whatever catches artistic fancy. It’s about telling the world how beautiful it is through a larger vertical through phases of conceptualization, design, visual merchandising and showcasing.

Here are some top global trends to watch out for in 2009:

Pre-collections
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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet,”
- Juliet says distressed because Romeo’s name (symbolizing the family he belongs to) does not allow them to be lovers.

This is not about Theatre although it is rather Theatrical
With all due respect to Shakespeare, I just have to disagree. There is, in fact, a lot in a name. Why else would I go to a restaurant and ask for Coke instead of just any cola? Why would I automatically walk into a Levis showroom, knowing that I would get a pair of jeans that was sure to fit beautifully? When my aunt gifts me a Tommy Girl, why do I know I will love the fragrance before I even open the bottle? When my husband surprises me with Swarovski earrings, how am I so sure that they would sparkle for years? Apparently, there is a lot in a name.
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The New Year 2009 has begun amidst a lot of worries about global recession. For the hotel industry, this has been the worst of times, as most hotels around the world are struggling to tackle the problem of lowest occupancy rates. This is a first, since 1971. However, hoteliers are sure to devise creative and innovative ways to attract their guests and earn their trust once again. Inevitably, most luxury facilities in the hospitality sector would have to work doubly hard to demonstrate how unique and satisfying their offers would be so as to justify the greater expense. That’s why there is so much debate about innovative trends in the global hospitality sector.

So, here’s a mixed bag of global trends that is sure to interest those who are keen to understand what’s in store for the global hospitality segment:
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